The study of medieval heraldry has long revolved around its military and social aspects with occasional forays into its equally important roles in politics, propaganda and patronage. A handful of historians and heralds (most notably Maurice Keen and Rodney Dennys) have ventured further into the more esoteric and chivalric realms of an increasingly sophisticated and perhaps abstract heraldic lore that emerged at the very end of the Middle Ages, basing their principal evidence on a relatively late literary genre – the heraldic treatise. It may be that few have wished to enter into a world that, according to the treatises included in Moll’s miscellany which he states are representative, once ascribed different coloured stones to different hierarchies of angels, or credited Julius Caesar with establishing the first College of Arms, or believed that swans should be granted to men with good voices. The real problem, however, is that very few texts of treatises are at present easily accessible in print or in English (be it Middle English or Scots or in translation). Moll’s book goes a long way to addressing that deficiency by adding six new treatises in English and Scots to the present tiny canon. Not only do these texts add greatly to our knowledge of the increasingly professionalised role of heralds in the fifteenth century, but they are also rather entertaining. That said, we should not dismiss them as mere fantasy for they take us deep into the mindset of the late medieval heralds and their noble clients.

The texts are the Tractatus de armis by Johannes de Bado Aureo, the Eneas de heraldis by Eneas Silvio Piccolomini, the Dionisius, Furst Institutoure, the Lawe of Armes within Listis, the Persewant, and the Origynall Determynyng of Blasonyng of Armes. A detailed introduction to each text comprehensively sets out its original Latin and French sources, placing it firmly within its literary context. Stemma of surviving manuscripts and their intertextual relationships are carefully examined, as are authorship and ownership. Moll convincingly dismisses the identification of Johannes de Bado Aureo, the anonymous author of the Tractatus, as Bishop Siôn Trevor. He also notes that heralds probably wrote or owned several of the texts, and examines the splendid frontispieces of two of the texts that each depict a king of arms in crown and tabard. An impressive array of footnotes leaves one with the impression that all avenues of research have been thoroughly explored. Finally, a selective glossary warns the modern reader of words that have since changed their meaning or are now ‘false friends’.

In his general introduction, Moll makes the critical point that the treatises included came at a time when the heralds were beginning to flex their professional muscles and one wonders whether the heralds responsible for these works or who owned them (especially those treatises that referenced Classical and early heroes) did so to bolster their new found authority and status and to gain greater royal recognition and rights.

Heraldists, historians and literary scholars have much to gain from the reading of these fascinating treatises and Moll’s highly detailed exposition of them, while at the same time allowing themselves the occasional flight of medieval fantasy.