Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VIII.djvu/689

 HERALDRY 671 latter. Heraclius took no part personally this contest, but spent his latter days in luxu- rious ease in Constantinople. HERALDRY, the art or science of blazoning >r describing in appropriate technical terms of arms, badges, and other heraldic and lorial insignia. The use of distinctive de- both national and personal, is very an- cient. The eagle was the emblem of Persia id of imperial Rome, the ox of Egypt, the >wl of Athens ; and the dragon has served as national symbol of China and Japan from the most remote times. The warriors of Greece bore distinguishing symbols on their shields, id at Rome the families of those who had held a curule office had the right to display waxen images of their ancestors as a mark of hereditary distinction. But heraldry, in the present acceptation of the term, is a compara- 'ively modern invention, and cannot be traced a system to a time earlier than the close of e 12th century. It is generally admitted to ive had its origin in the necessity, in battles id in tournaments, of using some device to istinguish persons concealed by their armor, [t was gradually elaborated during the cru- les in the time of Richard I., and it was prob- ibly systematized to some extent by the Ger- but to the French is due the credit of jrfecting it and reducing it to a strict system, and the technical nomenclature invented by them was adopted with slight modifications by ther nations. By the end of the 13th century jraldry had become bound by strict rules and jrms, and from this time onward arms were lisplayed on coins, monumental brasses, and >mbs, and in architectural decorations, and borne on shields, banners, and military joats. From their use on garments is de- ied the phrase " coat of arms." The rules heraldry, as now practised, are comparatively lern, and differ somewhat in different coun- 38. The general principles however are the ^ le, and as it will be impossible to enter into linor details, this article will be confined to English heraldry. According to early authori- ies arms are divisible into ten classes, but these be reduced to three : arms of states, of im unities, and of persons and families. Arms ' states are those assumed by sovereign princes by governments as distinguishing badges for ieir respective kingdoms, empires, or states, irms of communities include those of ecclesi- tical, lay, and municipal corporations. Arms persons and families are insignia borne by idividuals and families, generally by right of iheritance or of grant. All these classes of is follow the same general heraldic rules, id are displayed on a shield or escutcheon. 'iere is no prescribed form for the shield, rhich has differed in different ages and among 'erent nations, but the shape usually adopted that in the accompanying plate. The shields maids and widows are in the form of a loz- enge. The face of the shield, on which the are blazoned, is technically called the 403 VOL. vni. 43 field. To facilitate description, heralds divide this into nine parts (see plate), viz. : A, the dexter chief; B, middle chief; 0, sinister chief; D, honor point ; E, fess point ; F, nombril or navel point ; G, dexter base ; H, middle base ; and I, sinister base. The shield is always de- scribed with reference to the position of the bearer, which brings the dexter or right side opposite the left hand of the observer. Fields are diversified by tinctures, lines of division, and charges. Tinctures are composed of met- als, colors, and furs. Metals are or (gold) and argent (silver). Colors are gules (red), azure (blue), sable (black), vert (green), and purpure (purple). The furs are ermine, vair, and po- tent. Ermine is a field argent with spots or tails sable. When this is reversed, a field sable with spots argent, it is termed ermines. Er- minois is a field or with spots sable, and pean a field sable with spots or. Vair (Lat. va- rius), supposed to represent the skin of the squirrel, is expressed by several rows of little shields or bells, alternately argent and azure, the base of the argent ones against the base of the azure. In counter vair the bells of the same tincture are placed base against base and point against point, or counterplaced, as it is tech- nically called. Potent, though classed as a fur, signifies a crutch or gibbet (Fr. potenee). The crutches, argent and azure, are placed as in the plate. In potent counter potent the crutch- es are counterplaced. If the colors used in vair and potent are other than argent and azure, they must be specified ; if not, it is unneces- sary. In drawings and engravings the tinc- tures are designated by dots and lines. Thus or is known by the shield being filled with dots, argent by a plain shield, gules by vertical lines, azure by horizontal lines, &c. This invention is attributed to both the French heraldist De la Columbine and the Italian Silvestro di Petrasancta. The earliest example in England of this method of indication is found on some of the seals attached to the death warrant of Charles I. The field being often of a combi- nation of colors, it is variously divided by lines. When the division is into two equal parts by a vertical line, it is said to be parted or party per pale ; by a horizontal line, per fess ; by a dexter diagonal line, per bend; by a sinister diagonal line, per bend sinister ; by a vertical and a horizontal line crossing at right angles, per cross or quartered ; by diagonal lines crossing, per saltier ; by two lines starting from the sides in the dexter and sinister bases and meeting in an angle in the fess point, per chevron ; and by vertical, horizontal, and diagonal lines into eight equal parts, gironny. When a shield is quartered, the several quarters are numbered, the dexter upper quarter being called the first, the sinister upper the second, the dexter base the third, and the sinister base the fourth. If one or more of these divisions is subdivided into quarters, it is said to be quarterly quar- tered, and the quarter thus quartered is called a grand quarter. A shield divided into any