The Handbook to English Heraldry Part 5

The CROSS (H. 3), formed from a combination of a Fesse with a Pale, in its simplest form is set erect in the centre of the field, and it extends to the border-lines of the Shield. If at any time it may be necessary or apparently desirable specially to set forth in the blazoning of a Shield, that a Cross charged upon it does thus extend to the border-lines, such a Cross is blazoned as a "_Cross throughout_."

No. 1, _Arg., a Cross gu._, the armorial ensign of ST. GEORGE, the special Patron Saint of England, may be blazoned as "_A Cross of St.

George_." Of this Cross, the great symbol of the Christian Faith, Spenser says--

"And on his brest a bloodie Cross he bore, The deare remembrance of his dying Lord....

Upon his Shield the like was also scored."

_Faerie Queen_, I. i. 2.

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 89.--Cross fimbriated.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 90.--Cross pointed.]

A Cross having a narrow border lying in the same plane with itself, is "fimbriated," such a border being a "_fimbriation_": thus, No. 89, _Az., a cross gu., fimbriated arg._, represents the Cross of St. George in our National "Union Jack." A Cross having its four extremities cut off square, so that it does not extend in any direction to the border-lines of the shield, is "_couped_" or "_humettee_". If the extremities of a Cross are cut off to points, it is "_pointed_," as in No. 90. If its central area is entirely removed, so that but little more than its outlines remain, it is "_voided_," or (H. 3) "_a false Cross_" ("faux croix"): when its four limbs are _equal_ in length, it is a "_Greek Cross_," as No. 91: when the limbs are _unequal_, the lower limb or shaft being longer than the other three, as in No. 92, it is a "_Latin Cross_" or a "long cross": but neither of these two last terms are used regarding the plain cross throughout, notwithstanding that differences in the shape of the shield may materially alter the proportion of the limbs. If a cross be formed of a shaft and two horizontal limbs only (like the letter T), as in No. 93, it is a "_Tau Cross_," or "_Cross Tau_": if it is pierced at the intersection of the limbs, and the entire central area be voided, it is said to be "_pierced quarterly_." A Latin Cross on steps, is "_on Degrees_," and it is distinguished as a "Calvary Cross." Charges having a cruciform arrangement are "_in Cross_."

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 91.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 92.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 93.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 94.--Quadrate.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 95.--Patriarchal.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 96.--Fourchee.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 97.--Cross Moline: Arms of De Molines.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 98.--Cross Recercelee: Arms of Bishop Anthony Bec.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 99.--Cross Patonce: Arms of William de Vesci.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 100.--Fleurie.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 101.--Fleurettee.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 102.--Pommee.]

The CROSS:--its HERALDIC VARIETIES. The Cross-symbol appears in English Heraldry under very many varieties and modifications of form and condition, some of them of great beauty. The following engraved representations of the various examples are so explicit, that descriptions of them are unnecessary. The Cross _Quadrate_, No. 94. The Cross _Patriarchal_, No. 95. The Cross _Fourchee_, No. 96. The Cross _Moline_, represented charged upon the Shield attributed to the SAXON KINGS OF ENGLAND, No. 23: this same shield--_Az., a Cross moline or_, is borne by DE MOLINES or MOLYNEUX, No. 97. The Cross _Cercelee_ or _Recercelee_ (H. 3),--_Gu., a Cross recercelee erm._, No. 98, for ANTHONY BEC, Bishop of DURHAM. The Cross _Patonce_ (H. 3),--_Gu., a Cross patonce arg._, No. 99, from the Seal of WM. DE VESCI, A.D. 1220.

The Cross _Fleury_, No. 100, should be compared carefully with Nos. 97 and 99, the Crosses _Moline_ and _Patonce_. The Cross _Fleurettee_, No.

101. The Cross _Pommee_, No. 102. The Cross _Botonee_ or _Treflee_, No.

103. The Cross _Crosslet_, or _Crosslet crossed_, No. 104. The term "_Crosslet_" is strictly applicable to any Cross on a very small scale: but it is usually applied to denote a Cross that is crossed as in No.

104. Small Crosses Botonee are occasionally used as these "Crosses-Crosslets,"--as at Warwick in the arms of the BEAUCHAMPS, the Earls of WARWICK. Crosslets are frequently blazoned _semee_ over the field of a Shield, in which case the special term _crusilly_ is often used; and, in smaller numbers, they also are favourite Charges. No. 105 is the Cross _Clechee_ or _Urdee_.

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 103.--Botonee.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 104.--Crosslet.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 105.--Clechee.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 106.--Patee.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 107.--Maltese.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 108.--Potent.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 109.--Avellane.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 110.--Botonee Fitchee.]

The Cross _Patee_ or _Formee_ is represented in No. 106. No. 107 is the "_Cross of eight Points_," or the _Maltese_ Cross: this example is drawn from the portrait of PHILLIPPE DE VILLIERS DE L'ISLE-ADAM, elected forty-third Grand Master of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, A.D.

1521; this picture is in the possession of the Earl of Clarendon, K.G.

The Cross _Potent_, No. 108. The Cross _Avellane_, No. 109. The _Crossed-Crosslet_, and the Crosses _Patee_, _Botonee_, and _Potent_, are also drawn having their shaft elongated and _pointed at the base_: in this form they are severally blazoned as a "_Crossed-Crosslet Fitchee_" (or _fitched_), a "_Cross Patee Fitchee_," &c.,--a Cross, that is, "_fixable_" in the ground; No. 110 is an example of a Cross _Botonee Fitchee_. Several of these varieties of the heraldic Cross occur but rarely; and there are other somewhat fanciful varieties so little in use, as to render any description of them unnecessary. The student of mediaeval monumental antiquities will not fail to observe a certain degree of resemblance between some of the Crosses of Heraldry, and those that are incised and sculptured on sepulchral slabs.

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 111.--Le Scrope.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 112.--De Radclyffe.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 113.--Le Boteler.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 114.--Humphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 115.--Sir Gilbert de Bohun.]

The BEND (H. 3) resembles both the Fesse and the Pale in every condition, except that it crosses the field _diagonally_ from the dexter chief to the sinister base. No. 111, the Shield of SCROPE, is--_Az., a bend or_. A celebrated contest for the right to bear this simple Shield took place, A.D. 1385-1390, between Sir RICHARD LE SCROPE and Sir ROBERT GROSVENOR, which was decided in favour of the former. No. 112, for RADCLYFFE, is--_Arg., a bend engrailed sa._ Two uncharged Bends may appear in one composition: thus, for LE BOTELER--_Arg., two bends az._, No. 113; and for FRERE--_Gu., two bends or_ (both H. 3). The Diminutives of the Bend are the _Bendlet_ and the _Cotise_, the one containing one-half and the other one-fourth of its area. A Cotise is sometimes borne singly, when it is a _Riband_. A bendlet _couped_ is a baton.

A Bend between two Cotises is _cotised_: thus, No. 114, for DE BOHUN,--_Az., a Bend arg., cotised or, between six lioncels rampt.

gold_; this Shield is engraved from the Seal of HUMPHREY DE BOHUN, fourth Earl of HEREFORD (A.D. 1298-1322); in it the cotised Bend is very narrow, evidently to give more s.p.a.ce for the lioncels. Charges displayed on a Bend _slope with it_--that is, they would be erect, were the Bend to be set vertically and to become a Pale: thus, another DE BOHUN, Sir Gilbert (H. 3), distinguishes his Shield by tincturing his Bend _or_, and charging upon it _three escallops gules_, as in No. 115. In No. 88, the eaglets also exemplify the disposition of charges upon a Bend.

Charges set diagonally on the field of a Shield, in the position in which a bend would occupy, are said to be "_in bend_" and are arranged in the same manner: but it would be quite possible to have three or more charges each disposed bendwise; but yet, nevertheless, when taken together occupying the position of a fesse and therefore described also as in fesse. This distinction between charges bendwise (or bendways) and charges in bend should be carefully noted. A field divided into an _even_ number of parts by lines drawn _bendwise_, is "_bendy_," the number of the divisions to be specified: as a matter of course, a field thus "bendy" becomes a "varied field," in which all the divisions lie in the same plane: thus, No. 116, for DE MONTFORD (H. 3 and E. 2)--_Bendy of ten or and az._ Bendlets are in relief, as in No. 117, for DE BRAY--_Vairee, three Bendlets gu._ If a field be divided by lines drawn bendwise, and also by others drawn either vertically or horizontally, it is "_paly bendy_," as No. 118, or "_barry bendy_," as No. 119. These two forms, which, however, are very rarely met with, should be carefully distinguished from a field lozengy. A Bend issuing from the sinister chief is a _Bend Sinister_.

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 116.--De Montford.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 117.--De Bray.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 118.--Paly Bendy.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 119.--Barry Bendy.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 120.--St. Andrew.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 122.--De Neville.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 121.--De Neville.]

The SALTIRE (H. 3), a combination of a Bend with a Bend Sinister, may also be regarded as a _Diagonal Cross_. Thus, the Crosses of St. ANDREW of SCOTLAND, and of St. PATRICK of IRELAND are Saltires--the former, No.

120--_Az., a Saltire arg._: the latter--_Arg., a Saltire gu._ The arms of the great family of NEVILLE reverse those of St. PATRICK, and are--_Gu., a Saltire arg._, No. 121: so Drayton has recorded that

"Upon his surcoat valiant NEVILLE bore A silver Saltire upon martial red."

_Barons' War_, i. 22.