Symbols of Honor exhibition material

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This article offers a comprehensive and descriptive list of each piece included in the Symbols of Honor: Heraldry and Family History in Shakespeare's England, one of the Exhibitions at the Folger.

The Medieval Heritage

Beginning in the fourteenth century, the creation of genealogies and coats of arms had become the domain of a group of professional "heralds at arms" who established a set of rules which were part of the "law of arms." At the same time, biblical genealogies began to be depicted in graphic form, with scribes starting to use systematic interconnected roundels to explain inter-generational relationships. The items shown, on loan from the Rare Book Department at the Free Library of Philadelphia, are early examples of this innovation.

Peter of Poitiers is thought to have created the earliest genealogical chart, or family tree, recording the line of descent from Adam and Eve to Christ. These diagrams consisted of names inside roundels, connected by lines to indicate descent from one generation to the next. This final membrane of a thirteenth-century copy of the Compendium also includes miniatures of Christ’s birth, crucifixion, and resurrection.

A Genealogical Roll

Edward IV, King of England from 1461 to 1483, seized the throne toward the end of "the Wars of the Roses," the dynastic struggle between the noble houses of Lancaster and York. The Lancastrians (Henry IV, V, and VI) had the red rose as their badge, while the Yorkists (Edward IV and Richard III) used the badge of a white rose.

This elaborately decorated parchment roll was made to demonstrate King Edward IV’s royal ancestry all the way back to Adam, and includes depictions of the resurrected Christ, Old Testament patriarchs, Roman emperors, Anglo-Saxon kings, and an armored Edward IV astride a horse. His personal motto, Counfort et lyesse (Comfort and joy) appears in many places, indicating that the roll was made for Edward himself. It emphasizes his legitimacy as king and his hereditary rights to the crowns of England, France, and Castile.

Genealogical rolls like this adopted the same diagrammatic format as the biblical genealogies, but with names and texts in squares and rectangles rather than roundels. Fifty-four coats of arms identify key individuals in the genealogy.

Items included

The Order of the Garter and The Garter King of Arms

French Influences

Tournaments and Armor

Visitations

Grants of Arms

Shakespeare's Grant of Arms

H.E.R.A.L.D

The Business of Heraldry

Badges, Mottoes, and Imprese

Disputes within the College of Arms

Heraldry for the Elite

Heraldry for All

Women's Heraldry

The First Amateur Genealogists