[Link to the original Latin: https://digitalcommons.snc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1004&context=premonstratensian_research]
The following is a translation from the Latin of pages 452-454 of the Monasticon by Backmund:
HERALDRY
COATS OF ARMS OF THE CANONRIES OF THE ORDER
At the time when our Order was founded, monasteries, like other persons enjoying feudal rights, secured their charters with their own seals. Until approximately the 15th century, these seals generally showed nothing but the image or symbol of the holy patron or the abbot holding a crozier, surrounded by a suitable inscription. From the 15th century onwards, however, we increasingly find a coat of arms unique to the monastery, typically depicted as a small shield under the foot of the holy patron, or in the corner of the seal.This coat of arms would usually present some symbol taken from the history of the monastery or its patron. Often, it is merely a reproduction of the founder’s coat of arms, or that of a protector or a kingdom¹, rarely does it recount something of the history of the foundation; more often, we find some attribute of the holy patron. Common attributes of this kind are the following:
St. Salvator: the world (with a cross above it)
St. Crux: cross
St. Spiritus: dove
St. Andrew: cross proper to this saint
St. Augustine: heart with arrows
St. Catherine: wheel proper to this saint
St. George: red cross, upon silver
St. James: shell
St. John the Baptist: Lamb of God (or rarely: his head on a platter)
St. John the Evangelist: Chalice with a serpent, or eagle
St. Lawrence: grating
St. Leonard: chains
St. Mary Magdalene: alabaster jar of ointment
St. Margaret: dragon
St. Martin: wheel
St. Michael: wings
St. Nicholas: three stones
St. Paul: sword
St. Peter: key, or keys²
Other symbols of piety often admitted into heraldic art include the pelican or the abbreviation of the name of Jesus (IHS); however, it is the image of the holy patron (therefore the seal), contrary to the rules of heraldic art, that has often been turned into a coat of arms. This is especially found among the following saints: Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Michael, St. Martin. The ‘speaking’ coats of arms, either entirely or in part, symbolically convey the name of the monastery, as can be seen in Roggenburg, Pernegg, Ursberg, Steingaden, Schlägl, Vaas, Parc, Chambrefontaine; or they present the first letter of the name, as in Bellelay, Rüti, and Floreffe. They are often composed of the elements mentioned above. Mottos (dévises) seem to have originated in Belgium, where they were common from at least the 16th century. In other regions, they are unknown for the monasteries themselves, but for abbots they gradually gained popularity from the 17th/18th centuries onwards. The coat of arms of the mother abbey has been recognized as the coat of arms of the Order itself since the 17th century.3
The first monastic coats of arms originated in France and England, where the art of heraldry especially flourished, such that coats of arms in those kingdonm are generally elegant and meticulously designed according to the rules of the art. However, in France, there exist coats of arms that are more or less spurious, invented by Hozier, who by order of King Louis XIV, traveleld throughout the entire kingdom seeking to compile a public catalog of the coats of arms of both secular and religous clergy. Although he carried out his task well and diligently, he often encountered collapsed monasteries, ruined by the pernicious system of commendation, where archives were either lost or scattered, and where scarcely any religious were present who could report anything reliable on these matters. Therefore, unable to find the acutal coat of arms a monastery, he boldly invented a new one and inserted it into his catalog. These fantastic shields of Hozier can be easily recognized generally, because they are often schematic, even geometric, and express nothing meaningful. Nevertheless, they should not be entirely spurned, because even though spurious, they were later regarded by the government, and sometimes even by the religious themselves, as the legitimate coat of arms.
In other kingdoms, the custom of having a coat of arms for monasteries did spread so quickly. In the north (the Frisia, Saxon, Danish, Slavic, and Ifeldian circaries), at the time of the dissolution of the canonries, namely the 16th century, monastic coats of arms were very rare or unknown. For that reason we largely omit these circaries. Nothing is known about this matter regarding Ireland, the coats of arms which we find in Scotland are rather seals. And we could not find anything certain in Italy or the Eastern canonries. In Spain, we find authentic coats of arms only much later (18th/19th centuries). Few are known; they are arbitrary in their colors and do not appear to have been fixed. The ancient Hungarian circary likewise used seals in place of coats of arms, a practice continuing there to this day. Regarding Poland, nothing certain is known; however, at least the canons of men there seem to have had their own coats of arms in the end, though somewhat unheraldic. In Belgium earlier, and in Germany from the 16th century onward, monastic coats of arms were gradually adopted, specifically first in the Swabian, Bavarian, and Bohemian circaries. It is surprising that in western Germany, near France, this custom was less common among monasteries of all Orders. In that region sprouted monasteries of both sexes, reserved exclusively for the nobility, which permitted nothing except the coat of arms of the superior’s family, always varying. However, for some canonries fixed coats of arms are known, adopted fairly late, sometimes arbitrary and hardly reliable, while in others nothing at all is found. Nunneries very rarely — almost never in Germany — had true coats of arms, but instead used seals in their place. For the Cathedral churches (Brandenburg, etc.), we provide the coat of arms of the bishopric or diocese, because the chapters only used seals.
Indeed, this collection of ours is incomplete, but not as much as it appears at first glance. For it is evident from what has been stated above that a far smaller number of canonries held by the Order ever truly had coats of arms. Here below you will find those which we were able to discover, arranged alphabetically by circary. If any shield is blank, we suppose a coat of arms existed but is unknown to us. Sometimes monasteries have either two coats of arms or there are quite contrasting variations. These we generally present at the end or at least note them in the explanatory text, which you can find here immediately after the coats of arms. The sources are usually noted there, too. In every case, consult the bibliography of each monastery, listed in its respective section above.
In addition to the monographs cited there, our main source were:
- Monuments. Coats of arms were often placed on buildings, especially above doors, altars, etc. It can be difficult, just as in the archives, to distinguish which is the coat of arms of the abbey and which is the personal arms of each abbot. They can be found, for example, in triangular compositions of three shields: 1. The canonry coat of arms, 2. The seal of the convent, 3, the personal coat of arms of the abbot, always varying.
- Seals in archives, concerning which the same applies.
- Ch. R. d’HOZIER, Armorial général de la France (4 sér., 35 fasc.) Paris 1903/04.
- J. SIEBMACHER, Großes allgemeines Wappenbuch. Neue Auflage Nürnberg 1882, 15. Abt. 2. Reiche: Klöster (Bearb. von G. A. Seyler).
- J. MEURGEY, Armorial de l’Eglise de France, Mâcon 1939.
- Boschmans Collection (cf. vol. II, 463).
- D. Wilhelm Hoppe Collection, an expert in sphragistics and heraldry († Berlin 1894), comprising thousands of shields, coats of arm, and seal, drawn with intene labor and study from many archives. All of these the author kindly wished to make available at hand to us, unfortunately never indicating sources.
Footnotes:
- Especially in France, where many monasteries adopted the royal coat of arms (three lilies), and where nearly every abbot inserted the symbol of the lily into his own coat of arms in one way or another.
- If the patrons are Saints Peter and Paul together (which is a much more common usage), the key and sword are combined, generally in the form of St. Andrew’s cross.
- De lemmate ipsius Ordinis: “Ad omne bonum opus parati” vide supra p.339