Re: coat of arms necessary vs required (fwd)

[clevin@ripco.com (Craig Levin)]

Poster: clevin@ripco.com (Craig Levin)

Tisman:

> Out of curiosity, what style did the Celts and Norse use?  I know that the
> Munro crest has a tartan background, but a swooping hawk clutching a banner
> in its talons...  It doesn't seem to carry to the "no color on a color"
> rule...  It's actually gotten me quite confused...

I'd like to see just where you saw the depiction of that crest,
and whether it's a crest at all. Crests were worn atop the
helmet-a place where a field <background> is highly unlikely.
Judging from your description, it's probably not a crest, but a
badge. Badges, through most of the period when they were used,
were <in SCA heraldry terms> "fieldless," because they were
generally little metal items, which were occasionally enamelled.
The closest analogy I can think of today are Saint Christopher
medals and other Catholic trinkets <not a big surprise>.
Backgrounds for a badge are basically irrelevant, in that
situation.

> ::sinking farther into confusion manages to release a simple whimpering...::
>  help?

One of the reasons why people are confused about the art of
heraldry is because, as Americans, we don't see the stuff all
that frequently, unless we're frequent world-travellers. About
the only institutions that manage to get heraldry right in
America are the Episcopalians and the Catholics, because both
come from an ecclesiastical tradition that condoned, when it
didn't encourage, heraldic display. For an example, go strolling
about the CUA campus, and look at some of the older buildings-
there's arms on almost all of them; not good arms, but arms
nevertheless. Otherwise, our nation's general rejection of
heraldry <and there's nothing in heraldry that's bad for a
republic-Venice and Switzerland have ancient heraldic traditions>
has left us adrift in misinformation.

Pedro de Alcazar, AoA
Barony of Storvik, Atlantia
Pursuivant Extraordinary and Junior Minion
Or, six Castles Vert within a Bordure Gules semy of Roundels Or
-- 
http://pages.ripco.com:8080/~clevin/index.html 
clevin@ripco.com
Craig Levin
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