Robert Fludd’s Coat of Arms
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Issue Date
2026
Uploaded on
2026-04-10T10:29:57Z
Type
Bericht / Report
Bild / Image
Bild / Image
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Language
en
Publisher
Herzog August Bibliothek
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Catalogue entry
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Editors
Authors
Tuck, Adam
Contributors
Frietsch, Ute
Abstract
The London scholar Robert Fludd (1574–1637) was a member of the gentry, the landowning English upper class. Conscious of his status, he prefixed the title ‘Armiger’ (bearer of arms) to his academic doctorate in his publications. Two of the portraits produced during his lifetime illustrate how Fludd saw himself. The famous 1626 portrait, created by the Swiss engraver Matthäus Merian the Elder after a painting that is now lost, depicts Fludd as an aristocratic scholar. The anonymous 1631 portrait, on the other hand, emphasises the entrepreneurial side of his personality. Surprisingly, both portraits feature different coats of arms.
Ute Frietsch therefore commissioned the College of Arms in London to conduct a study on Fludd’s coat of arms as part of her research ‘Materialising Robert Fludd’s Alchemical and Theosophical Concepts’ (German Research Foundation, Project No. 508112724, carried out at the Herzog August Library in Wolfenbüttel from 2023 to 2026). The “Report of Research” by Adam Tuck, Lancaster Herald, College of Arms, dated December 2025, concludes that only the 1631 engraving’s depiction of Fludd’s coat of arms is correct.
Keywords
biography , portrait , social background , Matthäus Merian the Elder , College of Arms