‘L’exemple des angres / Þe exempil of angellis’: A French Tract on Heraldry and its Scots Translation

‘L’exemple des angres / Þe exempil of angellis’ is a short tract which traces the origins of heraldry and the office of arms to the antediluvian patriarch Enoch. The text outlines the virtues of the herald through an elaborate acrostic, while his duties, expecially those related to the role of messenger, are compared to scriptural accounts of angels. The text, originally written in French (c. 1437-50), survives in three distinct French recensions (ranging from 1450 to 1680) and a Scots translation (c. 1494), all of which are edited here.