From: mittle@watson.ibm.com (Josh Mittleman)
Subject: Re: Possible FAQ: Tinctures
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 17:59:12 GMT
Disclaimer: This posting represents the poster's views, not necessarily those of IBM
Organization: IBM T.J. Watson Research Center

Tuomas suggested an FAQ on tinctures.  As Kevin noted, it is important to
avoid errors of fact.  English heraldic texts are famous for their errors
of fact; late 18th and 19th century heraldists quite often made up "facts"
about heraldry out of thin air, and subsequent authors happily copied them
as authoritative sources. 

Purpure (purple) is really quite common in heraldry, from the Middle Ages
to the present.  It is less common than red, blue, or black, but certainly
as common as green.

Orange is usually considered a stain in English heraldic texts and blazoned
"tenne", but it is found in heraldry in many countries, as are the other
so-called stains.  "Tenne'" is used to blazon both orange and tan, btw.  In
some parts of Europe, "brown" and "sky blue" can also be found as
tinctures.  Tuomas wrote:

> Unlike all other tinctures, stains are never chosen by the designer or the
> bearer of the arms. They are added to the arms as a sign of humiliation
> or punishment for an ignoble deed.

This is a fallacy, perpetutated in heraldic literature by poor scholarship
from the 18th through early 20th centuries.  "Abatements of arms", as they
are called, are 100% fiction.  There is no evidence that they ever existed
outside the pages of heraldic texts.  French heraldic authors refer to them
as "the silly English abatements."  Stains are rare in English heraldry,
but are found in arms in other countries.

Furs: Modern heraldic texts will usually try to list all the possible furs,
but it is a hopeless and pointless endeavor.  Most lists, for example,
include four types of ermined fur, as listed by Tuomas.  In fact, one can
construct an ermine fur from any metal and any color (e.g., azure ermined
argent).  Examples can be found from the 13th and 14th centuries.  Vairs
furs are also subject to wide variation.  Most of the minor variations of
"vair" were originally considered nothing more than artistic details.  One
of the legacies of the decline of heraldry in the 19th century is an
endless list of terms of blazon to describe minute variations in rendition.
Medieval heraldry did not consider such changes to be meaningful, and
modern heralds, notably the College of Arms of England, are returning the
medieval interpretations wherever possible.

Tuomas also wrote:

> There is one well known rule according to the tinctures:

> - a coat of arms must be composed of at least two tinctures
> - one of them must be a metal
> - and a metal may not be placed next to a metal or colour next to a colour 

> There is only one internationally accepted exception of this rule: the
> arms of the Kingdom of Jerusalem:

These are all fallacious.  Single-tincture arms are not common, because
there aren't many possibilities, but each single-tincture device exists in
at least two or three places in Europe (including some in the stains!).
For an overview, I suggest that you read the chapter on tinctures in
Woodward's Treatise on Heraldry British and Foreign (Woodward, John &
George Burnett, published in the USA by Charles E. Tuttle).

There are also many other plain-field devices which consist of nothing but
a divided field (eg "Per fess gules and azure" and "Per pale sable and
Or").  Many of these use two colors, two metals, or two furs.

The third rule you quote is usually stated as the Rule of Tinctures: Do
not place color on color or metal or metal.  A distinction is made in
heraldry between placing a charge _on_ a field, and placing two tinctures
_next to_ one another.  For example, it is perfectly acceptable to divide a
field in two colors, "Per bend sable and gules", but the rule does not
allow a color to be placed on another color, as "Gules, a lion rampant
sable."  The rule of tinctures is _usually_ obeyed in English and French
heraldry, but there are many examples where it is not, dating back to the
earliest years of heraldry.  Outside England and France, the so-called rule
is commonly ignored: German, Italian, Dutch, Polish, and Spanish heraldry
contain many examples of color-on-color or metal-on-metal.  Over 80% of all
Hungarian heraldry violate the "rule", with a green mount on a blue field.
The "rule of tinctures" is a good guideline for Anglo-French heraldry, but
it was not followed slavishly even in that region.  Modern heralds and
heraldists have taken their lead from the well-organized English College of
Arms, and many of them have indeed adopted the rule of tinctures as an
absolute stricture.  However, it was not always so.

===========================================================================
Josh Mittleman (mittle@watson.ibm.com)
J2-C28 T.J. Watson Research Center, PO Box 704, Yorktown Heights, NY  10598