The Coat of Arms 11 (2015) part 1

A new issue of The Coat of Arms (CoA), journal of The Heraldry Society, is published and distributed this week. Of interest to medieval heraldry are articles by Sir John Baker on early heraldic harness pendants (drawing for illustration on his own collection of these items; shown here a pendant found at Fincham in Norfolk bearing the arms of Richard of Cornwall, Count of Poitou) and Robert W. Jones on the significance of the livery badge on the medieval battlefield, taking as its start point the tiny but significant silver-gilt boar found on Bosworth Field, the site of the defeat and death of Richard III in 1485. Twentieth-century heraldry (and pseudo-heraldry) in a sporting context is discussed by David Phillips in an article on the strained relationship between the College of Arms, the Football League and professional football clubs.  Vance Mead contributes a note on previously unpublished evidence of a Portcullis Pursuivant early in the reign of Henry VII, from the plea rolls of the Court of Common Pleas; and Sebastian Nelson summarizes French and English patents granting augmentations to Angelo Foscarini (1570-1622), successively Venetian ambassador in Paris and London. The patents survive in the Museo Correr in Venice and have not previously been taken note of in English-language publications.

The number also contains a report by Andreas Zajic on the Graz / Austrian Academy of Sciences project “Illuminated Charters as Gesamtkunstwerk”; a note by Clive Cheesman on a scandalous early nineteenth-century criminal case involving the herald, biographer and popular historian Edmund Lodge; book reviews; and a selection of recently discovered small finds of heraldic interest declared through the Portable Antiquities Scheme. It concludes with a round-up of recent and forthcoming conferences, lectures and seminars as well as websites and blogs.

For information on subscribing or contributing to The Coat of Arms visit the journal’s website.