Comets and Constellations

The distinctions made by John Guillim (c.1565-1621) and others, between wavy celestial stars (estoiles) and straight-sided terrestrial stars (mullets), have not been universally codified. In German heraldry, the stars are not distinguished by their origins, celestial or otherwise and wavy stars are viewed simply as an old fashioned artistic style. In vexillology it should be no surprise to find constellations depicted with straight-sided stars, given an historical need for simplicity in the production of flags.

Constellations have names, meanings and significance in practically every culture around the world. Societies ascribe values, histories, and mythology to what are, in essence, visual patterns. While Western Astrology, with its roots in Mesopotamia, might seem an obvious candidate for heraldic symbolism, it is seldom referenced in heraldic design. Sagittarius, depicted as a centaur drawing a bow, is not uncommon in heraldry (e.g. the FitzMaurice crest in the armorial bearings of the Marquess of Lansdowne), though its presence may not explicitly reference astrology or the constellation of this name. Constellations more commonly have an influence on national and civic identity that rarely transfers to personal arms.

An exception from Germany is in the arms of the composer Richard Wagner (1813-1883). What made him choose part of Ursa Major, specifically the Plough (the Big Dipper)? This constellation appears in the emblem of the U.S. Air Force Alaska Air National Guard and several other U.S. airforce units but usually in combination with one other star: Alpha Ursae Minoris, more popularly known as the North Star. As in the arms of Fritsch, a patriot of the Austrian Empire with Ursa Minor in the chief, the significance of these constellations is in their connection to Polaris.

For Wagner there is no indication of the North Star, which falls somewhere off to the side, away from the shield. Wagner’s arms, like many German heraldic designs, may quite simply be an example of canting arms, playing on the surname of the bearer. The German name of the plough is “Großer Wagen”, literally the big waggon. The etymology of Wagner points to an ancestral connection to someone who worked as a cartwright or was otherwise associated with waggon-making.

Arms of Richard Wagner, German composer

Coincidentally, Azure, a Comet or blazing star streaming in Bend, Or is noted by Guillim for a Cartwright family in Scotland, without giving any further information. Perhaps the comet had the same significance for Cartwright as it did for Pope Innocent VII (1339-1406), or was it rather a symbol of one who ‘shines among all’? Silvester Petra Sancta in his De Symbolis Heroicis, Libri IX of 1634 demonstrates arms that feature a comet with the motto “Micat inter omnes”, taken from Horace in reference to the Julian Star, which appeared not long after the murder of Julius Caesar:

“micat inter omnes Julium sidus velut inter ignes Luna minores” The Julian star shines among all others, like the Moon among lesser lights

A Comet on the personal arms of Cartwright, Scotland from John Guillim’s A Display of Heraldry (archive.org)

Guillim’s depiction of a comet is distinguished by its streaming tail. Comets are made of ice and dust, and as they near the sun, the ice sublimates, releasing gas and dust to form a tail. If a comet is bright enough, its tail can be seen stretching across the sky as it reflects sunlight. Guillim likens the tail to a beard, in contrast to the Greek komētēs (κομήτης), meaning “long-haired”. A comet is distinct from an asteroid, which appears as a point of light, and from the meteor, which forms a streak of light as it burns up in the Earth’s atmosphere. Of the latter, Guillim writes “Simple firie Meteors are of diuers sorts and different formes, whereof there is little vse in Coate-armour, except of the falling Starre, which of Blazoners is termed a Mullet; which is an Exhalation inflamed aboue in the Aire, and stricken backe with a Cloud, whereby it is forced to runne downwards in such sort, that to the ignorant a Star seemeth to fall.”

In Shakespeare’s Britain, constellations guided astrology, asterisms aided navigation, and comets were feared omens. Shakespeare used celestial imagery, as in Julius Caesar, where comets mark the passing of the great and mighty, or Hamlet, where celestial signs hint at turmoil. Comets, like those of 1577 and 1607, were widely feared, reinforcing the belief that the heavens actively influenced human affairs.

When beggars die, there are no comets seen;
The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes.
Julius Caesar, Act 2, Scene 2. Calpurnia

Halley’s Comet in the Bayeux Tapestry, 1066

In Deuchar’s British Crests (1817) a comet star, Or is the crest of Oswald, Clerk of the Exchequer. It is the crest of Oswald of Dalderse in Stirlingshire, closely related to James Oswald (1715-1769) of Dunnikier who had a star of six points wavy, Argent for his crest and shared the same motto. Their shields were differentiated by, respectively, a comet and a star in the dexter chief, both Or.

Just as the Plough, or Big Dipper, is used to locate the North Star, the Southern Cross serves to locate due South. This constellation is found in the personal arms of Sir Robert Menzies (1894-1978), Prime Minister of Australia 1939-1941 and 1949-1966. His Scottish arms, granted by Lord Lyon in 1965, adopt part of the civic arms and vexillology of Australia and the state of Victoria with ‘Commonwealth stars’. Guillim would argue that the stars are to be displayed as Estoile Or but the municipal arms of Victoria, granted by Guillim’s own College of Arms, had mullets Argent. Straight-sided stars in the Australian flag were originally specified by the British Admiralty to simplify manufacture of Royal Navy ensigns. All but one of the stars in the Australian flag have seven points. The seven points of the Commonwealth Star, established in 1908, are representative of the six states of the Commonwealth of Australia and its territories. Commonwealth stars appear in the coat of arms of Queen Mary of Denmark, a symbolic reference to her Australian origins.

The number of points is not specified in the blazon (the formal legal definition) of Sir Robert Menzies’ arms, but the stars of the Southern Cross, as depicted in the Public Register, follow the convention established with Commonwealth stars: 

Per chevron Argent and Azure, in base the constellation of the Southern Cross of the first, on a Chief indented Gules a seven-point Star between two Boars' heads couped Or, armed of the first.

Arms of Sir Robert Gordon Menzies as emblazoned in the Public Register of all Arms and Bearings in Scotland (reproduced with kind permission from the Lyon Court)

Arms of Sir Robert Gordon Menzies with Commonwealth stars (Wikimedia: MostEpic, restyled)

The Southern Cross has appeared on flags intended to represent Australia since 1823, although the positioning of the stars did not take its present form until 1849 when Reverend John West of Launceston, Tasmania designed the Australian Anti-Transportation League Flag. The stars on this flag were golden. The present flag of Australia was unveiled in 1901. There are subtle differences between the crosses on the Australian and New Zealand flags, due to design choices.

Australian Anti-Transportation League Flag (Wikimedia: Martyman)

An enduring symbol in Australian heraldry, the Southern Cross (Crux Australis) is featured in the coats of arms of federal and state governments, as well as in the emblems of schools and the arms of universities. The designs and emblazonments often feature the seven pointed Commonwealth stars. Crux Australis has been a part of Australia’s First Nations cosmology for millennia. Australian Indigenous Astronomy, passed down orally, in ceremonies and through art, has led to a recognition of First Australians as the world’s oldest astronomers. Birubi Point in New South Wales is named after the constellation in Gathang, a local First Nations language. With a long golden beach running south between the surf and sand dunes, this is a beautiful place of special significance to the Worimi people. When Birubi rose high in the night sky it signalled to the Worimi people to gather here for ceremony.

View of Birubi Beach looking south, May 2024

The Southern Cross also features in the coat of arms of Field Marshall William Riddell Birdwood (1865-1951), 1st Baron Birdwood, the British officer who commanded the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) during the Gallipoli Campaign of the First World War and later in France. Affectionately known as Birdie, he was admired and respected by the Australian and New Zealand troops for his leadership and close involvement with those under his command. The stars in his Southern Cross are not specified as a match for either the Australian or New Zealand flags in the number of points or number of stars. Nor do they connect to the insignia most readily associated with the forces he commanded - the Rising Sun Badge.

Arms of William Birdwood, the Southern Cross emblazoned with five mullets (martlets Wikimedia: Sodacan)

General Sir John Monash (1865-1931), who succeeded Birdwood in command of the Australian Corps on the Western Front, also had five stars in his arms, granted by the College of Arms in 1918. These Mullets of eight points are arranged three and two, a row of three mullets above a row of two. They are suggestive of the Southern Cross without adopting an arrangement of the constellation.
Azure, a fess between in chief five mullets of eight points three and two, and in base a sword within two branches of laurel all Or

Arms of General Sir John Monash (sword and laurel Wikimedia: Heralder)

Nuanced interpretations are not always expressed in the blazon. The stars in the Coat of Arms of the University of Newcastle, Australia, as revealed in the Letters Patent, are more than just ‘mullets’. These arms were granted by the College of Arms in 1965, the same year that Lord Lyon granted arms featuring the constellation of the Southern Cross to Sir Robert Menzies. While neither blazon specifies Commonwealth stars, Menzies’ arms were emblazoned to reflect them. The University arms explicitly state mullets and their number:

Azure a Seahorse naiant, in dexter chief a representation of the constellation of the Southern Cross of five Mullets all Argent.

Where the number of points is not specified, each mullet is presumed to have five points. However, the Herald Painter has taken a more scientific approach. The size and number of points varies, correlating with the apparent magnitude of each star. In the emblazonments for both Menzies and the University, can this additional meaning be regarded as mere artistic licence, or is it an intrinsic part of the grant?

Coat of Arms of the University of Newcastle, Australia as emblazoned in the Letters Patent (Living Histories, the University of Newcastle Special Collections, reproduced with permission)

The emblem of the University, like the official insignia of many Australian municipalities is the original emblazonment, protected as an artistic work. Similarly, the artwork from the letters patent of Sir Benjamin Benjamin (1834-1905) has been adopted as the logo of a company founded by his son. Sir Benjamin, the first Jewish Australian to receive a knighthood, was granted arms by the College of Arms in London, described as “Azure, a wolf passant [proper] between three stars of six points Argent”. Was ‘stars’ the word used by the College of Arms? In A Grammar of English Heraldry (1913), Sir William Henry St. John Hope advised that ‘stars’ “need not be called ‘estoiles’” but are distinct from molets “incorrectly spelt mullet”, yet the emblazonment reveals Benjamin’s stars of six points to be straight-sided mullets. These also differ in outline from the hexagram Star of David, formed by two interlaced triangles, as might be imagined to represent his Jewish identity - if this was the intention of the six-pointed stars. Instead, it is the wolf that signifies this, symbolising the tribe of Benjamin (Gen. 49:37). To understand the character of these ‘stars’, the artwork in the original letters patent needs to be observed in addition to the blazon.

Arms of Sir Benjamin Benjamin, Lord Mayor of Melbourne from 1889 – 1891 (wolf passant Wikimedia from Fox-Davies “A Complete Guide to Heraldry”) 

A wolf with mullets (five-pointed) is also found in the heraldic achievement of Sydney-born Sir Samuel Sydney Cohen (1869-1948). Cohen was knighted in 1937, in recognition of his services for the welfare of children in New South Wales, and was granted armorial bearings ten years later. He was president of the Royal Newcastle Hospital and was a founder and president of the board of management of the Newcastle Synagogue. His shield has sprigs of wattle and a lion. His crest features a woolpack in the paws of A demi wolf Gules semee of mullets Argent - sprinkled with stars, like the spots on a leopard.

The crest of Sir Samuel Sydney Cohen by Vadym Burla ACWS

The Pantheon is a mythical, heraldic beast, a deer with the tail of a fox and semée of stars (mullets or estoiles). Although not a constellation as such, it features in the Crest of the Canadian Space Agency, semé of estoiles. The escutcheon, too, bedecked like the heavens with estoiles. Pantheons are also used to great effect as supporters to the arms of the U.K. Atomic Energy Authority, semee of mullets, thirteen of six points, two of seven, where the points of the stars on each pantheon add up to 92, the number denoting uranium in the table of elements. The two pantheons together represent the 92 protons and 92 electrons of a uranium atom.

The University of Southern Queensland adopted a coat of arms in 1990, featuring another heraldic creature, the Phoenix, with a Southern Cross of five-pointed mullets on the chief. Following a rebranding in 2022, the university is now identified by a shield-shaped logo that, with its simplicity, innovation and thoughtful reflection of community identity, could in fact be used as a showcase for modern heraldic design. All that’s missing is the blazon.

The coat of arms of the Municipality of Ashfield, New South Wales, was granted by the Court of the Lord Lyon in 1983. It includes Azure, five mullets (arranged to represent the constellation of the Southern Cross) Argent. In contrast to several of the previous examples, these mullets were explicitly emblazoned as stars of five points by the Court Artist, adopting the English interpretation of ‘mullet’. Likewise, the arms of the Astronomer Royal of Scotland, granted by Lord Lyon Sir Malcolm Innes in 1995, has a constellation of mullets for part of the shield (voided Sable):

eight mullets Argent (representing the constellation Orion)…

Constellations of stars of the Southern Hemisphere, including Crux Australis, Canis Major and Scorpius, are depicted by 27 mullets in the national flag of Brazil. The 27 stars collectively represent the Brazilian States and Federal District. The stars include Sigma Octantis, the south polar star, located along the axis of the Southern Cross.

National Flag of Brazil (Wikipedia: Public Domain)

If we draw the conclusion that mullets rather than estoiles form the constellations and clusters of celestial stars, in arms as in flags, then heraldic convention appears settled. Yet, as with the stars themselves, there are surprising discoveries still to be made. The stars in the shield of The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), adopted 1927, are estoiles. They encircle a terrestrial globe representing Earth as “the scope and breadth of the BBC's operations”. The stars are described on Wikipedia:

Around the globe are seven estoiles, heraldic symbols for divine goodness and nobility. Their place in the shield increase the representation of the scope and breadth of the corporation. They also symbolise the seven planets in the Solar System other than the Earth. (The arms were granted prior to the discovery of Pluto in 1930, which was classified as a planet from that time until 2006.)

Arms of the B.B.C. (Wikimedia: Ben1we, restyled)

Here is an exceptional example of estoiles used not for the representation of stars or constellations but for the planets of our solar system. Like the moon, the planets reflect light from the sun and following Guillim’s model might be depicted with radiating lines rather than as stars with wavy rays. The light of distant stars reaches us as a single point but for the relatively larger size of nearby planets, the atmospheric effects are smoothed out. Where stars seem to twinkle, the planets tend to shine steadily. Yet here they are as wavy celestial stars, described as symbolising character traits of “divine goodness and nobility”. Would the meaning be otherwise if these were straight-sided or can the same be said of all stars, estoiles and mullets in heraldic art?

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