Blazoning is the methodical description of a bearing. In the first
place, the shield is described according to its tinctures, figures,
and partitions. The inferior parts of an escutcheon are then
blazoned--the helm, with its insignia, which are trumpet, wings, and
plumes, men and animals, or their members; then the wreath and its
tinctures; after which the coronet cap, &c.; finally the supporters,
the mantle, the device, and other secondary things. Such terms for
the color must be used as are agreeable to the station and quality
of the bearer. All persons below the degree of noble must have their
coats blazoned by colors and metals; noble men by precious stones;
and kings and princes by planets.
In emblazoning shields of arms, metals, colors, and furs are
used to depict the device, the technical terms of which are
these;--of metals, gold, called _or_, and silver, _argent_, only
are employed;--of colors, red, called _gules_, blue, _azure_,
black, _sable_, green, _vert_, and purple, _purpure_;--and of furs,
principally the skin of the little animal called _ermine_, and a
combination of grey and white squirrel skins, called _vair_.
In blazoning arms it is an established rule with heralds, that
animals are always to be interpreted in the best sense, that is,
according to their most noble and generous qualities, that the most
honor may redound to the bearers. Thus the fox, being reputed witty
and given to filching for his prey, if this be the charge of an
escutcheon, we are to conceive the quality represented to be his wit
and cunning, and not his theft.
All savage beasts are to be figured in their fiercest action: as
a lion erected, his mouth wide open, his claws extended; and thus
formed he is said to be _rampant_. A leopard or wolf is to be
portrayed going as it were _pedetentim_, which form of action suits
their natural disposition, and is called _passant_. The gentler kinds
are to be set forth in their noblest and most advantageous action, as
a horse running or vaulting, a greyhound coursing, a deer tripping, a
lamb going with smooth and easy pace.
Every animal is to be represented as moving or looking to the right
side of the shield; and it is a general rule, that the right foot be
placed foremost, because the right side is reckoned the beginning
of motion. The upper part is nobler than the lower, and things
that are constrained either to look up or down, ought rather to be
designed looking upwards. We observe however that notwithstanding
such precepts of Guillim and other masters of armory, there are
lions _passant_, _couchant_, _dormant_, as well as _rampant_, and
most animals in arms look down and not up. Birds are esteemed a
more honorable bearing than fish, and wild and ravenous birds than
tame ones. When their bills and feet are of a different color from
the rest, they are said to be _membered_. Birds of prey are more
properly said to be _armed_. In the blazoning of fowls much exercised
in flight, if the wings be not displayed, they are said to be borne
_close_, for example, he beareth an eagle, a hawk, or a swallow,
_close_. Fish are borne different ways, upright, embowed, extended,
endorsed, surmounted of each other, fretted, triangled. Those borne
feeding should be termed _devouring_. Those borne directly upright
are termed _Hauriant_, and those borne traverse the escutcheon,
_naiant_.
To historify, in heraldry, is to explain the history of a coat of
arms, its origin, and the changes it has undergone. If the herald
is to explain a bearing historically, he must show that this figure
is the proper emblem of the family or country. He derives, for
instance, from historical sources, the proof that the double-headed
eagle of the Roman king was first introduced in the beginning of the
fourteenth century, under Albert I., and that previously, from the
time of Otho II., the royal eagle had but one head; that the three
leopards in the English arms were first derived in 1127, under Henry
I., from the Norman house.--The marshalling of arms consists in the
preparation of new escutcheons. In this matter, the herald either
follows the orders of a sovereign, or he invents the idea, and makes
the plan of the escutcheon according to his own judgment, or he
composes a new escutcheon from several coats of arms.