The Coat of Arms of Ireland is the famous Harp, gold on blue and with white strings. Historically, the Harp was represented with the pillar, crown and neck in the form of a winged and bare-breasted woman. Nowadays, the Harp that has been retained as the symbol of the Republic of Ireland is a more realistic version with Celtic adornments.
With the partition of Ireland in the 1920s, Northern Ireland remained part of the United Kingdom and southern Ireland became, initially, the Irish Free State and then the Republic of Ireland. Northern Ireland was granted its own Coat of Arms in 1924, but a) this never seems to have been used in conjunction with a Crest and b) is now considered historical and has not been used since 1972 as the body to which the Arms were granted no longer exists and the Parliament of Northern Ireland was prorogued.
The Republic of Ireland simply uses the Shield. However, a historic Crest does exist and has an interesting history.
The Royal Crest of Ireland, as shown atop the Shield here, can be blazonned as follows: On a wreath Or and Azure, a tower (sometimes triple-towered) Or, from the port a Hart springing Argent. The Hart is sometimes called a Buck and is sometimes balzonned as proper, meaning in realistic colours. If balzonned argent, it should also be mentioned that the animal is attired and unguled or. In other words, it has golden Antlers and Hooves. There is mention of a golden Harp as a Crest, but since Ireland was considered a Lordship of the King of England until Henry VIII had himself proclaimed King of Ireland in a 'personal union' with the Crown of England, a separate Crest, in any form, was hardly ever used. It was not until King James VI of Scotland became King James I of England and thereby created Great Britain that the Coat of Arms of Ireland appeared in the British Royal Arms. Ireland has, however, never had a history of its own version of the Arms placing its Quarter first as Scotland has. In Questions and Answers, Notes and Queries (a 'Medium of Inter-Communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Geneologists, etc, published by George Bell of Fleet Street, London in 1855), the unspecified author states: |
At the funeral of King James [King James VI and I] was likewise carried the standard of the crest of Ireland, a buck proper (argent in the draught) issuing from a tower triple towered or, which is the only instance of this crest that I have met, and therefore was probably devised and assigned for the crest of Ireland upon occasion of this funeral, but with what propriety I do not understand.
However, Hubert de Vries on his website De Rode Leeuw (http://www.hubert-herald.nl/) has a very interesting theory.
Indeed it seems to be accepted that the white hart is borrowed from the impresa (personal emblem) of King Richard II which was a hart couchant Argent, attired, unguled and shackled Or. A magnifique example of this impresa is on the back of the Wilton Diptych, (c. 1394-9), today in the National Gallery in London. The white hart in the crest of Ireland thus points again to Robert de Vere, the favourite of Richard II and would-be [sic] duke of Ireland. The tower triple towered may be determined in that case to be the Castle of Dublin, the city of which he was created a marquess for life in 1385. A thirteenth century seal matrix of the city of Dublin that features a triple towered fortified structure being defended under siege, is not contrary to this opinion.
The crest with the springing hart was intermittendly used for Ireland until the end of the monarchy.
Heraldically, Robert quartered his De Vere Arms with... the triple Crown and white bordered Arms of Ireland and also placed them in pretence (1st and 4th Quarters) over his family Arms. This may have been an official Augmentation.
Whilst the white Hart was King Richard III's badge, de Vere's family Badge as Earl of Oxford, and as shown on his tomb, was the blue Boar. Ironically, whilst in exile in France, de Vere was killed by a boar when out hunting.
A.C. Fox-Davies in The Book of Public Arms. London, 1915. Ireland, goes on to say:
At the present time the crest is universally quoted with the hart "springing", and it was so blazoned in the Royal Warrant of King George III. The earliest record in the College of Arms, however, distinctly shows the hart "rodged", and it is interesting to trace through the different drawings how, through "indifferent drawing", the position of the animal has been altered.
- Which "Royal Warrant of King George III" does he mean and what were its terms?
- What exactly is the heraldic term "rodged" and how does it differ from "springing"?
I thought that my personal interest in the Royal Crest of Ireland came about with the birth of my interest in all things heraldic and all things royal when my Grandfather (born in 1908 and a great fan of King George V) gave me his prized possession of a book about King George (and Queen Mary) and their Silver Jubilee in 1935. The very Art Deco design of the cover always intrigued my artistic side. However, intricate as this book was, I was mistaken. The first time I saw the Royal Crest of Ireland was in my 'Bible' - The Royal Heraldry of England by J. H. & R. V. Pinches, 1974. As shown here, the illustration is an intricate drawing which unusually includes the Crests of all three Kingdoms of the Realm. The Hart or Stag springing from the Tower represents Ireland. I would imagine it to be into the early 1930s from the style which would mean after the partition and the forming of the Irish Free State. Without getting technical again, it wasn't realised until the reign of George V's son, King George VI, that the Monarch of the United Kingdom was still technically the Head of State of Ireland until the country officially became a Republic in 1949! |