🚀 go-pugleaf

>I've never seen a
>three-headed eagle in medieval heraldry, but that doesn't mean it doesn't
>exist. 

Two examples are depicted in Neubecker's heraldry. I was mistaken, however,
in thinking that those were "arms" of Charlemagne. In both cases, they 
originate in hopes formed in the 15th century of another Crusade led by
the German emperor, who would thus have become King of Jerusalem. Eager
heralds composed the arms of that glorious victor as a three-headed eagle
(Sable on Or).  Also, this 3-headed beast was used as the "arms" of the
Roman Empire (the original). In both cases, this is mythical heraldry. 
I doubt anyone would have dared take such arms for themselves.

On Byzantine heraldry:
I know nothing about it, and I would be pleased to see any information posted
here.  Here is what I found: the arms of a few Byzantine families, as
described in various sources (Woodward's a Treatise on Heraldry, Rietstap,
Jougla de Morenas, and pere Anselme).

Koressios: Sable, beneath an imperial crown proper, a two-headed eagle 
displayed Or, holding in each claw a sword paleways Argent.

Vatatzes: Vert, a two-headed eagle displayed Or, above each head an estoile
Argent.

Lascaris: Or, a two-headed eagle Sable armed Gules, beneath an Eastern
crown of 3 points of the last.

Comnene: Or, beneath an imperial crown proper, a two-headed eagle displayed 
Sable on a sword per pale Argent (the hilt Or).

Paleologue: Gules, a two-headed eagle displayed Or.

All arms use the double-headed eagle (it seems, by the way, that the Germans
adopted that charge as a conscious imitation of Byzantium in the 15th 
century: hitherto the arms had a single-headed eagle).  Also, note that
the last four families held the imperial throne at some point. There is
a variant for Lascaris, which is identical to Paleologue, and appears
quartered with Gules a chief Or in the arms of Lascaris de Vintimille
(a family in the South of France, a member of which married a Lascaris
in the 14th century).  A branch of the Paleologue family ruled over
Montferrat in Northern Italy, when the title passed to the Gonzaga family
(who quartered their arms with Paleologue); the latter died out in the 
early 18th century. As for the Comnene, they were still living in 
Corsica at the time of the French Revolution.

when did these families adopt arms (before or after leaving the East)
is an open question for me.  I did not see any trace of indigenous 
Byzantine heraldry (although I would readily believe that the Francs
brought it with them in the 1204-1261 period when they ruled Byzantium).

-- 

	Francois Velde