Heraldic Beavers

in period and in the S.C.A.

Beavers were often pictured in medieval bestiaries as dog-like animals, sought by hunters for the medicinal value of their testicles and prone, as a means of self-preservation, to biting them off and running away without them. Here's an example from folio 33v of Philippe de Thaon's translation of Bestiarius, made in England around 1300:

Later in period, however, more realistic images were being published, like the beaver on page 336 of Konrad Gesner's Historiae Animalium, Volume I (issued in 1551):

Beavers in surviving heraldic emblazons from the Middle Ages and Renaissance reflect the influence of both models.

Many period heraldic beavers are used in canting arms. Among the attested medieval names for which beavers might serve as cants are:

• Castor (Catalan, Dutch/English),
• de Beverlac and toponymics using Beverlay (Middle English),
• Brock, Brocke, Brokke, le Brokk, le Brock, atte Brochole, atte Brokhole, del Brocholes, and toponymics using Brochulle, Brocholes, Brockeholcrosse, and Brokhyll (Middle English),
• Wistelgray, Chacegrei, Copegray, and toponymics using Greshull or Greysty (Middle English),
• Piber and Biber (Middle High German),
• Bifru- (Old Norse),
• Bobrishch, Bobrishchev, Bobrov, and Bobrovnik (Russian), and
• Kastorii (Russian).

If you searched sources for other languages, I'm sure you'd find more.

In January, 2004, the S.C.A. sovereigns of arms wrote:

The heraldic beaver is drawn with a stocky, smooth-furred. . .body, a wide (usually, but not always, paddle-like) tail, and small or nonexistent ears. It is sometimes contorted into an unspeakable posture based on the medieval view of this animal's habits. . .Some heraldic beavers did not resemble naturalistic beavers . . ..

The ruling recommended three illustrations of heraldic beavers:

the arms of Biber in the 14th-century Zurich armorial roll,

the arms of the town of Biberach from Ulrich Reichenthal's 1438 Concilium von Constanz as redrawn on page 216 of Arthur Charles Fox-Davies' 1909 A Complete Guide to Heraldry,

and the arms of the town of Biberach on folio 219 of Johann Siebmacher's armorial (the first edition of which was printed in 1605, though the image above is from an 18th-century edition).

In the S.C.A. Ordinary, beavers are categorized under "Beast - Other". The May, 1998 Laurel Letter of Acceptances and Returns states that there is no difference between a beaver and an otter where conflict-checking is concerned. The January, 2004 LoAR says there's a Clear Difference between a beaver and a sea-dog.

The manuscripts cited above are:

BSB Cgm. 7249: register and armorial of the Augsburg canon Matthaeus Marschall of Pappenheim (1458-1541), now in the collection of the Bavarian State Library
BSB Cod.icon. 307: an armorial made in Germany around 1600, now in the collection of the Bavarian State Library
BSB Cod.icon. 309: a book of German arms made between 1475 and 1560, perhaps in southern Germany, now in the collection of the Bavarian State Library
BSB Cod.icon. 311: a book of German arms made in the fourth quarter of the 15th century, perhaps in Augsburg, now in the collection of the Bavarian State Library
BSB Cod.icon. 312 c: Scheibler'sches Wappenbuch, now in the collection of the Bavarian State Library; The section from which the above illustration comes was made around 1450, in southern Germany.
BSB Cod.icon. 333: armorial composed in southern Germany, now in the collection of the Bavarian State Library; The section from which the above illustration comes was made around 1583.
BSB Cod.icon. 391: armorial composed in southern Germany (perhaps Augsburg) around 1530, now in the collection of the Bavarian State Library
BSB Cod.icon 392 d: armorial made in southern Germany in the first half of the 16th century, now in the collection of the Bavarian State Library
CSG Cod.sang. 1084: armorial made by Hans Haggenberg for Ulrich Rösch, abbot of Saint Gall's, in the 15th century, now in the collection of the St. Gall's abbey library

This page was written and is maintained by Coblaith Muimnech, who holds the copyright to all elements not extracted from works more than 300 years old. It is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License

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