Heraldry in the MR

Public Law No. 23 [The Heraldic Achievement and Surname Act] (11/7/1933)

Article I - Heraldic Achievements

• §1. Every citizen has the right to an heraldic achievement, as well as a name, to mark himself or herself apart from other citizens. This right shall be regulated by the Office of the Hegumen Seneschal so that there shall be no confusion.
• §2. The child of a citizen becomes an armiger, without the necessity of petition or payment, upon birth. This regulation shall in no way be interpreted to mean that before birth the child is not a citizen, entitled to all the rights and privileges afforded by the government of the Monastic Republic.
• §3. An alien becomes an armiger, without the necessity of petition or payment, upon naturalization.
• §4. No distinction shall be made between men and women as armigers, except as hereinafter decreed.
• §5. The achievement of the Monastic Republic is blazoned: White, an equilateral triangle Vert, apex uppermost, surmounted of a Greek cross Or, within a bordure compony Or and Gules. Above this shield is placed an Orthodox miter affronty Sable. This is displayed within two olive branches fruited Proper and crossed beneath. On a scroll enscribed "Ειρήνη διά πίστην" below the shield are placed for supporters on the dexter a monk and on the sinister an evzone, both Proper.
• §6. The heraldic achievement of an armiger shall consist of a shield, a dexter supporter, a helm or cap of dignity, a crest, a motto and a compartment.
• §7. The shield of an original armiger shall consist of a field party per pale, per fess, per bend, per bend sinister (all of which may be arched), per chevron, or per chevron inverted, of the approved pairs of colors. The first color, on the honorable side, is termed the primary color, the other, the secondary color. Together these are termed the livery colors. An appropriate charge(s) of a third color is placed at the fess point.
• §8. The supporter shall be the figure of the sign of the zodiac under which the armiger was born according to the following:
  • a. Aries, a ram rampant of the primary color, armed and unguled of the secondary color.
  • b. Taurus, a bull rampant of the primary color, armed and unguled of the secondary color.
  • c. Gemini, a man of the race of the armiger, appropriately vested of the primary color.
  • d. Cancer, a unicorn of the primary color, armed and unguled of the secondary color.
  • e. Leo, a lion rampant of the primary color, armed and langued of the secondary color.
  • f. Virgo, a woman of the race of the armiger, appropriately vested of the primary color.
  • g. Libra, a swan of the primary color, armed and unguled of the secondary color.
  • h. Scorpio, a boar armed and unguled of the primary color.
  • i. Sagittarius, a human of the race and sex of the armiger, bearing a bow slung from the dexter shoulder to the sinister waist and grasping a sheaf of arrows in the dexter hand and appropriately vested of the primary color.
  • j. Capricorn, a goat rampant of the primary color, armed and unguled of the secondary color.
  • k. Aquarius, a human of the race and sex of the armiger, bearing a water jar of the secondary color on the dexter shoulder and appropriately vested of the primary color.
  • l. Pisces, a merman or mermaid erect, the human portion of which is of the race of the armiger, and the fish portion of the primary color.
  • Variations to these supporters shall be awarded to the armiger by the Holy Synod as marks of honor, e.g., with the supporter guardant.
• §9. The crest shall consist of a charge which shall be the same as or derived from the charge on the shield. It shall be oriented appropriately upon a wreath of the livery colors, of which the primary color is the first shown on the dexter side.
• §10. Armigers in the gendarmery shall display their crest on a helm closed argent, officers affronty, enlisted to the dexter, mantled of the primary color doubled of the secondary color, the crest arising out of a wreath of the livery colors.
• §11. Armigers who are retired from the gendarmery shall continue to display their crest on the helm, with the visor open.
• §12. The crest as blazoned shall constitute the badge of the armiger. Displayed on livery colors, party according to the field, the badge may be flown as a banner.
• §13. The shield and the supporter(s) shall be displayed as standing upon a scroll upon which is written the motto. If there is no motto, they shall stand upon a compartment which shall be a mound vert, except that the compartment for the merman or mermaid shall be water azure.
• §14. No other devices may be displayed in connection with an heraldic achievement. Additional devices pertaining to civil or ecclesiastical office or to awarded honors shall be bestowed at the pleasure of the Holy Synod.
• §15. Only shields are inheritable. Supporters will differ according to the date of birth and mottoes will differ according to personal choice.
• §16. The firstborn child shall inherit the undifferenced shield of the father. During the lifetime of the father the inherited shield shall be differenced by the addition of a label of the alternate metal or, when there is no metal in the field, of argent.
• §17. The secondborn child shall inherit the undifferenced shield of the mother. During the lifetime of the mother the inherited shield shall be differenced by the addition of a label of the alternate metal or, when there is no metal in the field, of argent.
• §18. Successive children shall inherit the shields alternately of the father and the mother differenced according to the description in Article II.
• §19. An only child shall inherit the shields of both parents. The maternal shield shall be marshalled as described in Article III. Maternal shields inherited in this way shall not be differenced by future generations, differencing taking place solely in the paternal shield.
• §20. An only child of a subsequent generation may marshall one other maternal achievement. The two maternal achievements chosen are displayed on a chief. If more than two maternal achievements are inherited in this way, only two may be retained at the discretion of the armiger.
• §21. Children of an unknown father shall inherit the maternal shield with the differencings prescribed in Article II.
• §22. Children, one of whose parents is not an armiger, shall inherit the shield of the armigerous parent with the differencings prescribed in Article II.
• §23. Children of unknown parentage shall be original armigers.
• §24. When an armiger dies without issue, his or her heraldic shield shall not be used by a future armiger.
• §25. An inheritable augmentation of honor shall be added to the heraldic achievement of a spouse when his or her shield is inherited, but it shall not be borne by the spouse himself or herself.
• §26. Any armiger, except those who inherit undifferenced shields, may, for a fee to be determined by the Office of the Hegumen Seneschal, petition the Holy Synod one only time to become an original armiger. This petition, once granted, may not be reversed.
• §27. An heraldic achievement, or any component thereof, granted by another sovereign shall be displayed only with the permission of the Holy Synod. Only those components of the heraldic achievement described in §6 shall be permitted. Components described in §6 not already granted by another sovereign shall be granted by the Holy Synod and the whole shall thereafter be displayed and inherited as described herein. If the shield is not of the style described in §6, successive children shall inherit the shield of said armiger's spouse marshalled as described in Article III. In the case of an only child, the shield from another sovereignty shall be the one displayed as described for the maternal shield in §17, §19, and §20.
• §28. An heraldic achievement, once matriculated, may be rescinded only upon voluntary or penal loss of citizenship.
• §29. Heraldic achievements for institutions shall be designed, upon petition and the payment of the fee, in a style other than that described in §6 and §7.
• §30. The heraldic achievements of institutions are not inheritable and cease to exist when the institution ceases to exist. Such an heraldic achievement shall not be used by a future institution.
• §31. The supporter of heraldic achievements of institutions shall be those which are described in §8 as supporters for personal shields, based on the date of the founding or incorporation of the institution. The race and sex of human supporters will be determined by the race and sex of the founder, proprietor, etc., of the institution. An heraldic tyger rampant guardant shall be the supporter for land gendarmery units. A dolphin shall be the suppporter for naval gendarmery units. An eagle shall be the supporter for aviation gendarmery units.
• §32. The crest of institutions shall constitute the badge of the institution. Displayed on the color(s) of the field, party according to the field, it may be flown as a banner.
• §33. The shields of the heraldic achievements of institutions shall not be marshalled with those of personal shields, with the following exceptions. The personal shield of a priest shall be marshalled in any of the ways listed in Article III with the shield of his religious institution. Likewise, the shield of an officer in the gendarmery shall be marshalled with the shield of his or her unit. Both supporters may be used with their respective shields, the personal supporter on the dexter. The crest and motto shall be those of the personal heraldic achievement.
• §34. Non-citizens, after petitioning the Office of the Hegumen Seneschal and the payment of the fee, may be granted an heraldic achievement. This heraldic achievement has no legal standing in the Monastic Republic and may not be displayed or inherited by citizens. This grant may be used by non-citizens as proof of prior usage in disputes in their own nations.

Article II - Differencing for Cadency

• §1. Descendants in the second generation after an original armiger, i.e., the armiger's children, shall difference the shield by changing the line of partition to the corresponding dimunitive ordinary, i.e., per bend or bend sinister to a bendlet, per pale to a pallet, per fess to a bar, per chevron to a chevronel, and per chevron inverted to a chevronel inverted, with the field of the primary color and the new ordinary of the secondary color. These ordinaries shall be utilized in the following order: unvaried, couped, gemmeled, wavy, indented, engrailed, invected, embattled-counterembattled, and dancetty. The charge(s) shall surmount the new ordinary.
• §2. Descendants in the third generation after an original armiger, i.e., the armiger's grandchildren, shall difference the shield by placing in chief a charge counterchanged. These charges shall be applied in the following order: a crescent, a trefoil, a quatrefoil, a cinquefoil, an estoile, a mullet of seven points, a mullet of eight points, and a fleur-de-lis.
• §3. Descendants in the fourth generation after an original armiger shall difference the shield by placing a cross counterchanged in chief to the sinister of the first charge. These crosses shall be applied in the following order: couped, flory, moline, botonny, potent, patee, patonce, crosslet, and Maltese.
• §4. Descendants in the fifth generation after an original armiger shall difference the shield by altering the field to one semy of the secondary color. The fields shall be semy in the following order: of crescents, of trefoils, of quatrefoils, of cinquefoils, of estoiles, of estoiles of seven points, of estoiles of eight points, and de-lis.
• §5. Descendants in the sixth generation after an original armiger shall difference the shield by adding a bordure. These bordures shall be of the other metal or of argent if there is no Or in the field, and shall be utilized in the following order: unvaried, wavy, indented, engrailed, invected, embattled, dovetailed, potenty, and nebuly.
• §6. Descendants in the seventh generation after an original armiger shall difference the shield by adding a fourth color to the bordure in the following order: per pale, quarterly, per saltire, gyronny of six, gyronny of eight, gyronny of twelve, compony, counter-compony, lozengy, and chequy.
• §7. Descendants in the eighth generation after an original armiger shall difference the shield by placing on the bordure in chief a mark of cadency as described in regulation 2 of the other metal or of argent if there is no Or in the field.
• §8. Descendants in the ninth generation after an original armiger shall difference the shield by placing on the bordure to the sinister of the eighth generation mark of cadency a second mark of cadency as described in §3.
• §9. Descendants in the tenth generation after an original armiger shall difference the shield by placing on the bordure to the sinister a third mark of cadency as described in §2.
• §10. Descendants in the eleventh generation after an original armiger shall be issued a new achievement containing the same charge(s), but of colors different than in the original arms. A roundel of the original colors shall be placed in base. Any marshalled parental arms are eliminated. These shall then be differenced as described in §1 through §9.
• §11. Descendants in the twenty first generation after an original armiger shall be issued a new achievement containing the same charge(s), but of different colors than the original arms or those of the eleventh generation. A roundel of the colors of the eleventh generation shall be placed in base to the sinister of the roundel of the original arms. These shall then be differenced as described in paragraphs 1 through 9. Any marshalled parental arms are eliminated.
• §12. Et cetera.

Article III - Marshalling

• §1. When there is only one child, he or she shall inherit the shields of both parents. These may be marshalled in one of three ways, at the discretion of the Office of the Hegumen Seneschal, consulting with the armiger.
  • a. The paternal shield may be impaled to the dexter of the maternal shield.
  • b. The maternal shield may be displayed on a canton, a sinister canton, or an inescutcheon. The canton or inescutcheon shall debruise later marks of differencing when appropriate.
  • c. The paternal and maternal shield may be displayed quarterly, with the paternal shield in quarters 1 and 4, and the maternal shield in quarters 2 and 3.
• §2. Maternal shields inherited in this way shall not be differenced by future generations, differencing taking place solely in the paternal shield.
• §3. The shield of future only children may be displayed quarterly with the arms of the original armiger in quarter 1 and the arms of the armiger's parents in quarters 2 and 3. The armiger may choose which arms of his ancestors to display in quarter 4.
• §4. The form of marshalling may be changed if future developments of the paternal shield make another style more esthetically pleasing.
• §5. When institutional arms are marshalled with personal arms, the personal arms are displayed on the dexter side when impaled; the institutional arms are placed on the canon or inescutcheon. Institutional arms may also be marshalled quarterly with personal arms, the personal arms being displayed in the first and fourth quarters.

Article IV - Assuming Surnames

• §1. A child may assume the surname of his father or his mother. A temporary choice is to be made by the parents at the time of birth. At the age of 18, the child is to make a permanent choice.
• §2. The child may choose to hyphenate the surnames of both parents, in any order.
• §3. A child of parents with hyphenated surnames may choose, at the age of 18, either of the two hyphenated surnames, any one of the four names, or may hyphenate any two of them.