Heraldic symbol
The
rose
is a common device in
heraldry
. It is often used both as a
charge
on a
coat of arms
and by itself as an
heraldic badge
. The heraldic rose has a stylized form consisting of five symmetrical lobes, five barbs, and a circular seed. The rose is one of the most common plant symbols in heraldry, together with the lily, which also has a stylistic representation in the
fleur-de-lis
.
[1]
The rose was the symbol of the English
Tudor dynasty
, and the ten-petaled
Tudor rose
(termed a double rose) is associated with
England
. Roses also feature prominently in the arms of the princely
House of Lippe
and on the
seal of Martin Luther
.
Appearance
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The normal appearance of the heraldic rose is a five-petaled rose, mimicking the look of a wild rose on a hedgerow. It is shown singly and full-faced. It most commonly has yellow seeds in the center and five green barbs as backing; such a rose is
blazoned
as
barbed and seeded proper
. If the seeds and barbs are of a different colour, then the rose is barbed and seeded of that/those tinctures. The rose of Lippe shown below, for example, is blazoned
a Rose
Gules
, barbed and seeded Or.
Some variations on the rose have been used. Roses may appear with a stem, in which case they are described as
slipped
or
stalked
. A rose with a stalk and leaves may also be referred to as a
damask rose
, stalked and leaved, as appearing on the
Canting arms
of the House of Rossetti.
Rose branches, slips, and leaves have occasionally appeared in arms alone, without the flower. A combination of two roses, one within the other, is termed a
double rose
, famously used by the Tudors.
[2]
A rose sometimes appears surrounded by rays, which makes it a
rose-en-soleil
(rose in the sun). A rose may be crowned. Roses may appear within a
chaplet
, a garland of leaves with four flowers. In badges, it is not uncommon for a rose to be
conjoined
with another device.
Catherine of Aragon
's famous badge was a
pomegranate
conjoined with the double rose of her husband,
Henry VIII
.
[3]
Usage
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Heraldic roses feature prominently in English history. The two rival royal houses of the fifteenth century were supposedly known by their heraldic badges, the
Red Rose of Lancaster
and the
White Rose of York
, from which their long conflict was later called the
Wars of the Roses
.
[4]
The White Rose of York was later used as the badge of
Jacobitism
in England and Scotland, and before
World War I
one of Britain's main Jacobite organizations was called the Order of the White Rose. Red and white roses appear in the civic heraldry of
Lancashire
and
Yorkshire
respectively.
The
House of Tudor
that came to power at the end of the wars used a combination of their two roses: the ten-petaled
Tudor double rose
. The double Tudor rose is always depicted as white on red on a field of any other tincture and is always termed 'proper'. It is used as a
floral emblem
of
England
, just as the
thistle
is associated with
Scotland
. It appears in the
compartment
of the coats of arms of both the
United Kingdom
and
Canada
. A red rose appears on the collar of the
Order of the Garter
.
The
Luther rose
, a rose combined with a ring, heart, and
Latin cross
, was used by
Martin Luther
as a personal seal. The Luther rose is sometimes used as a charge in its own right, appearing on the arms of a number of German towns.
In the English and Canadian systems of
cadency
, a small rose is the difference mark of a seventh son. In Portugal, a label with three roses was used to differentiate the arms of the
Princes of Beira
.
Roses appear in the
coat of arms of Finland
and are part of the
insignia
of officers (up to
colonel
) in the
Finnish Army
.
Gallery
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]
References
[
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]
- ^
Slater, Stephen (2006). The Illustrated Book of Heraldry. London: Hermes House, 90.
- ^
Parker, James (1894). Rose. In
A Glossary of Terms Used in Heraldry
; Web version by Saitou and Jim Trigg (2004). Retrieved March 29, 2009.
- ^
Parker.
- ^
Slater, 29.