The Gauntlet - February 2009

Gauntlet February 2009

A Publication of Armorial Gold Heraldry Services

HERALDRY RAMBLINGS

All about the Salamander

NEW THIS MONTH

Fabled to live in fire, but why in fire? This probably originates from a behaviour common to many species of salamander, hibernating in and under rotting logs. When wood was brought indoors and put on the fire, the creatures "mysteriously" appeared from the flames. Francois I. of France adopted it as his badge and his motto is roughly translated to mean 'I nourish the good and extinguish the bad'; a symbol of bravery, purification, protection, immortality and survival. It is said that the word comes from the Persian for lizard. Over the years, the heraldic Salamander became an often-used symbol for firefighting groups and associations.

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NEW ANGEL TEMPLATE

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IRISH BLAZONS IN THE WORKS

Most of you know Irish surnames have many variants. Over the next few months staff will be working, adding Irish variants to the blazon site, so you have an easier time looking up an Irish Blazon.

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STAFF NOTES

Next month, we offer a collection that includes five new mantles, three new maces, an antique sabre, an oyster catcher, and a very attractive and ornate fleur de lis.

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Lion léopardé

A French term, confusing to some, as interpretations vary. There are three terms you should know:

Lion léopardé: This is lion passant.

léopard lionné: This is lion passant, guardant

léopard: This is leopard

It often depends on which heraldry school you subscribe to....

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THE HERALDIC MACE

Not to be confused with the ceremonial mace of Authority, known as a masse d'armes, this short mass weapon of battle was originally not unlike a heavy club. A mace is a symbol of war and power. After the third quarter of the 14th century the club end was often made of metal and enhanced with metal flanges or spikes. Three new ones are included in next month's art.

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HEDGEHOG

It collects its stores for the winter with its prickles and is symbolic of a provident provider; it's also a symbol of protection as it rolls into a ball when attacked, and in fact, is often used as a symbol of a well fortified military position. Occasionally. it is used as canting arms for families such as Hedges, amongst others. Typically, when blazoned "proper", it's drawn black or a dark brown.

WHY THE HUNTING-HORN IS SO POPULAR AS A CHARGE...

A Symbol of dominion over the wild, the hunt, the chase, and the forest, the hunting horn often was also representative of the noble class. The Fox hunt in particular, comes to mind, where it was used to announce a hunter's position and to signal hunting dogs. The hunting horn is also a religious symbol, as Gabriel, the archangel blows one, while hunting the Unicorn. Our symbolism library says simply: A signal horn used in the chase. Denotes one who is fond of high pursuits.

NEW FRENCH FAMILY SHIELDS COLLECTION IN THE WORKS

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THE WORLDS LARGEST PROVIDER OF HERALDRY ART

We are leaving this help tip up, as more and more of you are upgrading

your Corel Draw software to X3 or X4

Corel Draw has changed some default settings in X3 and X4 that can render your vector images black, do the same for your F9 preview and in the case of X4 display your image excessively dark.

Fixes:

Top Command Bar/View Select “enhanced” and not “enhanced with overprints”;
Top Command Bar/Tools/Color Management Color Mode for Effects-should be set at RGB (not CMYK);
Top Command Bar/Tools Select “Save Settings as default” ;
When importing AG graphics into X4, make sure you first group your image before using the F9 full screen preview (X3 imports the graphic already grouped).

Adobe Illustrator Fix for CDR files using HSB color model

Some Art was created using the HSB color model (white). Illustrator CS and greater does not recognize the HSB color model, and shows those parts as black when opened. We have converted most Art to the RGB color model, but you may find the odd image that we missed.

FIX

ungroup the image and select the black, and using your mouse click on White in your color palette. If you can't figure it out, email the office naming the image file, and we'll do it for you. Note: the glitch applies to CDR files and not WMF files.