A Complete Guide to HeraldryFox-Davies, Arthur Charles
History
A Complete Guide to Heraldry
Fox-Davies, Arthur Charles
Heraldry -- Great Britain
_The Boar_ is an animal which, with its parts, will constantly be met with
in British armory (Figs. 353-355). Theoretically there is a difference
between the boar, which is the male of the domestic animal, and the wild
boar, which is the untamed creature of the woods. Whilst the latter is
usually blazoned as a wild boar or sanglier, the latter is just a boar; but
for all practical purposes no difference whatever is made in heraldic
representations of these varieties, though it may be noted that the crest
of Swinton is often described as a sanglier, as invariably is also the
crest of Douglas, Earl of Morton ["A sanglier sticking between the cleft of
an oak-tree fructed, with a lock holding the clefts together all proper"].
The boar, like the lion, is usually described as armed and langued, but
this is not necessary when the tusks are represented in their own colour
and when the tongue is gules. It will, however, be very frequently found
that the tusks are or. The "armed," however, does not include the hoofs,
and if these are to {200} be of any colour different from that of the
animal, it must be blazoned "unguled" of such and such a tincture.
Precisely the same distinction occurs in the heads of boars (Figs. 356-358)
that was referred to in bears. The real difference is this, that whilst the
English boar's head has the neck attached to the head and is couped or
erased at the shoulders, the Scottish boar's head is separated close behind
the ears. No one ever troubled to draw any distinction between the two for
the purposes of blazon, because the English boars' heads were more usually
drawn with the neck, and the boars' heads in Scotland were drawn couped or
erased close. But the boars head in Welsh heraldry followed the Scottish
and not the English type. Matters armorial, however, are now cosmopolitan,
and one can no longer ascertain that the crest of Campbell must be
Scottish, or that the crest of any other family must be English; and
consequently, though the terms will not be found employed officially, it is
just as well to distinguish them, because armory can provide means of such
distinction--the true description of an English boar's head being couped or
erased "at the neck," the Scottish term being a boar's head couped or
erased "close."
Occasionally a boar's head will be stated to be borne erect; this is then
shown with the mouth pointing upwards. A curious example of this is found
in the crest of Tyrrell: "A boar's head erect argent, in the mouth a
peacock's tail proper."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account