The Zurich armorial on parchment is one of the most important and
most unusual documents of medieval heraldry. Today it consists of
four parts of various lengths, which can be combined into one
four-meter-long roll. Painted on both sides of the parchment, it
depicts 559 coats of arms, each shield decorated with a crest, of
high and lower nobility from Northern Switzerland, Southern Germany
and Western Austria. Names are given next to each shield. In
addition there are 28 flags of German bishoprics and monasteries.
The order of these four remaining parts, which consist of thirteen
parchment leaves that were sewn together, is as follows: Part I
(36.5 cm) contains the coats of arms of the bishoprics and
monasteries on the verso side (Merz-Hegi numbering: I-XXVIII; the
numbering in the original is from the 16th/17th century) and 22
noble coats of arms on the recto side (1-22). Parts 2 and 3 (255.5
cm) were still sewn together in 1930. Part 2, consisting of four
parchment leaves, contains the coats of arms 23-104 and 108-114 on
the recto side and the coats of arms 214-220, 224-308 on the verso
side. Part 3, consisting of three parchment leaves sewn together,
contains the coats of arms 105-107, 115-162 on the recto side and
the coats of arms 163-213, 221-223 on the verso side. Part 4 (109
cm), consisting of five parchment leaves sewn together, contains
the coats of arms 309-378 on the recto side and the coats of arms
379-450 on the verso side. The armorial is incomplete. The missing
fourth part should have contained another 109 coats of arms, which
are known from a late 18th century copy of the roll. The armorial
was probably created in Zurich or in the area of Lake Constance. It
can be dated to the period between 1330 and 1345. The style of the
workmanship is reminiscent of the famous Codex Manesse, a
collection of poems in German with 137 miniatures, also created in
Zurich, but somewhat older. The Zurich armorial was owned by
Zürich historian and naturalist Johann Jakob Scheuchzer
(1672–1733); later it became part of the collection of the
Antiquarian Society of Zurich and then of the Swiss National
Museum.
