[Update:] The Zürich armorial available online – plus many more additions to our list of digitised armorials
The second (recto) of the four parts of the Zürich armorial, which together make up a roll of 0.12x4m (Zurich, Schweizerisches Nationalmuseum, AG 2760)
Thanks to the Swiss digitisation project e-codices, one of the most important sources of medieval heraldry is now available in a hitherto unprecedented quality: the Zürcher Wappenrolle (Zürich armorial). Its importance for heraldists and historians alike stems from the fact that this extraordinary armorial is considered to be one of the oldest collections of coats of arms of the medieval Holy Roman Empire. Besides that, it is the only (?) armorial from the continent which has been conserved not in the shape of a codex but as a roll of arms.
Taken together, its four parts make up a roll of an impressive four meters in length, listing, on both sides of the parchment, 559 coats of arms in total. The depicted arms include a list of kings from Europe and abroad, the higher and lower nobility from northern Switzerland, southern Germany and western Austria, but also arms of local cities as well as banners of German dioceses and monasteries. Steen Clemmensen previously prepared a new edition of the coats of arms in the Zürich armorial. The new digital copy now allows for everyone to see this unique heraldic document for themselves in an astonishing quality which offers a completely new access to this essential document.
The link to the Zürich armorial has been added to our list of digitised armorials, which we have greatly extended since the last update with many more manuscripts we have found online or which have been pointed out to us by readers of the blog. Thank you very much to everyone who contributed to extending this list.
The list of digitised armorials features now links to digital copies of 48 medieval armorials from all over Europe. For the time being, it now contains all the genuinely medieval armorials we were able to find in digital format. In the future, later copies of medieval armorials (which are excluded as for now) and a vast number of early modern armorials will be added to the collection.
If you yourself stumble across an exciting source that we missed, please do let us know! Your contributions to this blog are most welcome.
The link to our list of digitised armorials: http://heraldica.hypotheses.org/1770
OpenEdition suggests that you cite this post as follows:
Heraldica Nova (December 22, 2014). [Update:] The Zürich armorial available online – plus many more additions to our list of digitised armorials. Heraldica Nova. Retrieved January 20, 2025 from https://doi.org/10.58079/phvw
Do you know any information regarding our family name BALDEGGER. We can trace our ancestry back to the Baldeggers of Jonschwil – Jakob Anton, born 2 April 1767, as a chronicle was written by the chronist of Jonschwil. But we have not been able to make earlier links with the Baldeg of Baldegger See listed in the Zurich Armorial.
Dear Nicola Baldegger
Thank you for your message. I am afraid we do not have any specific information on the genealogy of the BALDEGGER family name. For some references and further information, you could check the heraldic editions of the Zürcher armorial under the entry of the Baldegger arms. There are three heraldic editions:
– Michel Popoff, Le role d’armes de Zurich (Paris, 1986).
– Walther Merz and Friedrich Hegi, Die Wappenrolle von Zürich … mit den Wappen aus dem Hause zum Loch (Zürich and Leipzig, 1930). Accessible online: http://digital.ub.uni-duesseldorf.de/urn/urn:nbn:de:hbz:061:1-430948
– Steen Clemmensen, The Zürich Armorial (Farum, 2009). Accessible online: http://www.armorial.dk/german/Zurich%20WR.pdf
I think the Merz and Hegi edition is the most elaborate on specific families.
I hoped this helps you and I wish you good luck with the genealogical research.