Women and Arms: Contemporary coats of arms for women worldwide, lecture

I have presented the lecture entitled «Arms of Women: Contemporary Coats of Arms of Women Around the World» at the I Congress of Emblematics, in homage and remembrance of Faustino Menéndez Pidal de Navascués, organized by the Real Asociación de Hidalgos de España, with the collaboration of the Real Academia Matritense de Heráldica y Genealogía, the Instituto Internacional de Genealogía y Heráldica and the participation of the Fundación Hispano Británica.

This lecture was delivered in Spanish, but I also prepared an English version of the presentation slides.

In this lecture I present coats of arms currently in use by women from different countries, including the United States, Ireland, England, France, Italy, Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, Puerto Rico and Mexico. These are, for the most part, newly created coats of arms, conceived under the guidance of their bearers and painted entirely by me. Each of them reflects values, principles, life paths and cultural roots, demonstrating the expressive vitality of heraldry in the 21^st century.

For this work I begin from a critical and, at the same time, hopeful reflection, inspired by the words that Don Faustino Menéndez Pidal de Navascués wrote in 2014 at the end of his book «Los emblemas heráldicos: novecientos años de historia», where he stated that «the heraldic system today is not alive, integrated into society; the roots of its integration have dried up» [Menéndez Pidal de Navascués, F.; 2014a; page 494]. In contrast to this observation, this lecture proposes that, over the last decade, from 2015 onwards, there has been a visible revival of contemporary heraldry, fostered by the Internet and social networks, new technologies and the universalization of access to media.

In this context, I consider that heraldry reappears as a symbol of identity in a changing world, as memory in the face of oblivion and as a tool for personal expression and transcendence.

In conclusion, the lecture «Arms of Women» thus seeks to be a respectful homage to the work and thought of Menéndez Pidal de Navascués, and a concrete demonstration of how contemporary female heraldry contributes today to keeping the heraldic system alive.

As could not be otherwise, all the illustrations in this lecture have been created by me.

Or, four bell towers issuant from base Gules, windows Or.

Coat of arms of Alejandra Espeja Avieda designed by Juan Lanzagorta Vallín and emblazoned by me. As shown in the image, the bell towers are based on the Nativity Façade bell towers of Gaudí's Sagrada Família in Barcelona.

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Blazon keywords: Or, Gules, Four, Bell tower, Issuant from base and Port and windows.

Style keywords: Outlined in sable, Plain tincture and Semi-circular.

Classification: Personal, Interpreted, Schema, Boa, Collage and Photographic.

Bearer: Espeja Avieda, Alejandra.

Or, four bell towers issuant from base Gules, windows Or.

Coat of arms of Alejandra Espeja Avieda designed by Juan Lanzagorta Vallín and emblazoned by me. As shown in the image, the structure of this coat of arms is based on the arms «Or shield with four pallets Gules» of Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona, which are the arms of the Crown of Aragon. Regarding this coat of arms and my previous sentence, Joaquim Verde i Llorente tells me: «...or, four pallets gules, besides being the arms of the dynasty of the Counts of Barcelona (first found on a shield of Ramon Berenguer IV, although the proto-heraldic palleted design already appears on the Romanesque tombs of Ermesinda and Ramon Berenguer II), are those of the County of Barcelona / Principality of Catalonia and of the Crown of Aragon. But not of the Kingdom of Aragon, whose own kings considered that its ancient arms were the Cross of Íñigo Arista (senyal antich de rey d'Aragó ~ senyal antich d'Aragó ~ ancient emblem of the King of Aragon ~ ancient emblem of Aragon) and its modern arms the Cross of Alcoraz (armes d'Aragó ~ arms of Aragon). Although in the end, they ultimately became the quarterly shield of the Tree of Sobrarbe, the Cross of Íñigo Arista, the Cross of Alcoraz, and the Royal emblem (nostre senyal real ~ our royal emblem)...».

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Blazon keywords: Or, Gules, Four, Pallet, Bell tower, Issuant from base and Port and windows.

Style keywords: Outlined in sable, Plain tincture and Semi-circular.

Classification: Personal, Interpreted, Schema, Boa and Coat of arms.

Bearer: Espeja Avieda, Alejandra.

Or, four bell towers issuant from base Gules, windows Or.

Escudo de oro, cuatro campanarios movientes de la punta de gules, aclarados de oro.

Arms painted by me, in plain tinctures, outlined in Sable, with a semi-circular external shape and with a texturized finish.

Coat of arms of Alejandra Espeja Avieda designed by Juan Lanzagorta Vallín and emblazoned by me. Blazoning specific, real-world objects in coats of arms should be avoided. Therefore, in the blazon I describe «four bell towers». However, in this case, for artistic reasons, to echo the elongated form of the four pallets Gules, and due to the origin of the bearer, I depict four bell towers inspired by those on the Nativity Façade of Gaudí’s Sagrada Família in Barcelona. Additionally, I initially blazoned the arrangement of the 4 bell towers as «in fess» ~ «en faja», as, from a heraldic perspective, this term accurately describes their horizontal alignment next to each other across the field. However, I observed that this term, far from clarifying the design, caused confusion among some viewers. The naturally vertical shape of a bell tower, its default position, is «palewise» ~ «puesta en palo», so using «in fess» ~ «en faja» led many to assume that I intended to lay the bell towers on their sides. Although the original description was heraldically correct, I decided to remove the mention of «in fess» ~ «en faja» for being unnecessary and clearly counterproductive. As the towers are «issuant from base» ~ «movientes de la punta», their placement in a horizontal row is sufficiently implied, thus avoiding misunderstandings and maintaining the clarity of the blazon. It is important to remember that «in fess» ~ «en faja» refers to how multiple elements are aligned with each other (in a horizontal row), while «palewise» ~ «puesto en palo» describes the individual orientation of an element (in a vertical position).

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Blazon keywords: Or, Gules, Four, Bell tower, Issuant from base and Port and windows.

Style keywords: Outlined in sable, Plain tincture and Semi-circular.

Classification: Personal, Interpreted, Boa and Coat of arms.

Bearer: Espeja Avieda, Alejandra.

Or, four bell towers issuant from base Gules, windows Or. Motto around the shield: «Linaje Lanzagorta Otxoa · Catalunya · Barcelona» Sable over a scroll Argent.

Coat of arms painted by me, in plain tinctures, contoured in Sable, with a semi-circular external shape and with a texturized finishing.

Coat of arms of Alejandra Espeja Avieda, familiarly known as Sandra. This shield, surrounded by an annular scroll Argent inscribed in sable, has been designed byhas been designed by Juan Lanzagorta Vallín and emblazoned by me.

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Blazon keywords: Or, Gules, Sable, Argent, Four, One, Bell tower, Issuant from base, Port and windows, Within, Motto (identification) and Scroll.

Style keywords: Outlined in sable, Plain tincture and Semi-circular.

Classification: Personal, Interpreted, Boa and Coat of arms.

Bearer: Espeja Avieda, Alejandra.

Party per chevron Gules and barry wavy Argent and Azure, in chief two Dogwood flowers (Cornus Florida) proper, in base a Cross of Saint Chad Gules.

Escudo de gules, mantelado en punta fajado ondado de plata y azur, en jefe dos flores de cornejo florido (Cornus Florida) al natural y en punta una cruz de san Chad de Mercia de gules.

Coat of arms depicted by me, illuminated with lights and shadows, contoured in Sable, with an ogee external shape and with a leather finish.

These are the arms of Chad Michael Krouse emblazoned by me.

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Blazon keywords: Gules, Argent, Azure, Two, One, Party per chevron, Barry, Wavy, In chief, Dogwood flower, Flower, Proper, In base, Cross of Saint Chad and Cross couped.

Style keywords: Outlined in sable, Illuminated, Ogee and Leather.

Classification: Personal, Interpreted, Boa and Coat of arms.

Bearer: Krouse, Chad Michael.

Party per chevron Gules and barry wavy Argent and Azure, in chief two Dogwood flowers (Cornus Florida) proper, in base a Cross of Saint Chad Gules. Motto: «Ich Mache Rechte».

Escudo de gules, mantelado en punta fajado ondado de plata y azur, en jefe dos flores de cornejo florido (Cornus Florida) al natural y en punta una cruz de san Chad de Mercia de gules. Lema: «Ich Mache Rechte».

Coat of arms emblazoned by me, illuminated with lights and shadows, contoured in Sable, with an ogee external shape and with a leather finish.

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Blazon keywords: Gules, Argent, Azure, Two, One, Party per chevron, Barry, Wavy, In chief, Dogwood flower, Flower, Proper, In base, Cross of Saint Chad, Cross couped and Motto.

Style keywords: Outlined in sable, Illuminated, Ogee and Leather.

Classification: Personal, Interpreted, Boa and Coat of arms.

Bearer: Krouse, Chad Michael.

Party per chevron Gules and barry wavy Argent and Azure, in chief two Dogwood flowers (Cornus Florida) proper, in base a Cross of Saint Chad Gules. Crest: A Cardinal's head (Cardinalis cardinalis) erased clutching in its Beak a Madonna lily (Lilium Candidum) seeded proper. Mantling: Gules doubled Argent.

Coat of arms emblazoned by me, highlighted with lights and shadows, outlined in Sable, with an ogee external shape and with a leather finish.

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Blazon keywords: Gules, Argent, Azure, Two, One, Party per chevron, Barry, Wavy, In chief, Dogwood flower, Flower, Proper, In base, Cross of Saint Chad, Cross couped, Crest, Head, Erased, Grasping, Beak and Mantling.

Style keywords: Outlined in sable, Illuminated, Ogee and Leather.

Classification: Personal, Interpreted, Boa and Coat of arms.

Bearer: Krouse, Chad Michael.

Continue with: Crest, mantling and motto of Chad Michael Krouse.