Holy Roman Empire surfacing at Nunraw.

Holy Roman Empire surfacing at Nunraw.

After diving into the deeper waters of the historical significance of the Nunraw painted calling, it is only fair to quote from the succinct introduction given by Fr. Michael Sherry's "Nunraw Past & Present", 1950.
The Ceiling. Nunraw's main interest for antiquarians is the painted ceiling executed in tempera and discovered in 1864. Originally it measured 30 feet by18 feet and was composed of 14 strong oaken joists supporting long panels on which the colours had been laid. The ceiling today is somewhat smaller, 20 feet by 17 feet 6 inches, but two other sections are preserved in the National Museum of Antiquities. In each panel the prominent feature is the title and armorial bearings of monarchs who flourished in mediaeval days. The shields give the arms of the kings of Scotland and England, the kings of France, Arragon and the king of Sicily. There are two shields to each panel, the remaining space being filled in by representations of birds, beasts and allegorical figures. In the centre of the ceiling, the words "Gratus Esto"are printed and the monogram "P.C.H." Experts are of the opinion that these letters refer to Patrick Hepburn and Helen Cockburn, his wife, who were owners of Nunraw from 1595 to 1617. Mr. M. R. Apted, M.A., Her Majesty's Inspector of Ancient Monuments, in a recent article (1958) on "painted Ceilings in Scotland," finds corroborative evidence in the symbols used by the painter, some of which can be traced to an emblem book, first published in Lyons in 1557, which was popular and of which a number of editions were published, one in London, 1591, and a final one in Paris in 1622. He is satisfied that "the date of the Nunraw ceiling can be narrowed down to the years following the Union of the Crowns, since one of the emblems depicts the lion and the unicorn seated on either side of the thistle and since the arms of the King of England, although defaced, can be seen to have been quartered with the tressured lion rampant of the Scottish Royal arms." Therefore the date is after 1603 and not later than 1617, when Patrick Hepburn gave Nunraw to his son, John, on the occasion of his marriage to Elizabeth Broun.
I have been finding out some curious comparisons by lining up the parallel Coats of Arms of Nunraw and of St. Macher's Cathedral, Aberdeen.

1. (McRoberts). The crown assigned to the King of Scots is of a different type. Here the royal coat of arms is surmounted by a jewelled circlet of gold, adorned with crosses and fleurs-de-lys, but it has also four arches rising from the circlet, enclosing the top of the crown and carrying an orb and cross over it. This was a new form of crown which was coming into fashion in Christendom. The civil lawyers, imbued with the rising spirit of nationalism,, had been teaching that each individual King was actually an emperor in his own right within his own kingdom. As early as 1469, a Scottish Parliament, in the reign of King James III, had asserted that :”Our Sovereign Lord has full jurisdiction and free empire within his realm”. Such claims to imperial jurisdiction and authority within each kingdom came to be expressed by the use of a crown, enclosed by arches in imitation of the crown of the Holy Roman Emperor. The practice became general and the French phrase “fermer la couronne” - to enclose the crown with arches, came to signify the efforts of a prince to free himself from vassalage to a superior. The French Monarch, Charles VIII adopted the closed crown in 1495. It is usually stated that King Henry VI of England adopted the closed crown in 1485. The King of Scots may have done so at an even earlier date because the closed crown appears on Scottish coins of the year 1483. The question of open and closed crowns was a live topic at the end of the middle ages and it is against such a background that we should view the action of Bishop Elphinstone when he surmounted the tower of his King’s College with a crown closed in the imperial style. And if, as seems probable, the imperial crown over King’s College was gilded then Bishop Elphinstone’s assertion of the independent sovereignty of King James IV would have looked even more spectacular than it does at the present day. The placing of the closed imperial-style crown over the coat of arms of King James V in the Cathedral ceiling was similar eloquent assertion of the independent sovereignty of King James IV’s successor. In the caption added to the coat of arms of the King of Scots, the designer of the ceiling has retained the medieval usage of referring to the royal dignity. The caption read “Regie Celsitudinis” - the coat of arms of "his Royal Highness". It was only at a later date that the imperial style would come into use which referred to a King as "His Majesty".

The Scottish Crown looks like an imperial crown, but there are no pearls on the arches, instead there are two curlicues on each arms. In addition there is a pearl on a gold mounting on the velvet cap in each quarter (so you can see two of them).

2. Comparison the Nunraw and the St Machar’s ceilings of the shield King of England are marked by the interval of some 90 years.
Comment on the 1529 ceiling:
(McRoberts) Only in the fourth place comes the King of England, King Henry VIII, and the coat of arms assigned to him would have been regarded by that monarch as an insult. English Kings were accustomed to quarter the three English leopards with the fleurs-de-lys of France to assert their claim to the French crown. The designer of our ceiling shows scant sympathy for such English pretensions and allows King Henry only the three English leopards.
The later 1607 ceiling shows the faded shield of England as that the King of England, James I. The coat of arms is amply quartered and barred with the full royal credits.

3. Other comparisons raise further questions.
Another domain of Charles V is Sicily.



The corresponding Nunraw version is very difference, assuming the the archaic script indicates Sicily.

There is much scope for research into these Heraldic Shields which our friends in the College Heraldic Club of St. Aloysius might take on board. The 13 November 2007 was a special day for the Petra Sancta Heraldry group and for the whole college. The College Coat of Arms matriculated by the Lord Lyon was officially unveiled by the Archbishop Of Glasgow. This picture was taken to mark the historic occasion.