The Lost Heraldry of Europe:

Sixteen Shields inSt. Thomas Church Fifth Avenue

Presented by Maria A. DeringMember, Committee on Heraldry,

New York Genealogical & Biographical Society

9 November 2009

•You are about to see sixteen shields -- newly photographed by Douglas Kiddie -- that form anintegral part of the World War I Memorial in St. Thomas Church. All of the countries representedwere allies of the United States during WWI. Other illustrations have been incorporated as needed.

•John Shannon and Jorge Rivera gave yeoman service in identifying the countries -- some extant,some long gone -- which these shields represent; John and Jorge also supplied additional examplesof the heraldry of those countries and ruling houses.

•English heraldic artist and shield maker Baz Manning kindly donated his time and expertise tocomment on the drafting and painting techniques employed. Baz also shared his evaluation of thequality and style of the work, and speculated on the identity of the artist.

Many thanks to everyone who contributed to this presentation and to making thisevent possible, especially the clergy and staff of St. Thomas Church. Thank youfor having us here tonight.

Let’s turn now to ...

The World War I Memorial

Based on the concept of St. Thomas’ architect BertramGoodhue, the World War I Memorial was designed by LeeLawrie (1877-1963), one of the finest architectural sculptorsof his day.

Here is the memorial.

We’ll be looking at theseshields individually in afew moments. > > > >

Here are the 16 shields. [switch]

As you’ve seen, they are mounted in two groups ofeight, four on top and four on the bottom, on theleft- and right-hand doors of the Memorial. (Thosedoors are kept locked; the integrity of the Memorialand those it honors remain intact.)

A quick word about Lee Lawrie: he is perhapsmost famous in New York for his Art Deco workat Rockefeller Center.

Here is his “Wisdom,”above the entrance to 30Rockefeller Plaza:

And here is his Archangel Michael, in St. Thomas:

Here are some of the names of those from St. Thomaswho fought and died in World War I.

The names of the dead are rendered in gold.

Lee Lawrie also designed the 14 shields for theInternational Building (20 West 51st St.) atRockefeller Center.

But Lawrie’s shields do not represent anycountries, governments, or families.

The shields do incorporate heraldic elementsrendered in non-traditional, muddy colors tocreate a roll call, if you will, of imaginarycountries that exist only in Rockefeller Center.

Did Lawrie, the Art Deco master,design not only the framework andcarved details of the WWIMemorial, but also its traditionalshields?

The answer is ...

probably not.

For these reasons ...

According to heraldist Baz Manning, the lions andeagles of the St. Thomas shields fill the space in amedieval manner, drawn almost to the edges. Theartist was familiar -- and most likely, comfortable --with this convention.

We don’t know that Lawrie was. His known worksare almost exclusively Art Deco. And we do knowhe used a commercial fabricator for the shields atRockefeller Center.

to the arms of Serbia ...

Compare the Arms of Richard II

(r. 1377 - 1399)

or compare the way thecharges fill the space in …

the Neville arms

… to this Belgian lion.

The examples are similar though separated by centuries.The charges fill the field (background).

As a rule, Lawrie’s do not. In fact, he seems to me tohave embraced a minimalist approach.

Here is another example from St. Thomas:

Baz Manning commented:

“This man [the heraldic artist] certainly knew what he wasdoing. He has followed one of the first rules we aretaught, that ‘a charge must fairly fill the space it is tooccupy.’ His crosses may be too big to modern eyes butfollow this principle perfectly …”.

Manning speculates, “I wonder if [theSt. Thomas shields] were done by theCollege of Arms? Now as then theartists are all experts at working onvellum and paper but have no ideahow to paint a mirror finish on a shieldof wood or metal.”

So -- who did design and paint the 16shields in St. Thomas Church?

We don’t know … yet.

Work remains to be done.

And the mystery adds to my interest inthese 16 shields, to which I turn now.

Let’s take a closer look.

The first shield ...

is that of New Zealand. Thecoat of arms was granted byKing George V in 1911; thecurrent version, by QueenElizabeth II in 1956. Theshield itself (pictured here)has not changed.

The quarterly design:

top left: the four stars of theSouthern Cross; top right: agolden fleece, representingthe country’s farmingindustry; bottom left: a wheatsheaf representing agriculture;fourth: the two hammers ofmining and industry. Thepale (center band) stands formaritime trade and theimmigrant settlers of NewZealand.

The coat of arms of New Zealand

left: since 1956; right: 1911-1956

The central shield remains the same.

The second shield …

At the time of World War I, this countrydid not have an official emblem for thenation. The ruler had a ...

mon:

But the series of shields in the Memorial hadto be unified artistically, so the designercreated this shield from existing symbols inorder to represent our World War I ally,

Japan

The next shield is part of the coat of arms ofSouth Africa, in use since 1910; a new designwas approved by the London College of Armsin 1930.

Here it is:

The female figurerepresents Hope; inthe top rightquadrant we see twoblack wildebeests;bottom left, anorange tree, andbottom right, a trekwagon in silver.

The full coat of arms of South Africa,in use through 2000, looks like this:

and the current arms:

Next, to the Balkans ...

Montenegro

The shield represents the 2-headed eagle in flight, of theHouse of Petrovic-Njegos.

It is a symbol of Byzantineand ultimately Roman origin.The design was inspired bythat of the Russian Empire,with which the ruling familyof Montenegro had closedynastic and political ties inthe nineteenth century, whenthe coat was first adopted inits current form.

The shield within the St.Thomas shield is curious ...

The St. Thomas heraldic artist made the eagle dominant on theshield and set the lion within it. However, in the Arms of theKingdom of Montenegro (1910-1918), only the lion is on theshield.

You’ll all recognize the next shield.

Royal Coat ofArms, UnitedKingdom.This is the official coat ofarms of the British monarch.

The blazon: Quarterly, first andfourth Gules three lions passant gardant inpale Or armed and langued Azure (forEngland), second quarter Or a lionrampant within a double tressure flory-counter-flory Gules (for Scotland), thirdquarter Azure a harp Or stringed Argent(for Ireland), the whole surrounded by theGarter; for a Crest, upon the Royal helmthe imperial crown Proper, thereon a lionstatant gardant Or imperially crownedProper; Mantling Or and ermine; forSupporters, dexter a lion rampant gardantOr crowned as the Crest, sinister a unicornArgent armed, crined and unguled Proper,gorged with a coronet Or composed ofcrosses patée and fleurs de lis a chainaffixed thereto passing between theforelegs and reflexed over the back alsoOr. Motto 'Dieu et mon Droit' in thecompartment below the shield, with theUnion rose, shamrock and thistle engraftedon the same stem.

You’ve already seen the shield on the coatof arms of the…

Kingdom ofBelgium

Meet Leo Belgicus. Heappears on the shield inaccordance with theBelgian Constitution:“The Belgian nationtakes red, yellow andblack as colors, and as astate coat of arms theBelgian lion with themotto ‘Unity MakesStrength.’” The Royaldecree of 17 March1837 determined theform of the arms.

Following are thegreater arms, rarelyused. (They adorn the greatseal that is affixed to laws andinternational treaties.)

Greater Arms ofthe Kingdom ofBelgiumLeo Belgicus holds sway in themiddle of the coat of arms.Above the mantle rise bannerswith the arms of the nineprovinces that constitutedBelgium in 1837. They are(from dexter to sinister)Antwerp, West Flanders, EastFlanders, Liège, Brabant,Hainaut, Limburg, Luxembourgand Namur.

Since the province of Brabantwas split into Flemish Brabant,Walloon Brabant and Brussels in1995, the greater arms no longerreflect the present territorialdivisions of the state. Thechanges made to the arms of theFlemish provinces as a result ofthis decision, are not reflected inthe great seal either.

Turning to Eastern Europe ...

Kingdom ofSerbia, 1882-1918

The St. Thomas artist has takensome liberties with this work: headded a green sword in the middleof the central shield.

The four letters are thought to beeither the Cyrillic “C” [“S”] or theGreek Β [beta]. If Cyrillic, theysignify the Serbian words “SamoSloga Srbina Spasava” [OnlyUnity Saves Serbs]. If Greek,they represent the first letter ofeach word in the Greek phrase“King of Kings Rules over Kings”from the Gospel of St. John.

The coat of arms of the currentSerbian Republic is the same asthat of the Obrenovic dynasty;these arms were re-adopted in2004, having been first granted in1882.

Republic of Serbia: 2004-current

Note that they retained the royal emblems.

Kingdom ofRomania,1881-1922

A fascinating, intricate shield.Despite the heavy-handedlaying on of paint, note thedetails in the gilded figuresand the care taken in theirexecution.

The design dates from 1859,when the countries ofWallachia and Moldaviaunited. Their two heraldicsymbols, the eagle (top left)and the auroch (bull, topright) were officiallyjuxtaposed.

Romania had three officialcoats of arms: 1881-1922,1922-1947, and the latest,which follows. In all cases,they preserved the design ofthe central shield.

On the left, the new Romanian coat of arms, adopted 10 Sep.1992. It is based on the lesser coat of arms (right) in use from1922-1947, with modifications.

A treat! Baz Manning took this photo of the oldRomanian coat of arms on a coach door. Theshield is identical to the one in St. Thomas!

Off to the New World!

The next shield is in the top left corner of theright-hand door to the World War I Memorial.

CanadaProbably the most complex shield inthe collection, taking in fourprovinces of one country.

Quartered:

top left: from the coat of arms ofOntario; granted by Queen Victoriaon 26 May 1868. Augmented withsupporters and crest -- to follow -- byKing Edward VII, 27 Feb. 1909.

top right: from the first coat of armsof Quebec (1868-1939); granted 1868by Queen Victoria.

bottom left: shield from arms ofNova Scotia, used 1867-1929; yes,that is a salmon in the middle. NovaScotia holds the oldest coat grantedoutside Britain, by King Charles I in1625.

bottom right: New Brunswick,granted by Queen Victoria 26 May1868. The original coat was only ashield, carrying the ship.

But wait ...

… doesn’t Canada have ten provinces and threeterritories?

Yes, indeed, but ...

Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, and NovaScotia are the original provinces, formed whenBritish North American colonies federated onJuly 1, 1867, into the Dominion of Canada. Hereyou see only the shields from their arms.

The coats of arms of the four original provinces are:

QuebecNew Brunswick

Ontario

and the shield in usefrom 1869-1929 onthe arms of NovaScotia

On to SouthAmerica … Brazil!

The coat of arms of Brazil wascreated on 19 Nov. 1889, justfour days after Brazil became arepublic. The shield you seehere represents the SouthernCross in the center. The 27stars surrounding it representBrazil’s 26 states and theFederal District.

The complete coat of armsfollows.

Portugal:11th - 13th centuries

First documented coatof arms - 11th century,during the time ofSancho I and Sancho II.That coat showed thesesame five blueescutcheons charged bysilver dots.

Ca. 1252, under AlfonsoII, the shield was addedwith the red border andgolden castles, as here.

From 1385-1816,elements were addeduntil this coat of arms ...

… was adopted in 1911. As you can see, it is basedon the arms (especially the shield) in use since theeleventh century.

Staying inwarmer climes,we come to thearms of Greece.

The first modern Greeknational emblem wasprovided for in theConstitution ofEpidauros, 1 Jan. 1822and established by decreeon 15 Mar. 1822. Itlooked very much likethe shield on the left.

The emblem hasundergone many changesin modern times, throughJune 1975. However, thecentral cross remainsalmost the same.Examples follow.

The Greek State Coat ofArms during the GlőcksburgDynasty, 1863-1924 and1935-1973.

3rd Hellenic Republic, from1975

The Royal & State Coat ofArms during the reign ofKing Otto (1833-1862). Itwas inspired by the royalBavarian Coat of Arms.

France

By my count, Francehas had eight coats ofarms and at least onenational emblem.

The shield in St.Thomas Church seemsmost closely related tothe arms of the ThirdRepublic, following.

However, many of thecoats of arms and thecurrent nationalemblem use the fasce(bundle of branches)and ax as a centralsymbol.

The French Third Republic was the republican government of France between theend of the Second French Empire (following the defeat of Louis-Napoléon in theFranco-Prussian war) in 1870 and the Vichy Regime after the invasion of France bythe German Third Reich in 1940.

The current emblem of France,

adopted in 1912

Italy

The shield of Italy,like that of Greece,is simple and clear.Here, the whitepaint has yellowed.

The development ofItaly’s coats ofarms is as varied asthe country’shistory. A fewexamples appear onthe next slide.

However, the shielddesign hasremained fairlyconstant, with theexception of thefascist period andthe modern arms.

Arms of theKingdom ofItaly, 1870–1890version.

Arms asmodified underFascism,1929–1944.

Arms of thefascist ItalianSocialRepublic,1944–1945.

Nationalemblem ofItaly,adopted 5May 1948

and now, the best for last ...

Lesser StateEmblem, RussianEmpire - 1883

The two main elements ofRussian state symbols (thetwo-headed eagle and themounted figure slaying aserpent or dragon) predatePeter the Great.

The figure was notofficially identified as SaintGeorge until 1730, when itwas described as such in anImperial decree. The olderform (a mounted dragonslayer known as”pobedonotsve,” (“theslayer/vanquisher”) wasalways associated with theGrand Duchy of Muscovy.

On the next slide, I explainthe myriad shields seenhere.

The shields on the Lesser Arms of Russia

The current coat of arms of the Russian Federation was designed by artist YevgenyUkhnalyov; it was adopted officially on November 30, 1993. The imperial crowns standfor the unity and sovereignty of Russia both as a whole and in its constituent republicsand regions.

The modern arms of Russia were instated by a presidential decree in 1993, and then by aFederal Law signed by President Vladimir Putin on December 20, 2000.

and, finally, we arrive at Australia.

Australia

The first coat of armswas granted by KingEdward VII on 7 May1908, and the currentversion by KingGeorge V on 19 Sep.1912.

The shield, shownhere, contains thebadge of eachAustralian state:from top left - NewSouth Wales,Victoria, Queensland.

Bottom row: SouthAustralia, WesternAustralia, andTasmania.

Coat of arms since 1912;supporters are a redkangaroo and an emu.The shield is the same asthat which hangs in St.Thomas Church.

The 1908 coat ofarms, with anearlier version ofthe shield.

Photo credits:

Douglas Kiddie

Baz Manning

Maria Dering

www.wikipedia.com (all images used in public domain)