Meyer Franz. A Handbook of Ornament
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HERALDRY.
521
Helmet
Trappings, Plate
287.
522 HERALDRY.
Plate
288. Helmet
Trappings.
Crowns, &c.
—
Heraldic Accessories.
523
Plate
289.
Crowns, Coronets,
&c.
[according to German
Heraldry].
1.
The German
Imperial-crown: a circle of gold,
set
with
brilliants and formed of eight shields, with
four
gold arches,
surmounted
by
the
imperial mound and cross,
lined
with
gold brocade, with two decorated
waving
ribbons of gold.
2.
The Austrian Iraperial-crown: a
jewelled
circle with eight
leaves,
three arches curving
from
front
to
back;
closed at
the sides, lined red; crowned with a
cross.
3.
The
Regal-crown: a jewelled
circle
with eight
leaves;
eight
arches set
with jewels
or
pearls; mound
an cross.
4.
The
Grand-ducal-coronet:
a royal
crown,
Uned
red.
5.
The Ducal-coronet; faced with ermine, eight
leaves,
red
lining, with mound and
cross.
6.
The Princely-coronet:
faced
with
ermine, four leaves,
red
lining,
mound
and cross.
7.
The Coronet of a Serene Highness: circle with
eight
leaves,
red
cap,
with ermine tippet.
8.
The Count's
Coronet: gold
circle with sixteen
pearls (nine
are visible).
9.
The Baron's
Coronet: twelve pearls (seven
are visible).
10.
The
Nobleman's Coronet: eight pearls
(five are visible).
11. Arms with
Crown, by
Albrecht
Diirer.
12. Papal
coat of
Arms, with
tiara and keys.
13.
Arms,
by
Hans Burckmair,
with mitre and
crozier.
14
Archbishop's
Hat: green
with
ten
tassels (on each
side).
Car-
dinal's hat:
red with
fifteen tassels. Bishop's
hat:
green
with six tassels.
Orders and
Decorations are either
the
badges
of certain brother-
hoods (the Knights of Malta,
the Temple,
S. John, the Teutonic Order,
Ac); or they
are distinctions conferred
by
sovereigns.
The
former
are blazoned
on
the
shield, quarterly
with the personal bearings
(fig.
16),
or
they are
placed
beside or behind the shield
so that the
ends
of the
cross project beyond
the edge
of
the
shield. The latter are
almost
without
exception
suspended from
collars
or
borne below
the
shield
(Plate 290.
4.
7).
15.
The
Order of
the
Golden Fleece (founded
by
Philip of
Bur-
gundy
in
1429).
16.
Shield,
with
the Maltese
order
quarterly.
17
—
18.
Pennons, or
Standards:
they are either placed as a
back-
ground
to the
shield, or
borne by the supporters; they
are
therefore
a part of Heraldic
pageantry.
524
HERALDRY.
Plate
289. Crowns, Coronets,
&c.
HERALDRY.
525
Heraldic
Accessories.
Plate
290i
626
Heraldic
Accessories.
Heraldic Accessories. (Plate
290.)
Under
this title,
we
group
such
decor.itions
as form do
not
an
essen-
tial part of
the
Cuat, but
rather give an artistic
finish
to it. The prin-
cipal are: Supporters, Tents,
Mottoes, &c.
Supporters
are figures
of
human beings, or"
animals:
angels,
knights, ladies,
savages,
lions,
griffins,
&c.
On
old
tombstones and
the seals of knights, the possessor of
the coat
appears
as
the
bearer
of it. Supporting angels are
usually placed
behind the shield (figs.
1
and
2).
Ladies, knights, savages, &c.,
stand
at
the side of the
shield, either singly,
or
in
pairs; and the
same rule applies to ani-
mals
(figs.
3
and
4).
Tents are draperies in
the
form of a
Baldacchino, serving as a
background for the Shield.
The
outside is
generally purple, the in-
side of ermine, and they
are hung
with
golden tassels and fringes.
Such accessories are only
suited to
the coats
of Sovereigns,
and Sta-
tes;
and are of comparatively
Modern
introduction.
Mottoes,
War-cries,
&c.
are
written
on
fillets or
bands beneath
or
round the shield (fig.
5).
Examples of such
mottoes
are {he
English
"Honi soit qui
mal
y-
pense", the
American
"E
pluribus unum", or
the
Wurttemberg
"Furchtlos
und treu".
There are
also definite
rules
for
the
heraldic composition
of a
number
of coats in
one
(for
example,
in a
double coat
the figures
must
be
affronted,
&c.);
but
we
need
not enter into,
the details
of
these.
The
artistic
execution is
very
various
and
arbitrary
(fig.
6).
Plate
290.
Heraldic
Accessories.
1.
Angel, as
Supporter,
by
H. J.
Grantinn,
1628,
(Wamecke).
2. Angel, as
Supporter,
Italian, 16
th century,
(Formenschatz).
3. Lady, as
Supporter, H.
Burckmair,
Triumphal
Procession of
the
Emperor
Maximilian,
(Observe the
repetition
of
the tinctures
on
the lady's dress, the
crest,
and the
banner).
4. Griffins, as
Supporters, by
Hans
Burckmair,
(Formenschatz).
5.
Coat, with Mottoes,
1529.
6.
Composite coat,
within a
quatrefoil,
Diirer's
school,
(Formenschatz).
7.
Modern
Tent.
8.
Coat
of Arms of
the
Artists,
designed by
L.
Lesker.
In conse-
quence of an
affront
offered by
the lords
of
Rappoltstein to
the
artists employed in
the
building
of Strassburg
minster,
it is
said
that the Emperor
Sigismund
granted the
artists,
called
the
"Yunkers
of
Prague", permission to
bear
the
same
coat
of arms
—
or, three
escutcheons azure
—
(Martin
Crusii,
Schwiibische
Chronik).
527
WRITING,
PRINTING, &c.
(ORNAMENTAL
LETTERS.)
The invention
of
Writing dates back
thousands
of
years before
our era. To which
nation it
is
to be
assigned,
cannot at present
be
fixed with any
certainty. Greek
writing was
developed from
the
Phenician;
and served, in
its
turn, as
a basis for
Roman writing.
From the Roman writing, arose the Occidental
and Scandinavian
writings, as well
as the
Runic. The Latin script was
introduced
into
Germany
contemporaneously with
Christianity. The early
Middle
Ages
treated the
shapes of letters in a
some what arbitrary manner. By
the side of
the Majuscles (or capital letters)
appear the Minuscles
(or-
small letters,
produced
by
the contraction and
simplification of
the
former),
(compare the letters
E
and M in alphabet
1
on Plate
291).
By
the side
of the upright and angular Capital letters, appear the
Uncial letters
with their Tound and freer shapes (compare E, M and
U in
alphabet
2
on Plate
291).
Alongside of the perpendicular letters,
the more
convenient slanting
or Cursive
letters begin
to
be employed.
Beside the
Uncial writing, the
Gothic
period brought Text-hands into
use (Plates
294,
295,
and
296).
By
this time the gradual
trans-
formation was
so far advanced that at the first glance it is often
im-
possible
to recognise the
original
connection. The more complicated
the
Text-hands
became,
the
more difficult they were to read;
so that
it must be
considered
a happy
circumstance that the
Renascence
period
strove in
many
ways to simplify
the texts,
and
to
revive
the old Latin
alphabet,
(1
on
Plate
297).
The
invention
of
printing
in the year
1440 had
an important influence
on the developement
of
the
shapes
of letters.
The period of the decadence of
the
Renascence
'528
Writing,
Printing,
&c.
brought with it
the
decadence in the
forms of letters, which
is
most
clearly seen in
the
middle of
the 18th century. Since then,
and
especially
in recent days, a
gratifying progress has been
made
to
some-
thing
better,
although
it
cannot be said that every
attempt
at
im-
provement
has been
successful.
It must not
be
forgotten that prac-
tical needs
should be
considered,
quite as much as
aesthetic aspirations,
especially in a
domain
of such
great and general
importance as letters.
It
should alv/ays
be
borne
in
mind
that
the first
requirement is easy
reading; and that"
this
is
dependent on simplicity
and
characteristic
shape in the letters.
As
regards the
decorative effect, for in
this work
we have
chiefly
to
deal with decoration, it
has first to be
observed
that
the Antique
did not recognise the
principle of
ornamental writing,
either because
no one thought of the
possibility
of ornamenting
writing,
or because
they intentionally
preferred the
greater legibility,
or for
some other
now
unknown reason. At
a
later
date
almost
all
civilised nations
and periods
have
occupied
themselves more or
less
with the
decorative
effect of
writing. This may
take two
different
directions:
either the
letter may be
decorated in
its component
parts,
which
eventually
leads to
the
extravagance
that fishes, birds,
human forms, &c.,
in
all imaginable
contortions,
form the outline
of the
letters; or
the letter in
its
ordinary form
may receive a
decorative
finish by
means of decorative
accessories, by
being
set
in a
frame
which theen
appears
as a
free
ending, or as
a picture.
The
second
treatment
is
especially
suitable for
Initials;
and has led to
very
ingenious
com-
binations; 6.
g.
the
background
will
frequently be an
illustration of
the
subject
of the
chapter
which
the
initial begins,
(Fig.
2,
Plate
29S).
Both kinds of
decoration
may be
combined.
The first mode
of
decoration
frequently
leads
to
the loss
of the real
character of
the
letter;
in
the second
-mode it
not
infrequently
happens that the
letter
cuts the picture, or vice
versa,
in
an
unpleasant
manner.
Colour is
an important factor
in the
decoration
of
writing.
Gold, silver,
and
a
great variety
of colours,
but
above
all,
gold
and red, along
with
black, play
an
important
part in
writing in
the
miniature
painting of
the Calligraphists, as
well as in
Typography.
In
the present
work
we
are
unhappily
compelled
to
leave
this
aspect
out of
consideration.
In the Middle Ages:
it
was
principally
monks and
nuns
who
devoted
themselves to
the art
of
Writing;
from
the
13th
century
onwards, it was
also practised by
laymen.
A
long series
of
celebrated
Calligraphists might be
named.
Calligrapliy
retrograded
gradually
with
the
introduction
of Printing;
but on
the
other
hand the beit
artists
of
the Renascence,
such
as
Holbein
and
others,
did not
disdain
to
design
Initials and other
letters
for
printers,
as
may
be
proved
from a
countless
number of
old
books.
^
As
Christianity
was intro-
duced
into
Germany by
the
Irish,
northern
influences
may also
be
Writing, Printing,
&c.
529
traced
in
writing.
Up
to
the 10th
century the
decorations
of
Writing
have almost exclusively the character
of interlaced-work and
fantastically
-
interlaced
figures of animals;
but
from this period
a
vigorous plant decoration begins to
be
developed,
eventually ter-
minating,
in
later Gothic, in the endless interlacing of
confused lines.
The
Renascence period
prefers
to set
its initials in square
frames;
and these
creations are among
the most beautiful
that writing has
ever produced.
The
interlaced
and artificial ornaments
which after-
wards
became
so
common in Typography,
especially in the
17th and
18th centuries
(Plate 294.
2,
3
and
5),
are
either the invention of
the Calligraphists
of this
period, or are the
transfer
of
their archieve-
ments
to Typography. Here,
too,
as
in
so
many
other things,
Modern times revert
to
the models of
the most different
older periods;
rightly when
good is selected,
and
wrongly when the
objectionable is
revived.
Over those sins
of Modern
Writing, which culminate
in
deforming
our houses and
the
titles
of our books with
rows of
shaded
letters
in all manner of possible and
impassible places
and positions,
it is best to draw the charitable veil of silence.
Compared
with these
sins of
style, those
sentimental
garlands
of roses
and forget-me-nots,
into which
the last century
formed its lines, are tolerable.
As regards
the
technical
names
of the
kinds of letters now in
general
use:
we can
only say that they ate so
arbitrary that we shall
do
best
to
refrain altogether from
attempting
to
enumerate
them.
Whoever
wishes for
information
on
this point may be
recommended
to consult
the Specimen-book of some
good Type-foundry.
Attempts were early made
to
construct
Alphabets on a
definite
system;
to base them
on
network,
to
determine
the height and
breadth
of
the entire letter, tbe dimensions of its component
parts,
&c.;
among
others
Diirer devoted himself
to
this task. Space has
not permitted
us
to reproduce all these constructions; but as a specimen
we
have
given
on Plate
300
the constructions of a
few.
The
notation
of Numbers was
introduced at the. end of the
Middle
Ages.
Our
Numerals are an Arabian
invention, whence
their
name.
Plate
300 shows
two
collection
of
numerals of old
times which
are
not
sensibly different
from those now in use.
It is
well
known
that,
before
Numerals
were generally employed,
recourse
was
had
to
the
Latin
letters
(Roman
numerals)
for the
indication of numbers. It is
really
remarkable that
this latter apparatus,
in spite of its unpractical
character, has
remained in use
dovim
to
the present day.
Finally
we
may
say a word or two
about the
Monogram.
This
name
is given
to letters
and interfacings of letters
intended to replace
or
to indicate a name.
It
may
be
formed either by
single
ornamented
letters,
usually the initials
of the first and
family name
(Plate
300.
5
—
7),
or by all the
letters contained in
the word (Plate 300.
10).
It is not imperative that
all the
letters
should be
of
the same size
Meyer,
Handbook
of Ornament.
34
630
Romanesque
Letters.
—
Gothic Uncial
Lettres.
or
style; and if necessary some
of
them
may "he
reversed.
A Mono-
gram
should
be
well
arranged, and
clear,
so that it need
not
require
to
be guessed-at
like a
riddle. A
good effect
is produced
by adding
attributes and
badges of
dignity
to monograms.
Artistic
sense and
feeling
must
here supply the place
of
mles. Numerous
and
excellently
ornamented monograms wiU be
found
in
Gerlach:
Das
Gewerhemono-
gramm.
There are
various books on
"Writing,
as
well
as numerous
col-
lections of
Initials
and Alphabets. Prof. Hrachowina's
Initialen,
Alphabete_
und
Randleisten-
(Yienna.: Graeser) will
be
found
very
useful
in teaching. Dr.
Lamprecht's Initial- Ornamentik des 8
—
13.
Jahrhun-
derts (Leipzig:
A.
Durr) is an exhaustive
study of
the older
styles
of
writing.
Plate
291. Romanesque
Letters.
1.
Alphabet,
beginning
of
the
8th century,
S.
Cuthbert's
evan-
geliarium, British Museum,
(Shaw).
2.
Alphabet, 10th century,
MS.
British
Museum, (Shaw).
8.
Initial,
12th century,
Berlin
Museum.
4.
Initial,
12th century,
Breviarium
Cassinense,
Bibliothfeque Ma-
zarine, Paris,
(L'art pour
tous).
5.
Initial, 9th or
10th century.
6.
Initial,
12th century,
Berlin,
Museum.
7.
Initial,
12th century,
(Arnold &
Knoll).
8.
Initial,
12th century.
9
—
10.
Initials,
990,
Echternach
evangeliarum,
Gotha,
(Lamprechl).
Plate
292.
Gothic
Uncial
Letters.
1.
Alphabet, 1349,
S.
Margaret's,
King's
Lynn,
England, (Shaw).
2
—
5.
Initials,
1480,
Rouen.
6
—
7.
Letters,
stalls of S.
George's
chapel,
Windsor, end
of 15th
century,
(Shaw).
8.
Gothic
initial.
9. Gothic
initial, 1494.
10
—
17.
Initials,
1480,
Pontificale
of
Johann II.,
Archbishop of
Trier,
(Shaw).
Pate
293.
Gothic
Uncial
Letters.
1.
Alphabet,
14th century,
(John
Weale).
2
—3.
Initials,
15th century,
(Btachowina).
4—7. Initials,
14th
century, 1330.
8
—
9.
Initials,
end
of 15th
century,
(Pormenschatz).