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Scots Heraldry - The Heraldry
Society of Scotland |
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Further Reading on Heraldry - By Alex Maxwell Findlater
You are probably
already pretty conversant with the normal heraldic expressions and
how they are used. The problem is that the bits you want to find
out more about are all hidden away in little corners; this is
always the case, I suppose, but most of the books will give you
the general picture, without the sort of detail which you get on
the HSS website's Forum. The detail on the Forum comes because the
participants are really keen and so go out of their way to learn
the odd, arcane and peculiar things. It is this extra knowledge
which makes the Forum such a stimulating place, although sometimes
I dread to open some of the threads!
HERALDRY ON THE WEB |
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On the web, there
are a number of heraldic sites, but the best for a general
overview is
http://www.heraldica.org, although it is slightly biased
against Scottish practice on the question of noblesse/gentility,
which Scots regard as being the same, while the English say that
nobility is as it were a grade above gentry.
Francois Velde is an
American enthusiast also has a lot on chivalric orders, the sort
of thing that we are not allowed to talk about!
but since the
advent of our Forum, this has become markedly less interesting.
Despite that there is a wealth of material in the archive. Of
course there is also the forum of The Armorial Register which is
much like that of the Heraldry Society of Scotland's at -
http://armorialregister.com/forum-new/index.php
There is also
The Heraldry Society of Scotland own FaceBook group (you need to
be a member of FB to view) at -
https://www.facebook.com/groups/HeraldrySocietyofScotland/?ref=br_rs
A specifically
Scottish site is the Baronage
http://www.baronage.co.uk which was developed by Frederick
Hogarth, with its associated magazine The Feudal Herald. |
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In fact the archive of the HSS Forum
is as good a place as any to look, if you want to research a
particular topic. Both this archive and that of rec.heraldry can
be searched on any word or combination of words; you probably know
to put inverted commas around a phrase which you want to search
for in its exact form; without the inverted commas, the search is
for any and all of the component parts. |
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BOOKS ON SCOTTISH HERALDRY
As for books, if
your interest is particularly Scottish, start with Mark Dennis'
Scottish Heraldry (HSS), also The Lion Rejoicing by
Mark Dennis and Charles Burnett (HMSO). Both are recent and
well-written and available on this site. For a fun and older
book, currently out of print, try Moncreiffe and Pottinger's
Simple Heraldry. For a view on the origins of Scots
heraldry try Beryl Platt's somewhat contentious Scottish
Hazard (Proctor Press available from Heraldry Today).
Textbooks for any
serious student of Scottish heraldry are:
Scotland’s
Historic Heraldry by Bruce McAndrew (2006 Boydell),
comprehensive and detailed by our foremost Scottish historic
heraldist.
Aspilogia Scoticana
or “Scottish Armorials
from earliest times to the start of the eighteenth century” to
give the full title, by Alex Maxwell Findlater (2006, HSS). |
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Sir Thomas
Innes of Learney's Scots Heraldry (1934, revised 1956
and revised by his son Sir Malcolm 1978). Sir Tam was an
innovative Lord Lyon and the progression of his thoughts between
the first and second editions is fascinating. His closely argued
theories and changes are due for re-evaluation.
Sir Francis
James Grant's Manual of Heraldry (1914, revised 1924 with many
later editions).
J H
Stevenson's Heraldry in Scotland (1914), probably still the
most authoritative, but sometimes difficult to read.
Heraldry in
relation to Scottish History and Art which is the text of the
Rhind Lectures given by Lord Lyon Sir James Balfour Paul in
1898.
The Treatise
on Heraldry: British and Foreign by Woodward and Burnett
(1892), which has some good Scottish stuff from George Burnett
(1822-1890), who was Lord Lyon from 1866 until 1890. Scottish
heraldry along with English went into a grand slump in the
eighteenth century and only recovered after the Lyon Office was
reorganised in 1867 after the appointment of Burnett as Lord Lyon
in 1866. Before that Lyons had appointed Deputes and there was a
lack of seriousness; moreover the Depute did not have the
authority required for the job. |
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Seton's
Scottish Heraldry (1863)
Nisbet's
System of Heraldry (1722) which is the bible and
The Science of
Herauldry (1680) also known as Scotland’s Herauldrie
(sic) by Sir George Mackenzie of Rosehaugh, the wicked Lord
Advocate, which has lots of Latin and $$$$$$ attached as well.
This is the only text on heraldry which has legal authority in
Scotland.
In 2002 the first
purely Scottish roll of arms was published, The Balliol Roll
(ca 1332) edited by Bruce A McAndrew. It was
published by the Committee on Heraldry of the New England
Historic Genealogical Society and should still be available from
them. The HSS has started the
publication of a series of facsimiles, or quasi-facsimiles, of
generally 16th century rolls of arms. The first two of
these were published in 2006 by the Society: |
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The
Dublin Armorial of Scottish Nobility (ca
1592) edited by Leslie Hodgson
The
Dunvegan Armorial (1582) edited by
John and Eilean Malden
Future armorials
in this series are planned, with Lord Crawford’s Armorial
(ca 1602) (sometimes erroneously called Lindsay Secundus)
and the Hague Roll (ca 1592) as present work-in-progress.
Also printed in
2006 by private subscription was the Slains Armorial (ca
1567) edited by Anthony Maxwell. Second-hand copies
of this may gradually come available. And in 2015 a
facsimile of The Lyndsay
of The Mount Armorial 1542 was printed in hard back
by The Armorial Register Ltd at http://www.armorialregister.com/lyndsay-armorial.html
they are also responsible in 2011 for the publication of
A Celebration of Scottish Heraldry at -
http://www.armorialregister.com/celebration-heraldry.html Another book, or perhaps
booklet might be a fairer description, published in 2006 was
Scots Heraldry Visited by John Hamilton Gaylor. This
can be obtained from the author on
gaylor@uwclub.net or by sending him a private message through
the forum.
BOOKS ON ENGLISH HERALDRY
The standard English works are those of
Fox-Davies and Boutell. Both are revised and annotated
by John Brooke-Little. His edition of Boutell’s
Heraldry is probably still the best general book on heraldry.
There are many facsimile editions of the Fox-Davies Complete
Guide to Heraldry, which makes it easy to find, but he is
opinionated and very English and full of rules rather than the
historical and scholarly appreciation of the subject Here
Brooke-Little has not
changed the text, but rather indicated up-dated views etc in
foot-notes. General books on Heraldry, all from an English
view-point, include: |
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An Heraldic
Alphabet by John Brooke-Little
The Oxford
Guide to Heraldry by Robinson and Woodcock
Heraldry for
the Local Historian and Genealogist by Stephen Friar
Stephen
Slater's finely written and very colourful The Complete
Book of Heraldry
A New
Dictionary of Heraldry by Stephen Friar
also anything by
Ottfried Neubecker and Carl von Volborth.
RECENT WORK: JOURNALS
For up to date
matter, the best source is journals, particularly the Double
Tressure and the Coat of Arms. You are presumably
already enjoying the current DT, but a lot of back numbers are
available and indeed the early ones have some of the best
articles. The CoA is published by the Heraldry Society (England),
see their website.
SECOND-HAND & REPRINTED BOOKS
For used books,
search on abebooks
http://dogbert.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchEntry or on
http://www.used.addall.com, which is a compilation of various
web-lists of books. There is also
http://ukbookworld.com/cgi-bin/search.pl, which has only UK
booksellers. But if you want a book badly enough, it only costs
the extra postage! For books which are still in print, I presume
that Barnes & Noble or Amazon are the best; however with heraldry,
there are never very many books in print.
There are also
many Scottish Heraldic reprinted books (facsimiles), that can be
found in The Armorial Register Shop, such as Heraldry in
Scotland Vol.1 & 2, The Arms of The Baronial Police Burghs of
Scotland, The Arms of The Royal & Parliamentary Burghs of
Scotland, The Arms of The Scottish Bishoprics and many more:
http://www.armorialregister.com/heraldry-shop.html
Good luck |
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© The Heraldry Society of
Scotland last Update
27 Oct 2021 |
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