A Complete Guide to Heraldry Part 8

Mr. Woodward, in his "Treatise on Heraldry," writes: "Two curious forms of Vair occasionally met with in Italian or French coats are known as _Plumete_ and _Papelonne_.

In _Plumete_ the field is apparently covered with feathers. _Plumete d'argent et d'azur_ is the coat of Ceba (note that these are the tinctures of _Vair_); SOLDONIERI of Udine, _Plumete au natural_ (but the SOLDONIERI of Florence bore: _Vaire argent and sable_ with _a bordure chequy or and azure_); TENREMONDE of Brabant: _Plumete or and sable_. In the arms of the SCALTENIGHI of Padua, the BENZONI of Milan, the GIOLFINI, CATANEI, and NUVOLONI of Verona, each feather of the _plumete_ is said to be charged with an ermine spot sable.

The bearing of PAPELONNe is more frequently found; in it the field is covered with what appear to be scales, the heraldic term _papelonne_ being derived from a supposed resemblance of these scales to the wings of b.u.t.terflies; for example the coat of MONTI: _Gules, papelonne argent_.

DONZEL at Besancon bears: Papelonne d'or et de sable. It is worthy of note that Donze of Lorraine used: Gules, three bars wavy or. The FRANCONIS of Lausanne are said to bear: _de Gueules papelonne d'argent_, and on _a chief of the last a rose of the first_, but the coat is otherwise blazoned: _Vaire gules and or_, &c. The coat of ARQUINVILLIERS, or HARGENVILLIERS, in Picardy, of _d'Hermine papelonne de {84} gueules_ (not being understood, this has been blazoned "_seme of caltraps_"). So also the coat of CHEMILLe appears in French books of blazon indifferently as: _d'Or papelonne de gueules_: and _d'Or seme de chausse-trapes de gueules_. GUeTTEVILLE DE GUeNONVILLE is said to bear: _d'Argent seme de chausse-trapes de sable_, but it is more probable that this is simply _d'Argent papelonne de sable_.

The BARISONI of Padua bear: _Or, a bend of scales, bendwise argent, on each scale an ermine spot sable, the bend bordered sable_. The ALBERICI of Bologna bear: _Papelonne of seven rows, four of argent, three of or_; but the ALBERGHI of the same city: _Papelonne of six rows, three of argent, as many of gules_. The connection with _vaire_ is much clearer in the latter than in the former. CAMBI (called FIGLIAMBUCHI), at Florence, carried: _d'Argent, papelonne de gueules_; MONTI of Florence and Sicily, and RONQUEROLLES of France the reverse.

No one who is familiar with the licence given to themselves by armorial painters and sculptors in Italy, who were often quite ignorant of the meaning of the blazons they depicted, will doubt for a moment the statement that Papelonne was originally a corruption from or perhaps is simply ill-drawn Vair."

POTENT, and its less common variant COUNTER POTENT, are usually ranked in British heraldic works as separate furs. This has arisen from the writers being ignorant that in early times _Vair_ was frequently depicted in the form now known as _Potent_ (see Fig. 39, _q_). (By many heraldic writers the ordinary _Potent_ is styled _Potent-counter-potent_. When drawn in the ordinary way, _Potent_ alone suffices.) An example of _Vair_ in the form now known as Potent is afforded by the seal of JEANNE DE FLANDRE, wife of ENGUERRAND IV. (De Courcy); here the well-known arms of COURCY, _Barry of six vair and gules_, are depicted as if the bars of vair were composed of bars of _potent_ (VReE, _Genealogie des Comtes de Flandre_). In a _Roll of Arms of the time of Edward I._ the _Vair_ resembles _Potent_ (-counter-potent), which DR. PERCEVAL erroneously terms an "invention of later date." The name and the differentiation may be, but not the fact. In the First n.o.bility Roll of the year 1297, the arms of No. 8, ROBERT DE BRUIS, Baron of Brecknock, are: Barry of six, Vaire ermine and gules, and azure. Here the vair is potent; so is it also in No. 19, where the coat of INGELRAM DE GHISNES, or GYNES, is: Gules, a chief vair. The same coat is thus drawn in the Second n.o.bility Roll, 1299, No. 57. POTENT, like its original _Vair_, is always of _argent_ and _azure_, unless other tinctures are specified in the blazon. The name _Potent_ is the old English word for a crutch or walking-staff. Chaucer, in his description of "Elde" (_i.e._ old age) writes:

"So olde she was, that she ne went A fote, but it were by potent."

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And though a potent is a heraldic charge, and a cross potent a well-known variety of that ordinary, "potent" is usually intended to indicate the fur of blue and white as in Fig. 39, _q_. It is not of frequent usage, but it undoubtedly has an accepted place in British armory, as also has "counter-potent," which, following the same rules as counter-vair, results in a field as Fig. 39, _r_. The German terms for Potent and counter-potent are respectively _Sturzkruckenfeh_ and _gegensturzkruckenfeh_ German heraldry has evolved yet another variant of Potent, viz. _Verschobenes Gegensturzkruckenfeh_ (_i.e._ displaced potent-counter-potent), as in Fig.

39, _s_. There is still yet another German heraldic fur which is quite unknown in British armory. This is called _Kursch_, otherwise "Vair bellies," and is usually shown to be hairy and represented brown. Possibly this is the same as the _Plumete_ to which Mr. Woodward refers.

Some heraldic writers also speak of _varry_ as meaning the pieces of which the vair is composed; they also use the terms _vairy cuppy_ and _vairy ta.s.sy_ for _potent-counter-potent_, perhaps from the drawings in some instances resembling _cups_; that is a possible meaning of _ta.s.sa_. It may be said that all these variations of the ancient _vair_ arise from mere accident (generally bad drawing), supplemented by over refinement on the part of the heraldic writers who have described them. This generalisation may be extended in its application from vair to many other heraldic matters. To all intents and purposes British heraldry now or hitherto has only known vair and potent.

One of the earliest rules one learns in the study of armory is that colour cannot be placed upon colour, nor metal upon metal. Now this is a definite rule which must practically always be rigidly observed. Many writers have gone so far as to say that the only case of an infraction of this rule will be found in the arms of Jerusalem: Argent, a cross potent between four crosslets or. This was a favourite windmill at which the late Dr. Woodward tilted vigorously, and in the appendix to his "Treatise on Heraldry" he enumerates some twenty-six instances of the violation of the rule. The whole of the instances he quoted, however, are taken from Continental armory, in which these exceptions--for even on the Continent such _armes fausses_ are noticeable exceptions--occur much more frequently than in this country. Nevertheless such exceptions _do_ occur in British armory, and the following instances of well-known coats which break the rule may be quoted.

The arms of Lloyd of Ffos-y-Bleiddied, co. Cardigan, and Danyrallt, co.

Carmarthen, are: "Sable, a spearhead imbrued proper between three scaling-ladders argent, on a chief _gules_ a castle of the second." Burke, in his "General Armory," says this coat of arms was granted to Cadifor ap Dyfnwal, ninth in descent from Roderick the Great, Prince of Wales, by his cousin the great Lord Rhys, for taking the castle of {86} Cardigan by escalade from the Earl of Clare and the Flemings in 1164. Another instance is a coat of Meredith recorded in Ulster's Office and now inherited by the Hon. Richard Edmund Meredith, a judge of the Supreme Court of Judicature of Ireland and a Judicial Commissioner of the Irish Land Commission. These arms are: "Gules, on a chevron sable, between three goats' heads erased, as many trefoils or." An instance of comparatively recent date will be found in the grant of the arms of Thackeray. A little careful research, no doubt, would produce a large number of English instances, but one is bound to admit the possibility that the great bulk of these cases may really be instances of augmentation.

Furs may be placed upon either metal or colour, as may also any charge which is termed proper. German heralds describe furs and natural colours as amphibious. It is perfectly legitimate to place fur upon fur, and though not often found, numbers of examples can be quoted; probably one will suffice. The arms of Richardson are: Sable, two hawks belled or, on a chief indented ermine, a pale ermines, and three lions' heads counterchanged. It is also correct to place ermine upon argent. But such coats are not very frequently found, and it is usual in designing a coat to endeavour to arrange that the fur shall be treated as metal or colour according to what may be its background. The reason for this is obvious. It is correct, though unusual, for a charge which is blazoned proper, and yet depicted in a recognised heraldic colour, to be placed upon colour; and where such cases occur, care should be taken that the charges are blazoned proper. A charge composed of more than one tincture, that is, of a metal and colour, may be placed upon a field of either; for example the well-known coat of Stewart, which is: Or, a fess chequy azure and argent; other examples being: Per pale ermine and azure, a fess wavy gules (Broadbent); and: Azure, a lion rampant argent, debruised by a fess per pale of the second and gules (Walsh); but in such coats it will usually be found that the first tincture of the composite charge should be in opposition to the field upon which it is superimposed. For instance, the arms of Stewart are: Or, a fess chequy azure and argent, and to blazon or depict them with a fess chequy argent and azure would be incorrect. When an ordinary is charged upon both metal and colour, it would be quite correct for it to be of either metal, colour, or fur, and in such cases it has never been considered either exceptional or an infraction of the rule that colour must not be placed upon colour, nor metal upon metal. There is one point, however, which is one of these little points one has to learn from actual experience, and which I believe has never yet been quoted in any handbook of heraldry, and that is, that this rule must be thrown overboard with regard to {87} crests and supporters. I cannot call to mind an instance of colour upon colour, but a gold collar around the neck of an argent crest will constantly be met with. The sinister supporter of the Royal achievement is a case in point, and this rule, which forbids colour upon colour, and metal upon metal, only holds with regard to supporters and crests when the crest or supporter itself is treated as a field and _charged with_ one or more objects. The Royal labels, as already stated, appear to be a standing infraction of the rule if white and argent are to be heraldically treated as identical. The rule is also disregarded entirely as regards augmentations and Scottish cadency bordures.

So long as the field is party, that is, divided into an equal number of pieces (for example, paly, barruly, or bendy, or party per bend or per chevron), it may be composed of two metals or two colours, because the pieces all being equal, and of equal number, they all are parts of the field lying in the same plane, none being charges.

Before leaving the subject of the field, one must not omit to mention certain exceptions which hardly fall within any of the before-mentioned categories. One of these can only be described by the word "landscape." It is not uncommon in British armory, though I know of but one instance where the actual field itself needs to be so described. This is the coat of the family of Franco, the paternal ancestors of Sir Ma.s.sey Lopes, Bart., and Lord Ludlow. The name was changed from Franco to Lopes by Royal Licence dated the 4th of May 1831. Whether this coat of arms originated in an English grant, or whether the English grant of it amounts to no more than an attempt at the registration of a previously existing or greatly similar foreign coat of arms for the name of Franco, I am unaware, but the coat certainly is blazoned: "In a landscape field, a fountain, therefrom issuing a palm-tree all proper."

But landscape has very extensively been made use of in the augmentations which were granted at the end of the eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth centuries. In these cases the augmentation very generally consisted of a chief and thereon a representation either of some fort or s.h.i.+p or action, and though the field of the augmentation is officially blazoned argent in nearly every case, there is no doubt the artist was permitted, and perhaps intended, to depict clouds and other "atmosphere" to add to the verisimilitude of the picture. These augmentations will be more especially considered in a later chapter, but here one may perhaps be permitted to remark, that execrable as we now consider such landscape heraldry, it ought not to be condemned in the wholesale manner in which it has been, because it was typical of the over elaboration to be found in all art and all artistic ideas of the period in which we find it originating.

Heraldry and heraldic art have {88} always been a mirror of the artistic ideas prevalent at equivalent periods, and unless heraldry is to be wholly relegated to consideration as a dead subject, it is an anachronism to depict an action the date of which is well known (and which date it is desired to advertise and not conceal) in a method of art belonging to a different period. In family arms the case is different, as with those the idea apparently is always the concealment of the date of n.o.bility.

The "landscape" variety of heraldry is more common in Germany than with us, and Strohl writes: "Of very little heraldic worth are the old house and home signs as they were used by landed proprietors, tradesmen, and artisans or workmen, as indicative of their possessions, wares, or productions.

These signs, originally simply outline pictures, were later introduced into heraldic soil, inasmuch as bourgeois families raised to the n.o.bility adopted their house signs as heraldic charges upon their s.h.i.+elds."

There are also many coats of arms which run: "In base, a representation of water proper," and one of the best instances of this will be found in the arms of Oxford, though for the sake of preserving the pun the coat in this case is blazoned: "Argent, an ox gules pa.s.sing over a ford proper." Similar instances occur in the arms of Renfrew, Queensferry, Leith, Ryde, and scores of other towns. It has always been considered permissible to represent these either by an attempt to depict natural water, or else in the ancient heraldic way of representing water, namely "barry wavy argent and azure." There are many other coats of arms which are of a similar character though specifically blazoned "barry wavy argent and azure." Now this representation of water in base can hardly be properly said to be a charge, but perhaps it might be dismissed as such were it not that one coat of arms exists in Scotland, the whole of the field of which is simply a representation of water. Unfortunately this coat of arms has never been matriculated in Lyon Register or received official sanction; but there is no doubt of its ancient usage, and were it to be now matriculated in conformity with the Act of 1672, there is very little doubt that the ancient characteristic would be retained. The arms are those of the town of Inveraray in Argylls.h.i.+re, and the blazon of the coat, according to the form it is depicted upon the Corporate seal, would be for the field: "The sea proper, therein a net suspended from the dexter chief and the sinister fess points to the base; and entangled in its meshes five herrings," which is about the most remarkable coat of arms I have ever come across.

Occasionally a "field," or portion of a field, will be found to be a representation of masonry. This may be either proper or of some metal or colour. The arms of the city of Bath are: "Party per fesse {89} embattled azure and argent, the base masonry, in chief two bars wavy of the second; over all, a sword in pale gules, hilt and pommel or." The arms of Reynell are: "Argent, masoned sable, a chief indented of the second."

SEME

The use of the term "seme" must be considered before we leave the subject of the field. It simply means "powdered with" or "strewed with" any objects, the number of the latter being unlimited, the purpose being to evenly distribute them over the s.h.i.+eld. In depicting anything seme, care is usually taken that some of the charges (with which the field is seme) shall be partly defaced by the edges of the s.h.i.+eld, or the ordinary upon which they are charged, or by the superior charge itself, to indicate that the field is not charged with a specific number of objects.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 44.--Arms of John, Lord De la Warr (d. 1398). (From MS.

Ashm. 804, iv.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 45.--Arms of John, Lord Beaumont, K.G. (d. 1396). From his Garter Plate: 1 and 4, Beaumont; 2 and 3, azure, three garbs or (for Comyn).]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 46.--Arms of Gilbert Umfraville, Earl of Kyme (d.

1421). (From Harl. MS. 6163.)]

There are certain special terms which may be noted. A field or charge seme of fleurs-de-lis is termed "seme-de-lis," but if seme of bezants it is bezante, and is termed plate if seme of plates.

A field seme of billets is billetty or billette, and when seme of cross crosslets it is termed crusilly. A field or charge seme of drops is termed goutte or gutty.

Instances of coats of which the field is seme will be found in the arms of De la Warr (see Fig. 44), which are: Gules, crusilly, and a lion rampant argent; Beaumont (see Fig. 45): Azure, seme-de-lis and a lion rampant or; and Umfraville (see Fig. 46): Gules, seme of crosses flory, and a cinquefoil or.

The goutte or drop occasionally figures (in a specified number) as a charge; but such cases are rare, its more frequent use being to show {90} a field seme. British heraldry alone has evolved separate names for the different colours, all other nations simply using the term "goutte" or "gutte," and specifying the colour. The terms we have adopted are as follows: For drops of gold, "gutte-d'or"; silver, "gutte-d'eau"; for gules, "gutte-de-sang"; azure, "gutte-de-larmes"; vert, "gutte-d'huile"; and sable, "gutte-de-poix."

The term seme must not be confused with diapering, for whilst the objects with which a field is seme are an integral part of the arms, diapering is a purely artistic and optional matter.

DIAPERING

The diapering of armorial emblazonments is a matter with which the _Science_ of armory has no concern. Diaper never forms any part of the blazon, and is never officially noticed, being considered, and very properly allowed to remain, a purely artistic detail. From the artistic point of view it has some importance, as in many of the earliest instances of handicraft in which armorial decoration appears, very elaborate diapering is introduced. The frequency with which diapering is met with in armorial handicraft is strangely at variance with its absence in heraldic paintings of the same periods, a point which may perhaps be urged upon the attention of some of the heraldic artists of the present day, who would rather seem to have failed to grasp the true purpose and origin and perhaps also the use of diaper. In stained gla.s.s and enamel work, where the use of diaper is most frequently met with, it was introduced for the express purpose of catching and breaking up the light, the result of which was to give an enormously increased effect of brilliance to the large and otherwise flat surfaces. These tricks of their art and craft the old handicraftsmen were past masters in the use of. But no such purpose could be served in a small painting upon vellum. For this reason early heraldic emblazonments are seldom if ever found to have been diapered. With the rise of heraldic engraving amongst the "little masters" of German art, the opportunity left to their hands by the absence of colour naturally led to the renewed use of diaper to avoid the appearance of blanks in their work.

The use of diaper at the present day needs to be the result of careful study and thought, and its haphazard employment is not recommended.

If, as Woodward states (an a.s.sertion one is rather inclined to doubt), there are some cases abroad in which the constant use of diapering has been stereotyped into an integral part of the arms, these cases must be exceedingly few in number, and they certainly have no counterpart in the armory of this country. Where for artistic reasons {91} diapering is employed, care must always be taken that the decorative form employed cannot be mistaken for a field either charged or seme.

PARt.i.tION LINES

If there is one subject which the ordinary text-books of armory treat in the manner of cla.s.sification adapted to an essay on natural history or grammar, with its attendant rigidity of rule, it is the subject of part.i.tion lines; and yet the whole subject is more in the nature of a set of explanations which must each be learned on its own merits. The usual lines of part.i.tion are themselves well enough known; and it is hardly necessary to elaborate the different variations at any great length. They may, however, be enumerated as follows: Engrailed, embattled, indented, invecked or invected, wavy or undy, nebuly, dancette, raguly, potente, dovetailed, and urdy. These are the lines which are recognised by most modern heraldic text-books and generally recapitulated; but we shall have occasion later to refer to others which are very well known, though apparently they have never been included in the cla.s.sification of part.i.tion lines (Fig. 47). _Engrailed_, as every one knows, is formed by a continuous and concurrent series of small semicircles conjoined each to each, the sharp points formed by the conjunction of the two arcs being placed _outwards_. This part.i.tion line may be employed for the rectilinear charges known as "ordinaries" or "sub-ordinaries." In the bend, pale, pile, cross, chief, and fess, when these are described as engrailed the enclosing lines of the ordinary, other than the edges of the s.h.i.+eld, are all composed of these small semicircles with the points turned _outwards_, and the word "outwards" must be construed as pointing away from the centre of the ordinary when it is depicted. In the case of a chief the points are turned downwards, but it is rather difficult to describe the use of the term when used as a part.i.tion line of the field. The only instance I can call to mind where it is so employed is the case of Baird of Ury, the arms of this family being: Per pale engrailed gules and or, a boar pa.s.sant counterchanged. In this instance the points are turned towards the sinister side of the s.h.i.+eld, which would seem to be correct, as, there being no ordinary, they must be outwards from the most important position affected, which in this case undoubtedly is the dexter side of the s.h.i.+eld. In the same way "per fess engrailed" would be presumably depicted with the points outwards from the chief line of the s.h.i.+eld, that is, they would point downwards; and I should imagine that in "per bend engrailed" the points of the semicircles would again be placed inclined towards the dexter base of the s.h.i.+eld, but I may be wrong in these two latter cases, for they are only supposition. This {92} point, however, which puzzled me much in depicting the arms of Baird of Ury, I could find explained in no text-book upon the subject.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 47.--Lines of Part.i.tion.]

The term _invected_ or _invecked_ is the precise opposite of engrailed. It is similarly composed of small semicircles, but the points are turned inwards instead of outwards, so that it is no more than the exact reverse of engrailed, and all the regulations concerning the one need to be observed concerning the other, with the proviso that they are reversed.

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The part.i.tion line _embattled_ has certain peculiarities of its own. When dividing the field there can be no difficulty about it, inasmuch as the crenellations are equally inwards and outwards from any point, and it should be noted that the term "crenelle" is almost as often used as "embattled." When, however, the term describes an ordinary, certain points have to be borne in mind. The fess or the bar embattled is drawn with the crenellations _on the upper side_ only, the under edge being plain unless the ordinary is described both as "embattled and counter-embattled."

Similarly a chevron is only crenellated on the upper edge unless it is described as both embattled and counter-embattled, but a pale embattled is crenellated on both edges as is the cross or saltire. Strictly speaking, a bend embattled is crenellated upon the upper edge only, though with regard to this ordinary there is much laxity of practice. I have never come across a pile embattled; but it would naturally be embattled on both edges. Some writers make a distinction between embattled and bretessed, giving to the former term the meaning that the embattlements on the one side are opposed to the indentations on the other, and using the term bretessed to signify that embattlements are opposite embattlements and indentations opposite indentations. I am doubtful as to the accuracy of this distinction, because the French term bretesse means only counter-embattled.

The terms _indented_ and _dancette_ need to be considered together, because they differ very little, and only in the fact that whilst indented may be drawn with any number of teeth, dancette is drawn with a limited number, which is usually three complete teeth in the width of the field. But it should be observed that this rule is not so hard and fast that the necessity of artistic depicting may not modify it slightly. An ordinary which is indented would follow much the same rules as an ordinary which was engrailed, except that the teeth are made by small straight lines for the indentations instead of by small semicircles, and instances can doubtless be found of all the ordinaries qualified by the term indented. Dancette, however, does not lend itself so readily to general application, and is usually to be found applied to either a fess or chief, or occasionally a bend. In the case of a fess dancette the indentations on the top and bottom lines are made to fit into each other, so that instead of having a straight band with the edge merely toothed, one gets an up and down zig-zag band with three complete teeth at the top and three complete teeth at the bottom. Whilst a fess, a bar, a bend, and a chief can be found dancette, I do not see how it would be possible to draw a saltire or a cross dancette.

At any rate the resulting figure would be most ugly, and would appear ill-balanced. A pile and a chevron seem equally impossible, though there does not {94} seem to be the like objection to a pale dancette. An instance of a bend dancette is found in the arms of Cuffe (Lord Desart), which are: Argent, on a bend dancette sable, plain cotised azure, three fleurs-de-lis, and on each cotise as many bezants.

_Wavy_ or _undy_, which is supposed to have been taken from water, and _nebuly_, which is supposed to be derived from clouds, are of course lines which are well known. They are equally applicable to any ordinary and to any part.i.tion of the field; but in both cases it should be noticed by artists that there is no one definite or accepted method of depicting these lines, and one is quite at liberty, and might be recommended, to widen out the indentations, or to increase them in height, as the artistic requirements of the work in hand may seem to render advisable. It is only by bearing this in mind and treating these lines with freedom that really artistic work can sometimes be produced where they occur. There is no fixed rule either as to the width which these lines may occupy or as to the number of indentations as compared with the width of the s.h.i.+eld, and it is a pity to introduce or recognise any regulations of this character where none exist. There are writers who think it not unlikely that vaire and barry nebuly were one and the same thing. It is at any rate difficult in some old representations to draw any noticeable distinctions between the methods of depicting barry nebuly and vair.

The line _raguly_ has been the subject of much discussion. It, and the two which follow, viz. potente and dovetailed, are all comparatively modern introductions. It would be interesting if some enthusiast would go carefully through the ancient Rolls of Arms and find the earliest occurrences of these terms. My own impression is that they would all be found to be inventions of the mediaeval writers on heraldry. Raguly is the same as embattled, with the crenellations put upon the slant. Some writers say they should slant one way, others give them slanting the reverse. In a pale or a bend the teeth must point upwards; but in a fess I should hesitate to say whether it were more correct for them to point to the dexter or to the sinister, and I am inclined to consider that either is perfectly correct. At any rate, whilst they are usually drawn inclined to the dexter, in Woodward and Burnett they are to the sinister, and Guillim gives them turned to the dexter, saying, "This form of line I never yet met with in use as a part.i.tion, though frequently in composing of ordinaries referring them like to the trunks of trees with the branches lopped off, and that (as I take it) it was intended to represent." Modern heraldry supplies an instance which in the days of Mr. Guillim, of course, did not exist to refer to. This instance occurs in the arms of the late Lord Leighton, which were: "Quarterly per fesse raguly or and gules, in the second and {95} third quarters a wyvern of the first." It is curious that Guillim, even in the edition of 1724, does not mention any of the remaining terms. Dovetailed in modern armory is even yet but seldom made use of, though I can quote two instances of coats of arms in which it is to be found, namely, the arms of Kirk, which are: "Gules, a chevron dovetailed ermine, on a chief argent, three dragons' heads couped of the field;" and Ambrose: "Azure, two lions pa.s.sant in pale argent, on a chief dovetailed of the last, a fleur-de-lis between two annulets of the first." Other instances of dovetailed used as a line of part.i.tion will be found in the case of the arms of Farmer, which are: "Per chevron dovetailed gules and argent, in chief two lions' heads erased of the last, and in base a salamander in flames proper;" and in the arms of Fenton namely: "Per pale argent and sable, a cross dovetailed, in the first and fourth quarters a fleur-de-lis, and in the second and third a trefoil slipped all countercharged." There are, of course, many others. The term _potente_, as will be seen from a reference to Fig. 47, is used to indicate a line which follows the form of the division lines in the fur potent. As one of the part.i.tion lines potente is very rare.

As to the term _urdy_, which is given in Woodward and Burnett and also in Berry, I can only say I personally have never come across an instance of its use as a part.i.tion line. A cross or a billet urdy one knows, but urdy as a part.i.tion line I have yet to find. It is significant that it is omitted in Parker except as a term applicable to a cross, and the instances and variations given by Berry, "urdy in point paleways" and "contrary urdy," I should be much more inclined to consider as variations of vair; and, though it is always well to settle points which can be settled, I think urdy and its use as a part.i.tion line may be well left for further consideration when examples of it come to hand.

There is one term, however, which is to be met with at the present time, but which I have never seen quoted in any text-book under the heading of a part.i.tion line; that is, "flory counter-flory," which is of course formed by a succession of fleurs-de-lis alternately reversed and counterchanged.

They might of course be blazoned after the quotation of the field as "per bend" or "per chevron" as the case might be, simply as so many fleurs-de-lis counterchanged, and alternately reversed in a specified position; but this never appears to be the case, and consequently the fleurs-de-lis would appear to be essentially parts of the field and not charges. I have sometimes thought whether it would not be more correct to depict "per something" flory and counter-flory without completing the fleurs-de-lis, simply leaving the alternate tops of the fleurs-de-lis to show. In the cases of the ill.u.s.trations which have come under my notice, however, the whole fleur-de-lis is depicted, and as an instance of the use of the term may be mentioned the arms of {96} Dumas, which are: "Per chevron flory and counter-flory or and azure, in chief two lions' gambs erased, and in base a garb counterchanged." But when the term flory and counter-flory is used in conjunction with an ordinary, _e.g._ a fess flory and counter-flory, the _half_ fleurs-de-lis, only alternately reversed, are represented on the _outer_ edges of the ordinary.

I think also that the word "_arched_" should now be included as a part.i.tion line. I confess that the only form in which I know of it is that it is frequently used by the present Garter King of Arms in designing coats of arms with chiefs arched. Recently Garter has granted a coat with a chief double arched. But if a chief can be arched I see no reason why a fesse or a bar cannot equally be so altered, and in that case it undoubtedly becomes a recognised line of part.i.tion. Perhaps it should be stated that a chief arched is a chief with its base line one arc of a large circle. The diameter of the circle and the consequent acuteness of the arch do not appear to be fixed by any definite rule, and here again artistic requirements must be the controlling factor in any decision. Elvin in his "Dictionary of Heraldic Terms" gives a curious a.s.sortment of lines, the most curious of all, perhaps, being indented embowed, or hacked and hewed.

Where such a term originated or in what coat of arms it is to be found I am ignorant, but the appearance is exactly what would be presented by a piece of wood hacked with an axe at regular intervals. Elvin again makes a difference between bretessed and embattled-counter-embattled, making the embattlement on either side of an ordinary identical in the former and alternated in the latter. He also makes a difference between raguly, which is the conventional form universally adopted, and raguled and trunked, where the ordinary takes the representation of the trunk of a tree with the branches lopped; but these and many others that he gives are refinements of idea which personally I should never expect to find in actual use, and of the instances of which I am unaware. I think, however, the term "_rayonne_," which is found in both the arms of O'Hara and the arms of Colman, and which is formed by the addition of rays to the ordinary, should take a place amongst lines of part.i.tion, though I admit I know of no instance in which it is employed to divide the field.

METHODS OF PARt.i.tION