Description
Book SynopsisIt is difficult to envision the Middle Ages without heraldry; knights and ladies are routinely depicted with elaborate arms gracing their shields and clothing. The herald himself is also pervasive in the popular imagination, as he announces the arrival of some grandee. Edited here for the first time are some of the texts which detail the relationship between heraldic design and working heralds. That relationship changed dramatically over the fifteenth century as heralds claimed the right to design, interpret and grant arms according to an elaborate interpretive system. These texts, the work of clerics, heralds and even a future pope, describe the rules of heraldic design and the meaning of colours and charges. They also focus on the role of the herald himself, whether he is serving as a political or personal confidant, or organizing a trial by combat. Finally, they outline an imagined history of the office of arms, claiming that the herald’s authority could be traced to Julius Caesar, the Trojan hero Hector, or even the god Dionysus. These texts, little known in contemporary scholarship, provide valuable insight into the intellectual and visual culture of fifteenth-century chivalric society.
Trade Review‘Moll has done an admirable job in establishing the sources and relationships among the complex texts he has edited in this volume, and the English texts themselves. The editions themselves all appear to be models of their kind, meticulously reconstructed and clearly presented, and will surely be of considerable use to heraldists and heraldic historians--whose interests in such matters have increased significantly in recent years--as well as to students of Middle English language and literature.'
D'Arcy Jonathan Dacre Boulton, The Medieval Review
‘
A Heraldic Miscellany is an impressive book. Alongside editing the texts for the first time, Moll places them within their historical context, discussing the changing role of the herald in the fifteenth century… It is recommended reading. Moll’s intention to attract a wider scholarly audience to heraldic texts will be realised if future editions are of this quality.’
Matthew Ward,
Nottingham Medieval Studies'Moll’s volume is a refreshing and overdue resource... By making [medieval heraldic treatises] more readily available for the first time, Moll paves the way for deeper understanding and new perspectives'
Sheri Chriqui,
The Coat of Arms‘Moll has done an admirable job in establishing the sources and relationships among the complex texts he has edited in this volume, and the English texts themselves. The editions… [are] meticulously reconstructed and clearly presented, and will surely be of considerable use to heraldists and heraldic historians.’
D’Arcy Jonathan Dacre Boulton,
TMRTable of ContentsAcknowledgements
List of figures
List of abbreviations
1. General Introduction
2. Johannes de Bado Aureo’s Tractatus de armis
Introduction
b) Text
3. Eneas Silvio Piccolomini’s Eneas de heraldis
a) Introduction
b) Text
4. Dionisius, furst institutore
a) Introduction
b) Text
5. Adam Loutfut’s manuscript
a) Loutfut Introduction
Þe lawe of armes within listis
b) Introduction
c) Text
The Persewant
d) Introduction
e) Text
The Origynall Determynyng of Blasonyng of Armes
f) Introduction
g) Text
Works Cited
Glossary
Index
