The Elements of Heraldry; Containing an Explanation of the Principles of the Science and a Glossary of the Technical Terms Employed (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1866 Excerpt: ...a cross gules, over all a bend azure." So also where the field is of two tinctures, a metal and a color, the charge must, in most cases, be one or the other; as "barry of twelve gold and azure, an eagle displayed gules." The rule is not so strict in Continental heraldry; but in English the only cases in which a simple charge is placed on a plain shield of the same class of tincture are the few in which it is done for the purpose of attracting attention. Thus the arms of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, established by the Crusaders, were, "argent, a cross potent between four plain crosses gold." If 2. ON MARSHALLING ARMS. The foregoing rules apply to each shield considered by itself; but we frequently find two or more coats arranged together upon a large shield. When two coats are placed thus side by side, they are always intended to represent the coats of a husband and wife; the former occupying the dexter, the latter the sinister, half of the shield. This is termed "impaling." As an example, we give the arms of Bulkley impaling Chetwode. Here we have Bulkley, "argent, a chevron between three bull's heads cabossed, sable," impaling Chetwode "quarterly, argent and gules, four crosses patte"e counterchanged." Every armiger has the right thus to use his wife's family arms, even after her death: in case of a second marriage, however, it is customary to cease the use of the first wife's arms. A wife, or a widow while remaining such, has the right to use the impaled coat, but in a lozenge. A maid bears her paternal coat in a lozenge. Impaling, as we have said, is of universal application; but a different mode is used in one particular case. If the wife be an heiress, heraldically (i.e., if she had no brother, o...