Raven (heraldic animal)
The raven is a common figure in heraldry . It has been known as a heraldic animal since the Middle Ages . The Scottish Counts Corbet had it in their coat of arms as early as 1170.
His presentation is not very spectacular. It appears in the coat of arms as a black bird , mostly flying up from a mountain of three ( Scherbvogel ) with wide outstretched wings . If it is taken as a standing bird with wings laid out, it can be confused with the magpie . Like all heraldic animals, he is a common figure and can also be represented with different colored legs or tongue ( reinforcement ). He can hold a ring, twigs, acorn or other accessories in his beak.
The raven is often found in talking coats of arms , for example from Rabenau (Saxony) , Raab (Upper Austria) , Rapperswil BE , Raben Steinfeld , Corvo ( Portugal ) or Corbières FR , albeit often in an untenable folk etymological interpretation of the place name. The raven in Matthias Corvinus' coat of arms ( lat. Corvus = raven) is also talking . In the former Halle (Westphalia) district , membership of the Ravensberg county is symbolized.
The Greeks and Romans saw it as a symbol of unfaithfulness, betrayal and in general a bird of bad luck. In Norse mythology, he was the corpse bird. As the heraldic animal raven, its reputation is better because it stands for abundance and generosity.
For many it became an attribute in iconography. So for Odin, Erasmus, Benedikt , Habakuk, Ida, Guilelmus Firmatus, Meinhard, Oswald, Paulus Eremita and Vincentius.
As an attribute of St. Oswald there is a raven with a ring in its beak in several municipal coats of arms , for example from St. Oswald near Haslach or St. Oswald near Plankenwarth . In Krosigk this representation is associated with a legend. The raven is also the attribute of the monk Meinrad von Einsiedeln , so two ravens have found their way into the coats of arms of the monastery and municipality of Einsiedeln (Switzerland).
The Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Becket , canonized a few years after his assassination , had three Alpine crows in his coat of arms.
The Rabe von Canstein family , a baronial Westphalian noble family that derives its name from Canstein Castle in the eastern Sauerland, had a crowned raven with golden fangs in its coat of arms. The Raven von Pappenheim is the name of an old Westphalian-Engersian noble family, whose heraldic animal is crowned black and gold
The Wettins and the noble families of the Biron had this black bird in their coat of arms. The noble Schwarzenberg family has a raven in their coat of arms, which picks out the eyes of a Turk's head.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Gert Oswald : Lexicon of Heraldry. VEB Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig 1984, p. 318.
- ↑ a b c d Oscar Mothes : Illustrirtes Bau-Lexikon. Volume 3: N - Z. 2nd, completely revised and enlarged edition. Verlagbuchhandlung Otto Spamer, Leipzig et al. 1868, p. 138 .
- ↑ a b c d Georg Helmsdörfer: Christian art symbolism and iconography. JC Hermann, Frankfurt am Main 1839, p. 147 .
