The device is closely related to the picture-text combinations called emblems found in emblem books. Popular from late medieval times, the personal device typically consisted of a visual image and a short text or "motto", which when read in combination were intended to convey a sense of the aspirations or character of the bearer. Derived from heraldry, where the coat of arms would often include a motto, the device spread far beyond the aristocracy during the Renaissance as part of the craze for wittily enigmatic constructions in which combinations of pictures and texts were intended to be read together to generate a meaning that could not be derived from either part alone. The device, to all intents and purposes identical to the Italian impresa, differs from the emblem in two principal ways. Structurally, the device normally consists of two parts while most emblems have three or more. As well, the device was highly personal, intimately attached to a single individual, while the emblem was constructed to convey a general moral lesson that any reader might apply in his or her own life. An emblem consists of a pictorial image, abstract or representational, that epitomizes a concept - often a concept of a moral truth or an allegory. ... Emblem books are a particular style of illustrated book developed in Europe during the 16th and 17th centuries, normally containing about one hundred picture/text combinations. ... A modern coat of arms is derived from the medi val practice of painting designs onto the shield and outer clothing of knights to enable them to be identified in battle, and later in tournaments. ... This article is about the European Renaissance of the 14th-17th centuries. ... An emblem consists of a pictorial image, abstract or representational, that epitomizes a concept - often a concept of a moral truth or an allegory. ...

The Château de Blois

The Château de Chambord

Particularly well-known examples of devices -- so well known that the image could be understood as representing the bearer even without the motto -- include the porcupine of Louis XII with its motto "Eminus et cominus" or "De pres et de loin" (left, over a doorway at Blois) and the crowned salamander among flames of François Ier with the motto "Nutrisco et extinguo" (right, at Chambord). These and many more were collected by Claude Paradin and published in his Devises héroïques of 1551 and 1557, which gives the motto of Louis XII as "Ultos avos Troiae". Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (2816 × 2112 pixel, file size: 2. ... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (2816 × 2112 pixel, file size: 2. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1478x1394, 356 KB) Description: Château de Chambord, salamander of Francis I of France Capture date: July 2005 Photographer: Christophe Finot Source: French Wikipedia File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1478x1394, 356 KB) Description: Château de Chambord, salamander of Francis I of France Capture date: July 2005 Photographer: Christophe Finot Source: French Wikipedia File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects... Louis XII Louis XII the Father of the People (French: Louis XII le Père du Peuple) (June 27, 1462 - January 1, 1515) was King of France from 1498-January 1, 1515. ...

External links

• French Emblems at Glasgow - two editions of Paradin are available here