|
Greetings,
Here's the information we have on your arms.
We weren't able to find any examples of wrens or starlings in medieval heraldry. The only birds of which we found examples in medieval heraldry were eagles and other hunting birds, owls, swans, and "martlets" (a depiction of a small bird with no feet which was a very common charge). Heraldry was not used in 12th-century Wales, and we didn't find any depictions of wrens or starlings from your time period. We did find a starling from 14th-century England, which is drawn to look like a black bird with white specks (the appearance of the starling's summer coat).
We are guessing that the use of a wren or starling derives from the reference to those birds in the story of Branwen. For what it's worth, references of this type are not often found in medieval heraldry. Given that, and the fact that only a few distinctive species of birds are found in heraldry, we would recommend not using a wren or starling in your arms. We realize this is outside the scope of your question, but felt it was important enough to mention.
It appears that black and white were especially common in Welsh heraldry, so we've suggested designs using black and white which are consistent with early British style.
"Argent, six wrens sable" is likely to conflict with a device currently being considered.
All of these designs would be more likely to incorporate martlets. The details which would identify a bird as a wren are small enough that the arms will be interpreted as "three birds." This is likely the reason that only birds with distinctive appearances are found in heraldry.
Rouland Carre, Zenobia Naphtali, Tangwystl verch Morgant Glasvryn, James the Mercer, Elsbeth Anne Roth, Arval D'Espas Nord, Walraven van Nijmege, and Alison Macdermot contributed to this letter.
We hope this has been helpful.
In service,
Alan Fairfax
Academy of S. Gabriel