(no subject)

[geca.livejournal.com]

Hello,

I'm finding all sorts of information and decided to ask. What is King Arthur's shield/heraldry supposed to look like. I've heard that it's a red lion rampant on a yellow background. (Though yellow surprises me because in Ancient Rome yellow was the color for traitors and it's stuck since then, "yellow" meaning "callow." ) Any pictures or descriptions would be very welcome!

Of course I'll post pictures of what I'm eventually going to do with it. ;D

Comments

[watersedge1.livejournal.com]

because his name is Pendragon, in old British stories, his symbol is a red dragon on a yellow field, possibly or, dragon (insert pose, like rampant or regardant) gules.

[avallonia.livejournal.com]

The red lion rampant on the yellow background is a flag of Scotland. Ive always seen the flag of Wales -- the Red Dragon on green and white field --as associated with Arthur Pendragon (All-Leader). This makes the most sense to me as Arthur comes to us from Welsh mythos, though the history of these flags date back to a later period than that of historic Arthur.

Scottish Lion: http://www.ultimateflags.com/novelty/images/lionramp.gif
Welsh Dragon: http://www.ultimateflags.com/int/images/wales.gif

[impgrrl.livejournal.com]

The "Scottish Lion" is more of a Griffin, actually.

[avallonia.livejournal.com]

Ive never seen the figure on the Scottish flag referred to as anything but a lion. Griffins have the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle,do they not? Like so:

http://www.dalcassiansept.com/coats/griffin.jpg

There are clearly no wings on the Scottish Lion.

[bumblebee13.livejournal.com]

I don't know why but I always saw his symbol as a red dragon on a white background. :)

[kemeki.livejournal.com]

Hey, this is completely off subject, but if you happen to be looking for a Harry Potter sorting community sorting__hat is fun! :) (I'm Head Girl there)

Just saw the icon while I was here and thought I'd mention it!

~Morgan

[a-blue-moon-cat.livejournal.com]

From my time in the SCA as a herald, wherein I learnt medieval English and French heraldry, the red is "gules" and the yellow is the colour that was used to represent gold, known as "or". Thus the coat of arms (what you called a 'shield') is blazoned thusly:

"Or, a lion rampant gules" which means a gold background with a red lion in the rearing positon. Btw, by default, the animal positions are always facing to their right or dexter (which is our left when we view the arms)--this is just like stage right and left in the theatre. :)

The main colours used in medieval times were:

azure (blue)
gules (red)
sable (black)
vert (green)
purpure (purple)

The metals were:

or (gold, represented by yellow)
argent (silver, reprensented by white)

(There are also furs, but that's another thing!)

The basic rule of heraldry is no colour on colour, and no metal on metal. This is so that the coats of arms on the shields on the battlefields could be seen at a distance, or closer, so that one could distinguish between one's foe and one's friends quickly, and not kill the wrong person.

HTH!