Tempus Rerum Imperator
An armillary sphere, granted in 1671 by the College of Arms as a crest for The Worshipful Company of Clockmakers, signifies the role of the heavens in measuring time. Clockmakers once relied on the sun, moon and stars to set and regulate their masterpieces. The importance of time is underscored by the supporters, placed above the words of the motto: Tempus Rerum Imperator (time is the ruler of all things). Above Tempus stands Father Time, hourglass and scythe in hand, while above Imperator an emperor reminds us of time’s dominion over the affairs of the world.
Today, Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) have taken over the role once symbolised by the sphere, serving as the modern foundation for global timekeeping. Their atomic clocks provide highly precise timestamps, distributed via GNSS signals to synchronise critical infrastructure worldwide. A solar storm in 2012 caused small-scale GPS timing errors, exposing vulnerabilities and highlighting a lack of resilience. Terrestrial atomic clocks operate as a safeguard, though satellite systems now dominate. Solar storms remain a threat to digital time, with the potential to severely disrupt finance, telecommunications, security and power grids, all of which rely on precise and continuous timing.
Our conception of time spans from the fleeting moments of immediate needs to the vast sweep of visionary dreams, intertwining the brevity of individual existence with the extensive history of the Earth. In the stelliferous era, the stars and our sun stand as markers of both the present and the future, guiding life and its rhythms, though they too are ephemeral in the grand scale of cosmic existence. The notion of eternity, unfathomable in its scope, stretches beyond our understanding, encompassing the endless cycles of birth, death, and transformation that occur on scales too large to fully grasp.
But thou shalt flourish in immortal youth,
Unhurt amidst the wars of elements,
The wrecks of matter, and the crash of worlds.
Cato’s soliloquy (Cato, A Tragedy, Act 5, Scene 1), Joseph Addison, 1713
In the figure of old Father Time, supporting the Clockmakers’ arms, his hourglass and scythe remind us that time both structures life and marks its passing. The hourglass and scythe, along with bones, form part of the visual language of funerary or memento mori heraldry. Death too has been assigned a shield bearing a skull and an hourglass in the crest.
If time can be fleeting, heraldry offers a form of permanence, a powerful visual connection to the past, preserving identity across generations while adapting to the inevitable flow of change.
Inherited arms, treasured for their rich history, create a lasting link to ancestry. the blazon’s enduring nature allows arms to be refreshed in bold lines and vibrant colours, evolving as styles and fashions shift. The sale of Ripley Castle, after 700 years with the Ingleby or Ingilby family, has no bearing on their coat of arms. The family’s arctic star will continue to shine, as long as it remains meaningful to them. For others, heraldry serves as a way to carve out a lasting mark, ensuring their memory endures through time. Heraldic symbols fill churches and public spaces from previous ages, bearing witness to the lasting influence of families and institutions that once shaped the world.
In a conflict between inherited identity and personal meaning, heraldry challenges individuals to take on a custodial role, preserving the arms as they are while potentially reinterpreting their significance. New grants, too, should consider the inheritance of those who will carry them forward, ensuring their continuity for future generations.
In Sir Isaac Newton’s arms, the order of the crossed bones is explicitly stated in the blazon, the dexter surmounted of the sinister. Members of other English families surnamed Newton also bore crossbones, emblazoned with either bone overlaying the other but typically following Guillim’s example in 1610 which has “the sinister surmounted of the dexter.” This medieval heraldic device could originally have been a symbol of warlike prowess but it also held spiritual significance, particularly as a cross (saltire). Guillim quotes Eccles. 46:12 Let their bones flourish out of their place, and their names by succession remaine to them that are most famous of their children.
Even during Sir Isaac Newton’s lifetime, the crossbones had already become associated with the Jolly Roger, flown to instil fear and warn of impending death, an association that persists in popular culture today. For Sir Isaac Newton, rather than mortality, these arms provided a connection with a broader family identity, yet the reasons why he preferred this inherited identity remain as enigmatic as the man himself.
The inheritance of arms is a key distinction that sets heraldry apart from the symbology seen on shields in the Bayeux Tapestry or used by Greek, Spartan, and Trojan warriors. Charges serve as a multi-generational identifier of a family, enduring across long periods of time. Like threads woven through centuries, heraldry binds generations together, linking the past to the present and the future. However, there are strict rules governing the inheritance and definition of family within heraldry. While many exploring their genealogy uncover connections to historical figures, such as Robert the Bruce, claims to an ancestor’s heraldry are limited by heraldic laws and conventions.
Identity theft, through the appropriation of someone else’s armorial bearings, is an undignified and dishonourable act and quite unnecessary. Would you seriously choose to pass on the symbolic legacy of another, rather than create one of your own? In the UK it is illegal. In Scotland it falls under the jurisdiction of the Court of the Lord Lyon. Yet, alternatives exist to herald personal and familial identity. Arms can be created that incorporate elements of clan heritage, ancestral connections, and individual achievements, ensuring a legacy that is distinct, true to one’s own lineage, and timeless in its own way.
Some of the definitions on which rules for the inheritance of arms are based conflict with advances in modern family law. Different national approaches are developing, typically linking inheritance to a continuation of the surname and leaving family law to govern family identity. Nevertheless, heraldry predates the widespread adoption of surnames, particularly in Wales, where patronymics such as ap Dafydd or ferch Owain changed with each generation. Unlike surnames, it does not merely record descent but heralds it, bearing witness to its ancestral identity across generations. And while family lines may die out, the arms abandoned, their heraldry often endures, preserved in art, literature, and other artefacts.
The Dictionary of British Arms, Medieval Ordinary, by The Society of Antiquaries of London, is a comprehensive reference work cataloguing thousands of coats of arms, seals, and other heraldic devices surviving in Britain from before 1530. Surprisingly, there is just one mention of an hourglass - in the seal of James Hathway from Edinburgh, dated 1526.
Presumably it is for these same reasons, in connection with Chronos and Veritas, that Morgan presents the shield of the planet Saturn “the emblem of time”, as Argent, a mullet Sable.
The hourglass, rarely found in personal heraldry, features prominently in the civic arms of Greenwich. This reflects Greenwich’s significance in global timekeeping, originating with the establishment of the Royal Observatory in 1675, which set the standard for the Prime Meridian and helped shape modern systems of time measurement. On the arms granted to the London Borough of Greenwich in 1965, the hourglass is flanked by two estoiles, showing the importance of stellar observation in the development of global timekeeping.
To celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II, Greenwich was granted the status of Royal Borough on 3rd February 2012, recognising both its historic connections with the royal family and its designation as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, home to the Prime Meridian. Greenwich’s royal coat of arms has two hourglasses symbolising “the unique status of Greenwich as the home of time”. The supporters are Jupiter and Neptune, with Jupiter holding the Hartmann Astrolabe.
Yet time moves on and these royal arms challenge the convention that stars of the heavens are estoiles and that “our eies doe become wavering and trembling in beholding them”. Here, terrestrial mullets represent the Royal Observatory and the measurement of time, even if, for the Royal Borough of Greenwich, “The stars represent astronomy.” Have we forgotten the traditions of five centuries that distinguish between these forms, or are we witnessing a shift in heraldic practice?
“For time and the world do not stand still. Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.”Previous (13): Dot Painting
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