[antir-heralds] Interesting precedent on branch arm use

[Leslie A Schweitzer]

>> I seem to recall mayors and possibly guild heads impaling as well, and at
>> least modernly, English heralds impale with their office in some 
>> displays.
>> So not so much sovereignty per we.
>>
>> Now all of these are uniquely held offices - Clarenceux would impale with
>> that particular officer's arms, not with some generic herald's badge. I
>> suspect that is why we don't impale with office badges in the SCA. Most
>> aren't unique.
>
> IIRC (no guarantees), all the non-clerical examples were post-period.
> Unless there was something Medici.

It's always a hassle to find examples of arms of office - they generally are 
shown in places that aren't primarily talking about the heraldry. So my 
mind's eye is seeing heralds impaling their office in Some Period Looking 
Document Here, a Mayor of London impaling there, but putting a finger on it 
(if it's there to put a finger on! my mind's eye could, of course, be 
confused) is tricky.

And the general texts (like "The New International Encyclopaedia") are happy 
to throw out sentences like "Bishops, deans, heads of colleges, and 
kings-at-arms impale their arms of office with their family coat, giving the 
dexter side to the former" but they don't give dates.
(http://books.google.com/books?id=xj4rAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA797&lpg=PA797&dq=%22arms+of+office%22+impale&source=web&ots=nmpe3dqXor&sig=QosSXcEZhasLPQFkA7jeHXYMgJk&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=4&ct=result)


This one isn't period but it is at least in vague waving distance, and a bit 
more English than Italian ;-)

http://www.college-of-arms.gov.uk/Newsletter/014.htm

Oh gosh, no wonder I'm falling asleep, in my current work schedule I haven't 
been up past midnight in a while :-} Enough research for the evening...

Zenobia Naphtali