The International Association of Amateur Heralds

It tells us that Baron Seefeld is of a very old noble family registered in this Baltic roll of arms.
And of interest for me is that it mentions upwards pointed “SEEBLÄTTER” (heraldic waterlillies)
I do not know if they have another name in English or they are always to be called LINDEN LEAVES, which for me is quite another part of the Flora because they grow on trees instead of in lakes.

Torsten Laneryd wrote:It tells us that Baron Seefeld is of a very old noble family registered in this Baltic roll of arms.
And of interest for me is that it mentions upwards pointed “SEEBLÄTTER” (heraldic waterlillies)
I do not know if they have another name in English or they are always to be called LINDEN LEAVES, which for me is quite another part of the Flora because they grow on trees instead of in lakes.

I mean, can you translate the blazon. As far as being sea-leaves, it makes sense, but seeblätter is famous for being depicted a variety of ways and being mistaken for something else.

We seem to be going slightly off-topic here as the arms depicted in the first post in this thread are not ascribed to either of the two Seefeldt baronies recorded in Rietstaps AG. They are of the Seefeldt family (without barony) from the Danzig area of the former Prussian States.



The blazon for those arms (and the second one from the Courlande, which is now considered to be part of Latvia.) definitely state that they are 'tilleul' (Linden/lime) leaves, Argent in the first one and Vert in the second. The Bavarian barony is obviously three black Lozenges in bend.

And of interest for me is that it mentions upwards pointed “SEEBLÄTTER” (heraldic waterlillies)

As far as I'm aware, 'heraldic waterlilies' are what are normally referred to heraldically as a Fleur de Lis.

As far as I'm aware, 'heraldic waterlilies' are what are normally referred to heraldically as a Fleur de Lis.

To me a Fleur de lis is different.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Categ ... n_heraldry

I'd agree that the leaves growing from the branch in the Seefeldt of Courland arms are linden leaves, but the Baltic armorial may be correct in regarding those in the Seefeldt of Danzig arms as water-lily leaves pointing upwards, because of the cant on 'See'. Rietstap may simply have thought they were linden leaves and described them as such.

There are heraldic water-lily (nenuphar) leaves which are fairly heart-shaped and are depicted pointing downwards e.g. in the arms of the Westphalian family Fleck a.k.a. Van der Baalen :

The Frisian flag also contains sea-leaves that are commonly called hearts, and I have read that the Danish hearts started out as sea-leaves. Of course there is also the more bizarre sea leaves such as those of Brehna. Although I have seen these attributed to Angria (Engern in German), The website of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha gives Angria; Gules, 3 hearts Or.

Ryan Shuflin wrote: and I have read that the Danish hearts started out as sea-leaves.

”Søblade”=Sea-leaves were official determined in the blazon 1972 but they are frequently called hearts.

how are see-leaves actually blazoned? is there a preferred term for them in English, and are there a difference in blazon between the two types?

The Danish blazon is:
»Tre gående blå løver over hverandre med røde tunger og guldbevæbning og kronet med gyldne kroner, alt i et gyldent skjold strøet med ni røde søblade.«

And the only translation in English I have seen is “hearts”:
“Or, three lions passant in pale Azure crowned and armed Or langued Gules accompanied by nine hearts Gules.”

And the only translation in English I have seen is “hearts”:
“Or, three lions passant in pale Azure crowned and armed Or langued Gules accompanied by nine hearts Gules.”

That's the problem with people from other countries attempting blazons without access to/comprehension of the original blazon in the original language.

I have to say in defence of the non-Danes that I have seen similar confusion over the Danish royal arms among Scandinavian heraldists.