The Attributed Arms of the Black Lives Matter Movement

The attributed arms of the Black Lives Matter Movement, designed by Dr. Krouse.

During the Selma marches in 1965, Dr. Marin Luther King, Jr. famously paraphrased a quotation attributed to Theodore Parker.  When King was asked how long will it take until social justice has been achieved, King responded, "Not long because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice."  NPR ran a story on this famous quotation back in 2010, click here to listen to it.  I've been reflecting a lot lately on what that arc looks like.

I've watched in horror the events unfolding over the past two weeks.  I've been processing the images from the news, the protests, and the thousands of Americans (and many across the globe) marching for justice.  As a white man living in America, I do not pretend for a second to know the pain and fear that Black men face everyday walking down streets, shopping in malls, or otherwise living their lives.  I'm angry.  I've been reminded recently that this phenomenon is not new in 2020, for it's been going on in this country since the days of settlement.  

I want to do something.  I wanted to create a noble coat of arms reflecting both Dr. King's arc as well as the barriers my Black sisters and brothers face everyday.  This led to the line drawing above and I wanted to share it.  Apologies for the photograph as I do not have access to a scanner at the moment.  I say "attributed" arms because I'm attributing them to the movement.  Throughout the history of heraldry, it's not uncommon to see attributed arms, think those of Jesus or the Blessed Virgin Mary.  They did not bear arms as we know it, so history has granted arms to them.

The blazon for the attributed arms of the Black Lives Matter movement is as follows:  Argent a fist couped Sable flaunches gules masoned of the field, on a chief of the second a demi dove displayed of the first.    

My design rationale for these arms follows.  I knew I had to use the fist as the main charge, so I chose to render it sable (black).  I wanted to incorporate the flaunch to show the arcs as a reference to Dr. King's famous quotation, but show these as "masoned" so that they appear as brick walls.  This image of brick walls clearly illustrates the barriers that Black women and men have fought (and continue to fight) to break down.  Moreover, rendering the masoned walls in gules (red) reflects the blood of the innocent.  Overall, I wanted the white dove of peace in the chief (the top of the shield) to show that the arc of justice will bring peace.  I really wish I knew digital heraldry, as these arms would be gorgeous rendered in full color.

I love this design and the symbolism it carries.  I wanted to design something within the accepted rules of heraldry that was befitting the noble cause of justice for all Black lives, because Black lives matter.  

The attributed banner of the Black Lives Matter movement, by Dr. Krouse.

 

Update:  I've doodled some more as I was never quite happy with the dove's face.  Here's my revision as of June 10th.  The revised blazon is: Argent a fist couped Sable flaunches Gules masoned of the field, on a chief Vert a demi dove displayed of the first with a halo Or.  I hope this helps the overall color scheme and helps depict the dove of peace more fittingly.  For the dove, I used La Rose's arrangement for heraldic birds.  I mean, he's the best!  Click here to read an updated post on the attributed arms of the Black Lives Matter movement.

The revised arms of the Black Lives Matter Movement by Dr. Krouse, June 10, 2010.

The Arms of the National Shrine and Basilica of Our Lady of Walsingham

Arms of the National Shrine and Basilica of Our Lady of Walsingham.
Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2024.

Walsingham is truly an ecumenical place.  You feel this as soon as you enter the village; Orthodox, Anglican, and Roman Catholics all venerate the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title of Our Lady of Walsingham.  I've long felt that Walsingham is the key to fruitful ecumenical relations for the Body of Christ.

Coat of arms, the College of Guardians of the Holy House of Our Lady of Walsingham.
Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2024.

I've posted previously on the arms of the Guardians of the Holy House of Walsingham, the Anglican Shine, and now it's time to examine our brothers over at the Roman Catholic National Shrine and Basilica.

Click here for a really good historical overview of the Roman Catholic presence in Walsingham.

Long known as the "Slipper Chapel," this structure dates to the mid-14th century and is dedicated to Catherine of Alexandria.  It was the last chapel where pilgrims would stop on their pilgrimage to Walsingham.  The chapel is located about one mile from Walsingham and thus many pilgrims would remove their shoes here and walk the last mile barefooted. 

When this chapel was built, Walsingham was second only to Canterbury in the ranks of English pilgrimage. The replica of the Holy House, where Mary had received news of her pregnancy from the Angel Gabriel, contained the precious statue of Our Lady of Walsingham. Thousands of people made their way here, down the muddy tracks and over the rolling Norfolk fields. At Houghton St Giles, they would enter the orbit of Walsingham, their goal now almost in sight. It may be that they took off their shoes here, and walked the last stretch barefoot. It might also be the case that this is why it is called the Slipper Chapel. And it may be that it is not true, or even likely, for many of the pilgrims here would probably have been barefoot long before they reached Houghton.  Simon Knott, September 2007 

    

The National Shrine and Basilica of Walsingham.
Source: ExploreWestNorfolk.co.uk

The chapel's history waxed and waned through the years and eventually fell into disrepair.  A wealthy lady, Miss Charlotte Pearson Boyd discovered the property and quickly purchased it on June 26, 1896. and gave it to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Northampton for use.  The Bishop charged the nearby Benedictines at Downside Abbey to care for the place.  In time, a statue of Our Lady of Walsingham was commissioned and stayed at the nearby Roman Catholic church in Kings Lynn.  Knott shares that from time to time pilgrimages with the statue would take place from Kings Lynn to Walsingham.

Knott continues his story of the chapel:

And so things might have remained, if it had not been for the emergence on to the Walsingham scene of one Alfred Hope Patten. In 1921, he became Anglican Vicar of Little Walsingham. A devout and energetic Anglo-catholic, Hope Patten found himself to be the right person in the right place at the right time. Everything came together, in this decade when Anglo-catholicism reached the peak of its influence in the Church of England, and the Church itself was the most vivid it would ever be in the national consciousness. He installed an image of Our Lady of Walsingham in the Anglican parish church of St Mary. Throughout the 1920s, visits to the statue grew in popularity, until thousands of Anglo-catholics each year were coming to pray in the church and to process around it. As you may imagine, the Anglican Bishop of Norwich was outraged, and demanded that Hope Patten remove the image from his church. Hope Patten being the kind of man he was, he acceded to this request by building a new replica of the Holy House on the other side of the Priory ruins, and placing the statue inside it. At last, the Shrine of Our Lady had been returned to Walsingham - but, much to the the chagrin of the Catholic Church, it was an Anglican one.  Simon Knott, September 2007

         

Good old Hope Patten!  From here the National Shrine's presence grows.  The shrine is elevated by a canonical coronation decreed by Pope Pius XII in 1954.  And most recently, Pope Francis elevated the National Shrine to a minor basilica in 2015.

Arms prepared by Dr. David Andrew Woolf and painted by Tom Meek (both of the UK) in honor of the National Shrine's elevation to a minor basilica by Pope Francis in 2015.

So now the heraldry bit.  Upon the elevation of the Shrine to a basilica, new external ornaments are required to show the papal umbraculum or "big umbrella" and crossed keys.  Over at the UK's Anglican Ordinate blog, I found the following:

Dr. David [Andrew] Woolf has been a longstanding pilgrim and supporter of the Shrine and remains a member of the Order of Our Lady of Walsingham. He was links with the Rector of the Basilica, Monsignor John Armitage, who has since asked him to ensure that heraldically suitable Arms might be adopted by the Basilica of Our Lady of Walsingham.

A manuscript dating from c. 1510 records the Arms of the Priory of Walsingham as Argent on a cross sable five lilies slipped argent, i.e. a black cross on a white background, with five lilies superimposed on the cross. The Basilica is now the modern day successor of the Priory of Walsingham, and as such it is appropriate that the Basilica has assumed the Arms of the Priory. These Arms have been augmented to include the ombrellino and the Papal crossed keys: one gold, the other silver.  

And here's where I ask the question:  does the basilica have the right to bear the undifferenced arms of the Augustinian Priory of Walsingham?  With all due respect to Dr. Woolf, a fellow member of The Heraldry Society, my answer:  no.  

Proposed revision, coat of arms of the National Shrine and Basilica of Our Lady of Walsingham.
Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2024.

Consider the following:

1. When the College of Guardians of the Holy House of Walsingham applied for a grant of arms from the College in 1945, the grant of arms were differenced with, "a canton Azure, charged with a Holy House Or."   

2. When the Anglican Ordinariate (intentionally named "The Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham") was established under Pope Benedict XVI, the ordinariate assumed arms in 2011 and selected to difference their arms with a cross Azure and Fleurs-de-lis rather than the cross Sable and Madonna lilies.  The arms are blazoned: "per pale, in dexter argent upon a cross azure five fleurs-de-lis proper [of the field]; the sinister half, Or upon a fasce dancette gules between three heart gules."   

3.  The original arms, as far as we know, were granted to a Priory of Augustinian canons in Walsingham.  The National Shrine is simply not a successor to that group, for they are neither a priory nor Augustinian.  Simply being the same denomination does not grant successor status in my opinion.  

I'm not the sort of chap that complains without proffering a solution.  I propose a revision to the arms currently being used by the National Shrine and Basilica of Walsingham.  

My proposal:  Argent, on a cross sable five Madonna lilies slipped and seeded proper, on a canton Azure a crescent Or.  This revision, in my opinion, is in keeping with the College of Arms' differencing of the Guardians' arms and frankly looks quite slick.  The crescent charge has long been a Marian symbol and rendering it in gold alludes to Pope Pius XII's canonical coronation.  I also like how the crescent charge plays with the cadency mark.  In a sense, the Basilica is the "child" of the Priory (albeit a distance one, like a different cadet branch, and not able to inherit the undifferenced arms!). 

Maybe I've missed something?  Kindly let me know.  I am by no means an expert in heraldic law and inheritance.

The Arms of Brookline Public Library

Brookline Public Library Coat of Arms.
Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2024.

Several years ago, I became obsessed with the heraldry of Pierre de Chaignon La Rose (1872-1941), undeniably America's greatest heraldic designer.  La Rose, perhaps, made his greatest contributions in the fields of ecclesiastical and scholastic heraldry, advancing a design aesthetic unseen on American soil.  Prior to la Rose's explosion onto the scene, American heraldry was all over the place with plenty examples of poorly composed and designed arms.  From among the 200 or so coats that I've identified thus far designed by la Rose, there is one oddity among them that stands out, the Brookline Public Library.  The arms for the Brookline Public Library, known thus far, is the only non-academic or non-religious arms designed by la Rose.  Click here to read an updated article on the arms of Brookline Public Library.

Brookline, Massachusetts was the first town in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to establish their own library as a result of new legislation in 1857 allowing localities to adopt taxes for this purpose.  According to Battis, Reed & Clark (2009), the library committee set aside $100 in 1910 for the creation of a seal for use as a bookplate.  Interestingly enough, this is the first and only example that I've been able to find of what la Rose charged for his design services.  According to one website which adjusts for inflation, $100 in 1910 is today the equivalent of $2,780.00.  This is not an insignificant amount!  La Rose would have likely provided a sketch and a painting of the design, since he was not an engraver.  Most likely the seal was engraved by someone else in Boston.  

The Trustees of the Public Library of Brookline (1911) published in their 54th annual report noted,

 "reference should be made to the seal of the library, especially designed for the carved medallion over the east door of the facade, which also may be used on the stationary and bookplates.  We are indebted to Mr. Pierre La Rose for the design, and to Mr. Sturgis, our architect, for the final rendering of it" (p.363).

This pieces together how la Rose most likely got involved in the library project.  

Richard Clipston Sturgis (1860-1951) was a well-known Boston architect and most assuredly knew fellow architect Ralph Adams Cram (1863-1942).  Cram and la Rose ran among similar Brahmin circles in Boston.  Based on my research, it is my belief that Cram was the one who leveraged his book of business in order to launch la Rose's heraldic career.  Early on, Cram and la Rose partnered on a number of heraldic projects within the Episcopal Church.  Before too long, Cram's firm was slammed with work.  I also believe that at some point, Cram bowed to la Rose and acknowledged the latter's expertise on the subject of heraldry.  Thus, if Cram's firm had a project requiring heraldic work, the firm would recommend la Rose to the client.  

Brookline Public Library in Brookline, Massachusetts.
Source: The Brookline Library Webpage

Brookline Public Library arms carved medallion in the pediment.
Source: The Brookline Library Flickr Site

The Bookplate created by Pierre de Chaignon la Rose in 1910.
Source: Battis, Reed & Clark (2009), page 75.

In my rendering above, I made the open book larger since it's the central charge in the arms.  The armorial bearings of Brookline Public Library is thus blazoned: Gules, an open book edged with three clasps or and inscribed SAPIENTIA LEGENDO, and in base barry wavy argent and sable. 

Banner of arms, Brookline Public Library.
Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2024.

Beautiful, elegant, and characteristically simple--la Rose was a brilliant heraldic artist.  And yes, I'm still obsessed with la Rose's work.

Works Cited

Battis, C., Reed, A., & Clark, A. (2009).  Public library of Brookline: A history celebrating 150 years of library service, 1857-2007.  Authors, 69.

Trustees of Brookline Public Library (1911).  The fifty-fourth annual report of the trustees of the public library of Brookline for the year ending December 31, 1910.  Grimes Press, 363.

New Registrations of Arms

Because the U.S. lacks any heraldic authority to grant and regulate the use of coat armour, many Americans find themselves scrambling to protect their arms.  In the U.S., armingers for the most part assume their arms, meaning they design and then assign those arms as their own rightful property.  There are many Americans who look abroad for legitimacy, claiming grants of arms from Lord Lyon in Scotland, the Heralds' College in London, or even the Bureau in South Africa.  Each authority has strict regulations and requirements for eligibility, usually being able to document a direct lineage and descent.

In the U.S., the pre-eminent authority on arms is, perhaps, the Committee on Heraldry working under the auspices of the New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS) in Boston.  The Committee is the oldest non-governmental organization to research and register arms in the U.S.  Click here to see my previous post on the NEHGS.   During this lockdown, I went through my inbox from 2014 to find some official confirmation that the Committee had in fact registered my arms on September 2, 2014.  After a few email exchanges, I was excited to receive the following confirmation letter.

Official letter of registration from the Committee on Heraldry, May 3, 2020.

Well, that letter ignited a fire in me to get my arms out there and registered in a few other places. 

Certificate of registration from the Society of American Armingers, May 7, 2020.

Certificate of registration from The Armorial Register, May 9, 2020.

Thus, below is the listing of registrations completed.  

• 2 September 2014 - The Committee on Heraldry, New England Historic Genealogical Society
• 4 February 2015 - U.S. Heraldic Registry, Registration #20150204G
• 7 May 2020 - The Society of American Armingers, Registration #AA0076
• 9 May 2020 - The Armorial Register, International Armorial, Registration #0550, Volume 4
• 30 July 2023 - Discord: The Heraldry Community Roll of Arms