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Shield of Godfrey de Bouillon, circa 1099
The armies of the First Crusade (1096-1099) looked to the Papal Legate, the fighting bishop Adhemar of Le Puy, for overall leadership; although he was not officially designated as such. After his death from disease at Antioch, Godfrey de Bouillon, Duke of Lower Lorraine, was informally acknowledged as the overall leader by the commanders of the various contingents. When the Crusaders captured Jerusalem in 1099, the crown of the city was first offered to Duke Robert of Normandy, and possibly also to Count Raymond of Tolouse. When they declined it, by consensus, Godfrey was proclaimed as ruler. However, he refused the title King of Jerusalem, saying that he would not wear a crown of gold in the city where Christ had been crowned with thorns. Instead, he accepted the title Defender (or Advocate or Warden, depending on how you translate the Latin) of the Holy Sepulchre. However, his rule in the Holy City lasted only a year. He either succumbed to plague or typhus, which was possibly contracted by eating fruit that had been washed in contaminated water.
As a result of his simple piety, his prowess as a warrior and his illustrious lineage, to later generations Godfrey became a legend. He became a hero of the calibre of King Arthur or Charlemagne (from whom he was descended; and to this was always attached a mystical aura); and many tales about his adventures (true or otherwise) were circulated during the later medieval period. One of these stories concerns the coat-of-arms that he bore.
The date of the introduction of heraldry is the subject of debate amongst scholars. For many years, the prevailing attitude has been that it appeared suddenly in the mid twelfth century. It is argued that this was because knights' helmets had developed to cover the wearers' faces by this time. Thus it was no longer possible to recognize friend from foe on the battlefield. An alternative means of recognition was therefore necessary; so knights started identifying themselves by painting individual designs and emblems upon their shields. However, although this sounds reasonable, on closer examination, flaws begin to appear in this argument. For a start, the type of helmet in use by knights during the mid twelfth century was no different from those in use by their fathers or grandfathers at the battle of Hastings. Furthermore, any re-enactor will tell you that the classic Norman nasal helmet when worn over a maille coif with the ventail drawn up over the chin and mouth, just as on the Bayeux Tapestry, obscures the face that much that you can't recogize a person in this way anyhow - especially not in the confusion of battle. It is thus much more likely that heraldry was under gradual development for years before the mid twelfth century; and we need to look again at the argument that Godfrey de Bouillon died too early to have used heraldic arms.
In the later medieval period, pictures of Godfrey show him in the arms traditionally associated with the Kings of Jerusalem (cf. KTB131). However, these cannot be definitely said to have existed before the thirteenth century. He is also associated with a banner that copies these arms, but with the crosses in red instead of gold. Such a banner is flown today from the battlements of Bouillon Castle in Belgium. It has also been proposed that the early Latin rulers of Jerusalem used a shield with a gold background, emblazoned with a silver cross: and indeed, Crusader coins of this period from Jerusalem are inscribed with a large single cross. Another coat of arms features the arms later adopted by the Dukes of Lorraine, which is to say, Or, a bend Gules charged with three eaglets Argent (a gold shield, upon which is a red diagonal stripe with three silver eagles on it). This design traditionally refers to an incident that occured while Godfrey was in Jerusalem. He is said to have espied three birds land on the dome of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and to have loosed an arrow at them, impaling all three on the one shaft. Even if there is any truth in the tale, this story indicates that later Dukes of Lorraine adopted these arms in memory of the event. However, medieval heralds asserted that the arms of the Dukes of Lower Lorraine were a shield that was red with a horizontal white stripe (gules, a fess argent in heraldic terminology); and a banner of these arms is now used by the municipal council of the town of Bouillon. This is certainly a simple enough design to have an early origin, because the general rule is that the earlier arms are in date, the simpler they are. To this shield, we have added a variation on the traditional arms of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. With any artistic interpretation, a degree of licence has to be expected; and there is no real way of knowing for certain if Godfrey bore these arms, or any at all. However, the very fact that as the Crusaders advanced, the leaders of the different contingents proclaimed themselves rulers of the cities they conquered by planting their standards on the city walls indicates that these standards were distinctive to each leader because they were adorned with individual and easily identified devices; which is after all, the essence of heraldry. This, therefore, argues in favour of a basic form of heraldry existing at least this early.
As a footnote, there will be those amongst you reading this entry who will wonder why these arms were also used by the Dukes of Austria. These arms actually have a seperate origin, which I here outline for reference. The story goes that during the Third Crusade, Duke Leopold of Austria emerged from one battle with the Saracens with his white surcoat saturated with blood. On removing his sword belt, a white stripe was revealed beneath, and the Emperor Henry VI granted Leopold the right to adopt this design as his arms in memory of the campaign.
We have hand crafted this badge in pewter and enamel. It is approximately 41mm overall. |
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| Code: KTB178Price: £6.50 |
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The Shield of Queen Sibylla of Jerusalem, circa 1187
This badge was originally commissioned from us by a collector in Scotland. While in Jerusalem, he had seen a painting of Queen Sibylla wearing armour and carrying a shield which bore the design of a gold cross surmounted by a crown. We only had this collector's description and a rough sketch to go on; but we suspect the painting was one of those heavily romanticized affairs so beloved of the Victorians. In order, therefore, to try to add some measure of authenticity, we adapted the design supplied to us by researching the exact form that the crown of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem took. This was by no means an easy task, for although contemporary illustrations exist of the Latin kings and queens, they are all generic, and can hardly be called portraits. We then turned to their coinage; but it seems that most of the Crusader rulers did not have their heads stamped on their money: instead, they opted for architectural motifs. However, one king whose coinage did bear his crowned head was John de Brienne (1210-1225), who was ruler by right of his marriage to Maria of Montferrat. The type of crown he is depicted as wearing is Byzantine in style: and we have reproduced it on this shield. We repeat, though, that we had to base this badge on limited information supplied to us by the customer; so we cannot personally attest to the historical accuracy of this design, or indeed whether Sibylla ever wore armour, though there are traditions which maintain that she was both an accomplished horsewoman and archer.
We have hand crafted this badge from pewter and enamel. It is approximately 35mm overall. |
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| Code: KTB177Price: £6.50 |
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Shield of the Kings of Jerusalem
The Kingdom of Jerusalem was founded in 1099, when the army of the First Crusade captured the city. It endured until 1187, when it was re-taken by Saladin. The seat of the Kingdom then became Acre; but after its fall in 1291, the honorific title of King of Jerusalem was retained firstly by the Kings of Cyprus, and later by a succession of European princes until long after the medieval period.
The arms traditionally ascribed to the Kingdom of Jerusalem famously defy one of the basic rules of heraldry in that they depict a gold (or yellow) design upon a silver (or white) background. The date that these arms were adopted, however, is difficult to determine, since they cannot be traced before the mid thirteenth century. The coinage of the Latin Kings of Jerusalem is usually stamped with a cross, but the design of the five crosses, which are said to represent the five wounds of Christ, is lacking. Various arms have been proposed for the early Kings of Jerusalem, therefore. These include a single gold cross upon a silver background, or, indeed the exact opposite. It has even been proposed that the five crosses were originally red: and a banner of this design is still flown from the battlements of Bouillon Castle, the home of Godfrey de Bouillon, first Crusader ruler of Jerusalem. Certainly a gold cross was in use in the early thirteenth century, because in 1219, the right to superimpose the gold cross of Jerusalem upon the black cross of the Teutonic Knights was granted to the Hochmeister of the Order.
We have hand crafted this badge in pewter and enamel. It is approximately 30mm overall. |
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| Code: KTB131Price: £6.50 |
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