Very special German bird

Huck

[....Linked image removed by Moderator due to excessive size ....]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e5/Quaterionenadler_David_de_Negker.jpg

The socalled Quaterionen-Adler, attempting to present the German Empire in playing card size, with 48 (4x12) units (common German decks had often 4x12-structure) and 8 extra trumps as there are the 7 Kurfürsten and the "Potestat zu Rom" (probably nothing else than the pope).

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/34/Schedelsche_Weltchronik_Struktur_des_Reiches.jpg

[...Linked image removed by Moderator due to excessive size ....]
 

Huck

Added to "very special German bird"

The socalled Quaterionen-Adler, attempting to present the German Empire in playing card size, with 48 (4x12) units (common German decks had often 4x12-structure) and 8 extra trumps as there are the 7 Kurfürsten and the "Potestat zu Rom" (? probably nothing else than the pope - or - somehow the Emperor).
The first picture is from Augsburg and probably from Hans Burgmair 1510.

The second picture is from the Schedel'sche Weltchronik 1493 and probably (somehow) not complete.
It seems that the Quaterionen system was worked out 1422 (or was at least known then, a poet mentions 9 Quaterionen plus the Kurfürsten and Emperor, so totally 44 units - if I didn't miscount them).

The picture was used also at other places, for instance in Innsbruck as house decoration.

quaterionenadler_1.jpg


It was also used for very big cups ("Reichsadler-Humpen", contained 3-4 liter). This is from 1615.

180px-Reichsadlerhumpen.jpg


At least the production of Thomas Murner is known in his first deck (1502), where he presented heraldic material at playing cards. Unluckily I don't know enough pictures of the deck to compare it with the Reichsadler productions.

The arrangement (outside the Kurfürsten) appeared in 12 groups with each 4 members with a specific character ... one are "villages", other are "farmers", other are "counts" etc.. The groups were seen as the columns of the Empire. Cologne, for instance, was very proud on being a city of the "Bauern" (farmers) and declared the "Kölsch Bur" to an additional heraldic device. The name "Cologne" derived from "colonus", Latin for farmers.

481px-K%C3%B6lner-Bauer-Eigelsteintor-b-111.jpg


The Kölsch Bur at one of the still existent old city doors. The pride of the city was born at an battle in Worringen (1288), when the inhabitants (and some others) got a victory against the Kölner Erzbischof (and some others).

Nowadays the Kölsch Bur is an important figure in Karneval.
 

Huck

Another interesting bird

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Le_Maingre

Jean le Maingre dit Boucicaut .... a French hero with a lot of great fights and French marshall had his last battle at Azincourt and became prisoned for 6 years before he died in Yorkshire 1421.

As far I remember he is mentioned in the playing activities recorded for Louis d'Orleans, husband of Valentina Visconti, in the late years of 15th century.

His heraldic bird looks like this:

200px-Boucicaut.svg.png


... and the heraldic of the city of Azincourt, the location, where the famous battle happened, has chosen this one, surely not really accidently

545px-Blason_Jean_II_Le_Meingre%2C_dit_Boucicaut_%28selon_Gelre%29.svg.png


The heraldic informations insist, that it is an eagle. Not a phoenix. But it is a red eagle.
 

Moonbow

Hi Huck

I tend to think of the double headed eagle as an alchemical symbol so this thread set me searching.

http://www.masonicdictionary.com/doubleeagle.html

An unlikely link but it has a lot to say about the double headed eagle which I found an interesting read.

"Let us venture still further back into antiquity and view the double-headed eagle upon the royal arms of King Sigismund of the Roman-German empire, in 1335, upon the coinage of Malek el Salah in 1217, and upon a Moorish drachma under the, Orthogide of Kaifaacar, Edm Mahmud, of the same date. Indeed the Turkiman princes used it all through the twelfth century, but it proudly floated upon Byzantine banners as early as the year 1100 and we know not how long before.

In Germany we find the double-headed eagle used as the seal of the Count of Wurzburg in 1202; it was the coat of arms of Henricus de Rode in 1276; while Philip of Saxony bore it upon his shield in 1278. It was also the seal of the Bishop of Cologne, who no doubt adopted it from the city arms.

As the arms of towns and cities in England, this emblem appears upon the official seals of Salisbury, Perth, (Perthshire), Airedale and Lamark. In Holland and France there are also numerous instances of its use.

As the badge of royal orders we find the two-headed bird upon the emblems of the Austrian Order of the Iron Crown; in Russia upon the emblems of the Order of St. Andrew, founded by Peter the Great in 1689; in Poland upon the emblem of the Order of Military Merit, (founded May 24, 1792). As late as 1883, the King of Serbia adopted it as the emblem of the Order of the Double-Headed Eagle, commemorative of the restoration of the Serbian kingdom.

The Russian Order of St. Andrew uses the breast of the eagle upon which to display the X cross with St Andrew, crucified upon it. Each eagle head is crowned and crossed swords rest upon the crowns with a larger crown above them. The Polish Order of Military Merit has a white eagle displayed upon a Maltese cross which rests upon the breast of a double-headed eagle, each of whose heads is crowned.

But the double-headed eagle is not European in origin for its use depends upon the contact of Europe with Asia Minor, and indeed with trade or warfare with the Turks.

The Turkish name for this conspicuous emblem is HAMCA, and by this name they call it when they see it carved upon the walls of ancient castles, upon time worn coins or emblazoned upon frayed silken banners in ancient palaces."