Infantry shield colors/emblems the same as their Lords?

[vcina]

Hi,

I was reading a book on the Spanish/Muslim battles and the author pointed out that infantry would have the same colors or emblem on their shields as the Lord/Knight that brought them to the battle.  This is the first time I've read/heard of this and wanted to ask if anyone has heard of this?  I've read where a unit might carry a standard that represented the lord they were fighting for but not on the shield itself.

[Arlequín]

If they were his vassals and he'd supplied the shields, he probably would have had them painted in some design using the principal colours of his arms. Nothing says "Yo el mejor" like a body of men all carrying shields tricked out in your colours, with you at the front.

I believe that it was the towns that supplied most infantry though (or at least they did later), but nevertheless the same thing applies and town hermandads would likely have a single uniform design.

I never take one source as gospel when researching though and I usually back things up with a second source (that is not derived from the first-or vice versa). If two people say something was so from their respective research, then the odds of it being correct are two-fold.

[Codsticker]

I don't remember reading that but my interest was mostly in the early part of the Reconquista. By the time Granada fell in 1492 (big year for Spain) it may well have been the case.

[vcina]

The book I read the information in was  "Reconquest and Crusade in Medieval Spain" by Joseph F. O'Callaghan.  That's the funny thing about research and the people who are writing about an event. No one may have considered this aspect important enough to record it, so finding a secondary source maybe impossible. Since this is the first time I've come across it I questioned it.

[HerbyF]

During the feudal period it became common for foot troops to have tabards & shields in basic colors. These might be the leaders colors, knight, lord, etc. Or the colors of their city. town, or if they are fighting with a martial order(religious or other). Footmans shields would be very basic, probably just 2 colors in a simple design. Divided  1/2&1/2, a cross, a saltern, bands of 1,2,or3, piles, chevrons, etc.

[vcina]

Thanks.

[sukhe_bator]

In a nutshell, Spanish heraldry developed somewhat different to the rest of Northern Europe. In most of Europe in the C12 and C13, it was more common for colours to be used to symbolise familial or factional connections. In Anglo-Norman England for example, Geoffrey de Mandeville, Earl of Essex (d.1144) had arms, quartered or and gules. His brother in Law, Aubrey de Vere, Earl of Oxford had these reversed (gules and or). His other brother in law William de Say had the same arms as Geoffrey, while factional allies sported devices with the same gules and or colour combinations.
Later, as patterns of land ownership developed, recognition of individuals became more important and the coat of arms became restricted to the lord and the lower ranks in a lord's retinue would sport simpler colours or badges and the concept of liveries became more important.
In Spain the same basic heraldic scheme was extended to the retinue for much longer. As towns gained autonomy they often developed similar heraldic systems which extended to their militias, much as in the Italian city states.
However, European heraldic systems began to influence Spain with the influence of foreign conquistadores until by the C14 they resembled the fully developed heraldry of mainstream Europe.

[vcina]

Thanks for the information and those are great looking figures.