Irish heraldry

Arms of the O'Donovan family, displaying crest, helm and mantling in the common Irish fashion

Irish heraldry is the forms of heraldry, such as coats of arms, in Ireland. Since 1 April 1943 it is regulated in the Republic of Ireland by the Office of the Chief Herald of Ireland and in Northern Ireland by Norroy and Ulster King of Arms. Prior to that heraldry on the whole island of Ireland was a function of the Ulster King of Arms, a crown office dating from 1552. Despite its name the Ulster King of Arms was based in Dublin.

Office of the Chief Herald of Ireland

The Office of the Chief Herald of Ireland, sometimes incorrectly called the Office of Arms, is the Republic of Ireland's authority on all heraldic matters relating to Ireland and is located at the National Library of Ireland.

It has jurisdiction over:

• All Irish citizens, male or female
• Persons normally resident in Ireland
• Persons living abroad who are of provable Irish descent in either the paternal or maternal line
• Persons with significant links to Ireland
• Corporate bodies within Ireland and corporate bodies with significant links to Ireland but based in countries with no heraldic authority.

Sept arms

A peculiarity of Irish heraldry is acceptance of the idea of sept arms, which belong to descendants, not necessarily of a determinate individual, but of an Irish sept, the chieftain of which, under Irish law, was not necessarily a son of the previous chieftain but could be any member of the sept whose grandfather had held the position of chieftain.^[1] A member of the particular sept has the right to the arms of that sept, a right that on the contrary does not belong to people of the same surname who belong to a different sept.^[2] For example, a person from the O'Kelly sept of Ui Máine may display the arms of that sept, but a Kelly of the Meath or Kilkenny septs cannot.

Proponents of English heraldry and those who hold a documented right to arms see sept arms as controversial,^[2] but the Irish Genealogical Office (previously known as the Office of Arms)^[3] "holds that any member of a sept may display the arms of that sept (as distinct from personally 'bearing' the arms, as on stationery, silver, or other such use, [for] only the grantee and his descendants may 'bear' the arms)." This distinction was introduced by Edward McLysaght, the first Chief Herald of Ireland after independence and the author of several works on Irish families,^[4]

Pat Brennan writes that we simply don't have enough evidence to be doctrinaire about clan or sept arms. He adds: "Naturally the idea of clan or sept arms is anathema to English heraldic practice (like a lot of other Gaelic Irish customs)." However, to show that it is not totally unique, he cites H. Bedington & P. Gwynn-Jones, Heraldry (Greenwich, CT 1993): "In eastern Europe whole groups of families or territorial areas adopted the same armorial bearings (in) a form of clan affiliation." This. Brennan says, was particularly evident in Poland where arms may pertain to a whole group of families and, in one extreme example, almost 600 families bear the same symbol - a horse shoe enclosing a cross.^[2]

Even after the introduction of English heraldry into Ireland and the setting up of arrangements for regulating it, the arms registered were undifferentiated, that is, they show no signs of the practice of changing a tincture or adding some symbol to personalize those of a particular individual. Brennan concludes that, rather than being the property of an individual, the arms belonged either to the sept as a whole or to the chief or to all members of the ruling elite in the sept. The hundreds of people claiming the right to arms are an indication, Brennan says, either that they had used those arms for some time, or that the arms did not belong personally to the chief or that they were obviously based on the ancient clan system, so that the chief could not complain of their use by others.^[2]

Terminology

In English, achievements of arms are usually described (blazoned) in a specialized jargon that uses derivatives of French terms. In Irish, however, achievements of arms are described in language which, while formal and different from plain language, is not quite so opaque as Anglo-Norman terminology is in English. Nevertheless Irish heraldic terminology is a kind of specialized jargon. Examples used since 1943 include the use of Irish gorm and uaine for blue and green, as compared to the French-derived azure and vert used in English blazon.^[5]

Tinctures	Paints or Colours
Escutcheons
English	Azure	Gules	Vert	Purpure	Sable
Irish	Gorm	Dearg	Uaine	Corcra	Dubh
Tinctures	Metals		Furs
Escutcheons
English	Or	Argent	Ermine	Vair
Irish	Ór (órga)	Airgead (airgidí)	Eirmín	Véir

Ordinaries Ríphíosaí
English	Pale	Fess	Bend	Bend sinister
Irish	Cuaille	Balc	Bandán	Clébhandán
Ordinaries Ríphíosaí
English	Chevron	Chief	Cross	Saltire
Irish	Rachtán	Barr	Cros	Sailtír
Ordinaries Ríphíosaí
English	Pall	Pall subverted	Pile	Bordure
Irish	Gabhal	Gabhal aisiompaithe	Ding	Imeallbhord

Division of the field
English	Party per fess	Party per pale	Party per bend sinister	Quarterly	Quarterly charged with an inescutcheon
Irish	Gearrtha	Deighilte	Cléroinnte	Ceathair-roinnte	Ceathair-roinnte móide lársciath

Lines of division
English	Wavy	Indented	Engrailed	Invected
Irish	Camógach	Eangach	Clasach	Dronnógach
Lines of division
English	Nebuly	Embattled	Dovetailed	Potenty
Irish	Néalach	Táibhleach	Déadach	Cathógach

Coat of arms of Ireland

The escutcheon (left) and crest (right) used by the British monarchs to represent their dominion over Ireland. In 1945, the newly independent Republic of Ireland adopted the same shield, Azure a harp Or stringed argent, to represent their state.

The Coat of arms of Ireland is blazoned as Azure a harp Or, stringed argent - a gold harp with silver strings on a St. Patrick's blue background. The harp, and specifically the Cláirseach (or Gaelic harp), has long been Ireland's heraldic emblem. It appears on the coat of arms which were officially registered as the arms of the state of Ireland on 9 November 1945. The harp has been recognised as a symbol of Ireland since the 13th century^[6]

References