Century XV

Anonymous, «Roll of arms», roll of arms manuscript called Bergshammars, written, emblazoned and edited in Brabant, Burgundian Netherlands, during the years 1440-1456, 493 pages numbered later in pencil, contains coats of arms of several European kingdoms, on page 488 the year 1553 seems to be written, Brabant, ca 1440.

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Bibliographical reference of century XV.

Classification: Manuscript and In color.

The author is anonymous.

Bibliographic reference mentioned in the following articles:

• Castile and Leon
• Portugal
• Royal arms of Scotland

External resources:

• Riksarkivet.se.
• Wappenwiki.org.

Internal resources: Bergshammars1440.33.Video.Manuscript.SchubertSymphony4.mp4 a video lasting 7 minutes and 11 seconds, sound track Symphony No. 4 in C minor, D 417, called Tragic, composed by Franz Schubert in April 1816, when he was 19 years old.

Edward IV King of England and Lord of Ireland, «The Armorial of Edward IV», «The Edward IV Roll», armorial in the form of a roll about 6 meters long, created to celebrate the coronation of Edward IV as the first King of England from the House of York and illustrated, probably, by different artists, 1461.

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The image illustrating this reference corresponds to the banner, which is number 27 in the 2^nd column, the final one of this armorial. This banner is held by a white deer, which was a personal badge of King Richard II of England, and also, two white deer were the supporters of his shield. The reason for the inclusion of this white deer might be to contribute to the legitimization of Edward IV as king.

It is notable that in row 25 of the 2^nd column of this armorial there is a banner with the arms of the shield of Castilla y León, probably because Edward IV, like his predecessors, claimed their throne. In this version of the shield of Castilla y León:

• The two gold castles, in the 1^st and 4^th quarters of gules, have three towers with the central one taller like the Castilian, but the twin side towers seem to be connected by the wall as in the English castle, [Valero de Bernabé, L.; 2009a; page 2] and [Valero de Bernabé, L.; 2009b; page 33], the wall has a door that is enameled in azure as in the Castilian.
• The two lions, in the 2^nd and 3^rd quarters of silver, seem to be gold, therefore, of «metal on metal» and, furthermore, very different from the purple lion of Castilla y León, it could well be an error by the artist or a degradation of an original purple enamel to ochre, as explained in the pendón de Castilla y León.

This shield of Castilla y León also appears:

• On the banner in row 27 of the 1^st column of this armorial. In this banner, they are combined with the arms of England represented in this article, in a new quartered, under an escutcheon with the imaginary arms of «Brutus of Troy», the also imaginary founder and king of Britain.
• On the caparison of the horse that Edward IV rides in the portrait at the beginning of his armorial. This caparison is a reproduction of the previous banner in row 27 of the 1^st column that combined the arms of England with those of Castilla y León. The presence of these arms in this initial portrait of the armorial of Edward IV denotes the importance he gave to his aspirations to the crown of Castilla y León.

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Bibliographical reference of century XV.

The author is Edward IV of England.

External resources:

• Free Library: Edward.
• Free Library: Banners.
• The Edward IV Roll.
• Brutus of Troy.

Hans Ingeram, «Ingeram Codex», 142 pages, 1459.

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The first owner of this armorial was Archduke Albert VI of Austria. Hans Ingeram included in each page of his book from 1 to 6 coats of arms, he dedicated the initial part to the Habsburg coats of arms, to imaginary coats of arms and to the coats of arms of European kingdoms, generally using 4 coats of arms per page, and dedicated the final 2/3 of its content to depicting 6 coats of arms per page of the lower German nobility, especially nobles belonging to a special type of «associations» whose purpose was the organization of tournaments. A monograph on this armorial can be consulted in [Becher, C.; Gamber, O.; 1986].

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Bibliographical reference of century XV.

Classification: Manuscript and Armorial roll.

The author is Ingeram, Hans.

Bibliographical reference mentioned in the following article:

• Becher, C.; Gamber, O.; 1986

External resources:

• Ingeram Codex.
• Images of the armorial.
• Google Books.

Urfé, unknown authors, «Urfe's Armorial», is currently in National Library of France (BnF, Bibliothèque nationale de France), in Paris, «Cabinet des titres» 927 as indicated on page I, cataloged with the code ms. fr. 32753, it is estimated from the XV century.

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This armorial is written in French, on parchment measuring 19.5 x 14 centimeters, its compilation is believed to have been done in the 15^th century, it presents 2,855 blazons in written form, but without illustrations, its blazons are organized into 54 sections, with an average of 17 blazons per page, the densest pages with about 20 blazons of 1, 2, or 3 lines per blazon, although some are longer. This Urfé armorial has served as a source for later armorials.

This manuscript contains a preliminary index, written later, of 61 pages, foliated the odd pages in consecutive Roman numerals from folio I to folio XXX. That is, 30 folios of 2 pages plus a final page, totaling 30 x 2 + 1 = 61 pages. This preliminary index consists of a name and a page number where the «theoretically», as will be explained below, corresponding blazon appears.

Next comes the true body of the Urfé armorial, of 162 pages, foliated only the odd pages, dated later than the compilation of the manuscript, in Arabic numerals, 2 by 2, from folio 1 to 161. That is, 1, 3, 5, 7, ..., 159, 161, and the last existing unnumbered page, as it is the 162^nd which is even. I say that the 162^nd is the last existing page because the National Library of France classifies it as an incomplete manuscript at the end.

It is a bit difficult to understand the relationship between the numbers that appear in the preliminary index, accompanying the names, and the numbering of the pages of the Urfé armorial. For example:

• Bouneville, which in the index appears with the number 16, is blazoned on page 7 (16 - 9 = 7).
• Navarre, for Navarra, in the index appears with the number 151, while the blazon of "Le Roy de Navarre" appears on page 142 (151 - 9 = 142).

This rule of subtracting 9, which has worked for me, but may not be of general use as, for example, Castille~Castile, on page VIII of the index, refers to page 140 of the content and it is there where it is actually found.

The Urfé armorial is in the public domain and the National Library of France, since February 23, 2012, has it published online with identification key ark:/12148/btv1b9063217v.

In this online version, as of today and until corrected, I believe that after page XIX, XVIII and XIX are repeated, just as folio 5 is repeated twice.

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Bibliographical reference of century XV.

Classification: Armorial roll, Manuscript, In black and white and French language.

Author: anonymous.

External resources:

• Urfe in Gallica BnF.
• Bouneville indexed in the page 16.
• although it is really on the page 7 (16-9=7).
• Navarra indexed in the page 151.
• although it is really on the page 142 (151-9=142).
• Castilla indexed in the page 140.
• is effectively, in this case, on the same page 140.