Straub Family Crest

Straub Coat of Arms Research

THE NOBLE FAMILY OF STRAUB OF BADEN AND THEIR COAT OF ARMS

Heraldry and the use of coats-of-arms date generally to medieval times, and relate directly to knighthood, chivalry and tournaments. With a knight covered from head to toe in a suit of plate armor, it was imperative that a heraldic device could easily identify him on his shield. This identifying mark was also placed by the front door of his castle, on the sleeve of his coat, on the dress of his wife, on the letterhead of his stationary, on his silver-ware, carved on his church-pew and gravestone, and stamped with a seal in wax on documents he signed.

Each item of the heraldic device had some special meaning, such as an animal or flower that was the family mascot or emblem. When a man married a lady of noble family, her father's arms were combined with her husband's in the arms borne by her sons.

The first hint that the Straubs were a noble family came in finding them, in medieval times, with the name ending -bent, -bait, -bold, and -bald, Teutonic endings denoting "of noble birth". The actual arms were found in J.B. Rietstap's ARMORIAL GENERAL, TOME XII, which shows four coats of arms for the STRAUB family in Germany, one of which is for Baden Province, from which our own family originates. Let all understand clearly, however, that at this point we do not claim this coat-of-arms connects to our own family. All we know at present is that our family and the arms originate in Baden Province. Our immigrant ancestors could have borne these arms or could have been from an entirely separate branch of the Straub family in Baden from the owners of the arms. They are presented here, properly, as part of a study of the family in general.

The evidence learned from the arms is firmer ground. They are most ancient; being very simple forms of arms, that is, without mottoes, crests, supporting figures or other late medieval additions. The Straub arms are found in the form used by a knight on his shield, and they remain in the simple shield shape, in the original silver metal color, for the escutcheon. Across this running diagonally from the lower left corner to the upper right (non-heraldic terms are used here for simplicity) is a bar of azure blue, and in the two corners (upper right and lower left) are two leafy, green branches. Evidently the knight who first used the Straub arms identified himself simply wait a sky blue bar diagonally across his silver shield. Later, he or his son married a lady of noble family, and her family sign was a leafy branch, placed in two corners of the shield, and then the two were combined (quartered).

A still later form of the arms has Straub of Argovie, Baden and this form of the arms has the upper part of a man (head and shoulders only). He wears an azure robe with a stiff, flaring collar bordered with silver (a later medieval form of dress). In each hand he carries a branch of rose tree, which has leaves on the left and four roses placed two above the hand and two below, on either side of the branch. One of the popular ways of choosing a device was to portray the man whom the family traditionally descends, its founder or hero. Another was to make a pun upon the family name. It is possible that this rose tree branch might be a pun on STAB or "staff or even that "rose‑tree" might be a very old meaning for Straub. We can be sure that it once had some meaning for the man who put it on the early Straub arms, and, if we can unravel the meaning, we will, through heraldry, get another glimpse into the inaccessible period in which we can hardly hope to find written family records.

DESCRIPTION OF THE COAT OF ARMS, STRAUB OF BADEN, ARGOVIE

The following from the Librarian of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 1300 Locust Street, Philadelphia 7, Pa. Taken from Tome XII of Armorial General by J.B. Rietstap, page 853.

Straub (Baden - Argovie)
"D'ARGENT A LA BARRE D'AZUR, (Silver (shield) with a bar of azure)
"COTEYEE DE DEUZ BRANCHES FEUILLES DE SIN., (Going down the left side (or wife's) side two leafy branches)
"CELLE EN CHEF RENV.
(Those in the chief (area of the escutcheon) reversed)
"CQ. COUR. (Believe this stands for: COQUERELLES-noisettes daps leur gousses et reunites au nombre de trios. COU RONN E- ornament exterior de 1'ecu.)
(Hazelnuts in their shells, united to number three, outside ornament)
"C.: UN HOMME ISS., HAB. D'AZUR
(C: a man, issuant (with only upper part visible, heraldic term), in azure habit.)
"REBR. D'ARG., AU RABAT DU MEME
(Embroidered - or bordered-with silver, at the rabat (a stiff, flaring medieval collar, as of lace) of the same.)
"TENANT DE CHAQUE MAIN UNE BRANCHE DE ROSIER (Carrying in each hand a branch of rose-tree)
"FEUILLE DE SIN., FLEURIE DE QUATRE ROSES DE CU., (Leafy on the sinister (left) side, flowered with four red roses,)
"DON'T DEUX AU-DESSUS DE LA MAIN ET DEUX AU-DESSOUS, (Of which two are above the hand and two below,)
"LES ROSES DE CHAQUE BRANCHE L'UNE SUR L'AUTRE. (The roses of each branch one on the other.)
"L.: D'AR. ET D'AZUR." (L.: of silver and azure.)

The arms pictured in the copy of Rietstap in the San Francisco Library is without the figure of a man, having simply the bar and two branches. It would, therefore, be the most ancient form.

The above is quoted directly from Ethel Stroupe's notes, dated Jan. 3, 1967 1 also found this same information in my Aunt Velda's notes dated 1948.

Mike Stroupe