Nick, As I have studied Heraldry I know quite a lot about it. Note how the word
Reputedly is used
Quote from the website
The Mercian Regimental Badge of a Saxon Crown over a Double Headed Eagle was reputedly the Crest of Leofric, Earl of Mercia and there is evidence that the emblem of the Mercian Eagle can be traced back as far as the 8th/9th Centuries.
If it is the Crest of Leofric (husband of Lady Godiva) why was it not used in the coat of arms of Coventry as I understood the crest of Leofric was a black eagle, heraldry is a very complex subject and it has to be right first time so a word like Reputedly should not be used but I suppose like other things happening it has been well thought out and in time will be thought of as fact in this age of Spin
(Note Crest's Arms and badges are different anyone can design a badge)
As an added note Cheshires,Staffs and Worcs. Mergered
Did not Leofric massacre the population on Worcs. in 1035 with another chap......
Quoting a page from one of my books….
The Complete Guide of Heraldry by Arthur Charles Fox-Davies
The origins of the double headed eagle has been the subject of endless controversy (pic 3) Nisbet states that the Imperial eagle was " not one eagle with two heads, but two eagles, the one laid upon the other, and their heads separate, looking different ways, which represent the two heads of the Empire after it was divided into East and West." The whole discussion is an apt example of the habit of earlier writers to find or provide hidden meanings and symbolisms when no such meanings existed. The real truth undoubtedly is that the double-headed eagle was an accepted figure long before heraldry came into existence, and that when the displayed eagle was usurped by armory as one of its peculiarly heraldic figures, the single-headed and double-headed varieties were used indifferently, until the double-headed eagle became stereotyped as the Imperial emblem. Napoleon, however, reverted to the single-headed eagle, and the present German Imperial eagle has likewise only one head.
The Imperial eagle of Napoleon had little in keeping with then existing armorial types of the bird. There can be little doubt that the model upon which it was based was the Roman Eagle of the Caesars as it figured upon the head of the Roman standards. In English terms of blazon the Napoleonic eagle would be " An eagle displayed with wings inverted, the head to the sinister, standing upon a thunderbolt
The then existing double-headed eagles of Austria and Russia probably supply the reason why, when the German Empire was created, the Prussian eagle in a modified form was preferred to the resuscitation of the older double-headed eagle, which had theretofore been more usually accepted as the symbol of Empire.
First pic is the Arms of Mathew of Paris for Emperor Fredrich II 1250c
Second pic is a Russian Military Badge note the George and Dragon in the middle
As the Russian German and British royal families were all connected
