15-02-2016, 11:30 PM
Quite simply, a little something has been overlooked. A contemporary examination of heraldry as a whole clearly offers up a wide variety of images and complex designs. That's for sure. A great deal of this is something that has occurred well after the VMs parchment dates.
The heraldic interpretations themselves date from before 1250 CE to 1300 CE or so. Historical even from the VMs perspective. If an examination is made of the earliest available documents showing the rolls of armorial insignia, it will be seen that these examples are by and large still in a phase of using geometric designs, while eagles, lions and fish and what-have-you, all combined are, in some instances, still in the minority. Early heraldry in the period of the Fieschi popes is very strongly geometric. The armorial designs of this time are based on the heraldic ordinaries and other traditional patterns. They use various heraldic lines of division and certain basic charges often geometric as well, like labels, mullets and roundels etc. Lions and eagles are occasionally found, but most of that representational stuff is far in the future.
The VMs author has the option to be selective. The need to record an all inclusive document is not present. The more obvious the pattern, the more difficult it is to disguise. And disguise is present in the radial illusion, for starters.
The heraldic interpretations themselves date from before 1250 CE to 1300 CE or so. Historical even from the VMs perspective. If an examination is made of the earliest available documents showing the rolls of armorial insignia, it will be seen that these examples are by and large still in a phase of using geometric designs, while eagles, lions and fish and what-have-you, all combined are, in some instances, still in the minority. Early heraldry in the period of the Fieschi popes is very strongly geometric. The armorial designs of this time are based on the heraldic ordinaries and other traditional patterns. They use various heraldic lines of division and certain basic charges often geometric as well, like labels, mullets and roundels etc. Lions and eagles are occasionally found, but most of that representational stuff is far in the future.
The VMs author has the option to be selective. The need to record an all inclusive document is not present. The more obvious the pattern, the more difficult it is to disguise. And disguise is present in the radial illusion, for starters.