Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-03-08
IRISH HERALDRY CALLED
OLDER THAN ST. PATRICK
Symbol He Designed, However, Is Re-
garded as First Hereditary
Emblem i'm Records.

est supporters OF the clVlllZaL1On eSlSJ-
ing in pagan Ireland have been English
men whose antiquarian zeal led them to
publish works establishing the existence
of an advanced civilization in Ireland
in remote times.
London Authority Quoted.
The x-rays Of scientific investigation
have been applied to the subject of an
cient heraldry by William Smith Ellis
Of London, in his learned work "An-
tiquity of Heraldry." This work is COM
coins, gems, vases and other monu-
ments of pre-Christian and medieval
times, tending to show that such mod
ern hsraldry embodies or is derived from
the religious symbols, military devices
and the enblemS of the heather deities
OF antiquity" His revelations on the
armorial bearings to be found on the
pagan tombs of Ireland are of a most
interesting nature. The evidence he
presents to support his contentious is
convincing
mote than that of Moses the Irish, and
probably other races, had been ac-
customed to the uses of ensigns for the
use OF troops and families That it had
been established in the time of Moses is
shown by the Book of Numbers wherein
we read 1l-2) that God spoke to
Moses and Aaron, saying: All the chill
dren OF Israel shall camp by their
troops, ensigns and standards, and the
houses Of their kindreds, round about
the tabernacle of the covenant"
We may infer from this that the Gus
| tom CT military and probably family
devices had been in vogue previous to
the time the command was given. OF
course, we cannot say that such SYM
bols were hereditary.
Serpent Often Found.
In this connection it is interesting
to note that the Scythian prince, Gael,
after whom the Gaelic race is called,
is recorded as being friend of the
Jewish leader, and was cured of the
| bite CT serpent by the latter The
serpent is often found in the ancient
armorial bearings Of the Irish clans,
but the probabilities are that it was
one of those pagan symbols carried
down, as Ellis says, from the very an
Gent days, and we shall see that pagan
heraldic symbols are borne by Chris
ton peoples today.
Such symbols are to be seen in
ancient ecclesiastical buildings, crosses,
etc, in ireland from which Marcus
Keane Growers and Temples of An
Gent Ireland) inferred that such
buildings and crosses served the re-
ligious uses of the paganS. Unfor-
tunately, Keane evidently never studied
the antiquity of heraldry, hence he
fell into an egregious error.
Heating says: "On the occasion of
the National Assembly of the Irish
nation, the king, Ollav Folla, the great
| law-giver, ordered armorial ensignS for
! the chiefs of each family according to
their rank, to distinguish them one
| from another; and to serve as a rule
for the master of ceremonies whose
| Office was to mark the rank of each
member in the assembly, which he per-
| formed by hanging the swords and
/ shields Of the members on the wall
near them"
Dalton Essay Quoted.
Surely this is no very extraordinary
! statement, yet this question of heradry
in Ireland nearly 1000 years before
| Christ, seems to be used as means
to depreciate Heating and John
Dalton. M. r. I. A.. in his essay on
! Antiquities" read before the Royal
/ Irish Academy, treated it with some
| ever, Dalton says: Like the laborerS
that worked over the ruins Of Hercu-
| laneum, Irishmen continue insensible
| to the magnificence which unexampled
| yisitations have buried beneath their
| feet" We shall see that in the case Of
ancient heraldry in Ireland this author
was himself 'insensible to the mag
/ nificence which unexampled visitations
! had placed beneath his feet"
| The following from his is pertinent:
| Much of what is termed (Irish) bardic
! history not only exhibits all the in
/ ternal evidence Of veracity, but could
CONTINUED on Fourth Page.)