kleestengel

English

A red eagle with gold kleestengel ornaments on its wings.

Etymology

From older German Kleestengel (since 1996 now spelled Kleestängel).

Noun

kleestengel (plural kleestengel)

1. (heraldry, rare) One of a pair of ornaments extending from the chest outward along the wing-bone of a bird, terminating in a trefoil, chiefly in German heraldry.
   • 1987, Madeline Harrison Caviness, Stained Glass Before 1700 in American Collections: Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern Seaboard States:

     Gules an eagle argent with "Kleestengel" and a crescent sable on its breast, armed and membered or

   • 2001, Virginia Chieffo Raguin, Helen Jackson Zakin, Elizabeth Carson Pastan, Stained Glass Before 1700 in the Collections of the Midwest States: Michigan, Ohio:

     Argent, an eagle or [for gules], with 'Kleestengel' or (Margrave of Brandenburg) (ibid., p. 12, pl. 12). Technique : The Überlingen heraldic window is a technical masterpiece. The lion, mantling and escutcheon were made with red flashed glass […]

   • 2005, Sarah Brown, A History of the Stained Glass of St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, St George's Chapel, page 188:

     A gold helmet affronty ensigned by a gold coronet, from which arises an eagle displayed sable crowned or, on each wing a kleestengel or and having upon the breast the letters F R also or. Mantling : Sable doubled argent.