Virgin eagle
The Jungfrau Adler is in the heraldry as a common figure variant shown of stylized heraldic eagle and a heraldic animal .
Origin and representation
The virgin eagle is a mixed mythical creature of man and eagle. Compared to the eagle, it has a special feature that the eagle's head is replaced by a looking woman's head and the upper part is replaced by a naked woman's upper body. The head is usually crowned .
The origin has not yet been clearly established. In the description of the coat of arms ( blazon ) other names are also used for this eagle type. There is often talk of the female eagle or the heraldic harpy eagle . Neither the mythological nor the raptor harpy should have been the starting point for the heraldic figure . It differs from the bird siren in that it has arms and legs, the additional wings on the back, and from the royal eagle, which also wears a crown, through the female upper body and the female face. It is believed that out of ignorance the coat of arms painters created a female figure from a picture of the emperor with curly hair. The emperors in the Middle Ages attached their bust as a sign of patronage on the heraldic eagle.
use
An example of a representation of a virgin eagle is the coat of arms of the Cirksena family , the counts of East Friesland from around 1581 to 1699. The Cirksena eagle is a name for the golden virgin eagle crowned in black .
Examples
Large Nuremberg city arms
City arms of Emden
Coat of arms of the Aurich district
Coat of arms of Mücke (Hessen)
Coat of arms of Feldatal (Hesse)
Coat of arms of Čejov (CZ)
Coat of arms of Leinburg
literature
- Gert Oswald : Lexicon of Heraldry. Bibliographisches Institut et al., Mannheim et al. 1985, ISBN 3-411-02149-7 , p. 218.