The origins
1) first historical appearance: appr. 2300 b.C. on Babylonian grammalogue (Lagash)
2) appearance at Hethites, 1250 b.C
3) used in Byzanz
4) from there to Seldchukes (Divrigi/Turkey) 13.th cent.
5) 1st European appearance about 1180 a.D. (pict. in monastry of St.Emmeram/Regensburg)
6) 1st appearance of Habsburg use: 16th March, 1365
7) Since 1433 part of the German coat of arms
8) since 15th cent. at russ. Tsars
To Russia with two heads...
The orgin of the double-headed eagle 'motif' which appeared in Byzantium after the 12th century and was adopted by a number of the principal noble families at that time – later being assumed by several imperial houses, such as in Russia, and states such as Serbia. The mystery is why the Vlasto family appears to have adopted it as their symbol centuries earlier and what its significance was then – long before the arrival of the Empire in Byzantium which looked 'east and west'.
The Vlastos have being already prominent in Rome by the end of the 2nd Century and probably long before that, their position was almost certainly augmented by Constantine The Great (274-337) who was not only the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity but also mobilised Christian church leaders to reinforce his own position (323-325). Furthermore, by establishing his new 'Roman' empire in Byzantium (ConSTANtinople), he needed even more the skills, statesmanship and influence of the old, well-established dynastic Greek families who had already dominated Black Sea and Mediterranean trade for over 1,000 years. By 1092 the Vlastos were at the centre of events in Constantinople and members of its principal noble families.
The double headed eagle appeared as a decorative motif at the court of the last Comnenoi and the Ange family as well after the 12th century, on the ceremonial costumes of members of the imperial family but not on the emperor himself. The same is true of the court of the Laskaris in the empire of Nicea (1204-1261). The Crusaders have used the double-headed eagle as symbol of the empire, although the arms of the empire itself were Gules (a cross between four crosslets).
The double-headed eagle was taken back to Western Europe by two daughters of the first Latin emperor, one who struck coins in Flanders with the eagle, the other marrying into the house of Savoy and bringing the eagle in the Savoy achievement.
Even after the restoration of the empire and the Paleologue emperors, the eagle was still used by the imperial family but not the emperor. The first known use was in 1301. While no doubt true in terms of formal court heraldry, the double-headed eagle (e.g. as adopted by the Vlasto family) appears to have a much earlier provenance]
In the 14th century the Paleologues used either a single-headed or double-headed eagle as an emblem, settling on the double-headed eagle in the 15th century. But it always remained outside the shield. The exceptions occur in Western documents: Ulrich von Richental's Conciliumbuch describing the arms of the participants in the Constanz council of 1414-1418 is one. As for the other, in August 1439 John VIII Palaiologos conferred upon Giacomo de Morellis, a citizen of Florence, the right to place on his banner the imperial blazon; a painted representation of a shield gules with a 'double-headed eagle or' on the document is probably a posterior addition.
Thus the eagle was probably never thought of as a charge, which explains the tradition of the former imperial families (as well as states such as Serbia) of placing their arms on an escutcheon on the breast of the eagle.
Far Sight 3
Pic: Coat of Arms of the Vlastos
Serving Freedom
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