In heraldry, gules () is the tincture with the colour red. It is one of the class of five dark tinctures called "colours", the others being azure (blue), sable (black), vert (green) and Purpure.
Gules is portrayed in heraldic hatching by vertical lines, or indicated by the abbreviation g. or gu. when a coat of arms is Tricking.
Etymology
The term
gules derives from the Middle English
goules, which itself is an
Old French word meaning "neckpiece made of red fur".
Goules is derived from the Old French
gole or
guele, both of which mean "throat", which are ultimately derived from the Latin
gula, also meaning "throat". Gules is similar to the English word
gullet.
A. C. Fox-Davies states that the term originates from the
Persian language word , meaning "rose",
[ A Complete Guide to Heraldry, by Arthur Charles Fox-Davies, p. 29] but according to Brault there is no evidence to support this derivation.
[Brault, Gerard J. (1997). Early Blazon: Heraldic Terminology in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries, (2nd ed.). Woodbridge, UK: The Boydell Press. .]
The modern French spelling of the tincture is gueules. Both gules and rojo are used for red in Spanish heraldry. In Portugal, red is known as vermelho, and in Germany the colour is called rot. In Dutch heraldry, the tincture is called keel.
Poetic meanings
The different tinctures are traditionally associated with particular heavenly bodies, precious stones, virtues, and flowers, although these associations have been mostly disregarded by serious heraldists.
Gules is associated with:
Examples
coat of arms of Nassau-Dillenburg (attributed to Otto II of Nassau, d. 1351):
1. The lion of Nassau, Azure billetty or, a lion rampant of the last armed and langued gules;
2. County of Katzenelnbogen, Or a lion rampant guardant gules, armed langued and crowned azure;
3. Vianden, Gules, a fess argent;
4. County of Dietz, Gules, two lions passants or armed and langued azure
]]
Gules is the most widely used heraldic tincture. Through the sixteenth century, nearly half of all noble coats of arms in
Polish heraldry had a field gules with one or more
argent charges on them.
Examples of coats of arms consisting of purely a red shield (blazoned gules plain) include those of the Albret family, the Rossi family, the Swiss canton of Schwyz (prior to 1815), and the old coats of arms of the cities of Nîmes and Montpellier.
, c. 1500]]
coat of arms. Below the Bindenschild is a small coat of arms of the city of Vienna, gules a cross argent [Stained glass at the Franciscan Monastery Museum in Villingen-Schwenningen, 1567]]]
See also
External links
