I’ve finally finished up a long (more than five years, though I naturally did not work at it steadily all that time) book entitled "Camels In Heraldry". (The inspiration was, naturally enough, the booklet "Escallops in Armoury".) There’s nothing quite like the pleasure of combining two disparate interests, and some of the results of the research surprised even me! I had no idea there were so many coats of arms which use camels, or camel heads. And I discovered that a statement made in Franklyn and Tanner’s "An Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Heraldry" that camels are used in heraldry mostly as supporters to be untrue.
More information about and a link to some sample pages (in .pdf format) from this research project can be found at:
www.appletonstudios.com/herald7.htm
David
David,
Do you include US Army coats of arms?
13th Supply & Services Battalion:
http://www.qmfound.com/images/13thSptBn_COA.gif
http://www.qmfound.com/13th_Supply_and_Services_Battalion.htm
541st S&S Bn:
http://www.tioh.hqda.pentagon.mil/Graphics/541SptBnCOA.jpg
http://www.tioh.hqda.pentagon.mil/Spt/541SupportBattalion.htm
I was hoping to find one with a connection to the "US Army Camel Corps" experiment in the 1850s, but couldn’t find anything.
—Guy
Guy Power;43881 wrote:
Do you include US Army coats of arms?
No, sorry, I hadn’t seen those before I finally said that I either needed to finish the book and get it printed or face the fact that it would probably never be complete and remain unpublished. I _do_ note in the introduction that the list of arms, crests, and supporters is no doubt not exhaustive; clearly, I was correct about that.
I appreciate the pictures and cites, and will try to add them to a second edition (if I find enough more to warrant one).
David
I find this very cool for obvious reasons…;)
Besides that, I find it interesting to see "exotic" (well, to Western Europe I guess) fauna employed in heraldry.
Also, I’d be interested in knowing more about that crest that says under it Tunesi…that sounds like an Arabic name, meaning of Tunis..also surname of famous poet in Egypt Biram el Tunesi/Tunsi
Cheers,
You can see John Tunesi of Liongam’s arms at this page:
http://heraldry-scotland.com/copgal/displayimage.php?album=7&pos=8
He is an occasional contributor to this forum.
Hello Mohamed,
The surname of Tunesi is of Italian origin. My great great grandfather came to the United Kingdom during the 1860’s at the time of the unification of Italy into one kingdom, so I am of the fourth generation to be born in the UK. I am a sixteenth Italian with a good admixture of Scots, probably a little Irish, English and Cornish blood with very little of the Italian stuff left in my veins. The family of Tunesi is one that hails from northern Italy notably the Venezia Guilia, Piedmont, Lombardy and the Dalmatia (in old Yugoslavia). I believe that the name in all probability comes from the small village of Tunes near to Viptano in the Dolomites in alpine northern Italy. It is quite an uncommon surname in Italy today, that being said there are a good many representatives of the family in Italy and throughout the world if you happen to ‘google’ the name. All individuals that you find with the name in the UK are undoubtedly my cousins having a common descent from my great great grandfather, Filippo (later called Philip).
With regard to the modern city of Tunis in North Africa which the Romans knew as Tunes. In my fanciful imaginings I have always thought that the city may have been named after a Roman proconsul from whom I decend. Such is the stuff of dreams!
The choice of the couchant dromedary camel and palm tree was chosen by my late father when he was granted armorial bearings in the early 1980’s by the then Lord Lyon as a remembrance of his military service with the British Army in North Africa during the Second World War. He did indeed serve in Tunisia prior to taking part in the invasion of Italy. At the close of the Italian campaign, he was posted to Vienna via the Brenner Pass and in doing so passed by (not knowing) within a few miles of Tunes, our supposed ancestral village!
With all good wishes.
John
That was extremely interesting and informative. Thanks for sharing!
Cheers,
David,
According to what you have written elsewhere, you were inspired to write about the heraldic use of camels by the book "The Scallop". The choice of heraldic camels is certainly more interesting topic than a book about stationary mollusks.
Well you know, scallops are sorta interesting in their own way…..Though I would think more like a chapter on them in a book of marine creatures and themes in heraldry, not so much an entire publication on ‘em.
:D
Cheers,
MohamedHossam;43937 wrote:
Well you know, scallops are sorta interesting in their own way…..Though I would think more like a chapter on them in a book of marine creatures and themes in heraldry, not so much an entire publication on ‘em.
The best such book on marine creatures in heraldry, with a chapter dedicated to mollusks, is that of Thomas Moule, who authored Heraldry of Fish, Notices of the Principal Families Bearing Fish in Their Arms in 1842. It has been reprinted in recent years and is available for purchase. It is also available at no cost in pdf. file format at this address: http://books.google.com/books?id=VC4fAAAAMAAJ&dq=thomas+moule+heraldry&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=o01VAewTyD&sig=AHNbvpHjaNDn1ZKhLgXQRrdowR4#PPA168,M1
David Pritchard;43940 wrote:
The best such book on marine creatures in heraldry, with a chapter dedicated to mollusks, is that of Thomas Moule, who authored Heraldry of Fish, Notices of the Principal Families Bearing Fish in Their Arms in 1842.
It is indeed a very good book; I’ve had a copy in my heraldic library for some years now. As I recall, all or nearly all of the illustrations of arms in it were drawn by his daughter, so it was a family production.
David
Nice work David, must feel fine to finaly have finished the project.
Marcus K;44871 wrote:
Nice work David, must feel fine to finaly have finished the project.
Ah, but there are still so many yet to do!
("No, no. I _can’t_ die yet! I still have projects to complete.")
David
Well, I suppose somebody has to say it, so here goes: "I’d walk a mile for an heraldic camel" —not quite the same melodic ring, but easier on the lung tissue…