Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Montefiori coat of arms

On my way to the Jerusalem Annual Art Fair in Chutzot Hayotcer I stopped to look at the Sir Moshe Montefiori
Wind Mill in the Mishkanot Shaananim quarter of Jerusalem. Behind a glass window I saw the wagon that used to carry this British philantropist on his many journeys in Israel and in Europe between 1827 and 1875, journeys that were intented to strengthen the Jewish settlement in Israel. On the door of this wagon my eye caught three yellow Stars of David on a blue square background and two smaller red ones beside them..

Montefiori coat of arm -updated

1 comment:

zeevveez said...

I asked Athol Bloomer about the Montefiore coat of arms that appears on his blog
(http://aronbengilad.blogspot.com/index.html)
and he answered:
Yes this is the coat of Arms originally granted to Sir Moses Montefiore. Noticed that the Stars of David have 13 points or dots in them, which is also significant in Jewish mysticism.
See http://www.heraldica.org/topics/jewish.htm
My father's great great great grandfather John Montefiore of Barbados was first cousin to Sir Moses.

This website has the version of the Montefiore coat of arms like your photo.
http://www.jewishmag.com/81mag/montefiore/montefiore.htm
Caption: The Family Crest with two flags with the words Jerusalem in Hebrew and the family motto, "Think and Thank" in Old English Letters

Here is another place in Jeruslem that has the Montefiore Coat of Arms.
http://www.jerusalem.muni.il/culture_eng/jer_in_nights/images/monti-icon.jpg

This quote from the heraldry site is very interesting. Even though the coat of arms was granted in 1819 it is alot older emblem of the Montefiore family going back before 1635. Judah Leon Montefiore of Italy is the ancestor of all the montefiore's of today and his father was Joseph Leon son of Leonor Leon Nunes de Carvajal of Mexico and her husband Jorge Almeida. Joseph fled Mexico in the 1590's.

"Sir Moses Montefiore registered his arms in 1819 (Argent a cedar-tree rising from rocks proper, on a chief azure a dagger erect proper pommel and hilt or of the first between two mullets of six points of the last), based on the family badge embroidered on an Ark curtain presented to the synagogue of Ancona by an ancestor in 1635"