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| The arms of Pierre de Chaignon la Rose, line drawing by Dr. Krouse. |
June 10th is International Heraldry Day, a day to celebrate the art and science of coat armour throughout the world. This day comes at a time in which we find ourselves going into battle on a number of fronts, bearing symbols and mottoes those ancient knights and kings of old would not likely recognize. This day is a day, I hope, for those heraldry enthusiasts to ask themselves, "how is heraldry relevant in 2020?" I fear that if all we do is worship the charges and lines of partition of old to spite the battles before us, we risk debasing heraldry's ability to invite us into a deeper and more meaningful conversation about identity, inheritance, and legacy. I believe this treasured art and science can still be relevant in 2020.
Case in point: my humble attempt in devising an attributed coat of arms for the Black Lives Matter movement. Click here to read about my design for the attributed arms of the Black Lives Matter movement. The idea came to me when I started to ask, how can I help and how can I affect change within my locus of control? And then it clicked. I believe heraldry can and does occupy a relevant place in the world, beyond its historical aspects. Others are free to disagree.
Originally conceived in 2013, the idea of International Heraldry Day commemorates the approximation of the first date of known coat armour. The story continues from the registration of arms found over at the Armorial International:
The celebration was started in 2013 within the International Association of Amateur Heralds (IAAH). Tomasz Steifer (Poland), a Fellow of the IAAH described the effort: we propose that this international day of heraldry at 10 June. On that day, in the year 1128, in Rouen was knighted, by his future father in law, Henry I Beauclerc, Godfrey Plantagenet. Suspended during the ceremony on the neck of a young knight shield blue decorated six golden lions, is recognized by most of the heralds, for the first time in history, fully formed coat of arms.
Today, I want to commemorate America's best kept secret, Pierre de Chaignon la Rose (1872-1941). A man who single handedly shaped American heraldry in the early Twentieth Century and whose work can still be seen today. So many know the images, but few know the heraldic genius behind those arms. From the Schools of Harvard, University of Chicago, Notre Dame, Catholic University, Boston College, Rice University, to lesser know schools such as College of the Holy Cross, St. Ambrose University, and Trinity Washington University, all these institutions still bear the arms expertly designed by la Rose. Scholastic heraldry aside, he devised arms for 24 dioceses of the Episcopal Church (including the arms of the Episcopal Church itself), and countless arms for Roman Catholic sees, abbeys, and religious communities. In a sense, la Rose was the brand creator for so many iconic American institutions long before this concept took hold in business literature.
More recently, several of these institutions have had to address their racial past in connection with their arms and dug into their archives to understand the meaning behind the herald's work--the former Calhoun College at Yale and Harvard's Law School for example. Click here to learn about the new arms of Grace Hopper College at Yale, and please click here if you would like to learn more about the new arms for Harvard Law.
La Rose first captured my interest in 2014 when I began my process for assuming arms. I'm interested in what I call "fringe figures," and la Rose fits that bill nicely. What do I mean by "fringe figures?" He lived alone (undoubtedly gay based on my research), positioned himself as the foremost expert in America on heraldry (an arcane subject), and otherwise marched to the beat of his own drum while living on the fringe of Harvard yard.
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| La Rose's yearbook photograph from Harvard, Class of 1895. |
I've posted before about la Rose's work at St. Edward's Seminary in Washington and Brookline Public Library in Massachusetts. Click here to learn more about the arms la Rose designed for St. Edward's Seminary, and please click here to learn more about the arms of the Brookline Public Library. These two represent a drop in the bucket in terms of the scope of la Rose's heraldic work. Piecing together his life and work continues to be a fun challenge; I've worked with numerous archives and even found a treasure trove of some of his best work. In sum, I've identified 192 coats of arms that he devised for institutions around the world. Sadly, most of these institutions don't readily know who devised their arms, much less the rationale behind them. Even worse, marketing departments have managed to obscure the regal emblazonment in favor of a more modern appearance.
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| La Rose's bookplate from the Houghton Library, Harvard, 1895. |
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| A late edition to the post, the second known bookplate of Pierre de Chaignon la Rose created by the famous bookplate engraver George W. Eve, dated 1914, courtesy of Joseph McMillan of the American Heraldry Society. Note the absence of the rose charge and the addition of a crest, coronet, and supporters. |
I wanted to render his own arms, as I've yet to encounter any digitized versions on the web. I discovered an emblazonment of his arms on a bookplate at the Houghton Library, Harvard, dated 1895. The 1895 bookplate rendering is simple and very much keeping in his style and ethos.
Based on the hatching, I've worked out the following blazon. The arms of Pierre de Chaignon la Rose are blazoned: Azure, a lion rampant Or langued Gules and charged on the shoulder with a rose of the third barbed and seeded proper, holding in dexter arm a sword proper. Motto: Fortiter et Suaviter (Firmly and gently). The only other known image is chiseled onto his tombstone at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge. Thus, I'm pleased to finally have La Rose's arms rendered on the web, albeit a line drawing!
Click here to view my post containing a new digital emblazonment of la Rose's arms based on his 1895 bookplate.
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| Note the absence of the rose and the addition of the coronet. Source: Findagrave.com |
It took several tries to get the line drawing proportioned just right. I played with numerous shield shapes, only to end up using one of his own found in the arms of St. Joseph's Academy (for girls). The school operated from 1851-1971 in Saint Paul, Minnesota as a Roman Catholic school founded by the Sisters of Saint Joseph. You won’t find these arms anywhere on the web until now! La Rose devised these arms as: Azure, a semme of Madonna lilies Argent, in pale a sword Or with hilt in base thereupon an open book edged Or and inscribed Suboles Doctrinae Pietas (“Reverence, Scion of Scholarship”).
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| The arms of St. Joseph's Academy, devised by La Rose in 1926. |
La Rose was a fan of placing charge upon a charge, especially with animals. Below are two examples of his expert hand. Remember, these are hand painted, no digital software for drawing was available in those days. The first example is la Rose's proposed coat of arms for the new Episcopal Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City. He rendered two designs, and the one below is the first. The Cathedral, sadly, ended up adopting Ralph Adams Cram's design which you can see in use today. La Rose's design pays tribute to St. John by way of the eagle with the halo and honors the "New Amsterdam" Dutch heritage of New York City by way of the windmill blades.
The second example comes from the arms of Mundelein College which has since merged with Loyola University Chicago. La Rose used the "phoenix rising from the ashes" charge in several designs. The arms of the University of Chicago (adopted in 1909), the arms of the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta (adopted in 1920), and the arms of the Archdiocese of Chicago (approx. 1939) all bear the phoenix as their central charge. Incidentally, both cities survived disastrous fires, the phoenix becomes an appropriate symbol of resurrection. And of course, la Rose employs the open book, one of his favorite charges for schools and universities.
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| The proposed arms of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine #1 by la Rose in 1927, courtesy of the Cathedral's archives. |
The blazon for the proposed arms of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine #1 is: Argent, an eagle displayed azure, aureoled or, charged with a full sail of a windmill in saltire of the third.
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| The gonfanon of Mundelein College by la Rose, courtesy of the Women and Leadership Archives, Loyola University Chicago. |
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| The armorial banner of Mundelein College by la Rose, courtesy of the Women and Leadership Archives, Loyola University Chicago. |
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| The arms of Mundelein College by la Rose, courtesy of the Women and Leadership Archives, Loyola University Chicago. |
The arms of Mundelein College are blazoned: Argent, a pheonix displayed rising from the flames gules charged with an open book edged or and inscribed VIA VERITAS VITA, on dexter wing a roundel azure edged of the field charged with a star of the first, on sinister wing a roundel of the fourth edged of the field charged with the monogram BVM of the first.
Never one to shy away from critique, la Rose often lived his motto with his wicked sharp pen. He frequently had words with the appalling state of heraldry in America at that time. I'll close this appreciation with two of my favorite la Rose quotations--both relevant today--which bear our admonition:
“The heraldic traps for the unwary are far more numerous than the average amateur suspects.” Ecclesiastical Review, Feb. 1922, Vol. LXVI, p. 179
“A Prelate would shrink from issuing over his own name an illiterate document, and yet he will tranquilly bear an illiterate coat-of-arms! But we are gaining rapidly.” Ecclesiastical Review, Feb. 1922, Vol. LXVI, p. 179-180
