INANIMATE OBJECTS AS CHARGES

Under this heading so many and such various objects are included that we cannot attempt to mention one half of the items in this miscellaneous collection. First come crowns, mitres, croziers (a crozier is borne by an Irish family of that name), swords, maces, etc., all of which represent estate and dignity. Then come books, billets, pens (one Cowpen bears three pens), single letters of the alphabet, notably Y and T (three T's are borne by the Tofte family), musical instruments—i.e., violin, organ-pipes, harp, etc. (the harp appears in the arms of one Harpham).

Musical instruments signified that their bearers were "men of a well-composed and tempered judgment"; whilst the Book symbolized primarily the Word of Life; the pen, the wisdom of the learned; and the single letters stood for the thoughts of absent or silent scholars.

In the Conroy arms, the field is charged with "an ancient book, open, indexed, edged or." This charge represents the honourable and hereditary office of Leanachie bard and herald to the O'Connors, Kings of Connaught. The motto under the coat of arms signifies that "history once written in this book cannot be destroyed by time." It was the privilege of the ancient bard of the tribe "to stand alone with the new-made King upon the sacred mount of Carn Fraoich and there to deliver into his hands the white wand or sceptre of royalty."

Mechanical objects follow next—ploughs, harrows (the Harrows bear three harrows), scythes, spades, cartwheels (the latter occur in the arms of Carter and Cartwright). These are all typical of husbandry, and suggest agricultural industry on the part of the original bearers. Chaucer's son-in-law, Sir Payne Roet—derived doubtless, from the French rouet, a wheel—bore three wheels on his shield, and in blazoning this coat of arms (Fig. 52), Guillim quotes Pliny's fable of the Roman farmer who was accused to the authorities of being a magician, because his fields were fruitful, whilst those of his neighbour were barren.

Workman's tools—pickaxes, hammers, levels, squares, hatchets, nails, plummets, etc.—had all great heraldic significance. The pickaxe was to remind its bearer "whence he was digged"; the level that his actions must be justified by the rule of reason and justice; the square taught the cultivation of an even judgment; the nails, fixity of purpose; the plummet, prudence in fathoming the problems of life.

The objects wrought by these tools follow. First, come works of masonry.

One Oldcastle bears a "tower triple-towered"; Sir Edward Mansel, a tower with a scaling ladder against it; whilst three castles occur in the arms of the Scarborough family. The heralds, be it noted, made a great distinction between a tower and a castle, when charging either upon a shield. For, whereas a tower must never occupy the whole of the field, a castle "extendeth itself all over the shield from one side to the other." Three arches are borne by the Archers; the Trowbridges bear a bridge.

Keys occur fairly often, being borne either singly or in threes. The Bells very properly bear bells, and these latter we also find in the Dobell coat of arms, which affords an excellent example of canting heraldry (Fig. 53). One, Stratford, bears three trestles meant to imply their bearer's love of hospitality.

Amongst other inanimate charges are flesh-pots, bellows, lamps. The Lamplaws bear three lamps; cups are borne by Bowles, Warcupp, and Butler; dishes are borne by the Standish family (a boar's head in a golden dish was a rather favourite charge), as were also clocks, watches, dials, etc.

Next we find ships and all things pertaining to them.

The Earl of Caithness bears a ship; the Cavells bear three sails; the Chappels have an anchor. Three anchors are a fairly common charge.

Objects connected with hunting, hawking, and fishing come next. The Hatheways bear a hunter's horn; the Langhornes three bugles; the Plankes, three hawk-bells, whilst a lure with a line and ring, "all a falconer's decoy," are borne by one, Lie, "a suitable name, seeing that a falconer is ever used to deceive." Three mascles, representing the meshes of a net, are borne by the Belgraves, whilst a net enclosing three sturgeons is introduced into the Sturgeons' coat of arms, and is blazoned as a "fret." The Medvilles bear three fishing-hooks.

Now we come to objects associated with games—chessmen, dice, balls, etc. One of Charles V.'s generals bore as his arms a ball with two balloons, with the motto, "The harder I am struck, the higher I mount."

Then we have military weapons and implements, cannon, battering-rams, swords, lances, as well as banners, drums, trumpets, clarions, etc.

Guillim blazons the Earl of Cumberland's arms as "three murthering shots." One Bowman bears three bows, whilst arrows¹ and swords are of constant occurrence, the latter borne either singly or crossed salter-wise.

1: An arrow has its peculiar terms of blazon. It is armed of its head, flighted of its feathers, whilst a bundle of arrows is a sheaf. An arrow with a blunt head is known in heraldry as a "bird-bolt."

On the Earl of Lindsey's shield there are three battering-rams in the first and fourth quarters, and a shattered "castle triple-towered" is represented in the second and third quarters. The origin of this unusual coat of arms is historical. One Robert Bertie, afterwards created Earl of Lindsey, was serving in the army, which, during Queen Elizabeth's reign, laid siege to Cadiz under the Earl of Essex's command. When the English troops made a furious onslaught on the gates of the city, every inhabitant within its walls strove to drive back the enemy, the old women flinging down heavy stones from the ramparts. One of these missiles felled young Bertie to the ground, so that when, after the taking of Cadiz, the youth was knighted for his gallant conduct that day, the newly made knight exclaimed: "The squire was knocked down by an old woman with a stone, but the general bade him arise a knight."

All kinds of escutcheons were also charged upon a shield, as well as helmets and gauntlets. Trophies and tokens of martial victory also occur in heraldry, such as chaplets, torses—the wreath surrounding the helmet—along with the more melancholy charges—fetters, shackles, chains, denoting the subjection and captivity of the vanquished.

Bridles, bits, buckles, and stirrups are of frequent occurrence in heraldry. Lord Stanhope bears three stirrups, buckles, and straps, whilst spurs are borne very appropriately by the Knights.

Before closing this chapter we must mention that besides the charges emblazoned on the shield, which we have been considering at some length, a coat of arms has certain accessory ornaments. These are known as the crest, helmet, mantling, supporters—we have spoken of the latter elsewhere—scrolls,² and mottoes. The crest,³ which is the only part of armorial bearings which is in constant use, is the device placed above an escutcheon, and originally worn upon a helmet, but it now occurs on a coronet, wreath, or cap.

2: The ribbon bearing the motto is called heraldically "escroll"—scroll.

3: "Crest" is obviously derived from crista, a bird's comb or crest. Its heraldic term is "cognizance," because the crest worn upon his helmet served to insure recognition of a leader by his followers on the battle-field.

As regards the representing of helmets in armorial bearings, the following rules must be noted: A king's helmet must be gold, six-barred, full face, and open; a duke's helmet is steel with five gold bars, and set slightly in profile; baronets and knights have also steel helmets with no bars—these must be drawn full faced with visor raised; steel helmets are also used by esquires, visor down, with gold ornaments and represented in profile. Full-faced helmets denote authority, side-faced ones symbolize attention and obedience towards superiors.

Mantling or lambrequin is the term used for the mantle or a piece of scarf-like drapery, attached to the helmet and showing jagged and torn edges to suggest the cuts received in battle. Generally, however, we find the mantling in heraldry takes the shape of graceful flowing outlines.

In the motto we have, no doubt, the survival of the war-cries; many (besides expressing the name of the bearer or some allusion to the charges on the coat of arms)⁴ contain very interesting historical references—viz., the "Grip Fast" of the Earl of Rothes recalls how his ancestor rescued the good Queen Margaret from the river, where she and her palfrey were drowning, and exhorted her to "grip fast" to his belt.

4: As, for instance, "Fare fac," the Fairfax motto, or the Weare's motto, "Sumus"—we are—whilst the motto of the Clerks of Penicuik, "Free for a blast," alludes to their crest, a man blowing a horn. This refers to the odd condition under which the Barony of Penicuik is held—viz., that the proprietor must sit on a piece of rock called the Buckstone, and wind three blasts of a horn whenever the sovereign shall come to hunt on the Borough Muir, near Edinburgh.

The motto is generally placed beneath the escutcheon, but we sometimes find it above the crest.