Chapter IX: Heraldry on Glass and Metal

In describing various objects in brass, bronze, and glass, especially the glass mosque-lamps, several coats of arms have been noticed. The subject deserves a section to itself, partly on account of its unexpectedness, and partly because it has a bearing upon the origin of our own heraldry. It is probable that the Crusaders brought back to Europe, together with lessons in chivalry and civilization, the germ of our system of heraldic bearings which has since been so carefully developed. The circumstance that coats of arms do not seem to have been borne in Europe before the end of the eleventh century, and were then very rudimentary, favours the conclusion that they had their source in the devices carried by the Saracen adversaries of the Crusaders. It is true, we are not able to point to any decided use of armorial badges in the East before the year 1190,[81] when the coins of ‘Imād-ed-dīn Zenky, Prince of Singār, present the two-headed eagle which soon afterwards becomes common on the coinage of the Urtuky rulers of Āmīd, and is found sculptured on the walls of that city. This is early enough as regards the emblem in question, for the Imperial Eagle was not adopted in Europe before 1345, but it cannot be regarded as satisfactory for all coats of arms. If other armorial bearings were known in Europe in the eleventh century, it is possible that they were carried to the East by the Crusaders, instead of being brought thence to the West. Several considerations, however, militate against this view. One is the Eastern origin of many of our heraldic terms: thus _gules_ is the Persian _gul_, a rose; _azure_ is also Persian _lazurd_, blue; _ermine_ is the fur of an Armenian beast; the pelican, ibis, griffin, and other charges of our coats of arms are clearly of Oriental derivation. Moreover, we know, from the researches of H. Brugsch Pasha, that the ancient Egyptian nomes had each their sign or badge, and that the temples were distinguished by separate devices on their banners. Various animals and birds were used for these purposes, and we even find the Star and Crescent, which, with the Lion and Sun, forms the sole remnant of heraldry among the modern Muslims. There is thus reason to believe that the heraldic bearings, which, as we shall see, were of common application during the 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries, were of Oriental descent, and though probably their frequency was a part of the general revival of the arts which accompanied the irruption of Turkish tribes into Syria and Egypt in the 12th and 13th centuries, they doubtless represent a custom that may have fallen into desuetude, but was never entirely forgotten, in the East.

The cause of the sudden abundance of these armorial shields, especially in the 14th century, was the military constitution of the Mamlūk empire. The various corps of the Mamlūk army were distinguished each by its separate banner, with its individual device. The Arabic and Persian word for a heraldic badge, or arms, _renk_, meant originally “colour,” and then came to mean, like our own expression, the “colours” of a regiment, and hence any distinguishing “badge” or “bearing,” “coat of arms.” In the history of the Mamlūks we constantly meet with references to the _renks_ of various Amīrs and Sultans, and of such _renks_ being assigned by the Sultan to a given Amīr. When Es-Sālih Ayyūb made Aybek his Taster (Jāshenkīr), he gave him for his armorial badge a small table, in allusion to his office, which consisted in tasting all the food destined for the Sultan’s table. This was the usual origin of these badges; they were not hereditary, and it is only by accident that the same _renk_ is found to have been borne by two persons. Among the historical references to specific arms, we may mention the description of the _lion passant_, which was the crest or bearing first of Ibn-Tūlūn in the ninth century, and afterwards of the Sultan Beybars I., A.D. 1260-77, and which gave its name to the “Bridge of Lions,” and also the “Garden of the Lion and Hyaena,” which were ornamented by two lions carved in stone on the gateway. Abu-l-Mahāsin mentions another coat of arms, argent, on a fess vert, a scimitar gules, and adds that this elegant coat was much beloved by the ladies of Cairo, who used to tattoo their fingers with it. The same historian says that the arms of the Amīr Salār were black and white.

Saladin’s crest was probably an _eagle_; Barkūk bore a white _Sunkur_, or falcon, which is the king of birds among the Arabs; and Kalaūn bore a “canting” coat, the representation of his own name, a _duck_.

Two finely sculptured single-headed eagles in the Arab Museum at Cairo, with well-chiselled wing and breast feathers, and spreading tails, set in pear-shaped shields, with a cup in the base, may have been Tukuzdemir’s arms (see above, p. 259).

A great many coats of arms have come down to us, some in metal, when the colours are of course uncertain, others in glass, when the enamel preserves the original tinctures. Some few devices are also preserved in mosaic, wood, and ivory, or inscribed on the walls of buildings. The circular medallions sculptured on the edifices of Kāït Bey and other Sultans may almost be regarded as blazons, and so may the similar medallions on glass lamps. The late E. T. Rogers Bey, whose long residence in the East and intimate acquaintance with Arabic literature rendered him a high authority on all branches of Saracenic art, devoted considerable research to this subject, and collected a large number of Mamlūk coats of arms in a valuable memoir published in the _Bulletin de l’Institut Egyptien_, 1880. The following _résumé_ of his discoveries, together with a few additions from my own observation, will be useful to those who do not possess the original monograph.

The general character of Saracenic armorial bearings is monotonous. The shield is almost always a circle, divided by a broad fess; though a glass lamp at the British Museum has the true shield form, and no fess. The usual charges are a cup (most frequent of all, and indicating that the bearer held the office of cup-bearer to the Sultan), a lozenge, a sword, a pair of cornucopias, a pair of polo sticks (indicating the office of Jōkendār, or polo-master), keys (the badge of a chamberlain or governor), an eagle, and a target. These are often combined in various modes, of which the commonest consists in placing a cup on the fess, a second cup in the base, and a lozenge in the chief. The cornucopias are generally arranged on either side of one or other of the preceding charges. A very frequent bearing, which suggests curious speculations, is the hieroglyphic formula already referred to, p. 233. It is found as a sole charge, or in chief with other emblems, or inscribed upon the body of a cup, and its meaning is “Lord of the Upper and Lower country.” Rogers Bey was of opinion that the Mamlūks who employed this coat must have been aware of its meaning, and that perhaps the interpretation of hieroglyphics had not become extinct in the fourteenth century. It is possible that, while the general hieroglyphic inscriptions were no longer understood, the particular title, which is of frequent occurrence on the temple walls, may have been preserved by the Copts; or the Mamlūks, without knowing the meaning, may have inferred from its frequency that it was a title of honour. In any case, its common appearance upon Saracenic objects is sufficiently surprising.

The following are some of the principal coats of arms belonging to historical Amīrs and Sultans, in addition to the badges (lions, eagles, &c.) already mentioned:—

Sheykhū † A.H. 758 (1357). Per fess, gules and sable, on a fess or, a cup gules. (British Museum, and Linant Pasha’s Collection.)

Bahādur, † 739 (1339). Two horizontal bars.

El-Māridāny, † 744 (1343). Gules, on a fess argent, a lozenge of the first.

Kahlīs, an Amīr of En-Nāsir (14th century). Gules, on a fess argent, a scimitar sable, mounted of the second. (S. K. M.)

Tukuzdemir, † 746 (1345). Gules, in chief an eagle displayed or, in base a cup of the last. (British Museum.)

Almās, † 734 (1334). Argent, a target or, with a bull’s eye gules. (Linant Pasha’s Collection.)

Arkatāy, † 750 (1349) (Governor of Safad). Two keys.

Ezbek, A.H. 905 (1499). On a fess, a cup supported by daggers (?); chief, a lozenge between cornucopias; base a cup between lozenges.

Beshtāk, A.H. 736 (1335). On a fess, a cup inscribed with the usual hieroglyphics, in chief diamond, in base a cup. This occurs on a bronze plate, and is consequently without tinctures; it is also seen on the ruin known as the “Bath of Beshtāk,” near the mosque of Sultan Hasan.

Sultan Kāït Bey, † 901 (1495). On a fess, a cup between cornucopias; above a lozenge; beneath a second cup. The same coat was borne by the Amīr Janbalāt, one of Kāït Bey’s officers, and afterwards Sultan.

Many other combinations of cups and lozenges and the like might be enumerated, but these have not been identified with historical personages, and the student may refer for them to Rogers Bey’s memoir. Among the more remarkable combinations, however, may be noted a flag upon the body of a cup, which probably refers to some military or court office; and in colours, a rare arrangement is seen of Bektuman En- Nāsiry, azure on a fess argent, a cup gules. A common badge is the fleur-de-lis, generally very distinctly represented. It was borne, among others, by El-Ashraf Sha‘bān, El-Mansūr ‘Aly, and Es-Sālih Hājjy, Sultans who all reigned in the second half of the fourteenth century, and it also occurs on the Māristān of Kalāūn at the beginning of the same century.

Two coats of arms preserved in the South Kensington Museum are different in details from any of those collected by Rogers Bey. The first occurs on a brass stand (see p. 233) which bears the title of a chief secretary of the fourteenth century; the second is from a scale-pan (no. 929, 1884), with no name, but is probably of the fifteenth century; the arms show the usual hieroglyphics on a fess, with a lozenge between trefoils in the chief, and a cup between trefoils in the base.