Styles

The early day’s

Before we start discussing the arms we first need to point our attention to the shield and its development throughout history and heraldry. The oldest arms to be found was the so called North man shield, the shield was to a man’s height. Gradually it became smaller. It was too hard to handle in battle and at the beginning of the 13th century it was replaced by a triangular so called early-Gothic shield. The oldest shield shapes that we find in this period on seals have somewhat rounded corners from the top. As we already pointed out earlier, heraldry was a free art with basic rules. Therefore per region we can find variances. The lines of the early-Gothic shields where at first tight but gradually lost their shape to transform in what we know as the late-Gothic style.

The Early-Gothic style

Characteristic of the early-Gothic style is the way the shield makes a triangle with fluent lines. The steel helmet is also a typical characteristic of those days. It was always closed with a small opening for the knight to see. In the beginning there was no mantle but it started to be incorporated at the end of the 13th century. The crest itself usually was placed directly on the coil or coronet. The way the helmet is placed upon the shield is not important. One should account for that the crest is pointed in the same direction as the helmet. In general there was a preference the profile displays, this mainly because the whole coat or arms comes out better.

The Late-Gothic style

Between the early- and late-Gothic style there are a numerous amount of transitional forms. It is extremely difficult to force a living art into a schedule, there are always different sub styles in the mainstream. It is fair to say that the general late-Gothic style became more richer and luxurious in compliance with the styles of the 15th century that one can see in buildings and other works of those days. It becomes apparent that the decorative art already detached itself of the shield and helmet as used in tournaments and battles and that they started to have their existence separate as a decorative art. The mantles start to become curly and the crests also become richer in style. The shield itself is generally still displayed inclined and is no longer sharp at the bottom but assumed a halve circle form.

Characteristic of these days is that the shape of the helmets also changed. The peer’s helmet became more general at the end of the 15th century.

The Renaissance style

The late-Gothic style became the transition to the renaissance style. This transition also went gradually with the changes of time. The bars in the helmets become thinner and are more to be placed at the sides of the helmet. Many artists regard the Renaissance style as the most heraldic style ever and also the most richest style ever. The mantles are beautifully displayed en graciously hang around the shield. The shield itself is more rounded and also gets more indention’s. The other ornaments become more true to nature, without loosing their proper styled heraldic forms. This style managed to survive from the mid 16th century until the end of the 17th century. It is important to notice though that in this form the first “germs” started to appear leading to decadence, which becomes more apparent the further it developed. It is important to understand that the different forms are highly subjective per person but that the basic rules for division and creation are uniform in every style.

The Rococo style

The Rococo style is simple to describe. Once separated from heraldry it became more and more corrupt. This does not take away that this style can produce some beautiful designed arms.