HERALDRY. 



695 



But the French carried to far greater perfection the 

 tournament, and the blazon or heraldry connected 

 with it, as they did the whole system of chivalry. 

 Since, moreover, the French language prevailed at 

 the court of the Norman kings in England, pure 

 French expressions have been preserved in British 

 heraldry. Tims the green tincture (colour), in a 

 coat of arms, is termed vert (though in French sitio- 

 ple, which originally denoted a reddish brown; 

 bright red is termed gueules, probably with an allu- 

 sion to the bloody revenge of wild animals, which 

 play so conspicuous a part in heraldry); the divided 

 shield is, moreover, called coupe; and passant, re- 

 gardant, dormant, couchant, &c., are used. German 

 heraldry, on the contrary, contains almost pure Ger- 

 man expressions. In a coat of arms, the helm is 

 placed upon the shield, and the latter is surrounded 

 by the wreath. At a tournament, the mantle of the 

 knight* with the helm and shield, was suspended in 

 the lists. The colours or tinctures of the shields 

 had their foundation in the custom of the most 

 ancient Germans, of giving their shields various col- 

 ours a custom which received a tender meaning in 

 the tournaments of the middle ages, the knight, 

 bound to defend the honour of dames, and devote 

 himself to their protection, wearing their colours on 

 his shield. By degrees, the partitions or sections on 

 shields came into use ; for when, as often occurred, 

 a knight was the champion of several ladies, he bore 

 several colours on his shield, which had therefore to 

 be divided into fields. When the martial youth of 

 almost all Europe left their homes, about the end of 

 the eleventh century, inspired with religious enthu- 

 siasm, to conquer the Holy Land, the use of arms 

 became still more general and necessary. In order 

 to distinguish the nations, armies, and families, the 

 princes and commanders chose their symbols, some- 

 times in commemoration of the exploits and events 

 of the campaign, or of the dignity of the commander, 

 and sometimes from mere fancy or passing humour. 



The practical functions of the herald consist in 

 blazoning, historifying, passing judgment on, and 

 marshalling, coats of arms. Blazoning is the me- 

 thodical description of a bearing. In the first place, 

 the shield is described according to its tinctures, 

 figures, and partitions. The inferior parts of an 

 escutcheon are then blazoned, the helm, with its 

 insignia, which are trumpet, wings, and plumes, men 

 and animals, or their members ; then the wreath and 

 its tinctures ; after which the coronet, cap, &c. ; 

 finally the supporters, the mantle, the device, and 

 other secondary things. To historify, in heraldry, is 

 to explain the history of a coat of arms, its origin, and 

 the changes it has undergone. If the herald is to 

 explain a bearing historically, he must show that this 

 figure is the proper emblem of the family or country. 

 He derives, for instance, from historical sources, the 

 proof that the double-headed eagle of the Roman 

 king was first introduced in the beginning of the four- 

 teenth century, under Albert I., and that previously, 

 from the time of Otho II., the royal eagle had but 

 one head ; that the three leopards in the English arms 

 were first derived in 1127, under Henry I., from the 

 Norman house. The marshalling of arms consists 

 in the preparation of new escutcheons. In this mat- 

 ter, the herald either follows the orders of a sovereign, 

 or he invents the idea, and makes the plan of the 

 escutcheon according to his own judgment, or he 

 composes a new escutcheon from several coats of 

 arms. In heraldic science, arms are distinguished 

 by different names, to denote (he causes of their be- 

 ing borne, such as arms of dominion, of pretension, 

 of concession, of community, of patronage, of family, 

 of alliance, of succession, of assumption. Those of 

 dominion and sovereignty are those which emperors, 



kings and sovereign states constantly bear, being, as it 

 were, annexed to the territories, kingdoms, and pro- 

 vinces they possess. Thus there are the arms of 

 England, of France, &c. Arms of pretension are 

 those of kingdoms, provinces, or territories, to which 

 a prince or lord has some claim, and which he adds 

 to his own, although such kingdoms or territories are 

 possessed by another prince or lord. Arms of 

 concession, or augmentation of honour, are entire 

 arms, as the fortress of Gibraltar on the escutcheon 

 of lord Heathfield. Arms of community belong to 

 bishoprics, cities, companies, &c. ; of patronage, to 

 governors of provinces, lords of manors, &c. Arms 

 of family are the property of individuals ; and it is 

 criminal in any persons not of the family to assume 

 them. Arms of alliance show the union of families 

 and individuals. Arms of succession are taken up 

 by those who inherit certain estates, manors, &c., 

 either by will, entail, or donation, and which they 

 impale or quarter with their own. This multiplies 

 the titles of some families from necessity, and not 

 from ostentation. Arms of assumption, or assumptive 

 arms, are taken up by the caprice or fancy of persons 

 who assume them without a legal title. They are 

 also such as a man of his proper right may assume, 

 with the approbation of his sovereign and of the 

 king of arms. 



The parts of arms are the escutcheon, the tinctures, 

 charges, and ornaments. 



Escutcheon. The escutcheon, or shield, repre- 

 sents the original shield used in war, and on which 

 arms were anciently borne. The surface of the 

 escutcheon is termed the field, because it contains 

 those marks of honour which were formerly acquired 

 in the field. The forms of the shield were of different 

 kinds, namely, triangular, notched and indented, 

 called a shield-chancre, oval, which is called a 

 lozenge, and used by females, and the square form, 

 which is in ordinary use at present. The shield is 

 likewise distinguished not only by the variety of its 

 forms, but also of its position, some being borne erect 

 and others pendant, some hanging by the right and 

 others by the left corner. To the escutcheon belong 

 points and abatements. The points of the escutcheon 

 are certain points which are peculiarly distinguished 

 for the location of the figures which the field contains. 

 These points are distinguished by the first nine letters 

 of the alphabet, as in fig. in plate 44, which are as 

 follows : namely, 



ABC, the chief, whicli represents the highest and 

 most honourable part of the shield. A is the dexter 

 chief ; B, the middle chief; and C, the sinister chief. 



D, the collar, or honour point, so called because 

 eminent men wear badges of honour about their 

 necks. 



E, the coeur, or heart, otherwise called the centre 

 or fesse point. 



F, the nombril, or navel point. 



G H I, the base, i. e. G, the dexter base ; H, the 

 middle base; and I, the sinister base. The French 

 call the two first the flanques, and the last the base. 

 The use of these points is to distinguish different coats 

 of arms charged with the same figures ; for arms 

 having a lion in chief differ from those having a lion 

 in base ; and so on with the other points. 



Abatements. Abatements are certain marks of 

 disgrace added to the coat armour of divers persons 

 on sundry occasions, which have been distinguished 

 by different names, as delf, inescutcheon reversed, 

 point-parted dexter, point in point, point champagne, 

 plain point, gore, gusset, and escutcheon reversed ; 

 Inn. of all these abatements there is no example 

 remaining except of the last. 



Tinctures Tinctures, or armorial colours, are al- 

 together nine, namely, two metals and seven colours. 



