Danish Heraldry - Personal Heraldry

Personal Heraldry

Heraldry first appeared among the warrior class and thus became linked to nobility. But other groups of society quickly took up the heraldic tradition. The first Scandinavian burgher arms is from 1320. As the assumption of arms is free in Denmark not only noble families have coats of arms and today it is estimated that up to 80% of Danish private coats of arms are burgher arms.

During the Middle Ages most burghers and peasants had merchant's marks or house marks that were used for marking ownership and as a means of personal identification. These marks are older than heraldic tradition. They are mostly simple compositions of straight lines suitable for being scratched in wood or other materials. They have a similarity to runes and some marks consist of the initials of the owner. Later merchant's marks also incorporates Latin letters. In the beginning these marks were displayed without a shield but during the Middle Ages it became common to draw them inside a shield. Merchant's marks were used by burghers until the 18th century and for about a century longer by peasants.

Although there are no clear distinction between burgher arms and noble arms, simple coats of arms consisting only of divisions of the field is only used by ancient noble families. Often the designs of burgher arms would resemble the profession of the armiger (priests would prefer crosses and chalices, jurists would prefer scales and swords).

Previously the king tried to introduce the French system of rank helmets but these rules were largely ignored even in royal patents. The open helmet was previously associated with nobility but it is also found on burgher arms as well as there are examples of noble arms with closed helmets. Although it is perfectly legitimate for a burgher family to use an open helmet, as a rule of thumb noble families use open helmets while burgher families used closed ones. Burgher arms follow the same rules as noble arms.

Canting coats of arms have been popular in Danish heraldry for a long time; examples include a man with a tree for Holzmann (lit. "wood-man"), a troll for the Trolle family and a unicorn for Langhorn (lit. "long-horn").

Conversely some ancient noble families have coat of arms older than their family names and took a name based on their armorial bearings, for instance the Panter family (named after the heraldic panther in their arms).

While the arms of ancient noble families often are very simple designs (e.g. sable a pale argent for the Brahe family) the arms of new noble families who got their status by royal patent are often very complex and ignores basic rules for tincture and drawing. At many times these newly created arms were equipped with several helmets and crests giving the false impression that the armiger had many notable ancestors. The heraldic achievement from this period has been criticised by several writers as a symbol of heraldic decadence.

Today modern Danish heraldry has abandoned the overly complex arms of previous periods and has returned to a more simple style closer to the medieval.

Apart from those coats of arms assumed by people with an interest in heraldry, many modern Danish coats of arms are composed for recipients of the grand cross of the Order of the Dannebrog who are entitled to hang their coats of arms in the Frederiksborg Palace church. There is also a tradition for masonic heraldry, utilising masonic symbols like the square and compas as charges. As noble titles are no longer conferred, noble arms are no longer composed.

Danish heraldry follows the German-Nordic tradition. As opposed to Gallo-British heraldry, where each individual of a family has his own coat of arms, a Danish coat of arms usually is the same for an entire family as there is no tradition of cadency marks. A specific trait of German-Nordic heraldry is that the crest usually repeats the design of the shield. Traditionally crests are not used alone. Likewise there is no tradition of badges. There is a system of coronets denoting noble rank; supporters also are reserved for high nobility.