Calistria

Lore & Background

The Wernigerode Armorial (Bavarian State Library Cod.icon. 308 n) includes Calistria among a sequence of royal and ducal arms that mix historical entities with legendary or symbolic ones. She is listed after the Jerusalem Cross and before Brittany, alongside entries for "the great Khan," Arabia, Nineveh, and Granada. The armorial's compiler placed her in a section that also features figures like the "Sultan of Jerusalem," Prester John, and "Constantine" (Byzantium). No description of her arms, her realm, or her deeds survives in the manuscript; only her name and title are recorded.

Reader's Guide

It confines itself to listing her as "Calistria, queen of the Amazons" among other arms in the armorial. The manuscript's organization follows descending rank, beginning with fictitious and symbolic coats of arms, then moving to real royal arms, and finally to the arms of territories and noble families. Calistria appears in the mixed real-and-fictitious section before the more realistic heraldic listings starting on fol. 20v.

Did You Know?

• The armorial was compiled between 1486–1492, possibly near Nördlingen in southern Germany.
• The manuscript is the first of two original volumes; the second volume has been lost.
• The armorial includes purely fictitious coats of arms for God, Jesus Christ, Death, and the 'holy knight Eustachius' before listing real royal arms.
• The papal arms of Innocent VIII are shown with the keys of Peter crossing behind the shield, a fashion that became adopted by popes during the 16th century.