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Pastoureau, M & Popoff, M., Grand armorial equestre de la Toison d'Or, (editions du Gui, Paris, 2001)

A beautiful two-volume edition of a 15^th century roll of arms associated with the Order of the Golden Fleece.  It contains the arms of Kings, Princes, and nobles of most of the European nations at that time.  Its author was John le Fevre, chief officer of arms of the Order of the Golden Fleece from 1429-1468. This set is the same manuscript as the one described in Pinches and Wood, A European Armorial (q.v.).  The first volume is a complete color photo-facsimile of the roll of arms in full color.  The second volume is in French and contains information concerning the Order, the Roll, and a brief passage about each set of arms included in the roll. This brief passage includes the blazon, the identity of the owner as listed in the roll, and the identity as research has suggested.  This volume is included in the bibliography due to the inclusion of several plates that contain exclusively Scottish armory.  The roll is organized geographically, making the Scottish section relatively easy to locate.

Pastoureau, Michel, Traité d'Héraldique 2nd edition, (Picard, Paris 1993) (ISBN 2-7084-0413-X; ISSN 0242 - 7249)

An excellent book on the heraldry of Europe, with qualitative and quantitative analyses of heraldry in the 13th-15th c. It has occasional mentions of Scots heraldry. Very useful discussions of tincture use and charge use by place, by time and by social class in Europe. While this is not a very useful sole source for Scots heraldry, the passing mentions of Scots heraldry are very valuable in placing Scots heraldry with an overall European context. The book is entirely in French.

Pinches, Rosemary and Wood, Anthony, A European Armorial, (Heraldry Today, London, 1971) (ISBN 0 900455 13 6)

This is a re-drawing of a 15th c. roll of arms.  This is the same manuscript as the one described in Pastoureau and Popoff, Grand Armorial Equestre de la Toison d’Or (q.v.)  The book has an introduction about the history of the manuscript, its author and the Order of the Golden Fleece, and a brief discussion of Polish heraldry.

The re-drawings are mostly in black and white (with a few color examples) and names and attributions are given for the armory.

The black and white re-drawings of the painted color originals are as faithful to the originals as the medium allows. Unfortunately, some important artistic and heraldic  nuances are lost (or inadvertently introduced) due to the reproduction method. With the advances in technology that have allowed the production of a color photo-facsimile of the roll, we suggest that students of this roll familiarize themselves with the details of the artwork using Pastoureau and Popoff’s photo-facsimile.

A poster containing lively drawings of the standards of 55 chiefs who have matriculated standards in the Lyon Register. It should be noted that other chiefs have matriculated standards since this work was published.

This book is primarily a legal discussion of rights to heraldry in Scotland. It is sparsely illustrated, and only useful to those with an intense interest in the legalistic aspects of Scots heraldry.

A treatise in the classic style on Scots heraldry, with standard heraldic treatise organization. It has nice line drawing and color illustrations. It discusses issues of rights to Arms and legal aspects of heraldry in Scotland. It is more extensive, but less current, than Innes of Learney on this topic.

A two-volume set. The first volume gives a brief history of the rolls included, a number of redrawn colored plates, and a list of names in the order in which they occur in the plates. The second volume consists of heraldic and genealogical notes on the contents, and an index to those notes. Stodart often will cross-reference the materials in the rolls, both to this volume, and to Lindsay of the Mount’s Armorial. Most of the rolls are only excerpted, rather than being given in their entirety. The excerpts appear to include some of the more distinctive or unusual armories.

The rolls included are:

·         Armorial de Gelre (Scots portion): See Adam-Even.

·         Armorial de Berry (Scots portion): See Clouston.

·         Forman's Roll: Written by Sir Robert Forman, Lyon King of Arms. Original compiled ca. 1555-1560.

·         Sunderland Hall MS: Written at the time of James VI.

·         Additions to Sir David Lindsay's MS: Additions to the original 1542 MS (see Lindsay of the Mount)

·         Workman's MS: Compiled ca. 1565-66, a very large manuscript.

·         Kings' and Nobility's Arms: Probably written in the reign of Mary.

·         Sir David Lindsay the Younger's MS: Written between 1603 and 1605.

·         Sir James Balfour's MS: Mostly 17th c. but some 16th c. armory.

·         Lyon Register: From the visitations from 1672-78.

·         Earl of Crawford's MS: From reign of James VI.

·         Gentlemen's Arms: Compiled at time of Charles I.

·         Funeral Escutcheons: Compiled from 1687 on.

·         Sundries: From various 16th and 17th c. sources.

Urquhart, R., Scottish Burgh and County Heraldry, (Heraldry Today, London, 1973) (ISBN: 0 900455 24 1)

Urquhart, R., Scottish Civic Heraldry, (Heraldry Today, London, 1977) (ISBN: 0 900455 26 8)

Urquhart, R., Scottish Civic Heraldry 2, (The Scottish Library Association, 2001) (ISBN 0-900649-23-2)

This three-volume set discusses the arms matriculated to municipal entities in Scotland in three eras: before the 1975 local government reorganization, between the 1975 reorganization and the 1996 reorganization, and following the last reorganization.  The first volume is concerned exclusively with burgh and county heraldry from the earliest days to 1973.  The second volume is concerned with the armory following the first reorganization, and ending in 1977.  A clear majority of the entities created had already matriculated armory by that point in time.  The third volume includes those entities which matriculated armory under the 1975 organization after 1977, together with the armory of all entities matriculating armory following the second reorganization. In all three volumes, each set of armory is accompanied by a large scale black and while line drawing of the arms, a copy of the blazon, the location in the Lyon Register where the matriculation may be found, and a text description of some of the more important features of the history of the entity or why the design granted was chosen.  For those municipalities which have not matriculated armory, a brief description of any symbol used is provided.

Way of Plean, George and Squire, Romilly, Scottish Clan and Family Encyclopedia (Updated Edition), (Harper Collins Publishers, Glasgow, 1998) (ISBN 0 00 472223 X)

Way of Plean, G., Scottish Clan and Family Encyclopedia, (Harper Collins Publishers, Glasgow 1994) (ISBN: 0 00 470547 5)

Our favorite clan book, and the only one we use with frequency. It gives a brief discussion of heraldry in Scotland, tartans, and the law of the Clan. For each clan that is a member of the Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs, a two-page discussion is given. The discussion includes general clan and tartan history information but also includes information on the arms, crest, motto, supporters, badges and flags of the Chief of that clan. Drawings of many of the Standards by Don Pottinger are included. For those clans that are not members of the Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs, the volume gives a shorter discussion. This discussion also includes information on the arms, crest, motto, etc. of the chief, or the last known chief, of the clan.

This volume was written with research support from Lord Lyon (Sir Malcolm Innes of Edingight) and the Lyon Clerk and Carrick Pursuivant (Mrs. C.G.W. Roads.) It was also supported by the Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs. All blazons given in this book are referenced to the Lyon Register.

Each edition is completely revised and updated.  However, the most obvious difference between the editions is the inclusion in the 1998 edition of a page indicating the four chiefs of name who were recognized by the Lord Lyon between the two publication dates.