A NEW LOOK AT THE START OF HERALDRY: WHO, WHEN, WHERE, AND PERHAPS WHY

Speaker, Peter G. R. Howarth

In the past, heraldists competed to find the earliest seals that appeared to have heraldic designs on them, and they found isolated examples scattered over a wide area of Western Europe and dating from the second quarter of the twelfth century.  However, a more fruitful approach to the start of heraldry and its family symbolism has been an investigation into individual medieval families to see when they changed from using non-heraldic seals to using seals with heraldry.

As a result, one name stands out: Philip of Alsace, count of Flanders 1157–1191 and Count of Vermandois c.1163—1191, internationally famous at the time for his success with his retinue of knights on the tournament circuit.  It was after he became count of Vermandois that he changed from using a simple equestrian seal with an ordinary shield to a new seal with a lion on his shield and on his helmet, coupled with a counterseal where he also had a lion on his banner.  From then on, the fashion spread to his relatives and his neighbours, and from them to other families in northern France and further afield.  Philip was also strongly connected to the first English family to change from non-heraldic seals to ones with heraldry.  There are some possible explanations for the popularity of the new fashion amongst the higher aristocracy—none of them to do with recognising enemies on the battlefield—but there is not much hard evidence. Nonetheless, some interesting guesses can be made.