Their meaning and depiction through the ages.
So, I’m off at an SCA event this weekend. It’s the Kingdom Arts and Sciences Festival, where the populace of Atlantia can share thier research and creations. I didn’t want to go empty handed, so I put together a fun bit of research regarding squirrels. Yes, Squirrels!
The arms above are just for a fun illustration, and I make no guarantee about historical accuracy. The squirrel up top is the crest. The squirrels to either side are the supporters. The red squirrel with the nut is a charge. The blue and white pattern is a tincture representing squirrel fur. And lastly the latin motto at the bottom reads “Great Squirrel.”
Squirrels in heraldry, dating back to early medieval European tradition, generally represent thriftiness, prudence, and hard work due to their nut-hoarding habits. They are typically depicted sejant erect (sitting up) and often shown holding a nut. The squirrel, as a charge, appears on coats of arms to symbolize diligent preparation.
Vair is a fur tincture in heraldry, describing a two-color pattern covering the field or a division of the field in a manner considered similar to red squirrel furs, formerly much used in noble and royal mantels. As with the squirrel charges, the squirrel fur is also used to symbolize diligent preparation.
Squirrels can also appear as supporters, which are the figures on either side of the shield of arms as seen on the arms of the Worshipful Company of Arts Scholars in London England. In this instance the squirrel, who holds a golden acorn, is representative of the careful acquisitiveness of the collector.
The arms of Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, Scotland, featuring on either side a supporter of squirrel sejant proper.
This is a manhole cover from the streets of Kilmarnock, featuring a variation of the device with a squirrel sejant erect.
The squirrel may also appear as a crest atop a coat of arms. The Lee family of Stratford Hall in Virginia has a crest which features a squirrel sitting on a horizontal branch, cracking a nut. Underneath is the Latin motto: Non Incautus Futuri. This translates to “not unmindful of the future.”
A squirrel cracking a nut is also featured as a crest of a branch of the Gilbert family. The family Coat of Arms is silver with a red chevron on which there are three silver roses. Their family motto means “Peace is Pleasing.”
Often heraldry includes a visual pun, where the charge on the shield sounded like the family name A famous example is the Fouquet family in France.
The name Fouquet is derived from the dialectal word for squirrel. Perhaps the most famous bearer of these arms was Nicolas Fouquet, the Superintendent of Finances under the French king, Louis XIV. His coat of arms featured a squirrel with the ambitious motto Quo non ascendet; “To what heights will he not climb”. Ironically, it was this perceived ambition that eventually led to his downfall and imprisonment by the Sun King.
The arms of Sir Thomas Lovell; Speaker of the House of Commons, Secretary to the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer, under King Henry VII.
The arms are quarterly. One and four, argent a chevron azure between three squirrel sejant erect gules, the chevron charged with a crescent of the first for difference (for Lovell); two and three, sable two chevrons argent, each charged with three cinquefoils gules. (Vert, two chevrons argent each charged with three cinquefoils gules.
The arms of the Lovell Family. Argent, a chevron azure between three squirrels sejant gules.
What is the is the difference between a North American Grey Squirrel and a European Red Squirrel?
The squirrel as depicted in European heraldry is, of course, the European Red Squirrel. The North American Grey Squirrel is a distinctly different breed of squirrel, though they have many similarities in regards to habitat, diet and breeding patterns. They also have some obvious differences, notable in their coloring and size; the grey squirrel is an average of 25% larger than the red squirrel.
sports very distinctive fluffy ear tufts, which they only grow in the winter. You can see the difference illustrated between the European style charge and the American style charge.
Bibliography
A Complete Guide to Heraldry. Fox-Davies, A.C., (Bonanza, 1978).
Gilbert Family Genealogy. (hausegenealogy.com/gilbert.html )
Kilmarnock & District History Group. (www.kilmarnockhistory.co.uk)
Nicolas Fouquet. Encyclopedia Britannica, 2026. (www.britannica.com/biography/Nicolas-Fouquet)
Red Squirrel Survival Trust. BBC Wildlife, 2025. (www.discoverwildlife.com)
Sir Thomas Lovell: A New Man in a New Monarchy?. Gunn, S.J., (Stroud, 1998)
Squirrely at Stratford! (stratfordhallprojects.blogspot, 2012).
Worshipful Company of Arts Scholars c/o The Clerk. (www.artsscholars.org/company-guide)
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