Eagle (heraldry)
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The eagle is used in heraldry both as a charge (something drawn on the shield) or as a supporter (something holding the shield up). Parts of the eagle’s body such as its head, wings or leg are also used as a crest or charge.
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[edit] Use of the Eagle
In the same way that a lion (heraldry) is considered the king of beasts the eagle is regarded as the pre-eminent bird in heraldry. It has been more widely used and more highly regarded in Continental European heraldry than in English heraldry. For instance, in the roll of Henry III of England (reigned 1216-1272) there are only three eagles.
Eagles are often (outside of Italian heraldry) drawn with the beak, tongue and talons in a different colour to the rest of the body. In that case they are blazoned “langued and armed colour.”
An eagle can appear either single or double-headed. On at least one occasion a three-headed eagle is seen.[1])
[edit] Symbolism
To the pagans, the eagle was an emblem of Jupiter, the god of the sky. The eagle and lion of Innishowen were used as Celtic drudic holy symbols. In 102 B.C. the Roman Consul Marius decreed that the eagle would be the symbol of the Roman Republic. It is said that when the Second Temple of Jerusalem was being expanded and renovated in 20 B.C., Herod the Great offended the people by mounting a Roman golden eagle over the gate. When Herod died some years later, his opponents tore down the eagle. It is believed that the Prophet Mohammad’s first standard or flag in 7th century A.D. was a plain flag with no insignia on it to contradict the national standard of the opposing pagan Quraish tribe, Al-Uqaab, that had a black eagle on white background, the sacred Eagle that carried pagan prayers from Earth to the Sky.
Central Asian Turkish Shamans carried a wooden stick pole with seven or nine horizontal sticks forming stairs to an Eagle put on the top of the stick during their rituals. The eagle was regarded, for example, as a holy bird, a protective spirit, and the guardian of heaven. It was also a symbol of potency and fertility. Eagles on tombstones reflected the Shamanistic belief that the souls of the dead rose up to Heaven in the form of birds or were accompanied and protected by the eagle while traveling in the underworld and the sky. Eagle also was believed to be a carrier of prayers to the sky. The Altaic figures carved into rocks suggest that the eagle also was a sign of grandeur and magnificence among the Turks.
The Turkish shamanistic religious heritage of Asian roots survived to some extent after their acceptance of Islam and migration westwards. The metaphorical meaning of the name of Tougrul Beig (993-1063 A.D.) who founded the Seljuk State as its foremost commander was “Eagle”. The spirit of the Türkmen is accepted as 'horse' in the fifth and as “eagle” in the third period.
At the time of Seljuks, the existence of the Sumerian and Hittite peoples and languages was not suspected. The first major excavations leading to the discovery of such civilizations and their remnants were conducted only after the mid 19th century.
In mediæval and modern heraldry eagles are often said to indicate that the armiger (person bearing the arms) was courageous, a man of action and judicious. Where an eagle's wings were spread (“displayed”) it was said to indicate the bearer’s rôle as a protector. When mythological beasts are used, such as a griffin (part eagle, part lion) they indicate that the bearer of the arms possessed a combination of those animals’ qualities.
[edit] Sumerian and Hittite Eagles
At the base of Ab-ú’s statue, found in the Old Sumerian shrine of Eshnunna (Tell Asmar), his symbol of a lion-headed eagle, with outstretched wings and talons, is shown as diving down upon his prey, arranged mirror-symmetrically. The lion-headed eagle was also known as the Ningirsu (storm-bird) in the Sumerian city of Lagash and said to have appeared as one or two lion-head eagles on recently excavated historical artifacts. The two-headed eagle later was an emblem of twin gods depicting power and omniscience. It appeared on monuments of the first Hittite Empire in central Anatolia and was an attribute of Nergal. Another very archaic Mesopotamic symbol survived in Phoenecian culture was the Gryphon, mythical beast with the lower body of a lion and upper body of an eagle.
[edit] Twin Headed Eagle and the Turks
The Seljuk Turks emigrating from Central Asia occupied Baghdad in 1055 and Tougrul captured Mosul, and upon returning to Baghdad in 1058 was given the title of the '’King of the East and West'’. The Seljuks were even more anxious to have their rule legitimized: seen as aliens they were unpopular with the townsfolk of Persia and Iraq, and Tougrul's investiture by the Caliph in 1058, in a magnificent ceremony during which two crowns were held over his head as symbols of his regal authority over East and West, confirmed that the he now was the Commander of the Faithful. At the time the double-headed eagle became his and the Seljuk state’s coat of arms and flag, one head symbolizing the east and the other one symbolizing the west. As the Seljuk Empire’s insignia, the twin-headed eagle appears in Turkish coins from 11th century and onwards as well as a number of architectural remains scattered in central and east Anatolia. These architechural remains also depict palm trees under bicephalous eagle as the tree of life, symbolizing peace and prosperity. Seljuk Turkish Sultans’ use of references to the east and the west as well as the palm tree of life were inspired by the passages in Quran:
“And the pains of childbirth drove Mary to the trunk of a palm-tree: She cried in her anguish: 'Ah! would that I had died before this! would that I had been a thing forgotten and out of sight!' But (a voice) cried to her from beneath the palm-tree: 'Grieve not! for thy Lord hath provided a rivulet beneath thee. And shake towards thyself the trunk of the palm-tree: It will let fall fresh ripe dates upon thee. So eat and drink and cool thine eye. And if thou dost see any man, say, 'I have vowed a fast to Most Gracious, and this day will I enter into not talk with any human being'. At length she brought the (baby Jesus) to her people, carrying him in her arms. They said: 'O Mary! truly an amazing thing hast thou brought!' (19:23-27) (Moses) said (to the Pharaoh): 'He is the god of the East and the West, and all between; if you only had sense'( 28:28) Now I do call to witness the Lord of all points in the East and the West (70:40) (He is) Lord of the East and the West: there is no god but He: take Him therefore for (thy) Disposer of Affairs (73:9)”.
Seljuk Turks, led by AlpArslan whose name meant "a valiant lion" and who was the nephew of Tougrul Beg, captured Jerusalem from the Egyptians in 1071, the same year as they entered Anatolia through Manzikert, introducing to the localities the bicephalous eagle standard of Seljuks of Rum (Roma) which transacended to generations from subsequent interface of nations through the crusades.
Turkish dynasties had also emerged in the middle east as a result of the policy of Abbasi caliphate that provided the excessive employment of Turkish commanders and soldiers in the army. One of the dynasties established by the Turks is the Eyyubi State (1171-1252) named after the father of Selahaddin, Eyyub, as the founder. Selahaddin, born to a Turkish mother, came as a commander appointed by the Tutor of Mosul. His family members had the ancient Turkish names such as Selahaddin's brothers Turanshah,Tugtekin and Böri. His wife, Amine, the daughter of Unar Beig, was also Turk. Eyyubi dynasty had followed the Turkish traditions and included the eagle as their emblem on a yellow colored flag. Islamic coins from the era of reign of Khalif Nasreddin Mahmoud bin Mohammad sport a double headed eagle on one side and the star of David on the other as early as year 1200.
[edit] Western European Heraldry
Charlemagne was a Frankish ruler and the first Holy Roman Emperor from AD 800 - 814, in days when no 'France' or 'Germany' existed. He had the statue of a black eagle with single head placed on top of his palace in Aachen. A frequently encountered misquote, mostly by copy circulation on the world wide web is “When Charlemagne was made 'Kaiser of the Holy Roman Empire', he joined the two heads together, one looking east and the other west, thus symbolizing the union of these two powers.” There is no printed or built genuine material left from his time showing any evidence of his use of a double-head eagle as his coat of arms. A stained glass artwork found in a later period church reflects the adaptation of his symbols as artists’ representation expressed much later than Charlemagne’s reign, showing half of the body of a single-head black eagle as the symbol of the German emperors next to a fleur-de-lis as the symbol of the kings of France in two halves of a shield, as the sign of dichotomy of his reign, and that is not considered a chronologically accurate evidence that he might indeed have used a double-head eagle as his crest at his time, see here.
According to von Volborth the first instance of the use of an eagle as an heraldic charge is the Great Seal of the Margrave Leopold IV of Austria in 1136. On the seal his figure carries a shield charged with an eagle. Also from about this time is a coin, minted in Maastricht (the Netherlands), dating from between 1172 and 1190 after contacts with the East via the crusades. It shows a single-headed eagle, see here.
From the reign of Frederick Barbarossa in 1155 the eagle became a symbol of the Holy Roman Empire in its one-headed state. The eagle was clearly derived from the Roman eagle and continues to be important in the heraldry of those areas once within the Holy Roman Empire. Within Germany the placement of one’s arms in front of an eagle was indicative of princely rank under the Holy Roman Empire. The first mention of a double-headed eagle in the West dates from 1250 in a roll of arms of Matthew Paris for Emperor Frederick II.
[edit] Eastern Imperial Eagles
The double-headed Seljuk Eagle became the symbol of the Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos. Palaiologos recaptured Constantinople from the Crusaders in 1261 and adopted the double-headed eagle as his symbol of the dynasty's interests in both Asia and Europe. It represented looking towards the East (Asia Minor, traditional power center of the Byzantine-government in exile after the IVth Crusade) and the West (newly reconquered land in Europe) centered on Constantinople. The Byzantine double-headed eagle has been seen in late 13th century, certainly pre-dating the development of the same in western heraldry.
In Russia it was Ivan III of Russia who first assumed the two-headed eagle, when, in 1472, he married Sophia, daughter of Thomas Palæologus, and niece of Constantine XI, the last Emperor of Byzantium. The two heads symbolised the Eastern or Byzantine Empire and the Western or Roman Empire.
[edit] Later Use of the Eagle
Napoleon used an eagle, again derived from an Ancient Roman eagle, as did his nephew Napoleon III. An eagle remains in the arms of the House of Napoleon.
Since 20 June 1782, the United States has used an American Bald Eagle, wings displayed, on its Great Seal.
The Mexican arms and flag bear an "eagle perched upon a nopal, devouring a serpent".
Many modern states and individuals continue to use the eagle in their arms. These include:
- the State of Albania,
- Brandenburg, a German State,
- Landkreis Anhalt-Zerbst
- the German cities of Nuremberg, Frankfurt, Schweinfurt, Goslar
- Tyrol, a State of the Holy Roman Empire, and the modern Austrian States of Tyrol and the Italian province of South Tyrol.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- The Arms of Byzantium
- Arthurian Heraldry
- Fleur-de-lis designs
- A Glossary of Terms used in Heraldry by James Parker
- The Heraldic Eagle: The Story Behind The Bird
- International Civic Heraldry
- Pimbley's Dictionary of Heraldry – E
- QM Web (Quartermaster Museum)
- Russian College of Heraldry
- Symbolisms of Heraldry
[edit] Further reading
- Fox-Davies, A.C.; A Complete Guide to Heraldry, Bloomsbury Books, London, 1985
- Puttock, Colonel A.G.; Heraldry in Australia, Child & Associated Publishing Pty. Ltd. Frenchs Forest, 1988
- von Volborth, Carl-Alexander; Heraldry, Customs, Rules and Styles, New Orchard Editions, Poole, 1981
