THE SHIELD--ITS FORM, POINTS, AND TINCTURES
Nothing is more fascinating in the study of heraldry than the cunning
fashion in which it tells the history either of a single individual
or of a family, of an institution, or of a city--sometimes even of an
empire--all within the space of one small shield, by using the signs
which compose its language. It is astounding how much information can
be conveyed by the skilful arrangement of these signs to those who can
interpret them.
For armorial bearings were not originally adopted for ornament, but to
give real information, about those who bore them.
[Illustration: PLATE 2.
THE DUKE OF LEINSTER.
_Arms._--Arg: saltire gu:
_Crest._--Monkey statant ppr. environed round the loins and
chained or.
_Supporters._--Two monkeys environed and chained or.
_Motto._--Crom a boo.
]
Thus every detail of a coat of arms has its own message to deliver,
and must not be overlooked. Let us begin with the shield, which is
as necessary a part of any heraldic achievement[1] as the canvas of a
painting is to the picture portrayed upon it.
[Footnote 1: Any complete heraldic composition is described as
an _achievement_.]
It actually serves as the vehicle for depicting the coat of arms.
The word "shield" comes from the Saxon verb _scyldan_, to protect,
but the heraldic term "escutcheon," derived from the Greek _skûtos_,
a skin, reminds us that in olden days warriors covered their shields
with the skins of wild beasts.
Early Britons used round, light shields woven of osier twigs, with
hides thrown over them, whilst the Scythians and Medes dyed their
shields red, so that their comrades in battle might not be discouraged
by seeing the blood of the wounded. The Roman Legionary bore a wooden
shield covered with leather and strengthened with bars and bosses of
metal, whilst the Greek shield was more elaborate, and reached from a
man's face to his knee. Homer describes Æneas' shield in the "Iliad"
thus:
"Five plates of various metal, various mould,
Composed the shield, of brass each outward fold,
Of tin each inward, and the middle gold."
But whether the shield were of basket-work or metal, whether it were
borne by a savage hordesman or by a nobly equipped and mounted knight,
it has always ranked as its bearer's most precious accoutrement, the
loss of which was deemed an irreparable calamity and a deep disgrace
to the loser.
How pathetically King David laments over "the shield of the mighty
which was vilely cast away," when Saul was slain! And everyone
knows that when their sons went forth to battle the Spartan mothers
admonished them to return either "with their shield or upon it"!
That they should return _without_ a shield was unthinkable! Thus,
naturally enough, the shield was chosen to bear those armorial devices
which commemorated the golden deeds of its owner.
It was probably in the reign of Henry II. that shields were first used
in this way; until then, warriors wore their badges embroidered upon
their mantles or robes.
In studying the heraldic shield, its shape must be considered first,
because that marks the period in history to which it belongs.[2]
[Footnote 2: Parker states that twenty-one differently shaped
shields occur in heraldry, but Guillim only mentions fourteen
varieties.]
Thus a bowed shield (Fig. 1) denotes those early times when a
warrior's shield fitted closely to his person, whilst a larger, longer
form, the kite-shaped shield, was in use in the time of Richard I.
(Fig. 2). This disappeared, however, in Henry III.'s reign, giving way
to a much shorter shield known as the "heater-shaped" (see Fig. 3).
Another form of shield had a curved notch in the right side, through
which the lance was passed when the shield was displayed on the breast
(Fig. 4).
The shield of a coat of arms usually presents a plain surface, but it
is sometimes enriched with a bordure--literally border. This surface
is termed the "field," "because, as I believe," says Guillim, "it
bore those ensigns which the owner's valour had gained for him on the
field."
[Illustration: FIG. 1.]
[Illustration: FIG. 2.]
[Illustration: FIG. 3.]
[Illustration: FIG. 4.]
The several points of a shield have each their respective names, and
serve as landmarks for locating the exact position of the different
figures charged on the field. (In describing a shield, you must always
think of it as being worn by yourself, so that in _looking_ at a
shield, right and left become reversed, and what appears to you as the
right side is really the left, and _vice versa_.)
In Fig. 5, _A_, _B_, _C_, mark the chief--_i.e._, the highest and most
honourable point of the shield--_A_ marking the dexter chief or upper
right-hand side of the shield, _B_ the middle chief, and _C_ the
sinister or left-hand side of the chief. _E_ denotes the fess point,
or centre; _G_, _H_, and _I_, mark the base of the shield--_G_ and _I_
denoting respectively the dexter and sinister sides of the shield, and
_H_ the middle base. After the points of a field, come the tinctures,
which give the colour to a coat of arms, and are divided into two
classes. The first includes the two metals, gold and silver, and
the five colours proper--viz., blue, red, black, green, purple. In
heraldic language these tinctures are described as "or," "argent"
(always written arg:), "azure" (az:), "gules" (gu:),[3] "sable"
(sa:), "vert," and "purpure." According to Guillim, each tincture was
supposed to teach its own lesson--_e.g._, "as gold excelleth all other
metals in value and purity, so ought its bearer to surpass all others
in prowess and virtue," and so on.
[Footnote 3: This term for red is thought to be derived either
from the Hebrew _gulude_, a bit of red cloth, or from the
Arabic, _gulu_, a rose.]
[Illustration: FIG. 5.]
In the seventeenth century one Petrosancta introduced the system of
delineating the tinctures of the shield by certain dots and lines, in
the use of which we have a good example of how heraldry can dispense
with words. Thus pin-prick dots represent or (Fig. 6); a blank
surface, argent (Fig. 7); horizontal lines, azure (Fig. 8);
perpendicular, gules (Fig. 9); horizontal and perpendicular lines
crossing each other, sable (Fig. 10); diagonal lines running from
the dexter chief to the sinister base, vert (Fig. 11); diagonal lines
running in an opposite direction, purpure (Fig. 12).
[Illustration: FIG. 6.--OR.]
[Illustration: FIG. 7.--ARG.]
[Illustration: FIG. 8.--AZ.]
[Illustration: FIG. 9.--GU.]
[Illustration: FIG. 10.--SA.]
[Illustration: FIG. 11.--V.]
[Illustration: FIG. 12.--PURPURE.]
Two other colours, orange and blood-colour, were formerly in use, but
they are practically obsolete now.
Furs constitute the second class of tinctures. Eight kinds occur
in English heraldry, but we can only mention the two most
important--viz., ermine and vair. The former is represented by black
spots on a white ground (Fig. 13).[4] As shields were anciently
covered with the skins of animals, it is quite natural that furs
should appear in armorial bearings. "Ermine," says Guillim, "is a
little beast that hath his being in the woods of Armenia, whereof he
taketh his name."
[Footnote 4: When the same spots are in white on a black field
it is termed _ermines_, whilst black spots on a gold field are
blazoned or described as _erminois_.]
Many legends account for the heraldic use of ermine, notably that
relating how, when Conan Meriadic landed in Brittany, an ermine sought
shelter from his pursuers under Conan's shield. Thereupon the Prince
protected the small fugitive, and adopted an ermine as his arms.
[Illustration: FIG. 13.--ERMINE.]
From early days the wearing of ermine was a most honourable
distinction, enjoyed only by certain privileged persons, and
disallowed to them in cases of misdemeanour. Thus, when, in the
thirteenth century, Pope Innocent III. absolved Henry of Falkenburg
for his share in the murder of the Bishop of Wurtzburg, he imposed
on him as a penance _never_ to appear in ermine, vair, or any other
colour used in tournaments. And, according to Joinville, when St.
Louis returned to France from Egypt, "he renounced the wearing of
furs as a mark of humility, contenting himself with linings for his
garments made of doeskins or legs of hares."
As to vair, Mackenzie tells us that it was the skin of a beast whose
back was blue-grey (it was actually meant for the boar, for which
_verres_ was the Latin name), and that the figure used in heraldry to
indicate vair represents the shape of the skin when the head and feet
have been taken away (Fig. 14). "These skins," he says, "were used by
ancient governors to line their pompous robes, sewing one skin to the
other."
Vair was first used as a distinctive badge by the Lord de Courcies
when fighting in Hungary. Seeing that his soldiers were flying from
the field, he tore the lining from his mantle and raised it aloft as
an ensign. Thereupon, the soldiers rallied to the charge and overcame
the enemy.
[Illustration: FIG. 14.--VAIR.]
Cinderella's glass slipper in the fairy-tale, which came originally
from France, should really have been translated "fur," it being easy
to understand how the old French word _vaire_ was supposed to be a
form of _verre_, and was rendered accordingly.
Much might still be said about "varied fields"--_i.e._, those
which have either more than one colour or a metal _and_ a colour
alternatively, or, again, which have patterns or devices represented
upon them. We can, however, only mention that when the field shows
small squares alternately of a metal and colour, it is described
as _checky_, when it is strewn with small objects--such as
_fleurs-de-lys_ or billets--it is described as "powdered" or "sown."
A diapered field is also to be met with, but this, being merely an
artistic detail, has no heraldic significance. Therefore, whereas
in blazoning armorial bearings one must always state if the field is
checky or powdered, the diaper is never mentioned.
In concluding this chapter we must add that one of the first rules to
be learnt in heraldry is that in arranging the tinctures of a coat of
arms, metal can never be placed upon metal, nor colour upon colour.
The field must therefore be gold or silver if it is to receive a
coloured charge, or _vice versa_. This rule was probably made because,
as we said above, the knights originally bore their arms embroidered
upon their mantles, these garments being always either of cloth of
gold or of silver, embroidered with silk, or they were of silken
material, embroidered with gold or silver.