Military heraldry

Kingdom of Sweden.

Gules, a grenade Or.

Escudo de gules, una bomba de oro.

Illuminated with lights and shadows and with a iridescent and metallic finish.

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Blazon keywords: Without divisions, Gules, One, Grenade and Or.

Style keywords: Metal beaten, Iridescent (nacar), Outlined in sable, Illuminated and Pointed.

Classification: Interpreted, Military and Kingdom of Sweden.

Bearer: Artillery Combat School of the Swedish Army.

Barry of four per pale counterchanged Or and Gules.

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Blazon keywords: Barry per pale counterchanged, Four, Or and Gules.

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

Classification: Religious, Military, Knights Templar, Interpreted, Coat of arms and Schema.

Bearer: Blanchefort, Bertrand de.

Parachute Light Infantry Unit.

Argent, three bendlets sinister Azure. Motto: «BPAC. Roger de Lauria II».

Escudo de plata, tres barras de azur. Divisa: «BPAC. Roger de Lauria II».

For this interpretation, I have used: a shield with a pointed shape; the angle of the main diagonal of a rectangle with a 5x6 proportion, which is 50.2^o; a recreation of the division that I deduce seems to be used by the Spanish Army for this coat of arms; and for the whole, a rough finish.

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Blazon keywords: Without divisions, Argent, Azure, Bend sinister and Motto (identification).

Style keywords: Semi-circular, Illuminated, Outlined in sable and Rough.

Classification: Interpreted, Military and Army and Navy.

Bearer: BPAC II.

The Order of Chivalry of Calatrava is both military and religious, founded in the Kingdom of Castile during the 12th century by Abbot Raymond of Fitero.

The purpose of its foundation was the protection of the town of Calatrava la Vieja, which currently belongs to the municipality of Carrión de Calatrava in Ciudad Real. At the time of the order's foundation, it was an important city, in the middle valley of the river Guadiana and with a strategic position, as it was a necessary passage on the road from Toledo to Córdoba to Toledo and between the west and east of the Iberian Peninsula.

On the origin and antiquity of the Military Order of Calatrava, and the form of its Commandery

[Avilés, J.; 1780b; treatise IV, chapter IV, pages 334] writes «The Military Order of Calatrava was instituted by Don Sancho III, King of Castile (called the Desired), in the year 1158, while he was visiting his Kingdom; and being in Toledo with news of the great army that the Moors were gathering to besiege Calatrava la Vieja (which is called so today to distinguish it from the new one, which was founded later); and as the Templars, to whom this Fortress belonged, did not have sufficient power to resist such a large multitude, they handed it over to King Don Sancho himself so that he could take charge of it, as he did».

[Avilés, J.; 1780b; treatise IV, chapter IV, page 335] continues by telling us «The Abbot of Santa María de Fitero», near the river Pisuerga as he will indicate next, «of the Congregation of Cistercian, in the Bishopric of Palencia (which is a Monastery of St. Bernard, located on the river Pisuerga), named Don Raymond, and Friar Diego Velazquez, his subject Monk, who followed the Court, despite the difficulty of the enterprise, requested it from the King to defend it, which was granted, trusting in the virtue of the Abbot, and the strength of the Monk, who had previously been a great Knight in deeds of Arms, and very practiced in war».

[Avilés, J.; 1780b; treatise IV, chapter IV, page 336] continues «Seeing themselves in such an obligation, and that by themselves they could not fulfill it, they turned to Archbishop Don Juan (who was the fourth of Toledo) for help; and he, granting many indulgences in all his Archbishopric to those who, for themselves and for others, supplied the Place with provisions, in the same way as those who, unable to go due to old age or illness, helped with weapons, horses, and men; and having spread this news, so much help came to them, that when the Moors learned that the number of people exceeded twenty thousand men, they abandoned the conquest, returning to their homes: for this reason, the King ceded the Town of Calatrava to the Abbot of Fitero, and his successors, to defend it from the Moors from then on, confirmed later by King Alfonso IX, his son».

[Avilés, J.; 1780b; treatise IV, chapter IV, page 337] concludes «Having obtained this grace, Abbot Don Raymond brought the most suitable Monks from Fitero to Calatrava, and everything else that was necessary for living and for the defense of the Town and its land, which with the people inclined to war who remained, formed the Order of Chivalry of Calatrava, taking this name from the place where the institution was made, which in Arabic Calatrava means Castle».

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Categories: Institution, Interpreted, Religious, Military, Illuminated, Outlined in sable, Freehand, Emblem, Cross of Calatrava, Cross couped and Cross.

Disperse like the sun clears the clouds in your path.

Argent, a cross of Alcantara. Crest: A closed royal crown Or, with eight arches, visible five. Motto: «Hoec nubila tollunt obstantia sicut sol».

Escudo de plata, una cruz de Alcántara. Timbrado de una corona real cerrada. Lema: «Hoec nubila tollunt obstantia sicut sol».

Coat of arms interpreted in the following manner: the shape of the shield is of a semicircular arch; the field is illuminated in metal Argent; the cross of Alcantara is outlined in Sable and illuminated in Vert; the royal crown is closed, outlined in Sable and illuminated with the metal Or, Argent for the pearls, Azure and Or for the orb, Gules and Vert for the gems, Gules for the inner cloth, and Sable for the visible hollow at its base; and the whole has a slightly hammered metal finish.

Regiment's Motto

The Latin motto «Hoec nubila tollunt obstantia sicut sol» is often translated as «Ride like the sun, disperses the clouds in its path». I would like to offer the following observations on this translation:

• Instead of «disperse», I prefer the verb «scatter» which is more aligned with a cavalry regiment, [Royal Spanish Academy; 2001] «scatter, 3^rd meaning, transitive verb, military term: To break up, rout the enemy, causing them to flee and scatter in complete disorder».
• On the other hand, even though it is about cavalry, I do not find that the Latin motto makes reference to riding, a verb that is also not needed to understand the motto's meaning, and adding an extra word lengthens the motto, reducing its impact.
• Finally, I use «your», instead of «its», so that the motto is a direct and personal rallying cry and not a phrase directed at a third person.

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Blazon keywords: Without divisions, Argent, Cross of Alcantara, Cross couped, Cross, Crest, Closed royal crown, Crown and Motto.

Style keywords: Semi-circular, Illuminated, Outlined in sable and Soft metal.

Classification: Interpreted, Military, Army and Navy and Coat of arms.

Bearer: Alcantara, Cavalry Regiment.

In this sign, you shall conquer.

Argent, a cross of Montesa. Crest: A closed royal crown Or, with eight arches, visible five. Motto: «In hoc signo vinces».

Escudo de oro, una cruz de Montesa. Timbrado de una corona real cerrada. Lema: «In hoc signo vinces».

Coat of arms interpreted as follows: the shape of the shield is a semi-circular arch; the field has been illuminated in metal Or; the cross of Montesa is outlined in Sable and illuminated in Sable and Gules; the royal crown is closed, outlined in Sable and illuminated the metal in Or, the pearls in Argent, the orb in Azure and Or, the gemstones in Gules and Vert, the inner cloth in Gules, and the visible hollow at its base in Sable; and the whole has a slightly beaten metal finish.

Regimental Motto

The Latin motto «In hoc signo vinces» is translated as «In this sign, you shall conquer».

Globus cruciger ~ Orb

It is called orb ~ «globus cruciger», the first in Spanish and the second in Latin, referring to the part of the royal crown, a jewel, or a jewel itself that recreates the shape of the globe topped with a cross.

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Blazon keywords: Without divisions, Or, Cross of Montesa, Cross couped, Cross, Crest, Closed royal crown, Crown and Motto.

Style keywords: Semi-circular, Illuminated, Outlined in sable and Soft metal.

Classification: Interpreted, Military, Army and Navy and Coat of arms.

Bearer: Montesa, Cavalry Regiment.

Party per pale: 1 Gules, a castle triple-towered Or, port and windows Azure, and masoned Sable; 2 Argent, a lion rampant Gules, crowned Or. Motto: «Región Militar Centro» over a scroll Or.

Coat of arms (1984-1997 and 1997-2002) of the former Central Military Region, also called 1^st Military Region, where I serve. I interpreted and emblazoned now this coat of arms with a semi-circular ended shape.

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Blazon keywords: Party per pale, Gules, One, Castle, Or, Port and windows, Azure, Masoned, Sable, Argent, Lion, Rampant, Crowned, Motto (identification) and Scroll.

Style keywords: Semi-circular, Illuminated, Outlined in sable and Metal beaten.

Classification: Interpreted, Military, Army and Navy, Coat of arms and Kingdom of Castile and Leon.

Bearer: Central Military Region.

Lozengy Or and Gules.

Escudo losanjado oro y gules.

Coat of arms emblazoned by me with a semi-circular shape, illuminated, and with a freehand finishing.

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Blazon keywords: Lozengy, Or and Gules.

Style keywords: Outlined in sable, Illuminated, Semi-circular and Freehand.

Classification: Religious, Military, Knights Templar, Interpreted and Coat of arms.

Bearer: Craon, Robert de.

Party per pale: 1 Gules, in base a castle triple-towered Or, port and windows Azure, and masoned Sable; 2 Argent, in base a lion rampant Gules, crowned Or; overall a psi letter sable; a diminished bordure Or.

Escudo partido: 1^o de gules, en punta un castillo de oro, aclarado de azur y mazonado de sable; 2^o de plata, en punta un león rampante de gules, coronado de oro; brochante sobre la partición una letra psi de gules; una filiera de oro.

Arms depicted by me, illuminated with lights and shadows, contoured in Sable, with a semi-circular outer contour and with a iridescent finishing.

Coat of arms of Crepsi, military psychology, former Central Military Region, Kingdom of Spain, where I was stationed during my military service. These arms were designed by my lieutenant colonel and friend Miguel Angel Nuñez Amador, and in this image, they have been emblazoned by me. The Crepsi was a pioneer in its functions: a) the identification of soldiers at psychological risk, among tens of thousands of soldiers, using advanced information systems, including Artificial Intelligence (an area where I contributed during my service in 1989), and b) the evaluation and individualized attention of soldiers at risk through mobile units. The Crepsi has provided trained personnel and methods that are being used for the psychological care of troops deployed to conflict zones and for the psychological care of civilians in massive humanitarian disasters such as terrorist attacks or plane crashes with hundreds of affected people.

Design rationale

The psi letter of psychology and the arms of the Central Military Region: Party per pale: 1 Gules, a castle triple-towered Or, port and windows Azure, and masoned Sable; 2 Argent, a lion rampant Gules, crowned Or. These two fields, in turn, Gules and Argent, charged with a castle triple-towered and a crowned lion, originate from the Kingdom of Castile and León. The diminished bordure is for difference.

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Blazon keywords: Gules, Argent, Or, Azure, Sable, Party per pale, In base, Castle, Triple-towered, Port and windows, Masoned, Lion, Rampant, Crowned, Overall, Letter and Diminished bordure.

Style keywords: Outlined in sable, Illuminated, Semi-circular and Iridescent.

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

Bearer: Crepsi.

Or, a chief Gules. Behind the shield a cross patty Gules.

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Classification: Religious, Military, Knights Templar, Interpreted, Doctor, Article, Castilian language and Black and white and color illustrations.

Bearer: Tremelay, Bernard de.

Azure, two barbels addorsed Argent. Behind the shield an eight-pointed cross patty Gules.

I have had the honour of writing this article about André de Montbard and its coat of arms within a series of 23 articles about the heraldry of the Grand Masters of the Temple.

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Classification: Religious, Military, Knights Templar, Interpreted, Doctor, Article, Castilian language and Black and white and color illustrations.

Bearer: Montbard, André de.

Argent, a cross Azure. Behind the shield a cross patty Gules.

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Classification: Religious, Military, Knights Templar, Interpreted, Doctor, Article, Castilian language and Black and white and color illustrations.

Bearer: Hérail, Gilbert.

Vair. Behind the shield an eight-pointed cross patty Gules.

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Classification: Religious, Military, Knights Templar, Interpreted, Doctor, Article, Castilian language and Black and white and color illustrations.

Bearer: Vichiers, Renaud de.

Within military heraldry, I classify the arms of individuals, institutions, orders, military corps, and entities.

Although the military is an institution of the state, I dedicate a separate category to it in recognition of its special characteristics and history, as well as its particular functions of cohesion and identification, which are rooted in heraldry for the battlefield. The coat of arms of the Central Military Region and the Artillery Combat School of the Swedish Army are examples of military heraldry.

[Cadenas y Vicent, V. de; 1975; page 88] includes military heraldry within his «institutional heraldry».

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Categories: Criterion and Military.

The Order of Saint Mary of Montesa and Saint George of Alfama, known as the Order of Montesa, was founded in the 14^th century by the King of Aragon, James, as a military and religious order, to which he donated a castle in Valencia from which they took their name.

To endow the new Order of Montesa, the assets of the Order of the Templars, dissolved by Pope Clement V, were used. This is recounted by [Avilés, J.; 1780b; page 342] writing that Montesa was created «from the incomes and ruin of the Templars; as their Order was being extinguished, at the request of the Kings, so that said incomes would not leave the Kingdom.».

The order established within the Castle of Montesa, which previously belonged to the Templars, their convent and church of the Order, the palace of their Master, their barracks for fighting men, being able to form up to a couple of thousand of them in their parade ground. Their first Master, for 70 days since he died just over two months after his appointment, was Guillermo de Eril.

The origin and antiquity of the Military Order of Montesa, and the form of its Encomienda.

[Avilés, J.; 1780b; treatise IV, chapter VI, page 341] describes it as follows «The Military Order of Montesa was instituted in the year 1317 by the King of Aragon, Don Jaime II, and confirmed in the same year by Pope John XXII.».

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Categories: Institution, Interpreted, Religious, Military, Illuminated, Outlined in sable, Freehand, Emblem, Cross of Montesa, Cross couped and Cross.

Order of Cavalry of Alcantara

A cross of Alcantara.

Una cruz de Alcántara.

Interpretation of the emblem of the order with: its cross outlined in Sable, illuminated in Vert; and a heavily beaten metal finish.

The Royal Council of the Orders of Chivalry of Santiago, Calatrava, Alcantara, and Montesa, in its historical account of the foundation of the Order of Alcantara, states that, according to Alonso de Torres y Tapia, Prior of Alcantara and a 17^th-century chronicler, it was founded in 1156, by Don Suero Fernández Barrientos along with other knights from Salamanca, in Pereiro near the River Coa, under the name of the Order of Saint Julian of Pereiro and during the reign of Ferdinand II of León.

Emblem

Regarding the emblem of the Order of Cavalry of Alcantara, [Avilés, J.; 1780b; treatise IV, chapter V, page 340, figure 102], reusing the same figure 102 as for the Order of Calatrava, says «In the past, the Order of Alcantara displayed on its Standard the Gules Straps of Calatrava», remember that due to the commandery of the city of Alcantara, they had to assume some dependency on that of Calatrava, «next to a Pear tree in Vert on a field of Or, which was the insignia of the Order of Pereiro, due to the conformity with which these two Orders lived; but upon changing their Habit, the Pope» Eugene IV «granted them the green Cross», Vert, «in the manner they wear it today, differing from that of Calatrava only in color».

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Blazon keywords: Cross of Alcantara, Cross couped and Cross.

Style keywords: Illuminated, Outlined in sable and Soft metal.

Classification: Interpreted, Religious, Military and Emblem.

Bearer: Alcantara, Order of.

Quarterly: 1 and 4 Argent, a cross patty Gules; 2 and 3 Azure, a bend Or

Escudo cuartelado: 1^o y 4^o de plata, una cruz patada de gules; 2^o y 3^o de azur, una banda de oro.

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Blazon keywords: Azure, One, Bend, Or, Quarterly, Argent, Cross patty, Cross couped and Gules.

Style keywords: Outlined in sable, Illuminated, Semi-circular and Freehand.

Classification: Religious, Military, Knights Templar, Interpreted and Coat of arms.

Bearer: Molay, Jacques de.

Or, six annulets Gules, 3, 2, and 1.

Escudo de oro, seis anilletes de gules, ordenados 3, 2 y 1.

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Blazon keywords: Or, Six, Annulet, Gules, Ordered, Three, Two and One.

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

Classification: Religious, Military, Knights Templar, Interpreted and Coat of arms.

Bearer: Richard, Richard.

The Order of Chivalry of Santiago is both military and religious. It was founded in the Kingdom of León during the 12th century, although there is a difference of opinion regarding its exact year of foundation. It is named after the patron saint of Spain, James the Greater.

The purpose of its foundation was the protection of the Way of Saint James and the pilgrims who traveled it, and to participate militarily in the advancement of the reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula.

Of the Military Order of Santiago of the Sword, of its origin, and antiquity, as well as the form of its Commandery

[Avilés, J.; 1780b; treatise IV, chapter II, page 325] writes «The oldest authentic instrument that is found regarding the origin of the Order of Chivalry of Santiago of the Sword», observe how José de Avilés e Iturbide refers to the order in the masculine form, «is the donation made in the years of 848», note how the Marquess of Avilés does not doubt the antiquity of this order and even in other subsequent paragraphs, he dates it even earlier than currently believed, «made to the Church of Santiago by the King of León Don Ramiro in memory of the famous victory he achieved against the Moors in the battle of Clavijo (two leagues from Logroño), as evidenced by its Privilege, for having seen this Holy Apostle armed and mounted on a Horse, fighting in defense of the Christians; to whose devotion, and in this recognition, the said Order was instituted, taking from it its origin and name, as well as the same Cross that the Saint bore on his chest, and Shield, represented in the form of a Sword, of red color», gules ~ red, «for the blood shed of the Infidels, of whom Don Rodrigo Ximenez, Archbishop of Toledo, in his Chronicle Book VII says»: «Kubet ensis sanguine Arabum».

Drawing with a single stroke

Cross of Saint James the Greater drawing by me with a single stroke. This is the reason why it is asymmetrical, it has the base tip crooked, there are some sides higher than others, and it shows the failure of my pulse in a certains turns.

It is by far my most downloaded and copied painting, the most used on websites, citing me or not, the most used in hotels advertising, parish sheets... and even on T-shirts.

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Categories: Institution, Interpreted, Religious, Military, Illuminated, Outlined in sable, Freehand, Emblem, Cross of Saint James, Cross couped and Cross.