The Irish Rose Blog

Learn about Irish Coat of Arms

Sacre coeur! The heart, of course

Feb 14

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The Logan coat-of-arms

The Logan coat-of-arms

On St. Valentine’s Day, what else would we talk about? The heart, of course, and its prominent place in Irish and English heraldry. But, first a moment to recognize not the martyred saint Valentinus (whose relics rest in Dublin) but John Guillim, who is sort of heraldry’s patron saint. Born in 1565 in Herefordshire county, England, he became a heraldry officer in 1604 and wrote the renowned A Display of Heraldrie in 1610. Not much is known about the man who held the title of “Rouge Croix Puruivant of Arms in Ordinary” (which could easily also be the title of a Black Adder episode), but it is known that he fathered 11 children, which by itself makes him a fitting subject for this day of love and romance.

The heart in heraldry, according to Guillim, was regarded by the ancients as signifying a man of sincerity, and such a one as speaks the truth from his heart. Douglas is a good example of a coat-of-arms featuring the heart, and Adams is another.

A slightly more poignant example of a heart crest is Logan, in which a large red heart is pierced by three arrows on a gold or yellow background (signifying generosity). In fact, a Captain John Logan was a co-author to A Display of Heraldry, contributing the piece, A Treatise of Honour Military and Civil, According to the Laws and Customs of England. Perhaps that’s why the Logan family crest is so striking and dramatic.

What does a heart pierced by arrows symbolize? It seems to symbolize love in more than one culture. In an Indian fable, Kama pierces the heart of Shiva with love-producing flower arrows. These days, and especially today, a heart pierced with arrows (usually one!) means one has been struck by love. So, as you carve one into a tree today, know that you are part of a long and loving history.

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Lions, tigers, and boars?

Nov 9

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We saw a news item the other day for, of all things, boar bacon brownies. Are we ready to whip up a batch? Maybe not, though it’s hard to argue with anything made out of bacon–unless you’re the boar, of course.

The boar in Irish coat-of-arms

The boar in Irish coat-of-arms

What is it about boars, anyway? Why so many in Irish coats-of-arms?

From coins to crests to Fenian cycles, the boar is an important character in Irish history and literature. In The Pursuit of Diarmuid and Grainne (sometimes found as Dermat or Dhiarmada, and Grainne), Fionn’s opponent, Diarmuid, is killed, as was foretold, by the wild boar of Benbulbin. Pork is also the meat of choice for heroes in the afterworld, according to Irish mythology. Boar images are found on Irish artifacts as far back as 1100 BCE.

Fierce, smart, and resourceful (not to mention, tasty), the wild boar was admired enough to show up on many Irish coat-of-arms and was also popular in Scottish and English heraldry. Some coats-of-arms featuring boars are: O’Malley, O’Hanlon, Healy, Cassidy, Crowley, McDonagh, Doran, Baird, Collier, Evans, and Ferguson.

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Red-headed models add color to the catalog

Nov 7

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We had a great time at the fall photo shoot this weekend, working with our young models all day who did a great job showing off our new designs. We knew they were cute, but who knew that teenagers (and redheads!) could be so cooperative? We’ll be posting some video of the shoot soon.

3 scary coats-of-arms

Oct 31

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Coat-of-arms originated in feudal Europe, back in the 4th and 5th centuries. In those days, there were real Goths to worry about, not just kids with too much eyeliner. Besides the Goths, there were Vandals, Huns, Jutes, Vikings, Magyars, and other hostile tribes around every corner, not to mention the first recorded appearance of everyone’s new enemy, Yersinia pestis, otherwise known as Black Plague, which first reared its head in the 6th century.

Heraldry developed to transmit information about the person who held the shield, and also in some cases to intimidate opponents or repel evil spirits with threatening images. We’re not so scared of rampant lions or unicorns anymore, but there are still a few coat-of-arms that have power to chill the blood. Since it’s Halloween, I thought I’d share my favorite, most dramatic Irish coats-of-arms:

O'Reilly's bleeding hand

O'Reilly's bleeding hand

  1. O’Reilly and the Bleeding Hand. Legend has it that at one time the kingdom of Ulster was without a rightful heir. A boat race was proposed to determine succession, with the understanding that “whosoever’s hand is the first to touch the shore of Ulster, so shall he be made the king.” One contestant, an O’Neill, so desired the kingship that, upon realizing that he was losing the race, he cut off his own hand and threw it onto the shore, winning the race in letter, if not in spirit. The hand symbol shows up on many coat-of-arms, both in red and white versions. But, in the O’Reilly crest, it goes one step further, showing a flesh-colored hand that drips blood between the paws of two rampant lions. Scary!
  2. Moriarty and the Black Eagle. If you’re a Sherlock Holmes fan, Moriarty is a dark and menacing character. It
    Moriarty's bird of prey

    Moriarty's bird of prey

    certainly adds to the thrill when you come across the Moriarty coat-of-arms, and see the grave black eagle stark against the white background. One of my favorite coat-of-arms.

  3. Treacy and the Dead Duck. The coat-of-arms for Treacy and Madden families (also Tracy, O’Madden and other variations) is described as:  Sable, a falcon Volant seizing a mallard argent, or in other words, a falcon taking down a mallard duck. Instead of abstract symbols, the warlike times are illustrated frankly here in black and white, with little room for misinterpretation.

    Treacy and the Dead Duck

    Treacy and the Dead Duck

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The chevron (not the oil company)

Oct 23

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The chevron symbolizes protection or faithful service

A chevron is recognition for a notable accomplishment

The chevron and all its variations is a popular coat-of-arms element for many surnames, Irish and otherwise. It usually splits a coat-of-arms from right to left in the form of an inverted v, or a roof-top. We see the chevron in modern use as military stripes (in this smaller version its proper name is chevronel), and in that case it shares the old meaning of protection or faithful service.  In older use, it could also symbolize someone who built an important building–a church or fortress. Usually, a chevron is earned by a notable accomplishment of some kind.

You can find the chevron in almost any color, either as a solid block like in the image on the right, or as a background for other symbols.

Some Irish family coat-of-arms that feature a solid chevron include Wheeler, Tierney, Palmer, Morley, Hewitt, Carson, Abbott, Carmody, and French.

Variations on the solid block chevron, include McDermott and Freeman, which have chevrons as backgrounds for crosses laid along their lengths, or Garvey and Ashe with double chevrons. Cody has a triple chevron and White’s chevron is engrailed, which means a lacy edge with outward-facing points, a line variation signifying land or earth. Other chevrons may have edges that look like a castle or fortress top (embattled), like shark teeth (indented), like flower petals (invecked), wavy (undée), or  like little mushrooms (nebulée). Like the engrailed border, all the line variations signify something. We’ll talk more about heraldic lines in another blog post.

Happy halloween everyone!

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Welcome to The Irish Rose

Apr 3

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Learning about Irish Coat of Arms from The Irish Rose Blog!

Our Irish Rose store is your source for Irish coat-of-arms gifts and apparel, and I’m hoping this blog becomes your source of information about Irish family heraldry and coat-of-arms.

We’ve been selling coat-of-arms products for over 20 years from our St. Paul, Minnesota workshop, but we never stop running into people curious about their history. If you’re lucky enough to have (and find) your family crest, most people discover that it generates more questions than it answers.

  • - What do the coat-of-arms symbols mean?
  • - Why are they arranged the way they are?
  • - How did this crest come to be associated with my family?
  • - Do different spellings mean different families and different coats-of-arms?

In future posts, I hope to provide you with some of these answers and steer you in the right direction to find out more. I welcome your comments and questions, as well as corrections when necessary, and I hope you learn something here that brings you closer to your ancestors and your ancestral land of Ireland.

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