Boars in heraldry - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The wild boar and a boar's head are common charges

Charge (heraldry)

In heraldry, a charge is any emblem or device occupying the field of an escutcheon . This may be a geometric design or a symbolic representation of a person, animal, plant, object or other device...

in heraldry

Heraldry

Heraldry is the profession, study, or art of creating, granting, and blazoning arms and ruling on questions of rank or protocol, as exercised by an officer of arms. Heraldry comes from Anglo-Norman herald, from the Germanic compound harja-waldaz, "army commander"...

. A complete beast may represent what are seen as the positive qualities of the boar, namely courage and fierceness in battle; a boar's head may represent hospitality (from the custom of serving the boar's head in feasts

Meal

A meal is an instance of eating, specifically one that takes place at a specific time and includes specific, prepared food.Meals occur primarily at homes, restaurants, and cafeterias, but may occur anywhere. Regular meals occur on a daily basis, typically several times a day...

), or it may symbolize that the bearer of the arms

Coat of arms

A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...

is a noted hunter.

In classical heraldry of the late medieval and early modern period, the boar is somewhat rarer than the lion

Lion (heraldry)

The lion is a common charge in heraldry. It traditionally symbolises bravery, valour, strength, and royalty, since traditionally, it is regarded as the king of beasts.-Attitudes:...

, eagle

Eagle (heraldry)

The eagle is used in heraldry as a charge, as a supporter, and as a crest. Parts of the eagle's body such as its head, wings or leg are also used as a charge or crest....

or bear

Bears in heraldry

The bear is a common charge in heraldry, perhaps inherited from its totemic use among Germanic peoples and by some interpreted as symbolizing strength, cunning and ferocity in the protection of one's kindred. Numerous cities around the world have adopted the bear in their arms, notably the Swiss...

. A notable example from the late medieval period is the white boar

White boar

The White Boar was the personal device or badge of the English King Richard III of England , and is an early instance of the use of boars in heraldry....

of Richard III of England

Richard III of England

Richard III was King of England for two years, from 1483 until his death in 1485 during the Battle of Bosworth Field. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty...

(1452–1485). The boar appears frequently on coats of arms of towns or cities designed in modern times.
More rare than the boar is the sow or female pig (often shown as suckling piglets), found on some municipal coats of arms such as that of Albano Laziale

Albano Laziale

Albano Laziale is a comune in the province of Rome, on the Alban Hills, in Latium, central Italy. It is also a suburb of Rome, which is 25 km distant. It is bounded by other communes of Castel Gandolfo, Rocca di Papa, Ariccia and Ardea. Located in the Castelli Romani area of Lazio...

Early history

The boar was used as an emblem in some instances during antiquity and the early medieval period (i.e. predating the development of classical European heraldry

Heraldry

). During the Roman Empire

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

, at least three legions

Roman legion

A Roman legion normally indicates the basic ancient Roman army unit recruited specifically from Roman citizens. The organization of legions varied greatly over time but they were typically composed of perhaps 5,000 soldiers, divided into maniples and later into "cohorts"...

are known to have had a boar as their emblems - Legio I Italica

Legio I Italica

Legio prima Italica was a Roman legion levied by emperor Nero on September 22, 66 . There are still records of the I Italica in the Danube border in the beginning of the 5th century...

, Legio X Fretensis

Legio X Fretensis

Legio X Fretensis was a Roman legion levied by Augustus Caesar in 41/40 BC to fight during the period of civil war that started the dissolution of the Roman Republic...

and Legio XX Valeria Victrix

Legio XX Valeria Victrix

Legio vigesima Valeria Victrix was a Roman legion, probably raised by Augustus some time after 31 BC. It served in Hispania, Illyricum, and Germania before participating in the invasion of Britannia in 43 AD, where it remained and was active until at least the beginning of the 4th century...

.
The Knocknagael Boar Stone is a well-known Pictish stone

Pictish stones

Pictish stones are monumental stelae found in Scotland, mostly north of the Clyde-Forth line. These stones are the most visible remaining evidence of the Picts and are thought to date from the 6th to 9th centuries, a period during which the Picts became Christianized...

with a depiction of a boar emblem dating to ca. the 7th century. In this context, the name of Orkney is interpreted as being derived from orc-, the Celtic for "pig", presumably from a Pictish tribe which had the boar or wild pig as their emblem. The boar also appears to have been used as an emblem during the Viking Age

Viking Age

Viking Age is the term for the period in European history, especially Northern European and Scandinavian history, spanning the late 8th to 11th centuries. Scandinavian Vikings explored Europe by its oceans and rivers through trade and warfare. The Vikings also reached Iceland, Greenland,...

, reflected in the mythological boar Gullinbursti

Gullinbursti

Gullinbursti is a boar in Norse mythology.When Loki had Sif's hair, Freyr's ship Skíðblaðnir and Odin's spear Gungnir fashioned by the Sons of Ivaldi, he bet his own head with Brokkr that his brother Eitri wouldn't have been able to make items to match the quality of those mentioned above.So to...

, a representation of the god Freyr

Freyr

Freyr is one of the most important gods of Norse paganism. Freyr was highly associated with farming, weather and, as a phallic fertility god, Freyr "bestows peace and pleasure on mortals"...

, and in Hildisvíni

Hildisvini

In Norse mythology, Hildisvíni is Freyja's boar which she rides when not using her cat-drawn chariot.It is also said to be Freyja's human lover, Ottar, in disguise, and is the reason why Loki consistently accuses her of being "wanton" by riding her lover in public.It was also the helmet of Áli...

("battle pig"), the boar of the goddess Freya

Freya

In Norse mythology, Freyja is a goddess associated with love, beauty, fertility, gold, seiðr, war, and death. Freyja is the owner of the necklace Brísingamen, rides a chariot driven by two cats, owns the boar Hildisvíni, possesses a cloak of falcon feathers, and, by her husband Óðr, is the mother...

, and also mentioned in Beowulf
Beowulf
Beowulf , but modern scholars agree in naming it after the hero whose life is its subject." of an Old English heroic epic poem consisting of 3182 alliterative long lines, set in Scandinavia, commonly cited as one of the most important works of Anglo-Saxon literature.It survives in a single...

as a figure of a boar worn in battle on the crest of a helmet.

With the development of heraldry

Heraldry

in the later Middle Ages, the boar makes an appearance as the White Boar

White boar

The White Boar was the personal device or badge of the English King Richard III of England , and is an early instance of the use of boars in heraldry....

, personal device of Richard III of England

Richard III of England

, used for large numbers of his livery badges.

The Buzic noble family of Bohemia

Bohemia

Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...

used a boar's head as heraldic device from the 14th century, later (as Zajíc) combined with a hare.

Early Modern and modern examples

In early modern heraldry, use of a boar's head (rather than the entire animal) became a popular device.
Siebmachers Wappenbuch

Siebmachers Wappenbuch

Siebmachers Wappenbuch refers to two heraldic multivolume book series of armorial bearings or coats of arms of the nobility within the Holy Roman Empire .The Old Siebmacher...

(1605) shows a boar in the coat of arms of the Schweinichen noble family.

Modern rulers who have used the boar's head as part of their coats of arms include Joseph Bonaparte

Joseph Bonaparte

Joseph-Napoléon Bonaparte was the elder brother of Napoleon Bonaparte, who made him King of Naples and Sicily , and later King of Spain...

, Joachim Murat

Joachim Murat

Joachim-Napoléon Murat , Marshal of France and Grand Admiral or Admiral of France, 1st Prince Murat, was Grand Duke of Berg from 1806 to 1808 and then King of Naples from 1808 to 1815...

Family coats of arms

In Scotland, a boar's head is the crest

Crest (heraldry)

A crest is a component of an heraldic display, so called because it stands on top of a helmet, as the crest of a jay stands on the bird's head....

of Clan Campbell

Clan Campbell

Clan Campbell is a Highland Scottish clan. Historically one of the largest, most powerful and most successful of the Highland clans, their lands were in Argyll and the chief of the clan became the Earl and later Duke of Argyll.-Origins:...

, symbolizing courage and fierceness. Three boar's heads appear in the coats of arms of the related clans Swinton

Clan Swinton

Clan Swinton is a Lowland Scottish clan and founder of Clan Gordon, Clan Elphinstone, Clan Arbuthnott, Clan Nisbet and the Greystoke Family. Being a Border family, they were prominent Border Reivers.-Origins:...

, Gordon

Clan Gordon

Clan Gordon, also known as the House of Gordon, is a Scottish clan. The chief of the clan was the powerful Earl of Huntly, now also Marquess of Huntly.-Origins:...

, Nesbitt

Clan Nesbitt

Clan Nesbitt is a Scottish clan recognised by the Lord Lyon King of Arms and first mentioned in a Scottish charter of 1139. It is a lowland family centred in Berwickshire, East Lothian, Edinburgh and Ayrshire, with a significant historical presence in Northumberland and Durham...

and Urquhart

Clan Urquhart

Urquhart is a Highland Scottish clan. They traditionally occupied the lands in the district and town of Cromarty, a former Royal Burgh with an excellent natural harbour on the tip of The Black Isle. Chiefs of the Clan were Barons and hereditary Sheriffs of the county for hundreds of years...

. The Keating

Keating (surname)

Keating is an old Irish family name which originated with the Cambro Norman invaders in the 12th century, mostly settling in Wexford in the province of Leinster, where the most prominent family were based at Baldwinstown castle...

clan uses a boar going through a holly bush to symbolize toughness and courage.

In Spain, the coats of arms of the noble families Garmendia

Garmendia

Garmendia is the surname of a noble family of the Basque Country region of Guipuzcoa, in Spain. The surname means "the volcano" or "the fire mountain" , after Garmendia de Iraurgui, later known as Salvatierra de Iraurgui, later the site of the cities of Azpeitia and Azkoitia.The family Garmendia...

, Urraga, Urrutia, Urieta and Urmeneta have a boar. Boars, wolves and bears are common charges in Basque

Basque people

The Basques as an ethnic group, primarily inhabit an area traditionally known as the Basque Country , a region that is located around the western end of the Pyrenees on the coast of the Bay of Biscay and straddles parts of north-central Spain and south-western France.The Basques are known in the...

armory, especially from Guipuzcoa.

Three boars are seen on coats of arms of Grimsby

Grimsby

Grimsby is a seaport on the Humber Estuary in Lincolnshire, England. It has been the administrative centre of the unitary authority area of North East Lincolnshire since 1996...

and James Edward Oglethorpe. In addition, the Sullivan-Mor coat of arms bears a boar, and the Sullivan-Ber crest has two. The Doran clan, being an off-shoot of the Sullivans, has a boar upon its crest, as well. The Rogan coat of arms features a boar crossing a hilltop.

Towns

Boar charges are also often used in canting

Canting arms

Canting arms are heraldic bearings that represent the bearer's name in a visual pun or rebus. The term cant came into the English language from Anglo-Norman cant, meaning song or singing, from Latin cantāre, and English cognates include canticle, chant, accent, incantation and recant.Canting arms –...

(heraldic pun

Pun

The pun, also called paronomasia, is a form of word play which suggests two or more meanings, by exploiting multiple meanings of words, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use and abuse of homophonic,...

ning). The German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

towns of Eberbach

Eberbach (Baden)

Eberbach is a town in Germany, in northern Baden-Württemberg, located 33 km east of Heidelberg. It belongs to the Rhein-Neckar-Kreis. Its sister city is Ephrata, United States.- Location :...

and Ebersbach an der Fils

Ebersbach an der Fils

Ebersbach is a town in the district of Göppingen in Baden-Württemberg, in southern Germany. It is located on the river Fils, 10 km west of Göppingen, and 26 km east of Stuttgart. Stuttgart is a hub of industrial activity and is surrounded by dozens of smaller towns and cities.The name...

, both in Baden-Württemberg

Baden-Württemberg

Baden-Württemberg is one of the 16 states of Germany. Baden-Württemberg is in the southwestern part of the country to the east of the Upper Rhine, and is the third largest in both area and population of Germany's sixteen states, with an area of and 10.7 million inhabitants...

, and Ebersbach, Saxony

Ebersbach, Saxony

Ebersbach is a town in the district Görlitz, in the Free State of Saxony, Germany. It is situated 20 km northwest of Zittau, and 23 km southeast of Bautzen. Since 1 January 2011, it is part of the town Ebersbach-Neugersdorf.-International relations:...

use civic arms that demonstrates this. Each depicts a boar - in German

German language

German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

(and in two cases a wavy fess

Fess

In heraldry, a fess or fesse is a charge on a coat of arms that takes the form of a band running horizontally across the centre of the shield. Writers disagree in how much of the shield's surface is to be covered by a fess or other ordinary, ranging from one-fifth to one-third...

or bars

Bar (heraldry)

In heraldry, a bar is an ordinary consisting of a horizontal band across the shield.-Common ordinaries:A single bar placed across the top of the field is called a chief. A single bar placed over the center of the field is a fess. A division of the field by many bars — often six or eight — is a...

meant to represent a brook

Stream

A stream is a body of water with a current, confined within a bed and stream banks. Depending on its locale or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to as a branch, brook, beck, burn, creek, "crick", gill , kill, lick, rill, river, syke, bayou, rivulet, streamage, wash, run or...

- in German).

Albano Laziale

Albano Laziale

in Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

is near the site where, according to legend, Aeneas

Aeneas

Aeneas , in Greco-Roman mythology, was a Trojan hero, the son of the prince Anchises and the goddess Aphrodite. His father was the second cousin of King Priam of Troy, making Aeneas Priam's second cousin, once removed. The journey of Aeneas from Troy , which led to the founding a hamlet south of...

's son Ascanius

Ascanius

Ascanius is the son of the Trojan hero Aeneas and a legendary king of Alba Longa. He is a character of Roman mythology, and has a divine lineage, being the son of Aeneas, who is son of Venus and the hero Anchises, a relative of Priam; thus Ascanius has divine ascendents by both parents, being...

founded Alba Longa

Alba Longa

Alba Longa – in Italian sources occasionally written Albalonga – was an ancient city of Latium in central Italy southeast of Rome in the Alban Hills. Founder and head of the Latin League, it was destroyed by Rome around the middle of the 7th century BC. In legend, Romulus and Remus, founders of...

; the modern city's coat of arms today sports the white (Latin: Alba) boar dreamt by Ascanius before the founding of the city.

Military and paramilitary badges

The flag of the Serbia

Serbia

Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...

n rebel forces during the First Serbian Uprising

First Serbian Uprising

The First Serbian Uprising was the first stage of the Serbian Revolution , the successful wars of independence that lasted for 9 years and approximately 9 months , during which Serbia perceived itself as an independent state for the first time after more than three centuries of Ottoman rule and...

featured the wild boar, together with other national insignia

Coat of arms of Serbia

The coat of arms of Serbia is based the family arms of the former Obrenović dynasty and features the white bicephalic eagle of the Nemanjić dynasty. An ermine cape of the style once worn by kings is featured in the background. The double-headed eagle has been used since Byzantine era, the Serbian...

. During that time wild boars were common in Serbian forests and mountains, and pigs were the main export of the region.

In Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

, the wild boar is the symbolic animal of the Ardennes

Ardennes

The Ardennes is a region of extensive forests, rolling hills and ridges formed within the Givetian Ardennes mountain range, primarily in Belgium and Luxembourg, but stretching into France , and geologically into the Eifel...

forests in the south of the country, and is the mascot of one of the Belgian Army

Belgian Army

The Land Component is organised using the concept of capacities, whereby units are gathered together according to their function and material. Within this framework, there are five capacities: the command capacity, the combat capacity, the support capacity, the services capacity and the training...

's premier infantry regiments, the Régiment de Chasseurs Ardennais

Regiment of Ardennian Rifles

The Regiment of Ardennian Rifles is an infantry regiment in the Land Component of the Belgian Armed Forces. The regiment is a part of the 7th Brigade...

, the soldiers of which wear a boar's head pin on their beret

Beret

A beret is a soft, round, flat-crowned hat, designated a "cap", usually of woven, hand-knitted wool, crocheted cotton, or wool felt, or acrylic fiber....

Early history

Early Modern and modern examples

Family coats of arms

Towns

Military and paramilitary badges

See also