Wolves in heraldry
Encyclopedia
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"...
during the medieval period. Though commonly reviled as a livestock predator and man-eater, the wolf was also considered a noble and courageous animal, and frequently appeared on 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...
and crests of numerous noble families. It typically symbolised the rewards of perseverance in long sieges or hard industry.
British Isles and other Anglophone heraldries
Wolves appeared frequently in English heraldryEnglish heraldry
English heraldry is the form of coats of arms and other heraldic bearings and insignia used in England. It lies within the Gallo-British tradition. Coats of arms in England are regulated and granted to individuals by the College of Arms. They are subject to a system of cadency to distinguish...
. A shield bearing two wolf heads was attributed to the Earl of Chester
Earl of Chester
The Earldom of Chester was one of the most powerful earldoms in medieval England. Since 1301 the title has generally been granted to heirs-apparent to the English throne, and from the late 14th century it has been given only in conjunction with that of Prince of Wales.- Honour of Chester :The...
, circa 1070. "Two wolf's heads erased
Erasure (heraldry)
Erasure, in the language of heraldry, is the tearing off of part of a charge, leaving a jagged edge of it remaining. In blazons the concept is usually met with in the form of the adjective erased....
azure
Azure
In heraldry, azure is the tincture with the colour blue, and belongs to the class of tinctures called "colours". In engraving, it is sometimes depicted as a region of horizontal lines or else marked with either az. or b. as an abbreviation....
" were later used on 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...
of subsequent Earls.
Edward IV
Edward IV of England
Edward IV was King of England from 4 March 1461 until 3 October 1470, and again from 11 April 1471 until his death. He was the first Yorkist King of England...
(1442–83) used a white wolf for one of his badges, along with a white 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:...
, denoting his descent from the House of Mortimer.
The wolf or his head is often used for 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 –...
on names such as Videlou, de Lou (both recorded in the anonymous Great Roll of 1308–14), Lupus (in the reign of Edward III
Edward III of England
Edward III was King of England from 1327 until his death and is noted for his military success. Restoring royal authority after the disastrous reign of his father, Edward II, Edward III went on to transform the Kingdom of England into one of the most formidable military powers in Europe...
), Wolferston (in the Henry VI Roll, circa 1422–61), Wolseley
Viscount Wolseley
Viscount Wolseley, of Wolseley in the County of Stafford, was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1885 for the distinguished military commander Garnet Wolseley, 1st Baron Wolseley, with remainder, in default of male issue, to his daughter and only child Frances, and the...
, Lovett, Low, Lovell, Lupton and of course Wolfe.
Wolves are to be found
- rampant in the coat of Louth Town CouncilLouth, LincolnshireLouth is a market town and civil parish within the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England.-Geography:Known as the "capital of the Lincolnshire Wolds", it is situated where the ancient trackway Barton Street crosses the River Lud, and has a total resident population of 15,930.The Greenwich...
(England) - demi in the crest of Peter John Crabtree (Canada)
- demi and winged in the crest of Walter William Roy Bradford (Canada)
- heads only in the coat of James Thomas Flood (Canada)
- as supporters in the bearings of the Corporation of the Municipality of Greenstone, OntarioGreenstone, OntarioGreenstone is an amalgamated town in the Canadian province of Ontario. The area of the town is , stretching along Highway 11 from Lake Nipigon to Longlac; it is one of the largest incorporated towns in Canada....
- in the Salish style in the coat of the Village of Belcarra, British Columbia
The "Enfield beast
Enfield beast
The enfield is a fictitious creature sometimes used in heraldry, having the head of a fox, forelegs like an eagle's talons, the chest of a greyhound, the body of a lion, the hindquarters and tail of a wolf. -O'Kelly:...
", an imaginary creature with the combined characteristics of wolves, foxes and eagles, appears as the crest of the Irish family of Kelly and is also used in the coat and as a supporter for the former Enfield Borough Council and its successor the London Borough of Enfield
London Borough of Enfield
The London Borough of Enfield is the most northerly London borough and forms part of Outer London. It borders the London Boroughs of Barnet, Haringey and Waltham Forest...
http://www.civicheraldry.co.uk/great_london.html#enfield%20lb (England).
Continental Europe
The wolf is also featured in the heraldry of continental European nations. Spanish heraldrySpanish heraldry
The tradition and art of heraldry first appeared in Spain at about the beginning of the eleventh century AD and its origin was similar to other European countries: the need for knights and nobles to distinguish themselves from one another on the battlefield, in jousts and in tournaments...
often represented wolves carrying the bodies of lambs in their mouths or across their backs.
Wolves are also common in German heraldry
German heraldry
German heraldry refers to the cultural tradition and style of heraldic achievements in modern and historic Germany and the Holy Roman Empire, including national and civic arms, noble and burgher arms, ecclesiastical heraldry, heraldic displays and heraldic descriptions...
. The town of Passau
Passau
Passau is a town in Lower Bavaria, Germany. It is also known as the Dreiflüssestadt or "City of Three Rivers," because the Danube is joined at Passau by the Inn from the south and the Ilz from the north....
(Bavaria) bears a red wolf rampant on a white shield. In Saxony
Saxony
The Free State of Saxony is a landlocked state of Germany, contingent with Brandenburg, Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, the Czech Republic and Poland. It is the tenth-largest German state in area, with of Germany's sixteen states....
, a black wolf rampant on a yellow shield features on the crest of von Wolfersdorf family. A green wolf grasping a dead swan in its jaws on a yellow shield is depicted on the crest and Arms of the Counts von Brandenstein-Zeppelin.
Attributed arms
Attributed arms are coats of arms given to legendary figures, or to notable persons from times before the rise of heraldry. Beginning in the 12th century, imaginary arms were assigned to the knights of the Round Table, and soon arms were given to biblical figures, to Roman and Greek heroes, and to...
of Romulus and Remus
Romulus and Remus
Romulus and Remus are Rome's twin founders in its traditional foundation myth, although the former is sometimes said to be the sole founder...
were said to depict the Capitoline Wolf
Capitoline Wolf
The Capitoline Wolf is a bronze sculpture of a she-wolf suckling twin infants, inspired by the legend of the founding of Rome. According to the legend, when Numitor, grandfather of the twins Romulus and Remus, was overthrown by his brother Amulius, the usurper ordered the twins to be cast into...
. An undated Milanese badge allegedly in the Biblioteca Trivulziana, Milan, shows a lamb lying on its back with a wolf standing over it.
In French heraldry
French heraldry
French heraldry is the use of heraldic symbols in France. Although it had a considerable history, like England, existing from the eleventh century, such formality has largely died out in France. The role of the herald in France declined in the seventeenth century...
, the Wolfcatcher Royal
Wolfcatcher Royal
The Wolfcatcher Royal , a position also known historically as the Grand Wolfcatcher which is presently known as lieutenant de louveterie, was first established as a prestigious office in the House of the King during the Ancien Régime and Bourbon Restoration of France, tracing its inception to the...
had as his official insignia two wolf heads facing frontally.
A horned, wolf-like creature called the Calopus or Chatloup was at one time connected with the Foljambe and Cathome family.
Modernly, the coat of arms of the secular separatists in Chechnya bore the wolf, because the wolf (borz
Chechen wolf
The wolf is the national animal of the Chechen nation, and it is also the national embodiment. The national feeling of Chechens towards the wolf has many aspects.-As a poetic or symbolic comparison to the Chechen nation:...
) is the Chechen (or Ichkerian) nation's national embodiment. The Islamists later removed it, and the Russian-sponsored ruling regime removed it entirely, but the secular government in exile still uses. In addition, many other insignia of the Chechen nation (of all three governments) use the wolf as a heraldic symbol. Not only is it the national animal, but the Chechen people are symbolically said to be variously related to wolves (not in a serious way, but in an either symbolic or joking manner), and there are legends of their ancestors being raised by a "wolf mother". Characteristics of the wolf are also frequently compared to the Chechen people in a poetic sense, including the most famous line that members of the Chechen nation are "free and equal like wolves".
Further reading
- Boutell, Charles (1890). Heraldry, Ancient and Modern: Including Boutell's Heraldry. London: Frederick Warne.
- Brooke-Little, J P , Norroy and Ulster King of Arms, An heraldic alphabet (new and revisded edition), Robson Books, London, 1985 (first edition 1975); sadly very few illustrations
- Civic Heraldry of England and Wales, fully searchable with illustrations, http://www.civicheraldry.co.uk
- Clark, Hugh (1892). An Introduction to Heraldry, 18th ed. (Revised by J. R. Planché). London: George Bell & Sons. First published 1775. ISBN 143253999X.
- Canadian Heraldic Authority, Public Register, with many useful official versions of modern coats of arms, searchable online http://archive.gg.ca/heraldry/pub-reg/main.asp?lang=e
- Cussans, John E. (2003). Handbook of Heraldry. Kessinger PublishingKessinger PublishingKessinger Publishing is a publisher that offers for reprint rare, out of print and out of copyright books originally issued by other publishers. They are located in Whitefish, Montana.The original dates of publication of the titles are usually prior to ca...
. ISBN 0766173380. - Fox-Davies, Arthur Charles (1909). A Complete Guide to Heraldry. New York: Dodge Pub. Co. ISBN 0517266431.
- Friar, Stephen (ed) A New Dictionary of Heraldry Alphabooks, Sherborne, 1987; sadly with very few illustration of attitudes* Greaves, Kevin, A Canadian Heraldic Primer, Heraldry Society of Canada, Ottawa, 2000, lots but not enough illustrations
- Heraldry Society (England), members' arms, with illustrations of bearings, only accessible by armiger's name (though a Google site search would provide full searchability), http://www.theheraldrysociety.com/resources/members.htm
- Heraldry Society of Scotland, members' arms, fully searchable with illustrations of bearings, http://heraldry-scotland.com/copgal/thumbnails.php?album=7
- Innes of Learney, Sir Thomas, Lord Lyon King of Arms Scots Heraldry (second edition)Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh, 1956
- Moncreiffe of Easter Moncreiffe, Iain, Kintyre Pursuivant of Arms, and Pottinger, Don , Herald Painter Extraordinary to the Court of the Lord Lyon King of Arms Simple Heraldry, Thomas Nelson and Sons, London andf Edinburgh, 1953; splendidly illustrated
- Neubecker, Ottfried (1976). Heraldry: Sources, Symbols and Meaning. Maidenhead, England: McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0070463123.
- Royal Heraldry Society of Canada, Members' Roll of Arms , with illustrations of bearings, only accessible by armiger's name (though a Google site search would provide full searchability), http://www.heraldry.ca/main.php?pg=l1
- South African Bureau of Heraldry, data on registered heraldic representations (part of National Archives of South Africa); searchable online (but sadly no illustration), http://www.national.archsrch.gov.za/sm300cv/smws/sm300dl
- Volborth, Carl-Alexander von (1981). Heraldry: Customs, Rules and Styles. Poole, England: Blandford Press. ISBN 0713709405.
- Woodcock, Thomas and John Martin Robinson (1988). The Oxford Guide to Heraldry. Oxford: University Press. ISBN 0192116584.
- Woodward, John and George Burnett (1969). Woodward's a treatise on heraldry, British and foreign. Originally published 1892, Edinburgh: W. & A. B. Johnson. ISBN 0715344641.