Thanks a million Claus.  Trying it out on my father, wish me luck, :p

Yeah… father is REALLY unhappy about not being able to use the R : /

I even tried explaining the canting with the roots and he isn’t totally not impressed, lol.

That’s too bad, especially since it’s such a nice coat of arms—really nice.

If your father is insistent (rather than simply disappointed) I wonder how he might feel about Azure a Tree Trunk eradicated Or charged with a Roman Letter "R" transfixed by an arrow, point to sinister, at the base of the bowl Sable.

If you want to register your arms in Svenskt Vapenregister (Swedish Register of Arms), it’ll have to conform to Swedish heraldic tradition and can’t use letters. I would recommend having a look around the forum of the Swedish Heraldry Society.

Maybe explaining to dad that the R is already the equivalent more or less of a heraldic badge and that the COA would generally have some "rules" regarding inheritance, whereas a badge is generally available family-wide….  ?

Once you get an artist commission, Using the "R" in the helm would be pretty great, too.

Since I haven’t noticed it brought up here, I will:  The current Blazon:  Azure an Ash Tree eradicated with three roots transfixed by an Arrow point to sinister Or.

Would an artist potentially place the arrow transfixing the roots themselves?  Should the blazon reflect the arrow through the trunk?

In my opinion, you don’t have to tell your father that the R symbol can’t be used.

It can, just as it has for ages, be used as what it has always been, a housemark.  It’s never been heraldry, and always been a house mark, right? No change, right? I see no conflict here.

Moving on to actual heraldry; Claus makes some compelling emblazonments supporting the pure awsomeness of your latest design. If father doesn’t like it better than the R, that shouldn’t be a problem, since coat of arms is not replacing housemark because they are two separate issues, yes?

Kathy McClurg;95046 wrote:

Since I haven’t noticed it brought up here, I will:  The current Blazon:  Azure an Ash Tree eradicated with three roots transfixed by an Arrow point to sinister Or.

Would an artist potentially place the arrow transfixing the roots themselves?  Should the blazon reflect the arrow through the trunk?

I doubt it, but it could happen. I would skip naming a number of roots if it were me anyway. It is too limiting artistically and I don’t think it’s consistent among the various interpretations of Yggdrasil over the centuries.

Would the Swedish Arms Register tolerate a tree on which the letter R was carved instead of inscribed?

Kenneth Mansfield;95044 wrote:

at the base of the bowl Sable.

My reading of blazons must still need a lot of work because I have no idea what that is supposed to be and where it would be.

That’s not a heraldic term, but a typographic one. The bowl of a capital R is the closed, rounded part.

Kenneth Mansfield;95048 wrote:

I doubt it, but it could happen. I would skip naming a number of roots if it were me anyway. It is too limiting artistically and I don’t think it’s consistent among the various interpretations of Yggdrasil over the centuries.

But in addition to Yggdrasil, this also alludes to the Holy Trinity so having three roots needs to be specified in the blazon, right?  If it was just blazoned "eradicated" is there a certain number of roots that would always be drawn or is that up to the artist?

Jeffrey Boyd Garrison;95047 wrote:

In my opinion, you don’t have to tell your father that the R symbol can’t be used.

It can, just as it has for ages, be used as what it has always been, a housemark.  It’s never been heraldry, and always been a house mark, right? No change, right? I see no conflict here.

That’s what I don’t understand.  It’s not like I’m taking the Mark away from the family or anything.  It hasn’t been used in any way in over 50 years and these arms are a brand new thing.  I’ve tried to explain this to him but he has really latched on to the idea and is basically telling me to just ignore the rules, lol.

j.carrasco;95053 wrote:

But in addition to Yggdrasil, this also alludes to the Holy Trinity so having three roots needs to be specified in the blazon, right?  If it was just blazoned "eradicated" is there a certain number of roots that would always be drawn or is that up to the artist?

I forgot about the Trinity aspect. Hmmm. No. I stick to my suggestion. Too much religious symbolism. The tree and arrow representing the cross should be plenty.

Only a suggestion (and the anti-letters police will be knocking on my door ) but what about

Azure an ash tree eradicated with three roots Or, pendant from the branches a shield Gules charged with the letter R transfixed by an arrow fesswise Argent

I’ve made the shield Gules as another cant on the surname, but it would be in the tradition of modern Scandinavian arms (which aims for simplicity and boldness) to repeat the Azure/Or tinctures.

James

Hm… look what I found in the Swedish House of Lords roll of arms.

Name: Ehrnrooth

http://www.scotarmigers.net/ssagallery/albums/userpics/10003/normal_Ehrnrooth4711.jpg