Heraldry Help (Royal and Otherwise)

The Label is, according to the usage of English (and I stress English)
heraldry the differencing badge of the eldest son - so he bore the same arms as his
father with the label (already well described) over it. This was sometimes in
a form which would allow for its easy removal. Hence Warwick, during his
father's lifetime, carried gules a saltire argent a label of three points azure
and argent (sometimes shown incorrectly ass sable and argent). The label was
USUALLY, but by no means always of three points, that is it had three pieces
coming down - labels of five points are known from this period as well.

Royal Heraldry is slightly different in that, since the reign of Edward III,
all members carried the Royal Army with labels argent but each with a
different differencing on the label - hence York's three torteaux gules and
Gloucester's small canton of ermine (this canton was on the label's points but I am not
sure of the exact positioning). Only the Prince of Wales carried a plain
label argent. Exactly the same system applies to all of the Royal Family today.

There are two books that I would thoroughly recommend and which will answer
nearly all of your questions

Simple Heraldry - Montcreif. It looks like a children's book but it
definitely ain't. I think it is still in print.

Medieval Heraldry - Terry Wise. In the Osprey 'Men at Arms' series and very
reasonably priced (look on Amazon and you'll almost certainly get a cheap
copy). A superb introduction which explains all of this.

Also useful (if you can get hold of a copy, probably best via a Library) is
Shakespeare's Heraldry, which covers, with background and blazons all of the
characters that appear anywhere in a Shakespeare play - very useful.

I hope that this helps - if I can help further than feel fre to contact me
direct

Diomedes

--- In , diomedes5465@a...
wrote:

>
> Also useful (if you can get hold of a copy, probably best via a
Library) is
> Shakespeare's Heraldry, which covers, with background and blazons
all of the
> characters that appear anywhere in a Shakespeare play - very useful.
>
I have a copy of Shakespeare's Heraldry. I'll see if it has
anything on Richard as Duke of Gloucester. Anyone want anything else
looked up?

Katy

Many thanks Diomedes.
Just what I needed.
My best
Paul

> The Label is, according to the usage of English (and I stress English)
> heraldry the differencing badge of the eldest son - so he bore the same arms
> as his
> father with the label (already well described) over it. This was sometimes in
> a form which would allow for its easy removal. Hence Warwick, during his
> father's lifetime, carried gules a saltire argent a label of three points
> azure
> and argent (sometimes shown incorrectly ass sable and argent). The label was
> USUALLY, but by no means always of three points, that is it had three pieces
> coming down - labels of five points are known from this period as well.
>
> Royal Heraldry is slightly different in that, since the reign of Edward III,
> all members carried the Royal Army with labels argent but each with a
> different differencing on the label - hence York's three torteaux gules and
> Gloucester's small canton of ermine (this canton was on the label's points but
> I am not
> sure of the exact positioning). Only the Prince of Wales carried a plain
> label argent. Exactly the same system applies to all of the Royal Family
> today.
>
> There are two books that I would thoroughly recommend and which will answer
> nearly all of your questions
>
> Simple Heraldry - Montcreif. It looks like a children's book but it
> definitely ain't. I think it is still in print.
>
> Medieval Heraldry - Terry Wise. In the Osprey 'Men at Arms' series and very
> reasonably priced (look on Amazon and you'll almost certainly get a cheap
> copy). A superb introduction which explains all of this.
>
> Also useful (if you can get hold of a copy, probably best via a Library) is
> Shakespeare's Heraldry, which covers, with background and blazons all of the
> characters that appear anywhere in a Shakespeare play - very useful.
>
> I hope that this helps - if I can help further than feel fre to contact me
> direct
>
> Diomedes
>
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>
>
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>
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>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
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