Heraldry as art: An account of its development and practice, chiefly in EnglandEve, G. W. (George William)
History
Heraldry as art: An account of its development and practice, chiefly in England
Eve, G. W. (George William)
Heraldry -- Great Britain
In conjunction with a fish’s tail the body of a woman forms the
Mermaid, the beautiful Syrena of old writers, who never tire of
telling how, like the harpy, she charms the shipmen with her song.
Nevertheless, she was of sinister character, “glad and merry in tempest
and heavy and sad in faire weather.” She is usually represented holding
a looking-glass in which she regards herself while she combs her long
hair. The male of the species is called a Triton, and usually holds a
trident as the symbol of naval dominion. Indeed he is sometimes called
Neptune, and crowned with a spiked crown, the form known as an Eastern
crown that is described and illustrated under that head. Another
semi-human form is the Centaur, the favourite badge of King Stephen,
the classic monster, half man and half horse and armed with a bow, that
is sometimes called a Sagittarius.
Male figures were frequently described as Savage Men, and were
represented rough and shaggy with hair, and with wreaths of oak about
their loins, the blazon being: a savage man ppr. wreathed about the
loins with an oak wreath vert. In some instances they were wreathed
about the temples also.
Heads of both sexes, arms and legs, are used as charges and more
frequently as crests, and are described as couped or erased, at the
shoulder or the neck, as the case may be.
The whole Arm from the shoulder is shown bent and is then blazoned,
an arm _embowed_. It should also be stated in the blazon whether the
arm is dexter or sinister, and whether, if not naked, it is vested
(and if so of what colour), or in armour, when it is described as an
arm _vambraced_. _In armour_ is often substituted for the later term.
Pairs of arms grasping an object, drawing a bow or wielding a hammer,
are also met with. When the arm does not extend beyond the elbow it is
blazoned a cubit arm, and its position, whether erect or otherwise,
must be specified.
Human hands are borne by several families into whose name “Main”
enters, either as Tremaine, Maynard, etc., and among other families by
the O’Neils, and in the well-known badge of Ulster, the distinguishing
badge of a baronet. They are usually depicted erect and couped at the
wrist, and are assumed to be open unless it is otherwise stated.
Anything depictable may be used as a charge, but in this wide field
there are still certain particular objects, that single themselves out
for more detailed treatment than the rest, and of these the cross in
its many varied forms, the rose and the fleur-de-lis are the principal.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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