The Handbook to English Heraldry Part 3

THE SHIELD: ITS HERALDIC TREATMENT.--When a Shield is represented as standing erect, it is not necessary to specify that fact, since such a position may be a.s.sumed for a Shield unless another be set forth in blazoning. Shields are sometimes made to appear suspended by the _guige_, or shield-belt (which was worn by Knights to sustain and secure their Shields to their persons); in some Seals and generally in architectural compositions, Shields-of-Arms appear suspended, erect, from their guiges; at Westminster some of the earliest Shields are thus suspended, with a very happy effect, from two points of suspension, the guige pa.s.sing over sculptured heads, as in No. 48, the Arms of Provence, borne by ALIANORE of Provence, Queen of HENRY III.--the _shield_ is _gold_, and on it are blazoned _four red pallets_. In Seals, the suspended Shield is generally represented hanging by the sinister-chief angle, as in No. 49; and it hangs thus diagonally from below the helm.

A Shield thus placed is said to be "_couche_." This arrangement is also frequently adopted, when a Shield or an Achievement of arms is not placed upon a Seal; but in any case the position has no importance except as a matter of artistic treatment.

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 48.--Arms of Provence, Westminster Abbey.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 49.--Shield Couche.]

The entire surface of every Shield is termed the "_Field_." The same term is also applied to _every plain surface_. A Shield is said to be "borne" by the personage to whom it belongs: and, in its turn, the Shield "bears" whatever figures and devices may be displayed upon it; whence, all these figures and devices are ent.i.tled "_Bearings_" or "_Armorial Bearings_." All figures and devices are also styled "_Charges_"; and they are said to be "_charged_" upon a Shield, Banner, or Surcoat, or upon one another. In blazoning, the field of the Shield is always first noticed and described: next follow the charges that rest upon the field of the Shield itself; then descriptions are given of the secondary bearings that are charged upon others of greater importance.

As a general rule, of several charges which all alike rest immediately upon the field of the Shield, the most important is the first to be blazoned; so that the arrangement of blazoning is determined by the comparative dignity of the bearings, as well as by the degree in which charges are nearer to the field and further from beholders. In some cases, however, a bearing charged upon the field of a Shield and many times repeated on a small scale, is blazoned (for the sake of simplicity and clearness of expression) next to the field of the Shield itself:--thus, if a lion be charged on the field of a Shield, and a considerable number of crosses surround the lion, and, like him, are placed on the field of the Shield also--the field of the Shield is blazoned first, the crosses second, and the lion third; and, if a crescent (or other bearing) be charged upon the lion's shoulder, it is the last in the blazon. In quartered Shields the blazoning commences afresh with each quartering. In blazoning armorial banners and horse-trappings, the latter often gorgeously enriched with heraldic blazonry, the dexter side of a flag is always next to the staff, and the head of a horse is supposed always to be looking towards the dexter.

CHAPTER V

THE GRAMMAR OF HERALDRY

SECTION II

_The Tinctures' Metals-- Colours-- Furs-- Varied Fields-- Law of Tinctures-- Counterchanging-- Diaper-- Disposition-- Blazoning in Tinctures._

"All the devices blazoned on the Shield In their own tinct"

--ELAINE.

In English Heraldry the TINCTURES comprise _Two Metals_, _Five Colours_, and _Eight Furs_. They are symbolised or indicated by dots and lines--a very convenient system, said to have been introduced, about the year 1630, by an Italian named Silvestre de Petrasancta. Some such symbolisation, however, may occasionally be found in antic.i.p.ation of Petrasancta. The system now in use was not generally adopted till the commencement of the eighteenth century. This system is never officially employed in a matter of record, and is now being discarded by many artists. The Metals, Colours, and Furs are named, their names are abbreviated, and they are severally indicated, as follows:--

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 50.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 51.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 52.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 53.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 54.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 55.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 56.]

TWO METALS.

t.i.tLES ABBREVIATIONS SYMBOLISATION.

1. Gold _Or_ Or No. 50.

2. Silver _Argent_ Arg. No. 51.

FIVE COLOURS

t.i.tLES ABBREVIATIONS SYMBOLISATION.

1. Blue _Azure_ _Az._ No. 52.

2. Red _Gules_ _Gu._ No. 53.

3. Black _Sable_ _Sa._ No. 54.

4. Green _Vert_ _Vert_ No. 55.

5. Purple _Purpure_ _Purp._ No. 56

(In French Heraldry, _Green_ is _Sinople_.)

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 57.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 58.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 59.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 60.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 61.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 62.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 63.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 64.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 65.]

EIGHT FURS (not abbreviated).

t.i.tLES

1. _Ermine_,--black spots on white No. 57.

2. _Ermines_,--white spots on black No. 58.

3. _Erminois_,--black spots on gold No. 59.

4. _Pean_,--gold spots on black No. 60.

5. _Vair_,--alternate divisions of blue and white, Nos. 61, 62.

6. _Counter Vair_ (note difference of arrangement) No. 63.

7. _Potent_ (note different shape of divisions) No. 64.

8. _Counter Potent_ No. 65.

Two other Colours, or tints of Colour, are sometimes heard of--_Tenne_, a tawny or orange colour, indicated by vertical lines crossing those of _Purpure_: and _Murrey_ or _Sanguine_, a dark crimson red, indicated by diagonal lines from both dexter and sinister, crossing each other. These two are sometimes termed stains, but their real usage was in liveries.

The Furs, Nos. 58, 59, 60, 63, 64, and 65, are of comparatively rare occurrence, and do not appear in the best ages of Heraldry. _Vair_ and _Ermine_ are common. A good early form of _Vair_ is shown in No. 62: and in No. 57A, I give a fine example of the treatment of _Ermine_, from the monument of EDWARD III.

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 57A.]

In order to avoid repeating or referring to the word "_Or_," the word "_Gold_" is sometimes used. The Furs, Nos. 61, 62, 63, 64, and 65, are always _argent_ and _azure_, unless some other metal and colour be named in the blazoning. Animated beings and all objects, that in Heraldry are represented in their natural aspect and colouring, are blazoned "_proper_" abbreviated _ppr._ Heraldic charges and compositions, when sketched in outline with pen and ink or with pencil, and with the colours _written_ thereon, are said to be "_tricked_," or "_in trick_."

VARIED FIELDS.--It is not necessary that the Field of a Shield, or of any Bearing, should be of any one uniform tincture: but varied surfaces are usually tinctured of some one metal and some one colour alternating; and the patterns or devices thus produced are generally derived (the Furs, Nos. 61-65, which are good examples of varied surfaces, being the exceptions) from the forms of the original simple charges that are distinguished as _Ordinaries_ and _Subordinaries._ And these varied surfaces or fields are always _flat_; the whole of their devices or patterns are _level_, their metal and colour lying in the same plane. It is evident that, in representing any examples of this cla.s.s, no shading is to be introduced to denote relief.