Heraldry in the Fog of War: The Personal Arms of the Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary

HistoricalCurrent

1 Mar

One would think that in the midst of World War I, heraldry would be less of a priority. However, many arms and flags of the Habsburg Monarchy were changed during the war. The coat of arms this article will concentrate on is one of the least known: the personal arms of the sovereign, as Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary.

Personal arms of Emperor Franz Joseph I illustrated by Hugo G. Ströhl, Ö*sterrichisch-Ungarische Wappenrolle*, 1900

The image above shows the most personal arms of Emperor Franz Joseph I as illustrated by renowned heraldic artist Hugo G. Ströhl. Although the date of adoption of these arms is unknown, the monarch used them before the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867. These arms saw use in the personal correspondence of the monarch, as seen below.

Embossed personal arms of the sovereign (pre-1916)

The change in his arms to reflect the dualistic nature of his realm only occurred on July 30, 1916 when new arms were approved. In a letter dated July 25, 1916, Baron Stephan Burián von Rajecz, Minister of the Imperial & Royal Household and of Foreign Affairs, addressed to the Emperor, proposing the aforementioned arms after conducting an investigation into “the extent to which the standardisation of the common coat of arms affects Your Majesty's personal coat of arms.” Despite no official blazon being published or attached, a written description was provided, the translation of which is as follows:

Since, on the one hand, the small common coat of arms does not appear to be suitable for practical use in every respect due to its size, and since, on the other hand, the small coat of arms used by Your Majesty has so far differed from the generally used "national coat of arms" due to some details characterising its purpose, it is recommended that instead of the small common coat of arms, only the genealogical coat of arms with the ruler's attributes be designated for the personal use of the Sovereign. The genealogical coat of arms of the Most High House, which combines the two coats of arms, forms the inescutcheon of this coat of arms, so to speak, and it corresponds to heraldic usage if the inescutcheon alone is used instead of the full coat of arms for the sake of simplification. However, since this represents the coat of arms of the exalted bearer of the two crowns, the intended shield would have to be crowned with the imperial crown and the Hungarian crown of St Stephen.
The supporters of the coat of arms and Your Majesty’s motto could be omitted in order to do justice to Your Majesty’s intentions for the simplest possible design of the coat of arms, and only the Order of the Golden Fleece, which is historically closely associated with the Your Majesty’s House, could be added.
The attached illustration shows such a coat of arms.

The supporters, should the Emperor have asked for them, would most likely have been the same supporters seen on the middle common coat of arms of Austria-Hungary (i.e. griffin for Austria and angel for Hungary).

Personal arms of Emperor and King Franz Joseph I illustrated by Ernst Krahl, Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv, Austrian State Archives, 1916

As these arms were devised near the end of the reign of Emperor and King Franz Joseph I, they would be used on his funerary hatchments, as well as personal correspondence and, finally, the new imperial and archducal standards, which I will tackle in a future article.

One of the many funerary hatchments of Emperor and King Franz Joseph I painted by Ernst Krahl

Embossed personal arms of the sovereign (post-1916)

Embossing plate for the personal arms of the sovereign (post-1916)

Embossing plate (negative but mirrored) for the personal arms of the sovereign (post-1916)

I categorised this article as ‘current’ as well as ‘historical’ since the Head of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine is technically entitled to these arms to this day.

Many thanks to Alex Bransby for the help in editing the original pictures for better quality!