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HERALDRY RAMBLINGS

Armorials at an Early Date

When Cerdicus the Saxon landed in Britain, and became king of Wessex, or the West Saxons (a.d. 519), he carried for his armorial device, Gules, a griffin rampant or, which device is still, as a memorial of that leader.

A Wivern is represented as a serpent with wings and birds' legs. Wiverns were formerly supposed to have had existence in marshy places in the inaccessible wilds of Germany, but are now found to be merely creatures of the imagination, and probably, in their origin, were but figures of some ferocious tyrants, who, emerging from their strong holds in the northern forests, robbed and devastated the neighbouring inhabited country.

The subduing of such an oppressor would naturally lead to a figurative device like this, as the armorial achievement of the conqueror, of which the traditional tales of Germany afford many instances.

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OF GREAT ESTEEM...

The Unicorn, which is considered to be a fabulous beast, occurs often in the arms of English and Scottish families. It is represented in the form of a horse, with one straight horn extending from the middle of its forehead, with deer's feet, and a lion's tail. The unicorn, says Nisbet, " is of great esteem, as well for his virtue as strength. In his horn the naturalists place a powerful antidote against poison, and tell us that the wild beasts seek to drink in the waters after the unicorn has stirred them up with his horn. He is remarkable for his strength, but more for his great and haughty mind, who would rather die than be brought to subjection. Upon these and other considerations, the unicorn is frequently represented in devices and armory.

THE MOOR

A Frequent Device

The victories of the Christians over the Moors in Spain, have given rise to many heraldic devices, having human figures, or parts of them, among the arms of Spanish families. Argent, a cross gules between four Moors' heads in profile banded sable, was formerly the arms of the kingdom of Aragon. Pedro, king of Aragon, in the year 1106, in memory of his victory over four Moorish kings, whom he killed in the battle of Alarcon, took their heads for the armorial figures of his kingdom of Aragon; but afterwards James king of Aragon disused them, and carried only the arms of Barcelona, giving the former to his younger son, whom he made king of Sardinia. The same arms is still borne by his descendants, and is represented upon some of the coins of Piedmont.

Many instances of the bearing of Moors' heads are to be found in arms appertaining to English, Irish, and Scotch families, which have probably originated in achievements performed by their ancestors against the Moors in Spain, while assisting the Christian princes to expel the Mohammedans from that country.

Saracens' heads, occasionally seen in armory, are not to be mistaken for Moors' heads, as they have a different origin; [graphic] [blocks in formation] being derived from conquests over the Saracens, in Syria, during the Crusades or Holy Wars.

SHOT THROUGH THE HEART

The heart, when exhibited in armory, is considered as an emblem of sincerity and true valour: it is, however, in several instances employed as a memorial of a certain event. Nisbet says, that in the arms of the Seatons of Scotland a human heart, bleeding, was introduced by an ancestor of the family, " upon the account of the manner of his father's death, who was shot through the heart in his early appearing in arms for King Charles I. against the rebels."

CROSS PATTEE

opening wings of a bird

A form of cross denominated Patte or Patie, frequently occurs in armory. It is small in the middle, its arms being expanded in curved lines, and flat at the outer edges. The term (taken from the Latin word patulus) implies "spread" or "opened." Kingil, ( Cynegils) the first Christian king of the West Saxons, is said to have borne as his device, Or, a cross patee azure. I have somewhere read that this form of cross bears allusion to the opening wings of a bird, who covers her young, and thereby protects them from injury. Such a form of bearing in armory, therefore, appertains to the Christian soldier, who has shielded the weak and innocent from oppression and injury.

HERALDIC SAYINGS

“We may talk as we please of lilies, and lions rampant, and spread eagles in fields of d'or or d'argent, but if heraldry were guided by reason, a plough in the field arable would be the most noble and ancient arms”

The boast of heraldry, the pomp of pow'r, And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave, Awaits alike th' inevitable hour, The paths of glory lead but to the grave”

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