Why do some, especially early experts in heraldry insist that those gold cats on the Royal Arms of England are leopards and not lions?

Senior Moments

http://www.medievaltymes.com/courtyard/beasts_of_charge.htm The heraldic lion is always shown in profile, more often erect (rampant) than lying down (couchant). In early English armoury, until the late 14th century, any lion that was not rampant was called a "Lion leoparde". This term may date back to an ancient Greek convention that distinguished between the lion, usually shown with a heavy mane and in profile, and the leopard, which had less hair and was shown looking towards the observer. Later the term leopard was applied only to the `Lion passant guardant', that is a lion walking, with its right forepaw raised and its head facing the spectator, as in the royal arms of England; hence the expression `the leopards of England'. Nowadays, the term leopard applies only to the real animal, which is rarely found in blazon. Nov 07 03, 4:27 PM

griffinj

Good job,SM! My book suggests that the leopard's characteristic slinking walk may account for this. Thanks for the excellent page, too. There is also another explaination found in some books, anyone care to have a try at it? Nov 07 03, 4:37 PM

gmackematix

The leopard is commonly found in Shropshire as there are three in the county's coat of arms known, for some unknown reason, as the loggerheads. Nov 07 03, 9:06 PM

griffinj

The Shropshire "loggerheads" come from the civic arms of Shrewsbury. I'll go out on a limb here and guess the term is a corruption of "leopardhead". But it's a long limb. Nov 07 03, 9:16 PM

gmackematix

Yes, griffin, and srangely, the Shrewsbury civic version has lion-heads rather than leopards. Nov 08 03, 11:40 PM

griffinj

Hi, Gmack. In "Burke's General Armoury" Shrewsbury, town of, is listed as 'Azure, three leopards' faces or' (not loggerheads there). But this is one of those academic things that heraldists (and trivia junkies) love to debate, since in practice the two are drawn virtually indistinguishably. Has anyone come up with the other reason why the lions in the royal arms are refered to as leopards? Nov 09 03, 6:10 AM

Senior Moments

The leopards' faces in these arms were adopted by the County Council in 1895 from the Borough of Shrewsbury (Azure, 3 leopards' faces Or). It is only in the incorporation of the ermine that the County arms differ from those of the Borough. The heads appear on the fifteenth century seal of the Corporation but their origin is unknown. They may have been derived from the Royal Arms, or from the Arms of De La Pole, Earls of Suffork in the fourteenth century (Azure, a chevron, and three leopards' faces Or), or arms of some local family. The heads are often referred to as "the loggerheads". This originates presumably in the practice of carving some such motif on the head of the log used as a battering ram. http://www.ngw.nl/int/gbr/s/shropshi.htm Nov 09 03, 8:58 AM