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.

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 achievement¹ as the canvas of a painting is to the picture portrayed upon it.

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:

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

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."

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.

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.

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).

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."

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.

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."

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.