#cross pate

[griffinrampant]

Arms of Edt bei Lambach, Austria

Granted 1980

Blazon: Vert on a fess in base argent two torteaux each charged with a cross paté, in chief a turbine or

The wind turbine is a legacy from the American occupation of the area after World War II, when several were built for extracting groundwater. Only one remains today. The crosses represent two former churches in the localities of Mairlambach and Mernbach, and the green field symbolizes the predominance of forests and fields in the region.

[griffinrampant]

Arms of Alcalá de la Vega, Spain

In use since at least 2010

Blazon: Gules a tower or within a bordure azure charged with four trees proper; pointé in base argent a cross paté of the first

The tower is probably a representation of the ruins of an Arab castle, formerly called al-Qala. It’s old enough that we don’t know exactly when it was built, but it’s referenced in an 872 document. The same document also notes that the area is densely wooded with stone pine trees that were used for construction and shipbuilding; I’d guess that’s why the arms include trees. The cross gules on a point argent seems like it could be a reference to the 68 or so years that the town spent under direct control of the Templars.

[griffinrampant]

Arms of Lot-et-Garonne, France

Granted 2003

Blazon: Per quarterly I gules in the dexter an eagle rising, wings addorsed and inverted, bearing in the talons a banner argent with the motto “Agen” sable, in the sinister a castle triple-towered, each tower flying a pennon or (Agen); II gules four towers conjoined at the base in cross by a cross paté argent, on a chief azure three fleurs-de-lis or (Marmande); III azure a sun in splendor or (Nérac); IV azure over water in base a bridge of five arches supporting three towers argent (Villeneuve-sur-Lot)

The four quarters each correspond to an important city in the region. I’ll probably cover each city in more detail when the time comes, but for now, four brief overviews: I don’t have a good explanation for the quarter of Agen, but it seems the eagle and castle were used since the mid-thirteenth century, when the city was granted a fair amount of self-rule and privileges. Marmande is a fortified town originally built by Richard I of England; the towers represent the four gates of the city, and the chief of France was granted by Charles VI in 1414. I’m not sure why Nérac has a sun, but Villeneuve-sur-Lot has used the depiction of its local bridge since 1547.

[griffinrampant]

Arms of Ebenau, Austria

Granted 1962

Blazon: Per pale gules a cross paté throughout argent and of the last a palet couped, terminating in chief with a bendlet sinister couped, and in base with a bendlet couped, crossed in the middle by three bars also couped, all gules.

The sinister half of these arms was tricky to blazon, but it also is a great opportunity to talk about house marks (Hausmarken). They hail primarily from Germanic and Scandanavian cultures. House marks do have some things in common with heraldry - they were intended to be unique and often (though not necessarily) represented families or municipalities. However, colors were irrelevant to house marks, and they weren’t granted by anyone’s authority; you could just make up your own as long as it was visually distinct. (There’s absolutely a class component here; coats of arms, which belonged almost exclusively to the upper classes, were/are considered more prestigious than the house marks of the lower classes.) Most house marks were made up of straight lines, the better to be scratched into a wide variety of surfaces. In many ways, they were similar to the merchant’s marks that presaged today’s brand logos, although house marks were more personal than commercial. The house mark in Ebenau’s arms belonged to the Steinhauser family, who founded a nearby bronze factory; the mining and armory industries were central to the local economy. The cross in the dexter half honors the local patron saint, St. Florian. 

[griffinrampant]

Arms of Dunkelsteinerwald, Austria

Granted 1982

Blazon: Per pale gules a cross paté argent and of the second, overall a triple mount in base, issuant from the sinister mount a pine tree vert

I’m sure you won’t be surprised to hear that forestry has long been a foundational industry of the town… but I have no evidence that that has anything to do with the arms. It is a shame that they went with the fairly common charges of mountains, trees, and crosses when there is apparently a local family, the Maissau, who bear or a unicorn rampant sable. I guess it shouldn’t be surprising that dark, mysterious woods give rise to local legends of mythical beasts wandering around in them.

[griffinrampant]

Arms of Draßburg, Austria

Granted 1998

Blazon: Per fess azure a passion cross or upon a triple mount in base proper and per pale of the first a griffin counter-segreant crowned and bearing a scimitar in the left of the second and in the right three roses gules, slipped and leaved proper, and of the second between a stag’s attires a cross paté of the first.

I don’t have a direct source for the cross, but it seems like a pretty standard thing to put on your municipal arms if you are a small Christian community. However, I do have sources for the base half of the shield. The griffin - crown, scimitar, roses, and all - is taken from the Esterházy arms, which are fucking amazing. I will have to come back to those sometime in the future, because WOW. The Esterházys controlled roughly one-third of the area that currently forms Draßburg from sometime in the 1620s through 1848. Similarly, the other quarter of the shield is derived from the Zichy arms; they controlled the other two-thirds of the area from 1672 to 1715 and from 1795 to 1848. (The Zichys sold the area to the Mesko family in 1715, but after eighty years’ worth of legal proceedings, the Meskos were ordered to give it back.) If you’re wondering what happened in 1848, well… let’s just say the Austrian nobility went into a sharp decline right around then.

[griffinrampant]

Arms of Ottavio Piccolomini, Duke of Amalfi 1639-1656 (1599-1656)

Blazon: Per quarterly I and IV argent on a cross azure five crescents or (Piccolomini); II and III paly of four i or four palets gules (Aragon), ii barry of eight gules and argent (Hungary ancien), iii azure semé de lis or, a label of four points gules (Anjou ancien), iv argent a cross paté between four crosses or (Jerusalem)

Ottavio inherited the quarters of Aragon, Hungary ancien, Anjou ancien, and Jerusalem from his ancestor Antonio Piccolomini d'Aragona, who married Maria d'Aragona, the illegitimate daughter of Ferdinand I of Naples. Many representations have Ferdinand's arms in the first and third quarters, as Maria's lineage was (though illegitimate) more noble than Antonio's.

[griffinrampant]

Arms of the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, London, England

Granted 1966

Blazon: Azure three salmon naiant in pale argent finned and tailed gules

Crest: On a wreath of the colors issuant from a wreath of bay leaves vert banded or a demi-stag proper gorged with a crown of or pendant therefrom an escutcheon ermine on a chevron vert between two chevronels the chief per pale azure and gules, the base per pale gules and azure, a cross paté or, holding between the forelegs a fountain

Supporters: Two stags proper gorged with a ribbon argent pendant therefrom an escutcheon azure issuant from the base an elm tree proper in front of a sun rising or and resting the interior hind hoof on a charred woodstock proper

Compartment*: A grassy mount proper supported by a fillet wavy pre fess wavy argent and azure

Mantling: Azure lined argent

The arms are derived from the historical arms of the borough, recorded as far back as 1572; the three salmon refer to three fisheries mentioned in the Domesday Book. The escutcheon on the crest bears the arms of the Borough of Malden and Coombe, and the supporters' escutcheons show the arms of the Borough of Surbiton.

*Compartments are usually left to the discretion of the artist, not specified in the blazon.