The Salamander in a Ring of Fire (as in the DOUGLAS
Crest)
Collated by Jan Shaw, and first published in The Clan Douglas
Association of Australia website
Some of the queries concerning the salamander have been discussed by
members' correspondence, thank you for contributing. No doubt many
members have looked at what Google has to say about the 500 species of
this amphibian "newt‟, so I shall continue with the related Douglas
crest information and history.
One member, Jock Douglas remembers reading that the mythology of the
salamander in flames originally came from Arab soldiers who, when
sitting around their campfire at night, saw this creature emerge
unscathed from the flames and so devised the motto “Be on Guard”, which
may or may not relate to Sahih Bukhari (810-870) stating that Muhammad
had said that salamanders are „mischief-doers‟ and should be killed.
Jock also sent the following researched information, “this legendary
creature embodies fantastic qualities that ancient and medieval
commentators ascribed to, many of which are rooted in verifiable traits
of the natural creature but are often exaggerated”.
In one of the earliest surviving descriptions of a salamander, Pliny the
Elder (AQD 23-79) noted that the creature is “an animal like lizard in
shape which never comes out except during heavy showers and disappears
the moment the weather becomes clear”. Pliny also made the distinction
between salamanders and lizards and that it was a popular belief that
they had the ability to extinguish fire with the frigidity of their
bodies — a quality also reported by Aristotle.
Of all the traits relating to salamanders, the ones relating to fire
have stood out most prominently. This connection most likely originates
from salamanders living inside rotting logs and when the logs were
placed on the fire, the salamanders ran out so the belief was either
that they were created from or could withstand fire.
French armorial bearings depicting the salamander
Noting also that the salamander became the traditional emblem for the
smith (who of course worked fire and flames in their forges when shaping
steel and iron).
The "French connection‟ was the original trigger for my queries
(Newsletter #88). We have yet another depiction of Francois 1
(1515-1547) using it as his personal emblem, with the motto “I nourish
the good and extinguish the bad’.
However when I wrote to the Lord Lyon asking ‟how and when did the
salamander in a ring of fire became the crest for the Earls of Douglas
line? and was there a connection with Francois 1 of France(1)?‟ He very
promptly replied to say that the Court of the Lord Lyon's "Keeper of
Records‟ Mrs Elizabeth Roads had researched the following and that the
connection with Francois 1 of France could be ruled out, it seems that
the salamander crest was used by "Black" Douglas Earls as well as the
"Red‟. Certainly, the last of the Black Douglas line, James Earl of
Douglas and Avondale, Knight of the Garter, who died in 1488, had a
salamander crest as can be seen from his Garter Stall Plate.‟
Now in the 18th stall, on the north side of the chapel. A large
quadrangular plate of gilded copper, bearing within a cable border the
shield of arms, with silver helm garnished gold and covered with a blue
mantling sown with gold flowering branches and lined with ermine with
red tassels, surmounted by the crest, on a cap of estate azure a gold
salamander breathing fire. In base is a narrow panel with the
inscription:
“Mon . f’ le cot tamps . Dowglas”
This title being incorrect there has been fixed over it, a strip of gilt
copper with the proper title:
“mon . tamis . le . count . de . Dowglas”
The shield bears these arms, quarterly: 1, silver a heart gules and a
chief azure with three mullets silver on the chief (for Douglas); 2,
azure fretty gold (for the Lordship of Lauderdale); 3, azure three
mullets silver within a double tressure gold (for Moray of Bothwell); 4,
silver six piles sable (for Brechin); with an escutcheon of pretence
azure a crowned lion silver (for Galloway).
Date of the plate c1461.
Sir James Douglas was the son of James, earl of Douglas and earl of
Avondale (who died in 1443-4) and Beatrice, daughter of Henry Sinclair,
earl of Orkney. He succeeded his elder brother William, who was murdered
by King James II of Scotland in February 1451-2. “He at first
endeavoured to revenge his brother‟s murder, but was reconciled Aug.
1452. Having, however, joined the Duke of York (then in rebellion
against Henry VI), he accused the King openly of the murder and defied
him, with some 40,000 men in 1454. By the desertion of Lord Hamilton and
others these all dispersed, the Earl fled into Annandale” … his lands
forfeited. He escaped into England, where, on the accession of Edward
IV, he was received with great favour, receiving a pension and being cr,
K.G. about 1461. He joined the Duke of Albany in an invasion of
Scotland, was defeated and taken prisoner near Lochmaben and sentenced
to become a monk at Lindores Abbey where he died four years later. He
married 1st his deceased brother‟s widow “the fair maid of Galloway”,
was divorced soon after 1455, and married 2nd Anne Holland, daughter of
Duke of Exeter, widow of Sir John Neville.
It is thought that Sir James Douglas may have created his Garter Stall
Plate in an illusion to his survival from the flames of King James‟
wrath. Interestingly this artist's depiction of a salamander showed a
creature looking like a short-legged dog. This animal creature was also
used in the illustration of his crest for William Douglas, 10th Earl of
Angus 1552-1611 (which echoes the Lord Lyon's statement that the
salamander was used as an emblem by both "Black‟ & "Red‟ Douglas
noblemen).
Francois I of France's salamander was, as far as I can ascertain, the
first salamander to look like a newt than a short-legged dog, perhaps
the artists of the day were given only vague descriptions. Even today
there are variations — does the salamander on our crest have a tail up
in the air or down?
One of the most recent artist's depictions surely must be the one
approved (above right) by the [current] Lord Lyon for the position of
Angus Herald Extraordinary — this position [is] held by Robin Blair a
former Lord Lyon of 2001-2007.
This article forms part of our heraldry section.
Notes:
1. Early 16thC King Francis the first was known as
the Salamander King
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![Garter stall plate of James [Douglas], 9th Earl of Douglas, KG](../image_folder/Crests/James_9th%20earl%20of%20douglas_crest.jpg)
