Escudo de Castilla y León Libro abierto, hojas de plata, filo de oro, guardas de gules, tapas de sable.

Marshal, L.; 1295

The Lord Marshal's Roll, shield of Willame de Colebraund

Lord Marshal, «The Lord Marshal's Roll», deposited in the Society of Antiquaries of London, code ms664, volume 1, ff 19-25, contains 565 painted shields, of which 42 are blank and 48 do not have the name of their associated holder, dated 1295.


This armorial contains the systematic error of representing, in many of its registered shields, the metal gold as metal silver, and some of its shields are not easy to decipher. Therefore, this armorial cannot be considered a completely reliable and definitive source of certain coats of arms.

[Brault, G. J.; 1997] is a good reference for the analysis of this armorial and in Brian Timms you can see a current interpretation of the coats of arms recorded in it, among them the shield of William de Colebrand that illustrates this bibliographic reference.

At the beginning of the second half of the 13th century, the use of coats of arms increased, this increase led to the appearance of the first armorials in which the name of their holders was recorded along with the blazon describing their coats of arms, possibly including the painted shields.


Bibliographical reference of century XIII.

Author: Marshal, Lord.

Bibliographic reference mentioned in the following articles:

External resource:

Separador heráldico
Escudo de Castilla y León

Peter IV of Aragon

Or, four pallets Gules.

And II of Valencia and of Ampurias, I of Mallorca and Sardinia, and III of Barcelona.

Or, four pallets Gules.

Escudo de oro, cuatro palos de gules.

Coat of arms of this king of Aragon interpreted by me as follows: the escutcheon shape is curved triangular; the field and the 4 pallets are rendered in flat tinctures Or and Gules; and the whole shield has a watercolored finish.

This curved triangular shape of the escutcheon is inspired by the shield shown in the lower central part of a document issued by the king himself [Pedro IV de Aragón; 1353].


Blazon keywords: Without divisions, Or, Four, Pale and Gules.

Style keywords: Triangular curved, Illuminated and Watercolor.

Classification: Interpreted, Personal, Coat of arms and Kingdom of Aragon.

Bearer: Peter IV of Aragon.

Separador heráldico
Escudo de Castilla y León

James I of Aragon

Or, four pallets Gules.

King of Aragon, Valencia and Majorca, Count of Barcelona, Count of Urgell, Lord of Montpellier and known as the Conqueror

Or, four pallets Gules.

Escudo de oro, cuatro palos de gules.

Coat of arms interpreted by me as follows: the escutcheon shape is semicircular; the field is rendered in flat Or with a watercolored effect; and the pallets are illuminated and finished with a crystalline texture.

A semicircular-shaped shield of Aragon can be seen, for instance, in [Argote de Molina, G.; 1588; chapter XLII].

This shield, but with a pointed base, appears in the second part of the armorial [Wijnbergen; 1265; shield no. 1,293], under the title «Le roy Darragon». This second part was compiled between 1270 and 1285 and, since James I was king of Aragon from 1213 to 1276, it could refer to him; although it might also refer to his son Peter III, the Great, who succeeded James I in 1276.

This coat of arms is also the arms of Aix-en-Provence, granted to that French city, according to tradition, by Alfonso II of Aragon [Aix-en-Provence; 1351], grandfather of James I, the Conqueror.


Blazon keywords: Without divisions, Or, Four, Pale and Gules.

Style keywords: Semi-circular, Illuminated, Watercolor and Crystalline.

Classification: Interpreted, Personal, Coat of arms and Kingdom of Aragon.

Bearer: James I of Aragon.

Separador heráldico
Escudo de Castilla y León

Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona

Or, four pallets Gules.

Or, four pallets Gules.

Escudo de oro, cuatro palos de gules.

Coat of arms of the Count of Barcelona interpreted by me with the following features: the escutcheon shape is semicircular; the field is rendered in flat Or; the pallets are illuminated; and the whole has been given a heavily beaten metal finish.

[Menéndez Pidal de Navascués, F.; 1988; page 537] tells us that, unlike other more territorial emblems, «from his earliest seal the pallets appear on the shield of the equestrian figures on both sides, and in line with this configuration the emblem is inherited, without distinction, by his three sons and all his grandsons... it seems one must conclude that the emblem had a familial, not territorial, character from the very beginning».


Blazon keywords: Without divisions, Or, Four, Pale and Gules.

Style keywords: Semi-circular, Illuminated and Hard metal.

Classification: Interpreted, Personal, Coat of arms and County of Barcelona.

Bearer: Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona.

Separador heráldico
Escudo de Castilla y León

Aragon

Or, four pallets Gules.

Or, four pallets Gules.

Escudo de oro, cuatro palos de gules.

Recreated coat of arms of Aragón in the following manner: the escutcheon shape is pointed and rounded; the field is rendered in flat Or; the pallets are illuminated; and the whole has a parchment-like finish.

This rendition of the coat of arms is based on [Portolés, J.; Molino, M. del; 1590].


Blazon keywords: Without divisions, Or, Four, Pale and Gules.

Style keywords: Pointed and rounded, Illuminated and Parchment.

Classification: Interpreted, Civic, Coat of arms and Kingdom of Aragon.

Bearer: Aragon.

Separador heráldico
Escudo de Castilla y León Unicornio saltante sobre la divisa, criterio.

Chequey, chequy or checky

Chequey Or and Gules.

Chequey.

Chequey Or and Gules.

Escudo ajedrezado de oro y gules.

I have encountered several ways of writing the term «chequey» in English, such as «chequy», removing one «e», or «checky», and even other variants like «checkered», «checkie», «chequered», «cheque», «cheques» or «checquy».

[The Heraldry Society; 2013; pages 8 and 11] uses the term «chequey», and that is the one I strive to use.


Categories: Criterion, Tiled, Plain tincture, Hard metal, Chequey, Or and Gules.

Separador heráldico
Escudo de Castilla y León

Urgell, County of

Chequey Or and Sable.

Chequey Or and Sable.

Escudo ajedrezado de oro y sable.

Arms interpreted with: a round-topped shield shape; the chequey pattern in flat metal Or and colour Sable; and a heavily beaten metal finish.

[Avilés, J.; 1780a; page 33] writes about the application of the chequey pattern to shields, ordinaries and charges: «chequey is said of the shield, the principal ordinaries, and even some animals, such as eagles, lions, and other charges, when they are composed of alternating square pieces in the fashion of a chessboard.» On the minimum number of panes he generally specifies that «for a shield to be called chequey, it must have at least twenty chessboard panes; because if it has only nine, it is called equipoll; and if it has fifteen, it is said to be of fifteen panes of chequey» and for its application to ordinaries that «other ordinaries, such as bends, fesses, etc., must have at least two rows of chequey to be considered chequey, otherwise they would be called compony.»


Blazon keywords: Chequey, Or and Sable.

Style keywords: Semi-circular, Plain tincture and Hard metal.

Classification: Interpreted, Civic, Coat of arms and Kingdom of Aragon.

Bearer: Urgell, County of.

Separador heráldico

Sigue por: Ponce I of Urgell.

 

Dr. Antonio Salmerón y Cabañas,
,
Paseo de la Castellana 135, 7th floor,
28046 Madrid, Spain.