The foundation for this exhibition is Marquette University’s extensive collection of Tolkien manuscripts housed within the library’s Department of Special Collections and University Archives; but it will also include items borrowed from other repositories, including a significant number of Tolkien manuscripts and artwork from the Bodleian Libraries at the University of Oxford.
As you remember, in 2019, thanks to my correspondence with the Tolkien family from the USA (Charlaine, Kimberly, Eric Tolkien - thank you!) I discovered the existence of the Tolkien family coat-of-arms and thanks to the Tolkien Estate and the Bodleian Library (thank you Cathleen Blackburn and Catherine McIlwaine!) I found confirmation of the existence of this sign in the Book of Ishness made by young J.R.R. Tolkien. Then I received a copy of the original Tolkien's drawing from Bodleian and I was able to develop my theory about this coat-of-arms (see here and here).
Now the coat-of-arms drawn by Tolkien can be seen by a wider audience. I am very happy that this beautiful graphic and at the same time an interesting element of English (pseudo-)heraldry is now known to other people.
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| Tolkien's drawing in the exhibition catalogue (source of the photo) |
In my archival research I came to the first Tolkiens in history, at the beginning of the 16th century in the village of Globuhnen in Prussia. The Tolkien family in Kreuzburg, Prussia and in Polish Gdańsk (Danzig) were not a noble family - they were simple village mayors, craftsmen from a little town, the soldiers... They had no coat-of-arms! The Tolkiens never were a noble family according to my research. They were hardworking, curious, religious, educated middle-class people. That’s a good legacy! The history of this family is more interesting and better known than the history of many a knight and nobleman according to my study (see the hashtag #TolkienAncestry on Facebook and Twitter!).
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| "The crest is given from an impression of my father’s seal" (J.R.R. Tolkien in his letter) |
I am in touch with several branches of the Tolkiens in England who also have a heraldic history and my conclusion is that English ancestors of Professor Tolkien used a device dating to the 19th c., when pseudo-heraldry became popular among Victorian middle-class families. Arthur R. Tolkien's demi-griffin became a sign of the family probably thanks to George Tolkien's wedding to Eliza Lydia Murrell, who was the eldest child, with no brothers in the family bearing this crest (see here and here), and the tradition of the shield with stars and chevrons was transmited to J.R.R. Tolkien by his half-uncle, John Benjamin Tolkien III (see here and here).
As Catherine McIlwaine informs me the coat-of-arms does look very striking in the exhibition and is displayed alongside Tolkien's notes on Elvish heraldry and a copy of an ancient heraldic manuscript. It has never been on display before and has not previously been published.
The catalogue is beautifully produced and is definitely worth purchasing (I bought it yesterday - you can purchase it here). The catalogue entry (and exhibition caption) read as follows:
Item 138
J.R.R. Tolkien | English, 1892-1973
Coat of arms, n.d.
Watercolor and ink on paper | (178 x 126 mm)
The Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford | MS. Tolkien Drawings 88, fol. 34r
(c) The Tolkien Trust 2022
J.R.R. Tolkien did not invent this coat of arms for the Tolkien family. He appears to have learned of the design from one of his half uncles. It was not an ancient device, probably dating only to the nineteenth century, when pseudo-heraldry became popular among Victorian middle-class families.
And below I present the coat-of-arms of Tolkien from Wikimedia, based on my descriptions with addition - the Order of the British Empire. J.R.R. Tolkien was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II on 28 March 1972.
But remember: this coat-of-arms was never registered by the College of Arms!
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| Source: Wikimedia |
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