College of Arms
The College of Arms in London is the office responsible for heraldry in England and Wales . The thirteen members are members of the royal household and are appointed by the monarch on the proposal of the Earl Marshal .
origin
The College of Arms was founded by the English king in 1484 at the end of the heraldic era , when the first signs of deterioration in heraldry were already noticeable, and was renewed in its current form in 1555. It still exists to this day and among other things preserves the heralds' heralds.
organization
The College of Arms is based in London and reports to the Earl Marshal of England. Since King Charles II (1660–1685) this office has been hereditary to the respective Duke of Norfolk .
The leading employees of the office are the three officers of arms : the highest ranking is the herald with the official name Garter King of Arms (coat of arms king, highest rank of herald ). For the areas south of the river Trent Clarenceux King of Arms is responsible (derived from the Duchy of Clarence), for the areas north of the Trent Norroy, King of Arms (from North Roy, Anglo-Norman "North King" (since 1943 as Norroy and Ulster King of Arms in Union with the Ulster King of Arms who is responsible for Ireland and Northern Ireland)). These three heraldic kings also play an important role in the coronation ceremony of the English kings. They all also have an official coat of arms. Garter is also the herald of the Order of the Garter ( " The most noble Order of the Garter "). Among them are six heralds with the official names Chester , Lancaster , York , Somerset , Richmond and Windsor , plus five extraordinary heralds, Arundel , Beaumont , Maltravers , Norfolk and Wales . Among them are four pursuivants (herald's assistants, originally heralds candidates) with the official names Rouge Croix , Bluemantle , Rouge Dragon and Porticullis (red cross, blue coat, red dragon or portcullis) plus an extraordinary pursuivant, Fitzalan . Only the regular heralds and trainees are officers of the college; the extraordinaries are honorary positions.
The College of Arms covers England and Wales only; Scotland ( Court of the Lord Lyon ) and Ireland have their own offices and coats of arms.
The college's church is St Benet Paul's Wharf in London.
Heralds of coat of arms for England, Wales and Northern Ireland
| Kings of Arms | |||||
| coat of arms | banner | Office | Name (date of disposition) |
Portrait | notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Garter Principal King of Arms |
Thomas Woodcock , CVO, BA (Durham), LL.B. (Cambridge), DL, FSA (April 1, 2010) |
|
The highest ranking King of Arms (the title refers to the Order of the Garter as the highest English order). This office was introduced by King Henry V in 1415 . |
|
|
Clarenceux King of Arms |
Patric Laurence Dickinson LVO, MA (Oxford) (September 1, 2010) |
|
Its business area is south of England to the River Trent . Clarenceux is the oldest in the King of Arms province. The office was first awarded around 1334. |
|
|
Norroy and Ulster King of Arms |
Timothy Duke (July 1, 2014) |
|
Its business area is the portion of England north of Trent (Norroy) and Northern Ireland (Ulster). The office was first awarded in 1943 when the offices of the Norroy King of Arms and the Ulster King of Arms were merged. The office of Norroy was introduced around 1276 and was the oldest heraldry. The office of Ulster King of Arms was given to Edward VI in 1552. created. |
jurisdiction
Originally, the right to carry a coat of arms and to have a specific coat of arms was very important among the nobility, at the time of living heraldry until around 1450 it was even decisive in battles, as the fully armored knights could only identify themselves by means of the coat of arms. Therefore there was a separate jurisdiction for coats of arms, but also for other knightly matters such as merchants of honor and the like. In England, the Court of Chivalry (cf. French chevalier, Ritter; also: Cavallerie) is responsible for this, although it only rarely comes into action today (last time 1954). One of its two chairmen is the Earl Marshal of England; The College of Arms and the Court of Chivalry are linked by a personal union, and the college also provides the basis for decision-making in disputes on coat of arms.
coat of arms
The College of Arms has its own coat of arms. This shows the red George Cross on a silver background and in each of the four fields a blue bird with its right wing spread out.
building
The College of Arms has had its current location since 1555. By royal order he was assigned the medieval house called Derby Place. Herolds College was located here until the great city fire in early September 1666.
The appearance of the building has been handed down by documents: A U-shaped building surrounded a square inner courtyard, which was closed by a gate with portcullis on the western side. On the south side, in the direction of today's Queen Victoria Street, there was a large hall.
The documents could be saved and alternative quarters were moved into the Palace of Westminster . It was probably a lack of money that delayed planning to rebuild the college until 1670. Francis Sandford, Rouge Dragon Pursuivant and Morris Emmett, the king's bricklayer, probably designed the current building. To keep the cost of reconstruction within limits, the new college was built slowly and in parts between 1673 and 1683. The heralds of the time themselves, but also some nobles, contributed significantly to the reconstruction, whereupon their names and family trees were entered in a series of elaborate codes, which are known as benefactor books and are now part of the college's records.
The new building made of red brick consists of a uniform height of three floors, a basement and a multi-storey roof. The outer walls were divided by lines running through brick. The windows were evenly spaced, those in the attic with the Ionic style borrowed triangular gables. Each wing in the west, north and east was given an architrave made of pink sandstone. On the north side of the inner courtyard, which has always been the front side, the gable was provided with straight edges as a triangular gable, on the east and west side it was curved as a cranked cornice. The north gable was built from four brick pilasters, also in the Ionian style, over two floors, starting from the recessed brick pilaster of the basement. The other sides with the rounded gables received two Ionic pilasters, again over two floors and starting on the recessed brick pilasters of the basement.
A hall, a porter's lodge and a waiting room (ie the public office) were planned. The rest of the building was allocated to house the heralds, who mostly used several rooms for themselves. These were built on top of each other, only connected by a single staircase.
At the end of the east and south-east side, the land was leased and closed with three row houses, the facades of which had the same appearance as the college building. The long lease ended in 1748, but the college extended the long lease, but with significantly shorter terms. In 1866 part of the college was closed to expand Queen Victoria Street and the row houses were attached to the college to compensate for the reduced space. (see below)
The hall, known as the Earl Marshal's Court , was a library until 1699. Soon after, it was set up as the Court of Chivalry .
The College 1756
Earl's Marshal's Court
College today
An important change in the appearance of the building took place in 1776, when the original high baroque gable and eaves details were replaced by the current parapet. The gables were completely removed. This was more in keeping with the prevailing taste of classicism at the time .
Around 1742 a sugar warehouse was built on the north-east side of the building. This was a great nuisance, as the Heralds suspected a great fire hazard for themselves and their place of work. It was therefore planned to relocate the college. In 1818 the sugar house was acquired, but the idea of relocation was not given up. In the vicinity of the then modern Trafalgar Square , an attempt was made to build a new office. Plans for the new college were prepared by John Nash , but the proposed measures ultimately proved too costly.
From 1842 to 1844, with the rebuilding of the Record Room by Robert Abraham on the foundations of the sugar house, the relocation plans were finally abandoned. An octagonal room was built over two floors with a surrounding gallery. The room is illuminated by two large Venetian windows on the upper floor.
In 1861 plans were made to build a new road from Blackfriars to the Mansion House . This plan would have resulted in the complete demolition of the college. Protests from the Heralds followed immediately. The Queen Victoria Street , which emerged from the changed plans, changed the appearance of the building enormously. Parts of the southeast and southwest wings had to be removed and the remainder redesigned by George Plunckett . The old entrance on Benet's Hill was closed and the college was radically changed by turning the angle to create a three-sided building with a free open courtyard facing the new Queen Victoria Street. The courtyard was excavated to match the low street level and a terrace, walkway and entrance porch were added.
The bars and two gates to the street were removed in 1942 and replaced by the current gate in 1956. This one dates from Goodrich Court , Herefordshire from the 1870s.
Bibliography
- Herald's Collige. In: Gert Oswald : Lexicon of Heraldry. From apple cross to twin bars. 2nd, unchanged edition. Battenberg, Regenstauf 2006, ISBN 3-86646-010-4 , p. 194.
- Stephen Slater: coats of arms, shields, helmets. A color illustrated introduction to heraldry. Tosa, Vienna 2009, ISBN 978-3-85003-340-4 , pp. 34–39 (Translation from: The History and Meaning of Heraldry. An Illustrated Reference to Classic Symbols and their Relevance. Southwater, London 2004, ISBN 1- 84215-958-5 ).
- The Monarchy in Britain (= Central Office of Information. Reference Pamphlet. 118). Her Majesty's Stationery Office London 1981, ISBN 0-11-701026-X , p. 19.
See also
Web links
- The College of Arms (Engl.)
Coordinates: 51 ° 30 '43.8 " N , 0 ° 5' 55.5" W.
Individual evidence
- ↑ London Gazette . No. 59385, HMSO, London, April 8, 2010, p. 6033 ( PDF , accessed January 27, 2012, English).
- ^ The origin and history of the various heraldic offices . College of Arms. Archived from the original on July 29, 2010. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved January 27, 2012.
- ↑ London Gazette . No. 59536, HMSO, London, 6 September 2010, p. 17131 ( PDF , accessed on January 27, 2012, English).
- ↑ College of Arms Newsletter No. 59, July 2019
- ↑ College of Arms Newsletter No. 59, July 2019
- ↑ College of Arms Newsletter No. 59, July 2019
