Hi all,
I was browsing around looking for a podcast to listen to when I stumbled on one titled How Family Crests Work put out by howstuffworks.com http://www.howstuffworks.com/culture-traditions/genealogy/family-crests.htm
Has anyone listened to this podcast? Based on the title I fear it might be so full of inaccuracies that listening to it would just make me upset…but there seem to be some references, or at least citations, from the AHS website. So maybe there is hope after all?
I have not heard this before but I am downloading it right now and will listen to it okay. Thanks for posting.
I haven’t listened to it, but I will now. My brother-in-law used to work for howstuffworks.com before they were bought out by Discovery. They used to research things very well.
I am currently unable to download any content of any kind, so I am interested to hear your reviews.
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I am currently unable to download any content of any kind, so I am interested to hear your reviews
Here are some quotes from the podcast:
about bucket shops:
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...anybody at the mall or whatever is probably taking you for something of a ride…
about the spread of arms:
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...and then eventually commoners and poor people…peasants in the thirteenth century said you know what I want to use a crest…
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...the one in the United States is the American College of Heraldry where in the UK its the College of Arms…yeah and those are the best sources on the internet for stuff like this by the way…
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...they are generally passed down from male heir to male heir for the most part…
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...if you want to claim title to these things you have to trace your line back to where this crest left off…that’s one of the good things about the College of Arms you go to them with a wheelbarrow full of money…and say here you go call me when you’re done and they will do the research for you…
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...there are some common elements to any coat of arms…if you look closely you will see what about five things that you are going to find on every single European coat of arms…shield…supporters…and if they are on two legs that means they’re rampant…on top of the shield you probably have a coronet which is a small crown…sitting on top of that you have the helm which is a helmet like a knight’s helmet…and then the crest…
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...and the crest is the top most thing it can be anything it can be like a…dude with his tongue sticking out…
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...even though unicorns show up in it they all follow the Newtonian laws of physics like everything rests on something else…
about the Order of the Garter:
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...this is a belt…that’s a belt around the shield of the House of Windsor…it’s one of those cheesy old braided belts that’s looped around a gets tucked in…that is actually Scottish in origin that means that they are followers of a clan leader…followers not even a leader. The belt looped in like that means that you are a follower of a clan not a leader…
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...if you go look closely you’re not going to find a crest that has metal on metal color or color on color…an authentic one at least…
about heraldic authorities:
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...Scotland again the Lord Lyon King of Arms that guy is not only in charge of registering crests but also tartans…
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...the American College of Heraldry…this is the official organization for registering in America…
about Presidential heraldry:
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...most Presidents have had their coat of arms done up nicely…Ronald Regan’s has a stallion…with an actor’s mask…on the horse’s chest. You know that kind of looks like the um logo that Rocky Balboa wore on the back of his robe…
about cadency:
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...the third son gets to use a mullet…business in the front, but party in the back…
In my opinion the hosts could have done a better job by merely reading verbatim from any one of the number of introductory books on heraldry…I wish I had listened to this podcast instead:
http://media.nationalarchives.gov.uk/index.php/heralds-and-heraldry-at-the-national-archives/