THE HISTORIC FORM OF THE HERALDS TABARD In April, 1995 on the SCAHRLDS mailing list a novice herald asked what arms should you put on your herald's tabard on the SCAHRLDS mailing list. A variety of answers were proposed, revealing numerous variations throughout the Knowne World. To summarize, they were; 1) Put the group arms on the front and back of the tabard and the "generic" crossed trumpets on the sleeves (or vice-versa). 2) Quarter the "generic" arms of the heralds and the group arms on the front and back of the tabard. 3) Just use a "generic" tabard. However, SCA custom is not always historically correct, so I did a bit of research on my own. This is what I found: The History of the Herald's Tabard The first reference I can find to a herald wearing a surcoat is in the Statutum Armorum (c. 1292, cited at p. 24 [Bedingfeld and Gwyn-Jones, Heraldry]) where kings of arms at tourneys were admonished bear no hidden weapons unless pointless and to wear their surcoats only. According to Neubecker at [p. 14 Heraldry: Sources, Symbols and Meanings] heralds wore a variation on their lord's surcoat when bearing messages to the lord's enemies. Presumably, the loose form of the tabard allowed the enemy to immediately see that the messenger bore no weapons. The form of the tabard seems to have varied and in some cases an officer-at-arms had no tabard at all. Wagner at [p.?? Heralds and Heraldry] notes in a 14th century French outline of the duties of a herald that pursuivants were given a gold or silver representation of their lords arms to bear around their neck. A possible example of this is found at p. 20 [Neubecker, H:SSM] in an illustration of a 15th century German manuscript. It shows a (one-armed) herald in a plain, red, hip-length cloak with a silver ass (the symbol of the tourneying society he represents) around his neck. Another possible example, again from a 15th century German manuscript at p. 63 [Barber and Barker, Tournaments] has a herald again in a plain, red, hip-length cloak with a thick silver chain with silver shields pendant from it. Some heraldic officers just wore a shield with their lords arms on it. This shield was made out of some light material and was somehow attached to the breast or to a hat. Le Livre de Tournois at p. 15 [Neubecker, H:SSM] shows referees at a tourney attaching the arms of the referees to their hats. Another example at p. 20 [Neubecker, H:SSM] has a herald with a small escutcheon of Bohemia (Gules, a lion rampant argent.) on the left breast of his houppelande. However, Some form of the tabard appears in heraldic manuscripts from the 14th century on. The earliest example of a tabard that I could find was at p. 10 [Neubecker, H:SSM] in an illustration from Le Armorial de Gelre (ca. 1375) shows a herald in a simple tabard which is swept up over one shoulder. It would extend to roughly mid-thigh if it hung straight and looks to be made of two rectangular pieces of cloth with the arms (Azure, a lion rampant Or.) on the front and a bright red lining. Another example from Le Armorial de Gelre has a boar wearing an armorial cape at p. 27. [Neubecker, H:SSM]. The cape has (Sable, a lion rampant argent.) quartering (Argent, a lion rampant gules.) with a red lining, and is knotted at the neck. The next datable example of a herald's tabard is from approximately 1415 at p. 12 [Neubecker, H:SSM] and shows the creation of William Bruges as Garter King at Arms. He is shown kneeling before St. George wearing a crown and a tabard of England quartering France. The tabard is just less than knee-length, and has long, full "sleeves" which appear to be set in and are slightly rounded at the bottom. The arms of England are repeated on both the front and sleeves of the garment and presumably on the back as well. Another, roughly contemporary example of a herald's tabard is from approximately 1420 at p. 19 [Neubecker, H:SSM]. It has the Sicily Herald wearing a tabard with (Per Saltire Or, four pales gules and argent, two eagles displayed sable.). The tabard is approximately hip-length and has elbow-length set-in "sleeves". There is a slight fringe to the bottom of the front panel of the tabard. Again, the arms are repeated on the sleeves. The next datable group of herald's tabards comes from King Rene's Le Livre de Tournois ca.1455-60. This book of tournament ordinances is splendidly illustrated and has many pictures of heralds and pursuivants. My examples come from pp. 12-17 of (Neubecker, H:SSM) and the front endpaper, pp. 170-171, 178-9, 181-84,187 of [Barber and Barker, Tournaments]. Pursuivants tabards are slightly different from herald's tabards. By tradition and by various ordinances (c.f. Leghe, Accidens of Armory) pursuivants wore their tabards "athwart" or sideways with the long panels of the tabard worn over the shoulders. This custom allowed a viewer to tell the pursuivants, who were probationers, from the heralds, who were the more experienced heraldic officers. In all cases heralds are shown wearing the tabards of their lords. (mostly Ermine simple. for Brittany, but also Gules, a chevron ermine. and Quarterly 1 and 4 Or, a cross sable. and 2 and 3 Gules, a saltire argent.) In all cases the arms are repeated on the front, back, and sleeves of the arms. Likewise, in all cases, the tabards are roughly rectangular, hip-length garments with full "sleeves" that come down to the elbow. In these illuminations the sleeves do not appear to be set in. The pursuivant's tabards have long, straight "sleeves" that hang over the shoulders, and a short panel on the chest and back. The panels come to roughly mid-chest and are slightly rounded at the bottom. Neubecker has a number of other undated, but probably 15th century examples. They are: p. 12 A group of English heralds ca. 1509-1547. They are all wearing tabards of England quartering France. with the arms repeated on the front and sleeves. The tabards come to mid-thigh and are roughly rectangular. The sleeves appear to be set in and come to the middle of the upper arm. Two pursuivant's tabards are shown. These (obviously) do not have set-in sleeves caps. p. 13. Two German heralds ca. early 16th century?. They are wearing sleeveless tabards with the arms of the tourneying societies that they represent. The tabards appear to be roughly rectangular, but I can't determine the length since the bottom of the tabards are obscured. p. 18. A German herald ca. 15th century. He wears a long, full, sleeveless tabard with two different arms quartered on the front and back. Over the tabard he wears a collar with various escutcheons hanging from it. The tabard is quite full and comes to knee-level. (The arms are Quarterly 1 and 4 ...a bend... and 2 and 3 Checky....and ....) p. 18. A German herald ca. 15th century. He wears a sleeveless rectangular-shaped pattern with Quarterly 1 and 4 (Azure billety Or, a lion rampant Or.), 2 (Gules, a bend sinister argent.) and 3 (Gules, a fess argent.). The lining of the back panel is shown. It does not have charges on it, but the Quarterly azure and gules. field appears to extend to the lining, indicating perhaps that it was unlined. p. 18. A German herald ca. 15th century. He wears a very full, slightly tabard with vaguely trapezoidal front and back panels. The sleeves are extremely full and drape to about the middle of the lower arm. The front and back panels extend to mid-thigh. The arms are those of Bavaria (Barry bendy argent and azure.) and they are repeated on both the sleeves and front of the tabard. p. 18. A German free-lance herald ca. 15th century. He wears a knee-length cape with rows of various small escutcheons, each with a different emblazon, on the front. p. 18. A Burgundian herald ca. 1475. He wears a short, trapezoidal-shaped tabard which comes to his hips. The sleeves are full, slightly rounded at the bottom and repeat the arms of one of the quarterings shown on the front of the tabard. (The various quarterings that I can discern are France, within a bordure compony argent and gules. (New Burgundy) Barry azure and Or a bordure gules. (Old Burgundy) and Argent, a lion rampant sable. New Burgundy is repeated on both sleeves.) p. 19. Sicily herald, see above. p. 20. Hans Burgrave, German herald 15th century. He wears a long, full tabard which extends almost to the knees. The sleeves are very full and seem to extend as far as the wrists. The quarterings of the shield seem to be repeated on the sleeves. The tabard and sleeves are fringed. (The arms are Quarterly, 1 (Argent, on an eagle displayed gules a kleestengel Or.) 2 (Argent, a griffin segreant gules.) 3 (Or, a lion rampant sable crowned gules within a bordure compony argent and gules.) and 4 (Quarterly argent and sable.) overall an escutcheon of pretense (Azure, a sceptre Or.).) p. 21. A Spanish herald ca. 1516. He wears a trapezoidal shaped tabard which extends to mid-thigh. The sleeves are very full and are rectangular shaped with fringes around the edges. p. 13. A 16th century engraving of a German herald, Hans von Francolin (1520-1586). The outline is identical for two adjacent illustrations from the same source. He wears a very broad tabard with cape-like sleeves. There is no discernable separation of the sleeves from the body of the tabard. The front and back panels have been cut to follow the line of the shoulder and arm down to the elbow. Then they flare in at the elbow to form the front and back of the tabard and fall to knee-level. The whole effect looks vaguely like a poncho. Since the sleeves are an integral part of the front and back panels of the tabard, the arms are not repeated on the sleeves. (The arms are The Holy Roman Empire overall an escutcheon of pretense (Barry gules and argent quartering Gules, a lion rampant Or, with another escutcheon of pretense that I can't make out on top of that. The next illustration has the arms of Wallachia impaling Hungary.) p. 13. Two Swedish heralds ca. 1594. They wear full, calf-length tabards with very small rounded sleeves. The arms of their lord are on a large escutcheon in the middle of their chests. p. Historiated Initial with John Smert, Garter King-at-Arms ca. 1456. He wears a crown and a knee-length, slightly-trapezoidal tabard with full, elbow-length sleeves which are slightly rounded at the bottom. The arms of England quartering France. are repeated on the front and sleeves. p. 24. A 15th c. tabard of the Holy Roman Empire. This is a sleeveless tabard which is slightly flared in a bell shape. I consists of an embroidered? eagle on brocaded cloth. Damage to the upper part of the garment makes it impossible to tell if the tabard originally had sleeves. There is no way to determine length from the context of the photograph. p. 24 A drawing of a tabard taken from Charles the Bold of Burgundy by the Swiss ca. 1476. The tabard is slightly flared, with slightly tailored shoulders to better follow the line of the body. The sleeves are full and possibly elbow-length. They are slightly set in at the sleeve cap and appear to be slightly flared at the bottom. The other examples in Neubecker are undatable or are out of Period. Tabards in the Context of the SCA It is obvious that Period heralds tabards represented the arms of only one lord, even if the arms of that lord consisted of multiple quarters. It is also apparent that heralds never had a "generic" symbol of their trade, except for a tabard, a collar or cloak with escutcheons on it, or a white baton. In spite of popular belief, there are no examples of heralds playing the trumpet. (I believe that this misapprehension comes from the Shakespearean stage instruction "enter herald with a trumpet". In Shakespeare's time a "trumpet" was a trumpeter, not a prop, so the herald was actually accompanied by a musician, as is shown in several cases in Le Livre de Tournois. The SCA likely has generations of stage directors on a budget to thank for the badge of the heralds office!) So, if you are going to follow historical models, what arms should you put on the heralds tabard for your local group? The arms of SCA branch arms fall into a sort of heraldic limbo. They are, essentially, corporate heraldry. And as far as I can tell, corporate bodies didn't have heralds. Depending on how a barony defines itself, the arms of a barony might be seen as the arms of the baron and baroness. In that case the baronial herald would wear a tabard of those arms and properly claim the baron as the lord he serves. Shires have to stretch this analogy a bit. If you are a shire herald you should still use the arms of your group even though, properly there is no "ruling noble" directly in charge of the shire. There is no Period evidence that heralds tabards ever quartered any sort of device which the lord who the herald served did not claim. Since no barony or shire can claim the herald's badge as their own, it is best to leave the yellow trumpets entirely off of the tabard, and not show them anyplace. (If you must, make the tabard reversible.) When to use the tabard with group arms on it? It is SCA custom that officers my use the arms of their group in an "official" context. I propose that when a herald is working at an event (even one away from home) he is acting in an official capacity and is entitled to wear the arms of his group. Certainly a herald who is making a presentation or running a court on behalf of his group should wear the tabard with the arms of his group on it. As far as I can tell, the only heralds who didn't wear the arms of their lord (or in SCA context local group) on their tabard were free-lance heralds. In the SCA the green tabard should be the province of pursuivants-at-large and other heraldic helpers. Also, since the collar of escutcheons seems to be as much a feature of a free-lance (lordless) herald, it seems that the ubiquitous heralds badge on a chain is more Period than we know. Perhaps a collar of escutcheons of Vert, two straight trumpets crossed in saltire Or. will eventually replace the generic tabard. ??