Bluth Coat of Arms

Bluth_Coat_of_Arms_(pdf)

OVERVIEW

The Bluth coat of arms (or “Wappen” in German) is a “Burgher” (i.e., bourgeois) Wappen.  Burgher Wappen differ from other armorial bearings granted to members of the nobility or ecclesiastic/clergy.  In most countries outside the United Kingdom, any individual, family, and community has usually been free to adopt arms and use them as they please, provided they refrain from wrongfully assuming the preexisting arms of another.  Use of coats of arms by burghers and artisans began in Europe during the Middle Ages in the 13th Century.  Burgher heraldry was most widespread and is still found in Belgium, Germany, Switzerland and in the Netherlands.  Today in Germany, Burgher arms are protected by law.

(In Germany, arms relate to a family, and so a specific surname lineage, and not to an individual.  The right to the arms passes from the original bearer to those of his legitimate direct descendants by a male line.  Since 1918 heraldic affairs are handled under the Civil Law.  The right to arms is now considered analogous to the right to names, expressed in the Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch § 12; this interpretation was confirmed in 1992 by the Federal Court of Justice of Germany.  Thus, if one has the right to certain arms, that right is protected by the courts.  Personal arms are protected as a part of the name if the arms are officially recorded and published.)

German heraldic style is one of the four major broad traditions within European heraldry and stands in contrast to Gallo-British, Latin, and Eastern heraldry, and strongly influenced the styles and customs of heraldry in the Nordic countries, which developed comparatively late. Together, German and Nordic heraldry are often referred to as German-Nordic heraldry.  The German heraldic tradition is noted for its scant use of heraldic furs, multiple crests, inseparability of the crest, and repetition of charges in the shield and the crest.

BLUTH WAPPEN DESCRIPTION

The earliest known use of the Bluth Wappen dates from 1662.  One adaptation appeared in full color in 1942 (and again in 1943) with an accompanying description, moderately revised in 1985, as follows:

“Wappen:  In Rot ein auffliegender silberner Pelikan mit goldenem Schnabel auf einem goldenen Neste, der seine drei silbernen, golden-geschnäbelten Jungen mit seinem roten Blute nährt; auf dem rot-silbern bewulsteten Helme mit gleicher Decke drei rote Rosen mit goldenen Butzen in grünen Kelchblättern mit beblätterten, dornigen grünen Stengeln.”

English translation:  “Crest:  In red, a soaring silver pelican with a golden beak on a golden nest, feeding its three silver, golden-beaked young with its red blood; on the red and silver [bulged or “Stechhelm”] helmet with the same cover, three red roses with golden [cores or stamens] in green sepals with leafy, thorny green stems.”

References:

The listed source is the “Siegel” (or seal) of Peter Bluth (Bloth) on Document Number [2409] of 1662 in the town archives of Stralsund.

BLUTH WAPPEN DISCUSSION

Hugo Gotthard Bluth (later Bloth) provided the following description of the Bluth Wappen in 1943:

Das Wappen

Buergerliche Familienwappen gibt es bereits im Mittelalter. Sehr beliebt wurden sie im 16. und 17. Jarhundert. Hauefig sind die sogenannten “redenden” Wappen, d. h. solche, deren Wappenbild mit dem Familiennamen in Zusammenhang zu bringen ist.  Wir haben unter den Stralsunder Buergerwappen  in der Wappenahnentafel des Peter Gottlieb Bluth (Va) up 1570 mehrere “redende” Wappen.  Die “Moeller” fuehren z. B. eine Muehle, die “Schwarz” den Kopf eines Mohren, die “Meyer” einen Erntekranz and die “Smiterlowe” einen wilden Mann mit einer Keule, vor einem Loewen stehend, im Wappen.  So ist auch das Wappen der “Bluth” zu erklaeren.  Es stellt im Schilde den Pelikan dar, der nach der Sage seine Jungen mit seinem Blute naehrt.  Als Helmzier gehoeren dazu drei Rosen.  Auch diese koenen eine “redende” Bedeutung haben und als “Blueten” auf eine andere Art den Namen umschreiben.  Schon in dem mittelalterlichen Buche des “Physiologus” wird der Sage des Pelikans berichtet.  Im Kolberger Dom befindet sich auf einem gotischen Abendmalskelch aus der Zeit um 1450 u. a. eine Pelikan-Darstellung.  Waehrend der Phoenix das Sinnbild der Auferstehung ist, bedeutet der Pelikan die sich selbst opfernde goettliche Liebe.  Der Pelikan in der Natur ist mit einer Fluegelspannweite bis zu vier Meter und einem Gewicht bis zu 25 Kilo der gewaltigste Flugvogel der Erde.  (Der Kondor, der groesste Raubvogel, __eftert selten ueber 2,75 Meter.)  Als Wappenbild und Sinnbild findet sich der Pelikan bei zahllosen buergerlichen und adligen Familien des In- un Auslandes.  Es gibt aber wohl kaum ein Geschlecht, bei dem er als “redendes” Wappen mit groesserem Rechte auftritt, als das unsere, wenn man die Bedeutung unseres Namens auf “das Blut” zurueckfuehrt.  Wir haben aus dem Jahre 1662 die oben erwaehnte Urkunde Nr. 2409 unseres Vorfahren Peter Bluth (IIIa) im Stralsunder Ratsarchiv und an dieser in einer Zinnkapsel einen Wachssiegelabdruck unseres Wappens mit dem Pelikan im Schilde, drei Rosen also Helmzier und der Umschrift “Peter Bloth” (III).  Im Besitz von Hugo Gotthard Bluth (Xa) befindent sich ein Metall-Petschaft, das nach dem Stil der Darstellung um 1800 angefertigt sein duerfte.  Eine Gemme, als P_tschaft in Gold gefasst, aus etwa derselben Zeit, gehoerte Gustav Hermann Bluth (IXb), ist aber bei einem Diebstahl aus dessn Haus in Berlin-Zehlendorf im Jahre 1919 entwendet worden.  Gegenwaertig sind eine Anzahl von Siegeln neuerer Herstellung mit dem Wappen in der Familie im Gebrauch.  Die in der Stammfolge des Geschlechtes im 4. Pommerschen Bande des Deutschen Geschlechterbuches farbig wiedergegebene Darstellung des Wappens ist von dem bekannten inzwischen verstorbenen Wappenmaler C. A. Clotz entworfen worden.  Diese und die dazugehoerige, vom Herausgeber des Deutschen Geschlechterbuches verfasste Beschreibung des Wappens hat in Zukunft, da sie allen Regeln der Wappenkunst entspricht, als massgebend zu gelten.

English translation:  Coat of Arms:  Burgher family coats of arms already existed in the Middle Ages.  They became very popular in the 16th and 17th centuries.  The so-called “speaking” [“canting”] coats of arms are common, i.e., those whose image can be associated with the family name.  Among the Stralsund Burgher coats of arms, we have several “speaking” coats of arms in the heraldic genealogy of Peter Gottlieb Bluth (Va) up to 1570.  For example, the “Moeller” family bears a mill, the “Schwarz” family bears the head of a Moor, the “Meyer” family bears a harvest wreath, and the “Smiterlowe” family bears a wild man with a club, standing before a lion.  This also explains the “Bluth” family coat of arms.  It depicts the pelican on the shield, which, according to legend, feeds its young with its blood.  Three roses are included as a crest.  These, too, can have a “spoken” meaning and, as “flowers,” paraphrase the name in a different way.  The legend of the pelican is already recounted in the medieval book “Physiologus.”  In Kolberg Cathedral, a Gothic communion chalice from around 1450 features, among other things, a depiction of a pelican.  While the phoenix symbolizes the resurrection, the pelican represents self-sacrificing divine love.  The pelican in nature, with a wingspan of up to four meters and a weight of up to 25 kilograms, is the mightiest flying bird on earth.  (The condor, the largest bird of prey, rarely exceeds 2.75 meters.)  The pelican is used as a coat of arms and symbol by countless bourgeois and aristocratic families at home and abroad.  But there is hardly a family for which it appears as a “speaking” coat of arms with greater justification than ours, if one traces the meaning of our name back to “the blood.”  We have the above-mentioned document No. 2409 from 1662 of our ancestor Peter Bluth (IIIa) in the Stralsund town archives, and attached to it, in a tin capsule, a wax seal impression of our coat of arms with the pelican in the shield, three roses as a crest, and the inscription “Peter Bloth” (III).  Hugo Gotthard Bluth (Xa) owns a metal seal, which, judging by the style of the depiction, was probably made around 1800.  A cameo, set in gold as a seal, from around the same time, belonged to Gustav Hermann Bluth (IXb), but was stolen from his house in Berlin-Zehlendorf in 1919.  Currently, a number of recently manufactured seals bearing the family coat of arms are in use within the family.  The depiction of the coat of arms, reproduced in color in the lineage of the family in the 4th Pomeranian volume of Deutsches Geschlechterbuch, was designed by the renowned, now deceased, heraldic artist C. A. Clotz. This and the accompanying description of the coat of arms, written by the editor of Deutsches Geschlechterbuch, shall be considered authoritative in the future, as it complies with all the rules of heraldic art.

Here is a deeper description and analysis of the main elements of the Bluth Wappen:

Tinctures

In heraldry, tinctures are the colors and patterns used to decorate coats of arms. They are broadly categorized into metals, colors, and furs, with some non-standard colors sometimes used as well. The fundamental rule of tincture dictates that metals should not be placed on metals, and colors should not be placed on colors.  There are two metals:  gold (or yellow) and silver (or white).

Tintures used on the Bluth Wappen include:  silver (or white), gold (or yellow), red, and green.

Shield and Charge

In heraldry, a charge is any object or figure placed on the shield.  A charge can be either a regular “ordinary”–one of the basic fixed geometric shapes or patterns–or a “mobile ordinary”–a charge that is not one of the basic fixed shapes or patterns, such as animals, plants, objects, or even abstract shapes, that can be moved around on the shield.

The mobile ordinary on the Bluth Wappen is “a flying silver pelican”–meaning a white pelican with outstretched wings.  The pelican has “a golden beak” and is perched on “a golden nest.”  The pelican is shown “feeding its three silver [or white], golden-beaked young with its red blood.”

While pelicans are not currently common in the Baltics, as water birds they might not have been entirely foreign to residents of Stralsund, a coastal city on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea.  In medieval Europe, the pelican was considered to be particularly attentive to her young, to the point of providing her own blood by wounding her own breast when no food was available.  A version of the legend is that the mother fed her dying young with her blood to revive them from death but, in turn, lost her own life.  Another variation is that, when the young nestlings begin to grow, they rebel against the male bird and provoke his anger, so that he kills them.  The mother returns to the nest in three days, sits on the dead birds, pours her blood over them to revive or “resurrect” them as they feed on the blood.  As a result, the pelican came to symbolize the Passion of Jesus and the Eucharist.  (A reference to this mythical characteristic is found in the hymn by Saint Thomas Aquinas, “Adoro te devote” (“Humbly We Adore Thee”), where in the penultimate verse he describes Christ as the loving divine pelican, one drop of whose blood can save the world.  Another reference to Christ as “our Pelican” is found from the early 14th Century in the “Paradiso” in Dante’s Divine Comedy.  Yet another is from William Shakespeare in Hamlet, in which Laertes, speaking of the recurring symbol of blood in the play, declares:  “To his good friends thus wide I’ll ope my arms | And, like the kind life-rend’ring pelican, | Repast them with my blood.”  Act 4, Scene 5.)

During the Middle Ages, bestiaries (medieval compendia of both real and imaginary or fanciful beasts) that were important reference books of religious symbolism and allegory that included pelicans.  Queen Elizabeth I of England adopted the symbol of the breast-feeding pelican, portraying herself as the “mother of the Church of England.”  (Nicholas Hilliard painted the “Pelican Portrait” around 1573.)  A pelican feeding her young is depicted in an oval panel at the bottom of the first (1611) edition of the King James Bible.

Legends of self-wounding and provisioning blood may have arisen because of the impression a pelican sometimes gives that it is stabbing itself with its bill.  In reality, a pelican often presses its bill onto its chest to fully empty the pouch.  Another possible derivation is the tendency of the bird to rest its bill on its breast.  The Dalmatian pelican has a blood-red pouch in the early breading season.

A “pelican in her piety” (a pelican feeding her young with her own blood) or a “pelican vulning” (from Latin vulno, “to wound”; a pelican injuring herself) feature extensively.in heraldry.  Such images became linked to the medieval religious feast of Corpus Christi.  (Corpus Christi Colleges at both Cambridge and Oxford feature pelicans on their coat of arms.)

Imagery of the pelican with blood and the color red make the Bluth Wappen a “canting arms” (from latin cantare, “to sing”).  Canting arms are heraldic or armorial bearings that represent the bearer’s name (or, less often, some attribute or function) in a visual pun or rebus (a puzzle device that combines the use of illustrated pictures with individual letters to depict words or phrases).  (The Bluth Wappen, with three roses on the crest and pelican with blood charge/mobile ordinary, would make a perfect rebus for the surname “Rosenbluth”–rose blood.)  Canting arms are quite common in German civic heraldry.

Helmet

German coats of arms are frequently depicted in period sources with a helmet and crest over the shield, often surrounded by mantling. Helmets, which were almost always included in period rolls of arms, were indicative of the bearer’s social status. Open helmets, for example, were reserved for the nobility, while burgher arms were allowed a closed helmet.  Some arms include multiple helmets.

A tilting helmet was prescribed for arms of non-nobles, while the barred helmet was restricted by the imperial chancellery to the nobility as upholders of the tradition of tourneying. This privilege was also shared by certain people who enjoyed the same standing as the nobility, e.g., those who had a doctor’s title in law or theology.  Custom of the use of the barred helmet was also followed by city patricians.

The Bluth Wappen consists of a single closed helmet, facing right (from the standpoint of the bearer)

A “bulged” helmet might refer to a closed helmet, such as a “Stechhelm” (“tilting helmet” or frogmouth helm), more commonly used by those of lesser nobility or burgher status in German heraldry.  A frogmouth helm is a type of heavy helmet, specifically designed for jousting, characterized by its prominent, angled visor that resembles a frog’s open mouth.  This design was intended to deflect lance splinters, thus providing greater protection during jousting tournaments.  The helmet’s visor, or ocularium, was a narrow slit offering limited forward vision, but crucial for protecting the wearer’s face from impacts.  The specific forms of helmets in heraldry evolved over time, mirroring the development of actual military helmets.  The practice of indicating rank through helmets became prominent around 1615.

Crest

Typical of the German/Nordic style, the primary charge and the colors/patterns of the shield are usually repeated in the crest.

[TO COME]

Mantling

In heraldry, mantling is drapery tied to the helmet above the shield.  Mantling issues from a torse (wreath) on the helmet and is almost always colored with the primary metal and lined with the primary color of the shield.

The Bluth Wappen includes the metallic tincture of silver (white) and the color red.

BLUTH WAPPEN IMAGES

A high-resolution digital scan of the above-published image was created and edited by Brent J. Belnap in 2008 from Deutsches Geschlechterbuch, Band 115. It is made available here for personal use only:  

The Bluth Wappen does not appear in “Siebmacher’s Wappenbuch,” which includes Wappen from many other Bluth-related families listed and available here.

Other images include:

 

Last update:  1 Aug 2025