C94 



HERALD HERALDRY. 



and substance, and is founded on opposition, enmity ; 

 extinction is the solution into the primitive sub- 

 stance, is union, love. Both together form the har- 

 mony of the primitive substance, and operate ac- 

 cording to the law of necessity. We think through 

 the divine reason, which we draw in by breathing 

 while we are awake. In reason alone is truth, that 

 is, in the universal human reason. The soul after 

 deth passes over into the soul of the world. 



HERALD. The etymology of this word is very j 

 uncertain. Some derive it from the German Heer 

 (army) , and Aid (a servant) ; Leibnitz, from the 

 Welsh Herod (a messenger), which, with the inser- 

 tion of /, gives the German Herald. Others explain 

 it by the German Heer and alt (in Low German, 

 old) , (one grown old in war) , because the office of 

 herald, at tournaments, was given to persons of this 

 description. Other derivations have also been pro- 

 posed. The origin of heralds is as ancient as that 

 of priests. They are found among all nations, 

 the parlementaires of the moderns being the same as 

 the heralds of the ancients. Their persons are invio- 

 lable, otherwise they could not accomplish the object 

 of their institution. The Romans had three sorts of 

 heralds the caduceatores (the same as the Grecian 

 xvvx<.s), heralds of peace ; feciales (heralds of war 

 and peace), and preecones (criers or messengers of 

 the superior magistrates). The caduceator carried 

 certain plants (verbena, as myrtle, olive branches, 

 rosemary, c.) in his hand, as a symbol of his office, 

 and for his security. Among the Grecians, he carried 

 a wand of laurel or olive (caduceus, q. v.). The 

 Athenian herald carried a wand bound round with 

 wool, and ornamented with various kinds of fruits 

 (the tioifttain) . He often united other employments 

 with his office of herald, as that of cook and 

 cupbearer. The Greek appellation XVOUXH was 

 derived from Ceryx (son of Mercury and Pandro- 

 sos, daughter of Cecrops), from whom the Atheni- 

 an heralds originated. The Spartan heralds must 

 have been derived from Talthybius, the herald of 

 Agamemnon, who was worshipped in a temple in 

 Sparta. The feciales, forming a college of twenty 

 members, established by Numa, had also a diploma- 

 tic character, as their department embraced every 

 thing connected with the declaration of war and the 

 making of treaties. If a war was determined upon, 

 they solemnly proclaimed it. If Rome considered 

 herself injured, a fecialis demanded satisfaction. If 

 this demand was not complied with within thirty- 

 three days, the fecialis went again to the hostile 

 frontiers, threw a bloody spear, and declared war 

 by a solemn formula (clarigatio). As the frontiers 

 of the Roman territory extended farther and farther 

 from the capital, this ceremony was performed upon 

 a field without the city (ager hostilis). The feciales 

 wore the sacred verbena as a wreath round their 

 temples ; and, if they were sent to conclude a treaty, 

 they carried a flint. The pracones were employed 

 to proclaim matters of public interest to the people, 

 at religious ceremonies, in the comitia, at public sales, 

 judicial trials, in the senate, on the publication of the 

 laws (which they read), at funerals, at games, in the 

 army (if a general wished to address his men), at 

 executions, and at all public meetings. In the mid- 

 dle ages, indigent knights, grown old in battle, were 

 appointed heralds. Their duty was to be arbiters at 

 the tournaments, to pass judgment on coats of arms 

 and the right of knighthood. The study of armories 

 was therefore indispensable to them ; hence the name 

 heraldry. They were also the chroniclers of those 

 times, and present on all occasions of public ceremony. 

 In France, the first herald (roi-d'armes) was crown- 

 ed and consecrated with religious ceremonies. 

 There were thirty heralds of the realm ; the second 



in rank was called Montjoye St Denis, from the war- 

 cry of king Dagobert. The heralds were united in 

 associations, and their duties formed a branch of 

 science, which was communicated only to the mem- 

 bers. If any person pretended to the character of 

 a herald, who, on examination, was found not to 

 belong to the corporation, he was driven away with 

 insults, and sometimes treated with violence. Most 

 of the European orders have their heralds, who are 

 masters of ceremonies. There are three kings at 

 arms in England. The highest is the garter king at 

 arms (garder principal); the second for the southern 

 provinces (Clarencieux); the third for the northern 

 provinces (Norroy). These three kings at arms, 

 with six subordinate heralds and four pursuivants, 

 form, under the presidency of the earl marshal, duke 

 of Norfolk, the herald's college or herald's office, 

 established in 1340. See the next article. 



HERALDRY. Arms may belong to individuals, 

 to families, or to countries. Badges and emblems 

 on shields and helms occurred in the earliest times. 

 In Numbers (chap, i., 52), the children of Israel are 

 enjoined to pitch their tents, " every man by his own 

 camp, and every man by his own standard," with 

 the ensigns of his father's house. The poets of the 

 Greeks and Romans speak of paintings and devices 

 on shields and helmets. These symbols were, more- 

 over, hereditary. Thus Xenophon relates that the 

 kings of the Medes bore a golden eagle on their 

 shields. Suetonius asserts that Domitian had a 

 golden beard for his coat of arms ; and Tacitus says 

 of the ancient Germans, that they marked their 

 shields with brilliant colours, and that certain stand- 

 ards were borne before them in battle. Notwith- 

 standing these traces of armorial bearings in the 

 ancient world, our heraldry is no older than the 

 tournaments. That armory first became common 

 and regulated by certain rules at these solemn festi- 

 vals, is corroborated by the following reasons. In 

 the first place, we find no tomb or monument, with 

 escutcheons, older than the eleventh century. The 

 most ancient monument of this kind is said to be the 

 bearings of a certain Varmond, count of Vasserburg, 

 in the church of St Emmeran, at Ratisbon. The shield 

 is coupe of argent and sable ; over it is a lion, with 

 the words " Anno Domini MX." On most of the 

 other tombs, even of the eleventh century, no arms 

 are found ; and the use of them seems to have first 

 become common in the twelfth century. The first 

 pope, who can be proved to have had a coat of arms, 

 is Boniface VIII., who filled the papal see from 1294 

 to 1303. All the earlier papal arms are the fanciful 

 inventions of later flatterers. On coins, also, no 

 armorial ensigns are found till the thirteenth cen- 

 tury. A second proof of our assumed origin of coats 

 of arms is the word blason, which denotes the science 

 of heraldry in French, English, Italian, and Spanish. 

 This word has most probably its origin in the German 

 word blasen (to blow the horn); for, whenever a new 

 knight appeared at a tournament, the herald had to 

 sound the trumpet, and, because all appeared with 

 close visors, to proclaim and explain the bearing of 

 the shield or coat of arms belonging to each. Be- 

 cause this was performed by the herald, this know- 

 ledge was called heraldry ; and because, in doing so, 

 he blew the trumpet, it was called blazoning the arms. 

 That this was a prevailing practice at tournaments, 

 may be proved from the poetry of the Troubadours 

 of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Thence it 

 came, that those knights, whose right to appear at 

 tournaments had already been announced by blazon- 

 ing their arms, bore two trumpets on their crest. 

 From the Germans, this custom was transmitted to 

 the French ; for there is no doubt, that tournainer.is 

 were usual in Germany much earlier than in France. 



