List of oldest heraldry

This list of oldest heraldry aims to include the oldest documented, non-attributed heraldic achievements for individuals, families, locations or institutions.

A problem with determining early occurrence of heraldry stems from the fact that many early heraldic charges and compositions emerged in emulation of prior visual identifications, as seen in ante-heraldic seals and standards of individuals, authorities and towns, well before traditional heraldic custom was established. Visual culture and identity naturally predated heraldry. Notably, lions that would subsequently appear in coat of arms of royal dynasties, such the Kingdom of León, predated heraldry well enough in the early Middle Ages.

In an extreme comparison, some elements today commonly associated with heraldry have even been traced in Western civilisation to antiquity, such as to the Lions gate of Mycenae from the 13th century B.C. A reoccuring, less distant perception of proto-heraldic appearances is that of the Bayeux tapestry in Normandy.

It has been suggested that the use of heraldic devices in western Europe was strongly influenced by the return of noblemen from the First Crusade. Henry I of England may have been using a lion as a heraldic device during his reign in the ealry 12th century. A later chroncler would claim he awarded his son-in-law, Geoffrey V, Count of Anjou, a lion device in 1127, and several lineages descended from Henry would use lions on their coats of arms once full-fledged heraldry developed. The earliest known heraldic representation appears on the funerary enamel of Geoffrey of Anjou (d. 1151), showing a coat of arms that appears to be the same as one later used by some of his descendants, though it has been pointed out that they may be merely post-mortal, attributed coat of arms. Even so, it would still demonstrate the development of heraldry within a short time after his death. Likewise the early seals of King Richard Lionheart of the House of Plantagenet are usually taken as a manifestations of heraldry, due to the apparent similarity between the shield represented on the second Great Seal and the documented coat of arms used by the British royal family shortly afterwards.

List of oldest heraldry

Year Heraldry Type Armiger/attribution Occasion Grant Location Notes
1155-1160 Personal,
then
family
coat of arms		 Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou self-assumed or by royal grant Le Mans Cathedral, Le Mans,  France Appearing on funerary enamel commissioned by Geoffrey's widow Mathilda of England between 1155 and 1160 for his tomb. Often described as the first documented personal coat of arms. A chronicler wrote that in 1127, King Henry I presented to Geoffrey a badge of a gold lion.[1] Some scholars represent this as an earlier description of the same heraldic device, and perhaps the same coat of arms.
1194 Personal,
then
family
coat of arms		 Canute VI of Denmark;
House of Estridsen		 Likely self-assumed Seal of Canute VI likely used around 1194, and is in principal the same coat of arms that Denmark uses today.[2]
1198 Personal,
then
family
coat of arms		 King Richard the Lionheart;
House of Plantagenet; arms appearing on the First (left) and Second (right) Great Seals, first documented royal coats of arms of the United Kingdom
 Likely self-assumed Possibly the first documented royal coat of arms, colors are unknown from seal, but that of the Second Seal likely matched the coat used by his successors, with three gold lions on red.
1281–1294? Papal
coat of arms		 Pope Boniface VIII Likely self-assumed Supposedly the first documented Papal coat of arms (although older undocumented are indicated), likely assumed sometimes as Cardinal (1281–1294).
1290's Ecclesiastical
heraldry		 Diocese of Ely Possibly the earliest documented coat of arms for a diocese.[3]
1369 Civic heraldry Košice, Slovakia King Louis I of Hungary Castle of Diósgyőr near present-day Miskolc Claimant to be the oldest coat of arms of a town.
1441 Academic heraldry King's College (Cambridge) King Henry VI Cambridge, England Possibly earliest documented coat of arms for an academic institution, at least in England.

References

  1. ↑ Wagner, A. (1946). Heraldry in England
  2. ↑ Bartholdy, Nils G. (1995). Denmark's Arms and Crown (in Danish). Copenhagen: Ministry of Culture. p. 16. ISBN 87-87361-20-5. Retrieved 26 May 2017.
  3. ↑ Briggs, C. (1970). Civic and Corporate Heraldry
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