Book Description

Realizing that crests are really assigned to a specific individual and not a family, I have still chosen to show the crests that are associated with the O’Malleys and Ritschharts. The O’Malley crest is a prominent fixture in any of the Irish Heraldry shops and I personally observed in inside the Catholic Abbey on Clare Island just off the coast of Westport in County Mayo. The Abbey dates back to the mid-15th century. The inscription at the bottom of the O’Malley crest translates to “Valiant by Sea and Land”. I observed the Ritschhart crest on a large wooden mural in the Church in Hilterfingen, Switzerland. The Ritschhart name and crest appears 8 times on the mural, donated in 1731 by 32 prominent families in the area.