View source for King Arthur -- Attributed Heraldry

Although [[King Arthur|Arthur]] (if he existed) ruled, or fought, centuries before the advent of formal [[heraldry]], once there were [[herald]]s and coats of [[arms]] it was, to the ''cognoscenti'' of that period, utterly unthinkable that Arthur and his [[knight]]s had not been entitled to bear coat-arms and had indeed done so.  More, since the major route of transmission of Arthurian lore was through [[minstrel]]s and [[bard]]s, who needed to hold the attention of an audience, and were therefore thankful of details of colour and image, it became also an essential, in telling the stories, that heraldry become involved.

The following are '''some''' of the heraldry ascribed to the Arthurian heroes:

*'''King Arthur''' :- Setting aside the bearing of the image of the Virgin Mary on his shield, Arthur is generally ascribed ''[[Azure]], three [[crown]]s [[or]]''.  A later misreading expanded this to 13.  3 is correct.
*'''Guenevere''' is ascribed the arms ascribed to her father, '''Leodegrance''': ''[[Sable]], a [[lion]] [[passant]] [[or]]''.
*'''Lancelot''', du Lac : ''[[Argent]], three [[bendlet]]s [[Gules]]''.  His father '''Ban''' was given ''Argent three [[bend]]s gules'' which Lancelot then inherited on Ban's death.
*'''Galahad''', his son, ''[[Argent]], a [[cross]] [[gules]]''
*'''Perceval''' : ''[[Purpure]], [[semee]] of [[cross]]es [[or]]''.  Or ''[[crosslets]]'' -- take your pick: it's all ascribed.  His father '''Pellinor''' was given ''[[Or]] [[crucilly]] [[azure]]''
*'''Kay''', or ''Cei'', as Arthur's [[seneschal]] : ''[[Azure]], two [[key]]s [[addorsed]] [[or]]''
*'''Urien''', [[king]] of [[Northumbria]] : ''[[Azure]], a [[lion]] [[rampant]] [[argent]]'' or ''Azure a lion [[or]] [[armed]] and [[langued]] [[gules]]''.  Either way it's a metal lion rearing on a blue field.
*'''Morgan''', his wife : arms based upon her father Gorlois : ''[[Sable]], between three [[lion]]s heads [[gules]], a [[fess]] gules''
*'''Morgawse''', widow of King '''Lot''' of [[Orkney]], was ascribed Gorlois arms, dimidiated by Lot's : ''[[Argent]] a [[canton]] [[gules]] [[dimidiated]] [[Sable]], between three [[lion]]s heads [[gules]] a [[fess]] gules''
*Their sons, the Orkney family, were given ''[[Purpure]] a double-headed [[eagle]] [[or]]'' which the eldest '''Gawaine''' bore un[[differenced]], and his brothers '''Gaheris''', '''Gareth''' and '''Agravaine''' bore differenced.  Their half-brother, '''Mordred''' either bore those arms, differenced by a ''[[chief]] [[argent]]'' or the blank ''[[sable]]'' shield of the traditional Enemy of Good.
*'''Tristan''' : ''[[Vert]], a [[lion]] [[rampant]] [[or]]''
*'''Uthur Pendragon''' : ''[[Or]], two [[wyvern]]s [[addorsed]] [[vert]]'', in reference to the "Pendragon" aspect, which was understood as a [[name|patronym]] rather than as a title.
*'''Palamides''' takes ''[[Chequy]] [[argent]] and [[sable]]'', his father Esclabor king of Babylon taking ''Chequy or and gules''

Much of the above comes collectively from Michel Pastoureau, who collected the information and published it in 1983.

[[category:King Arthur]]