A Complete Guide to HeraldryFox-Davies, Arthur Charles
History
A Complete Guide to Heraldry
Fox-Davies, Arthur Charles
Heraldry -- Great Britain
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 partition line. A cross or a billet urdy one knows, but urdy
as a partition 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 partition 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
partition 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 illustrations 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.
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