ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1289 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1289 ************************************ 13 Oct 1998 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked for information about the use of the rosette in Mamluk heraldry. Here is what we have found. On the July 1997 LoAR, Laurel returned a badge submitted by the kingdom of the Outlands. Her comments read, in part: After the November 1997 Laurel meeting, we will no longer register Mamluk rosettes. They are an artistic motif which is not all that common even in period Mamluk art, never mind Mamluk heraldry [1]. The return mentioned nothing about the charge being "too artistically free"; it was simply based on the absence of evidence that the rosette was used in period Mamluk armory. We have found some evidence that the rosette was used. One of the oldest examples of Muslim heraldry was the badge of the early members of the Ayyubid dynasty, a six- or eight-petalled rosette on a field. The six-petalled version was later used by the Rasulid and Rasid dynasties [3]. Elsewhere, we found this discussion: Both [fleurs-de-lys and rosettes] were certainly used by Muslims, e.g., the Najm ad-din Mahmud (d. 1349/50): , on a glass lamp in the Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh. Of the members of the family of Qalaun, which provided eleven sultans of Egypt and Syria between 1280 and 1390, some favoured the fleur-de-lys and others the six-petalled red rosette. The Rasulid sultans of Yaman, as well as the personal trianguly insignia that we have noticed already, used as their royal arms . In the Museum is a glass lamp decorated with the arms of the eunuch Shibl ad-daula Kafur (d. 1285): . A photograph of this lamp follows. The rosette has six teardrop-shaped petals with their narrow ends issuing from a small central disk [2], which is roughly the same rendition given in reference [3]. Note that this drawing is quite different from the version in the _Pictorial Dictionary of Heraldry as Used in the Society for Creative Anachronism_ [4]. We have not found any evidence of that form of rosette. We cannot predict how the College of Arms will judge this evidence. It is sufficient to convince us that the rosette was used in Mamluk heraldry. I hope this letter has been useful. Please write us again if any part of it has been unclear or if you have other questions. I was assisted in researching and writing this letter by Talan Gwynek, Pedro de Alcazar, Rouland Carre, Zenobia Naphtali, and Evan da Colaureo. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 13 Oct 1998 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] July 1997 LoAR, Returns, Outlands, Kingdom of the Outlands, name and badge for the Order of the Desert Flower of the Outlands. [2] Leaf, William and Sally Purcell, _Heraldic Symbols: Islamic Insignia and Western Heraldry_ (London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1986), 35f. [3] Da'ud ibn Auda, "Muslim Heraldry: An Introduction", Calontir Known World Heraldic Symposium Proceedings (SCA, Inc, AS XXIII). [4] Bruce Draconarius of Mistholme and Akagawa Yoshio, _A Pictorial Dictionary of Heraldry as Used in the Society for Creative Anachronism_, (privately published, 1988).