Postby Mike_Oettle » 20 Aug 2015, 20:00
Joe McMillan wrote: “Now: all that said, I think the absolutist position that colors and charges have no fixed meaning is also unrealistically dogmatic.”
That also is a point I agree with. What has been established, though, is that they do not have universal meaning. What makes heraldry interesting is establishing what meaning there is in it.
In the case of each distinct coat of arms there are meanings attached — not usually to colours, although they also have meanings assigned in certain instances, but to particular charges, ordinaries and arrangements of charges and ordinaries.
I have derived a great deal of pleasure from tracing these meanings, and anyone who has perused Armoria can affirm this.
I also enjoy finding connections between different coats of arms — the variations in family arms, the charges from family arms that find their way into civic and other corporate arms, and so on.
But in each case there is a bit of spadework involved, which adds to the fascination the subject has for me.
The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life.
[Proverbs 14:27]