Armorial of Arms from the Livre de Tournois by Rene of Anjou by Lothar von Katzenellenbogen The "Livre de Tournois" (Book of the Tourney) was written (or dictated) by King Rene of Anjou sometime in the middle of the 15th century. Several beautifully illustrated manuscripts of this book survive and it is a rich source of heraldry. In the introduction to his book, King Rene uses "blazons of his own devising" in addition to the arms of Brittany ("Ermine.") and Bourbon ("Azure seme de lys Or, a bend gules.") I do not know if the emblazons given in the illustrations reflect the arms of actual French nobles, or if they are products of King Rene's imagination. In either case, they reflect the sensibilities of the time and may be taken as a sample of the sort of arms that a noble who was familiar with heraldry would have used for tournaments. In many cases there is duplication of arms. Arms are repeated on tabards, horse trappers, flags, pennons, and painted screens. My roll of arms lists the arms roughly as they appear in the book, but duplicate blazons have been eliminated. The Importance of the arms in Le Livre de Tournois While the arms shown in the Tourney book may not have ever been used by real people, they implicitly reflect what would have been considered "correct" heraldry by knowledgable at the time. This is unusual since some of the arms have extremely rare charge or motifs. Specifically, this book contains unique instances (that I know of) where the line of division Potenty is used as a free-standing heraldic motif and where a complex charge (in this case a lion) is fimbriated. In addition pales and ordinaries charged with geometric field treatments (barry, chevronelly or gyronny) are more common than they are in historical armory. However, these oddities aside, this collection of arms gives an excellent sample of "typical" 15th century Anglo-Norman arms. Most of them are extremely simple with an average complexity count of 3 or 4. With very few exceptions all of these arms follow the rules for SCA heraldry. The one major area of variance is that the arms in the Tourney Book don't seem to uniformly extend the "Rule of Tincture" to chiefs. In several cases, a light-tinctured chief is placed on (or next to) a light-tinctured field or a dark-tinctured chief is placed on (or next to) a dark-tinctured field. 1. Ermine. (Brittany) Captain of the Appellants 2. Azure seme de lys Or, a bend gules. (Bourbon) Captain of the Defendents 3. Gules, two bars Or. Judge. 4. Or, two bars gules. Judge. 5. Or, a pale gules between two lions combattant sable. Judge. 6. Per chevron counterchanged per pale Or and azure, on a chief argent a lion passant gules. Judge. 7. Azure, a chief potenty Or. Judge. 8. Argent, a bend engrailed gules. Judge. 9. Gules, on a pale argent a lion rampant azure. Judge. 10. Or, a castle of three towers throughout gules. Contestant, appellant's team. 11. Or a bend gyronny argent and gules. Contestant appellant's team. 12. Vair, a fess gules. Contestant appellant's team. 13. Per saltire Or and gules two mullets of eight sable pierced Or. Contestant appellant's team. 14. Sable, two pallets Or, a chief vert. Contestant appellant's team. 15. Or, a chevron azure. Contestant appellant's team. 16. Or, a mullet of eight points throughout pierced azure. Contestant appellant's team. 17. Or, two bars cotised gules. Contestant appellant's team. 18. Or, vetu gules. Contestant appellant's team. 19. Per chevron Or and sable. Contestant defendent's team. 20. Checky argent and gules, a lion rampant fimbriated sable. Contestant defendant's team. 21. Sable billety and a chief Or. Contestant defendant's team. 22. Per chevron inverted Or and azure. Contestant defendant's team. {This could just as easily be "Azure, a chief triangular Or."} 23. Vair, on a chief Or issuant from the line of division three demi-lions rampant sable. Contestant defendant's team. 24. Ermine, on a chief Or issuant from the line of division a demi-double-headed eagle displayed sable. Contestant defendant's team. 25. Checky sable and Or, each sable check charged with a bezant. Contestant defendant's team. 26. Azure, on a chevron throughout Or, in honor point an escutcheon gules. Contestant defendant's team. 27. Per fess dancetty of three points argent and sable each point tipped with a bird close sable, a chief azure. Contestant defendant's team. 28. Gules, a pale vair. Contestant defendant's team. 29. Or, on a chief azure, three delfs argent. Contestant defendent's team. 30. Gules, a pale Or, on a chief argent three cinquefoils azure. Horse trapper. 31. Argent, two pallets cotised sable, a chief gules. Horse trapper. 32. Per saltire barry argent and gules and azure. Horse trapper. 33. Argent fretty (or grillage) gules. Horse trapper. 34. Per pale indented Or and azure, a chief gules. Horse trapper. 35. Barry gules and Or, a cross gules. Banner of contestant. 36. Quarterly azure and Or, a double headed eagle displayed counterchanged. Banner of contestant. 37. Per chevron argent and sable. Banner of contestant. 38. Azure, a pale barry of six argent and gules. Banner of contestant. 39. Or, a lion rampant sable . . . Banner of contestant. {The rest of the banner is obscured.} 40. Per fess potenty Or and azure. Banner of contestant. {This might be the same as #7.} 41. Or, a fess dancetty azure between five eagles displayed sable. Banner of contestant. {The eagles are in a 3 and 2 arrangement.} 42. Gules, two pallets chevronelly of six sable and Or. Banner of contestant. 43. Per fess azure and Or, on a chief argent, issuant from the line of division a demi-castle of three towers gules. Banner of contestant. 44. Vair, . . . Banner of contestant. {The rest of the banner is obscured.} 45. Per pale gules and azure crusily couped Or. Banner of contestant. 46. Or, four bars per fess azure and gules. Banner of contestant. 47. Or a pale indented gules. Banner of contestant. {The pale could also be blazoned as "lozenges conjoined in pale."} 48. Or a fess gules, overall a lion rampant counterchanged sable and argent. Banner of contestant. 49. Gules, a bend argent fretty sable. Banner of contestant. 50. Azure on a fess Or two barrulets gules. Tabard or horse trapper of contestant. 51. Or, on a pale gules three escutcheons barry of five pieces Or and gules. Tabard or horse trapper of contestant.{Alternately, the small escutcheons could be blazoned as "Or, two bars gules."} 52. Or, two pallets cotised sable. Tabard or horse trapper of contestant. 53. Or, a cross recurculy sable. Tabard or horse trapper of contestant. 54. Argent, a fess dancetty gules. Tabard or horse trapper of contestant. 55. Or, a cross sable. Tabard or horse trapper of contestant. 56. Gules, a pale barry nebuly Or and azure. Tabard or horse trapper of contestant. 57. Per pale chevronelly gules and Or counterchanged. Tabard or horse trapper of contestant. 58. Gyronny of six Or and azure, an orle of escutcheons counterchanged. Tabard or horse trapper of contestant. {Each piece of the gyronny is charged with an escutcheon.} 59. Azure, seme of trimounts couped Or. Tabard or horse trapper of contestant. 60. Gules, on a fess argent three hurts. Tabard or horse trapper of contestant. 61. Or, three bars gules each charged with five bezants. Tabard or horse trapper of contestant. 62. Argent, three lions passant in pale gules. Tabard or horse trapper of contestant. 63. Sable, two pallets and a chief Or. 64. Or, on a fess azure three lozenges argent. 65. Or, threee lions passant in pale gules. In later edition of the Livre de Tournois some arms have been added or changed. In no particular order they are: 66. Gules, a chevron ermine. Tabard of herald proclaiming the tournament. 67. 1 and 4, Or, a cross sable. 2 and 3 Gules, a saltire argent. Tabard of herald proclaiming the tournament. 68. Checky gules? and argent? a padlock sable?.