Read Ebook: Peeps at Heraldry by Allen Phoebe

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Ebook has 263 lines and 24668 words, and 6 pages

piteful mood, and certainly had a turn for punning. For on that gentleman's shield we find three leaves of the stinging-nettle boldly charged!

The Foresters bear bugle horns; the Trumpingtons, three trumpets.

Three eel-spears were borne by the family of Strathele, this being the old name given to a curious fork, set in a long wooden handle, and used by fishermen to spear the eels in mud.

The Graham Briggs charge a bridge upon their coat of arms.

A tilting spear was granted as his armorial bearings to William Shakespeare, which he bore as a single charge; a single spear was also borne appropriately by one Knight of Hybern.

As a last example of allusive arms, we may quote a comparatively modern example--viz., the coat of arms of the Cunard family.

Here we find three anchors charged upon the field, in obvious allusion to Sir Samuel Cunard, the eminent merchant of Philadelphia and the founder of the House of Cunard.

THE SHIELD--ITS FORM, POINTS, AND TINCTURES

Nothing is more fascinating in the study of heraldry than the cunning fashion in which it tells the history either of a single individual or of a family, of an institution, or of a city--sometimes even of an empire--all within the space of one small shield, by using the signs which compose its language. It is astounding how much information can be conveyed by the skilful arrangement of these signs to those who can interpret them.

For armorial bearings were not originally adopted for ornament, but to give real information, about those who bore them.

Thus every detail of a coat of arms has its own message to deliver, and must not be overlooked. Let us begin with the shield, which is as necessary a part of any heraldic achievement as the canvas of a painting is to the picture portrayed upon it.

It actually serves as the vehicle for depicting the coat of arms.

Early Britons used round, light shields woven of osier twigs, with hides thrown over them, whilst the Scythians and Medes dyed their shields red, so that their comrades in battle might not be discouraged by seeing the blood of the wounded. The Roman Legionary bore a wooden shield covered with leather and strengthened with bars and bosses of metal, whilst the Greek shield was more elaborate, and reached from a man's face to his knee. Homer describes AEneas' shield in the "Iliad" thus:

"Five plates of various metal, various mould, Composed the shield, of brass each outward fold, Of tin each inward, and the middle gold."

But whether the shield were of basket-work or metal, whether it were borne by a savage hordesman or by a nobly equipped and mounted knight, it has always ranked as its bearer's most precious accoutrement, the loss of which was deemed an irreparable calamity and a deep disgrace to the loser.

How pathetically King David laments over "the shield of the mighty which was vilely cast away," when Saul was slain! And everyone knows that when their sons went forth to battle the Spartan mothers admonished them to return either "with their shield or upon it"!

In studying the heraldic shield, its shape must be considered first, because that marks the period in history to which it belongs.

Another form of shield had a curved notch in the right side, through which the lance was passed when the shield was displayed on the breast .

The shield of a coat of arms usually presents a plain surface, but it is sometimes enriched with a bordure--literally border. This surface is termed the "field," "because, as I believe," says Guillim, "it bore those ensigns which the owner's valour had gained for him on the field."

The several points of a shield have each their respective names, and serve as landmarks for locating the exact position of the different figures charged on the field.

In the seventeenth century one Petrosancta introduced the system of delineating the tinctures of the shield by certain dots and lines, in the use of which we have a good example of how heraldry can dispense with words. Thus pin-prick dots represent or ; a blank surface, argent ; horizontal lines, azure ; perpendicular, gules ; horizontal and perpendicular lines crossing each other, sable ; diagonal lines running from the dexter chief to the sinister base, vert ; diagonal lines running in an opposite direction, purpure .

Two other colours, orange and blood-colour, were formerly in use, but they are practically obsolete now.

Furs constitute the second class of tinctures. Eight kinds occur in English heraldry, but we can only mention the two most important--viz., ermine and vair. The former is represented by black spots on a white ground . As shields were anciently covered with the skins of animals, it is quite natural that furs should appear in armorial bearings. "Ermine," says Guillim, "is a little beast that hath his being in the woods of Armenia, whereof he taketh his name."

Many legends account for the heraldic use of ermine, notably that relating how, when Conan Meriadic landed in Brittany, an ermine sought shelter from his pursuers under Conan's shield. Thereupon the Prince protected the small fugitive, and adopted an ermine as his arms.

As to vair, Mackenzie tells us that it was the skin of a beast whose back was blue-grey , and that the figure used in heraldry to indicate vair represents the shape of the skin when the head and feet have been taken away . "These skins," he says, "were used by ancient governors to line their pompous robes, sewing one skin to the other."

Vair was first used as a distinctive badge by the Lord de Courcies when fighting in Hungary. Seeing that his soldiers were flying from the field, he tore the lining from his mantle and raised it aloft as an ensign. Thereupon, the soldiers rallied to the charge and overcame the enemy.

DIVISIONS OF THE SHIELD

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There is a tenth ordinary, which is known as the "shakefork" . Practically unknown in English heraldry, it is frequently met with in Scotch arms. It is shaped like the letter Y and pointed at its extremities, but does not extend to the edge of the field. Guillim attributes its origin to "an instrument in use in the royal stables, whereby hay was thrown up to the horses" , and he believes the shakefork to have been granted to a certain Earl of Glencairne, who at one time was Master of the King's Horse.

Many historical stories are connected with the different charges we have just been describing, but we have only space to mention two, referring respectively to the fesse and the saltire.

The former reminds us of the origin of the arms of Austria, which date from the Siege of Acre, where our Cur-de-Lion won such glory. It was here that Leopold, Duke of Austria, went into battle, clad in a spotlessly white linen robe, bound at the waist with his knight's belt. On returning from the field, the Duke's tunic was "total gules"--blood-red--save where the belt had protected the white of the garment. Thereupon, his liege-lord, Duke Frederic of Swabia, father of the famous Frederic Barbarossa, granted permission to Leopold to bear as his arms a silver fesse upon a blood-red field.

The roundlet is simply a ring of metal or colour, and is much used in coats of arms at all periods of heraldry. The family of Wells bears a roundlet to represent a fountain, whilst the Sykes charge their shield with three roundlets, in allusion to their name, "sykes" being an old term for a well.

In Fig. 29 we see an example of a shield charged with an inescutcheon within a bordure.

THE BLAZONING OF ARMORIAL BEARINGS

The word "blazon" in its heraldic sense means the art of describing armorial bearings in their proper terms and sequence.

"To blazon," says Guillim, "signifies properly the winding of a horn, but to blazon a coat of arms is to describe or proclaim the things borne upon it in their proper gestures and tinctures" "which the herald was bound to do."

The herald, as we know, performed many different offices. It was his duty to carry messages between hostile armies, to marshal processions, to challenge to combat, to arrange the ceremonial at grand public functions, to settle questions of precedence, to identify the slain on the battle-field--this duty demanded an extensive knowledge of heraldry--to announce his sovereign's commands, and, finally, to proclaim the armorial bearings and feats of arms of each knight as he entered the lists at a tournament.

Probably because this last duty was preceded by a flourish or blast of trumpets, people learnt to associate the idea of blazoning with the proclamation of armorial bearings, and thus the term crept into heraldic language and signified the describing or depicting of all that belonged to a coat of arms.

The few and comparatively simple rules with regard to blazoning armorial bearings must be rigidly observed. They are the following:

When any charge is placed on an ordinary, as in Fig. 41, where three calves are charged upon the bend, if these charges are of the same colour as the field instead of repeating the name of the colour, it must be blazoned as being "of the field."

We now come to those charges known as "marks of cadency." They are also called "differences" or "distinctions."

Cadency--literally, "falling down"--means in heraldic language, "descending a scale," and is therefore a very suitable term for describing the descending degrees of a family. Thus "marks of cadency" are certain figures or devices which are employed in armorial bearings in order to mark the distinctions between the different members and branches of one and the same family. These marks are always smaller than other charges, and the herald is careful to place them where they do not interfere with the rest of the coat of arms. There are nine marks of cadency--generally only seven are quoted--so that in a family of nine sons, each son has his own special difference. The eldest son bears a label ; the second, a crescent, ; third, a mullet --the heraldic term for the rowel of a spur; the fourth, a martlet --the heraldic swallow; the fifth, a roundle or ring ; the sixth, a fleur-de-lys ; the seventh, a rose ; the eighth, a cross moline; and the ninth, a double quatrefoil. The single quatrefoil represents the heraldic primrose. There is much doubt as to why the label was chosen for the eldest son's badge, but though many writers interpret the symbolism of the other marks of cadency in various ways, most are agreed as to the meaning of the crescent, mullet, and martlet--viz., the crescent represents the double blessing which gives hope of future increase; the mullet implies that the third son must earn a position for himself by his own knightly deeds; whilst the martlet suggests that the younger son of a family must be content with a very small portion of land to rest upon. As regards the representation of the other charges, the writer once saw the following explanation in an old manuscript manual of French heraldry--namely: "The fifth son bears a ring, as he can only hope to enrich himself through marriage; the sixth, a fleur-de-lys, to represent the quiet, retired life of the student; the seventh, a rose, because he must learn to thrive and blossom amidst the thorns of hardships; the eighth, a cross, as a hint that he should take holy orders; whilst to the ninth son is assigned the double primrose, because he must needs dwell in the humble paths of life."

The eldest son of a second son would charge his difference as eldest son, a label, upon his father's crescent , to show that he was descended from the second son, all his brothers charging their own respective differences on their father's crescent also. Thus, each eldest son of all these sons in turn becomes head of his own particular branch.

When a coat of arms is charged with a mark of cadency, it is always mentioned last in blazoning, and is followed by the words, "for a difference." Thus Fig. 43 should be blazoned, "Or, kingfisher with his beak erected bendways proper with a mullet for a difference gu.," thus showing that the arms are borne by a third son.

COMMON OR MISCELLANEOUS CHARGES

After the "proper charges" which we have just been considering, we come to those termed "common or miscellaneous."

Guillim arranges these charges in the following order:

To begin with the heavenly bodies.

Supporters, you must understand, are those figures which are represented standing on either side of a shield of arms, as if they were supporting it. No one may bear these figures except by special grant, the grant being restricted to Peers, Knights of the Garter, Thistle, and St. Patrick, Knights Grand Cross, and Knights Grand Commanders of other orders.

The moon occurs very often in early coats of arms, either full, when she is blazoned "the moon in her complement," or in crescent. The Defous bear a very comical crescent, representing a human profile. Of these arms, the old herald says severely: "A weak eye and a weaker judgment have found the face of a man in the moon, wherein we have gotten that fashion of representing the moon with a face."

The moon is certainly not in favour with Guillim, for, after declaring that she was the symbol of inconstancy, he quotes the following fable from Pliny to her discredit:

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