Land-cover patterns in Russian territorial and municipal heraldry between the 17th and 19th centuries

Abstract

The paper analyzes a set of Russian territorial and municipal coats of arms between the 17th and 19th centuries for the way they blazon natural and artificial land-cover patterns of Muscovy and the Russian Empire. It establishes that the first coats of arms that designed images of such patterns date back to the late 17th century, with a geographical component as such to be auxiliary. The share of coats of arms with geographic images makes up 13% in the heraldry of the Russian Empire, although, in most cases, this motive in such coats of arms is a priority. The coats of arms depicted hydrographic patterns (2/3 of the total number of coats of arms), among which a majority involved images of rivers blazoned by four iconographic types, relief forms (less than 1/4), primarily mountains, as well as forests (1/10) and single artificial patterns in the form of water and land routes.