Tincture of green in heraldry
In British
heraldry
,
vert
(
) is the
tincture
equivalent to
green
. It is one of the five dark tinctures called
colours
.
Vert is commonly found in modern
flags
and
coat of arms
, and to a lesser extent also in the classical heraldry of the
Late Middle Ages
and the
Early Modern period
.
Green flags were historically carried by
Ottokar II of Bohemia
in the 13th century. In the modern period, a
green ensign
was flown by Irish vessels, becoming a symbol of
Irish nationalism
in the 19th and 20th century. The
Empire of Brazil
used a yellow rhombus on a green field from 1822, now seen in the
flag of Brazil
. In the 20th century, a green field was chosen for a number of
national flag
designs, especially in the
Arab
and
Muslim world
because of the symbolism of
green in Islam
, including the solid green flag of the
Libyan Arab Jamahiriya
(1977).
Vert is portrayed in heraldic
hatching
by lines at a 45-degree angle from upper left to lower right, or indicated by the abbreviation v. or vt. when a coat of arms is
tricked
.
Etymology
[
edit
]
Vert is simply the French word for "green". It has been used in English in the sense of a heraldic tincture since the early 16th century.
Vert is not used in modern French heraldry. Instead,
sinople
has been used for green since at least the 16th century. Earlier in the medieval period, however,
vert
was used for green while
sinople
originally referred to a shade of red before becoming associated with green.
In Spanish heraldry, either
sinople
or
verde
can be used for green.
Verde
is also used in Portugal. In both the Spanish and Portuguese languages,
verde
literally translates as "green".
Sinopel
is the spelling used in Dutch heraldry. In German heraldry, they use
grun
, which also translates as "green".
Middle Ages
[
edit
]
The green tincture was left out of some heraldic works in the Middle Ages, but the first known English treatise, the Anglo-Norman "De Heraudie" (dated to sometime between 1230 and 1345), lists vert among the other tinctures.
[1]
The French term
sinople
was in use prior to the 15th century, but it did not refer to green, but rather to red, being identical in origin to
Cinnabar
, originally the name of a red pigment also known as
sinopia
.
Descriptions of
knightly shields
as painted at least partly green in
Arthurian romance
are found earlier, even in the late 12th century.
[2]
Here, the
Chevalier au Vert Escu
("knight with the green shield") often marks a kind of supernatural character outside of normal chivalric society (as is still the case with the English "
Green Knight
" of c. 1390), perhaps
[
clarification needed
]
in connection with the
Wild Man
or
Green Man
of medieval figurative art.
The
Anglo-Norman
prose Brut
(c. 1200) has
Brutus of Troy
bear a green shield,
Brutus Vert-Escu, Brutus Viride Scutum
.
Green is occasionally found in historical coats of arms (as opposed to the fictional "green knights" of Arthurian romance) from as early as the 13th century, but it remained rare, and indeed actively avoided, well into the 15th century, but becomes more common in the classical heraldry of the 16th and 17th centuries.
[3]
According to Paweł Dudzi?ski, the chairman of the Heraldic Committee within the Polish
Ministry of Interior and Administration
, early heraldic green used to be bright, obtained from
verdigris
pigment, which allowed contrast with
azure
(obtained from dark
ultramarine
pigment) in arms that contravened the
rule of tincture
.
[4]
An early example of a green
escutcheon
was that of the coat of arms of
Styria
,
[
year needed
]
based on the banner of
Ottokar II of Bohemia
(r. 1253?1278), described by chronist
Ottokar aus der Gaal
(c. 1315) as:
- ein banier gruene als ein gras / darin ein pantel swebte / blanc, als ob ez lebte
- "a banner green as grass, therein suspended a panther in white, [depicted] as if alive."
A curious example occurs in an early armorial of the Burgundian Order of the Knights of the Golden Fleece (Toison d'Or) where the arms of the Lannoy family are recorded as "argent, three lions rampant sinople, etc." Despite the fact that sinople signified a shade of red in early heraldry, the lions in this 15th century manuscript are clearly green, although rather faded. The fugitive nature of the green pigments of that day may have had some influence on the low use of that colour in early heraldry.
Classical heraldry
[
edit
]
During the 16th century, green was still rare as a tincture for the field of a coat of arms, but it was used increasingly for the heraldic designs shown in the field, especially when depicting trees or other vegetation. Thus, the
coat of arms of Hungary
shows a "double cross on a hill" as a symbol of the
Arpad
kings, where the cross was shown in silver (
argent
) and the hill in green, from the late 14th century.
[5]
The only green shown in the arms of the states of the
Holy Roman Empire
in the
Quaternion Eagle
by
Hans Burgkmair
(c. 1510) are the
crancelin
of
Saxony
and the
Zirbelnuss
of
Augsburg
.
The
three lions rampant, verts
of the
Marquessate of Franchimont
are attested in the 16th century.
Siebmachers Wappenbuch
of 1605 shows a number of green heraldic devices in the coat of arms of cities. For example, the coat of arms of the town of
Waldkappel
("forest chapel") as depicting a chapel in a forest on a red field, with the ground on which the chapel is standing, and four trees behind the chapel, drawn in green.
There are a number of other examples where Siebmacher as a green "mount" (the heraldic "hill" at the bottom of the shield on which the heraldic charge is "standing").
For the town of
Grunberg
, Siebmacher shows a yellow field on which a knight is riding, his horse running on a green "hill" and the knight flying a green banner.
[6]
Poetic meanings
[
edit
]
The different tinctures are traditionally associated with particular heavenly bodies, precious stones, virtues, and flowers, although these associations have been mostly disregarded by serious heraldists.
[7]
Vert is associated with:
Gallery
[
edit
]
Modern flags
[
edit
]
Historically, a
Green Ensign
was flown by Irish merchant vessels from the late 17th century.
Green flags flown by revolutionary uprisings include the one used in the
Vaudois
insurrection against Bernese rule in the 1790s (which became the basis of the modern
coat of arms of Vaud
), the flag of the Irish
Saint Patrick's Battalion
(1846?1848), and the flag of the
Easter Rising
(1916).
In the 20th century, a number of
national flags
were designed involving green, especially in the
Muslim world
, based on the traditional symbolism of
green in Islam
, and as one of the
Pan-Arab colours
.
Green is one of the
Pan-African colours
, and thus is also common among the national flags of African countries.
Other countries have used the colour green in their flags to represent the "greenness" of their lands and abundance of their nation.
The following contemporary national flags feature a solid-green field:
- the
Flag of Brazil
(1889,
Empire of Brazil
from 1822): a yellow rhombus on a green field, in the rhombus a blue disc depicting a starry sky spanned by a curved band inscribed with the national motto,
- the
flag of Pakistan
(1947): a white star and crescent on a dark green field, with a vertical white stripe at the hoist,
- the
flag of Mauritania
(1959): green, with a golden upward-pointed crescent and star,
- the
flag of Zambia
(1964): green, at the fly end stripes in red, black and orange and a depiction of an eagle,
- the
flag of Bangladesh
(1972): a red disc on a green field
- the
flag of Saudi Arabia
(1973): green, with the
shahada
inscription and a sword in white.
- the
flag of Dominica
(1978): green, a cross in yellow, black and white, and a red disc with a depiction of the sisserou parrot,
- the
Flag of Turkmenistan
(2001): green, with a vertical red stripe near the hoist side, a white waxing crescent moon and five white five-pointed stars appear in the upper corner of the field just to the fly side of the red stripe.
Former national flags with green fields further include the solid-green flag of the
Libyan Arab Jamahiriya
(1977?2011).
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Woodcock, Thomas
;
Robinson, John Martin
(1988).
The Oxford Guide to Heraldry
. Oxford:
Oxford University Press
. p. 51.
ISBN
0-19-211658-4
.
- ^
Le Chevalier de la charrette
(c. 1170s) mentions an
escu vert d'une part
"a partly green shield" (v. 5785).
Cliges
(c. 1176) mentions a case of
armes verts
"green arms" (v. 4669). See Brault (1997:286f.)
- ^
"There was an antipathy towards green until well into the 15th century" Terence Wise, Richard Hook, William Walker Medieval heraldry, vol. 99 of the Men-at-arms series,
Osprey Publishing
, 1980,
ISBN
978-0-85045-348-5
,
p. 11
- ^
Dudzi?ski, Paweł.
"Rozmowy o heraldyce #1: Paweł Dudzi?ski"
(Interview). Interviewed by Artur Wojcik. Sigillum Authenticum.
- ^
the double cross was used from the 12th century, but the "hill" was added by
Louis I of Hungary
(r. 1342-1382), later expanded to "three hills" ("on a mount vert a crown Or, issuant therefrom a double cross argent").
- ^
ed. Appuhn (1989),
p. 224
.
- ^
a
b
Woodcock, Thomas
;
Robinson, John Martin
(1988).
The Oxford Guide to Heraldry
. Oxford:
Oxford University Press
. pp. 53?54.
ISBN
0-19-211658-4
.
- ^
a
b
Elvin, Charles Norton (1889).
A Dictionary of Heraldry
. London: Kent. p. 129.
- Brault, Gerard J. (1997).
Early Blazon: Heraldic Terminology in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries
, (2nd ed.). Woodbridge, UK: The Boydell Press.
ISBN
0-85115-711-4
.
External links
[
edit
]
- Media related to
Vert
at Wikimedia Commons
- The dictionary definition of
vert
at Wiktionary