Feh (heraldry)

Guild coat of arms of the furriers (1895)

Feh is the name for a heraldic fur , which got its name from squirrel fur (furrier language: Feh) . The stocking is gefeht emblazoned .

Origin of the heraldic mark

Eisenhütlein		Cloud failure

Feh cannot be clearly assigned in heraldry and can be a heraldic image , a common figure , a shield division or a tinging . Other names are common Feh, Hutfeh but also Fellwerk . In German, French and English heraldry it is counted as fur and belongs to the old heraldic elements. What it should be included in has been discussed by many heraldists without a final result. In heraldry , the feh, before furrier and ermine , is the most common variant of the fur category.

Originally, Feh represented the small furs sewn together across the entire area , not that of the native red European squirrel ( Sciurus vulgaris ), but the valuable winter fur of its eastern (Siberian) subspecies, with a blue-gray back and white dewlap (belly).

The piece of fur itself is found in rounded and angular shapes: the first form is called Wolkenfeh ( French vair antique ), the second specifically Eisenhutfeh (English and French vair ), the element is called Eisenhütlein , based on the military headgear Eisenhut. Then there are more stylized forms.

However, there are various other uses of the pieces of fur, so that in addition to the actual fur, other coats of arms have also emerged. The depictions of squirrel skins then became increasingly abstract and their origin was difficult to read. In more modern heraldry, Feh is a purely ornamental coat of arms element.

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  Sciurus vulgaris in winter fur

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  Mishides

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  Buntwerk (Fehwamme)

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  Fehwamme as a clerical garment ( winter mozetta )

Counts of Oettingen : A blue heart sign on a red and gold iron hat; the whole thing covered with a silver tray.

The depiction of the Zurich coat of arms from around 1350 still clearly shows the technical solution to the problem of attaching a decorative shield to a shield covered with fur by attaching it with two clips. Same method on the hat as a crest .

Variants and tinging

Feh (Eisenhutfeh) in different colors

As a rule, the little hat - according to its origin - is shown in silver in blue, which is the actual feh  (1). In the escutcheon, the division into rows creates the impression of an upright blue shape, between which the same shape is upside down in silver. If the silver shapes are standing, one speaks of fallen (Sturzfeh)  (4).

The staggered arrangement in the rows is a regular feature; if the little hats stand directly on top of each other, one speaks of a stake  (2). If not overturned and overturned, mixed up in each row results in alternating feet (a zigzag pattern), in the post Gegenfeh  (3).

If other tinctures are applied, it is called gefeht , then the color that appears in the upper left point of the shield in the description called first. Buntfeh is called a multi-colored version. In English and French heraldry, one speaks of 'motley feh' if the tinging deviates from feh silver in blue, the buntfeh is seen as a specifically German heraldic phenomenon. In English, the terms verrey and verry stand for a special Eisenhütlein shape, the first term applies to the normal silver-blue variant, and the second term for the green-yellow or yellow-green tinging, other colors are vairy of "[colors]" tinged (5,6).

List of Feh species

In addition to the usual normal proportions, the designs can be in Kleinfeh or in Großfeh in the coat of arms or in the field.

• Eisenhutfeh, Glockenfeh , Buntfeh , Spaltfeh , Butterflyfeh
• Krückenfeh, Krückenpfahlfeh, Falling crutch , alternating crutch, shifted crutch
• Lappenfeh , Dornenfeh , Wogenfeh
• Schuppenfeh , shifted Schuppenfeh, Spickelfeh, Spickelsturzfeh
• Fall, fall, fall, fall
• Exchangeable objects, exchangeable objects, bar errors
• Wave crash failure
• Wolkenfeh , Wolkenpfahlfeh, Wolkengegenfeh, Doppelwolkenfeh
• Zinnenfeh , Schindelsturzfeh

If a cross is fought on his arms, the heraldist calls it a squirrel . The common cross with iron hats is suitable.

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  Op

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  Stake failure

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  Fall failure

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  Wave crash failure

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  Cloud failure

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  Change of exchange

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  Crutch failure

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  Crutch pole failure

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  Altfeh - the original form of Feh

If a defective element (hat) is split and tinged with two colors, the heraldist speaks of a split feh . If the regularity of the arrangement of the hats is offset, it is a shifted error .

Altfeh is a variant in a wavy arrangement of the Feh. The heraldist speaks of Großfeh when there are less than three pieces of fur next to each other in the shield or field.

Examples

	Allmannshofen : Split; in front in silver blue monkshood in three rows; at the back in monkshood cut split by gold and red
	Square cross: common cross covered with monkshood
	Igersheim : Two blue iron hats
	Mertingen : at the back in three rows of iron hats made of blue and silver
	Möttingen : above in two rows of Eisenhutfeh ​​in red and gold
	Padberg : silver and blue as a single row of clouds
	Petersaurach : gold and red with two iron hats in mixed up colors

Web links

Commons : Heraldic Feh  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• different types of fur at dr-bernhard-peter

Individual evidence

1. ↑ See also Hans and Maria Rüegg on the subject of the practical origin of the coat of arms: Die Helmzier . Lecture from April 2, 2004 at the 777th Bott of the Zurich Heraldry Guild. ( Website , hum-rueegg.li [accessed on November 11, 2009]).
2. ^ Arthur Charles Fox-Davies: The Royal Arms. A Complete Guide to Heraldry. TG & EC JACK, London, p. 82
3. ↑ Fig. 361 . In Illustrated Atlas of Heraldic Terms. heraldica.org