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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture Hallo Rosemary, It looks like the arms are atributed to a mix of evangelists and saints and some less clear patrons. I'll return the list with my comments. South Isle: 1 St Clement: anchor. Could be right, but there are more saints with anchors. If there is a local 'cult' or altar of St Clement's, you could be right. 2 St John: eagle. Correct. 3 Azure, 3 bezants or, 2,1. Could be St Nicholas, as he is often symbolised by three gold coins or globes. There is no St Nicholas coat of arms though. 4 St Matthew: angel. Correct. 5 Azure, a cross floretty and 5 martlets, 2, 2, 1, all argent. That's St Edward the Confessor. This coat of arms was attributed to him during the later Middle Ages and some English kings have used these arms combined with the royal arms, especially Richard II. 6 Gules, a cross of 8 points, arg. This silver cross on red is the cross of the Order of Malta, officially the Knights Hospitaller of Malta, whose saint was St John. This is not the cross of St John though, but strictly the one of the order since the mid 16th c. The earlier order of Hospitallers of Jeruzalem and Rhodos used a white cross formy on black. So the attribution to St John the Baptist is a bit iffy. North Isle (?): 1 Gules, 3 knifes arg. Handled or, 2, 1. Could be St Bartholomew, but he was never given arms, just one knife is his attribute. Plus of course his stripped skin. 2 The pierced and winged heart could be symbolic for Our Lady of Sorrows, but in her iconografy it's usually 7 swords and no wings, but often a flame surmounting the heart. This combination seems to be popular among tattoo artists and bikers, or fantasy adepts. There is also a tarot connection. 3 St Luke, winged ox. Correct. 4 St Catharine: a spiked wheel. Correct, although she has no real arms, the wheel is just her symbol. 5 St Mark: the winged lion. Correct. 6 azure, 3 escallops, or, 2,1. The symbol of St James is the scallop (coquille St Jacques), but here a coat of arms is made from it by putting three in a shield and giving it heraldic colouring. There are, IMO, still some question marks about these arms. I think someone must have made up some arms from well known saintly attributes. They thus gave them a heraldic siginificance, which they had never had in real history. Saints' symbols have been used in heraldry though (think of the crosses of St George, Andrew and Patrick) but these were not really their family arms. Some saints, especially aristocratic ones, had arms or were given arms if they lived before heraldry was invented, als happened to St Edward. Knightly orders of the crusades had heraldic crosses, but these were not the arms of their patron saints, but those of the order as an institution. Hope this helps. Henk Van: Rosemary Hayes-Milligan and Andrew Milligan [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Verzonden: woensdag 30 maart 2011 15:43 Aan: Henk 't Jong Onderwerp: Fw: church heraldry Dear Henk Thank you very much. Here they are. Do let us know if we are wrong on any of those we have identified Best wishes, Rosemary Hayes ----- Original Message ----- From: <mailto:[log in to unmask]> DONALD MACDONALD To: <mailto:[log in to unmask]> Rosemary Hayes-Milligan and Andrew Milligan Sent: Tuesday, March 29, 2011 8:37 PM Subject: Saints Armorials Dear Rosemary, Herewith the two umknowns. ********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME to: [log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, address it to: [log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion to: [log in to unmask] In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: [log in to unmask] For further information, visit our web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html