[Ill.u.s.tration: Quarterings]

The Escutcheon is sometimes divided into a great number of parts, in order to place in it the arms of several families to which one is allied; this is called a genealogical achievement. The compartments are called QUARTERINGS.

DIFFERENCES.

All members of the same family claim the same bearings in their coat of arms; and to distinguish the princ.i.p.al bearer from his descendants or relatives, it was necessary to invent some sign, so that the degree of consanguinity might be known. These signs are called DIFFERENCES.

During the Crusades the only difference consisted in the bordure or border, which, as the name implies, was a border or edging running round the edge of the shield. The colour and form of this border served to distinguish the leaders of the different bands that served under one duke or chieftain. The same difference might be used to denote a diversity between particular persons descended from one family. At the present time they are not used to denote a difference, but as one of the ordinaries to a coat of arms. The annexed example exhibits the arms of the Monastery of Bermondsey. Party per pale, azure and gules; a bordure, argent. This bordure is plain; but they may be formed by any of the foregoing lines.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Monastery of Bermondsey arms.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: or, a bordure engrailed, gules]

The annexed example is or, a bordure engrailed, gules.

The differences used by armorists at the present time are nine in number. They not only distinguish the sons of one family, but also denote the subordinate degrees in each house.

The Heir, or first son, the LABEL

[Ill.u.s.tration: Label]

Second Son, the CRESCENT

[Ill.u.s.tration: Crescent]

Third Son, the MULLET

[Ill.u.s.tration: Mullet]

Fourth Son, the MARTLET

[Ill.u.s.tration: Martlet]

Fifth Son, the ANNULET

[Ill.u.s.tration: Annulet]

Sixth Son, the FLEUR-DE-LIS

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fleur-de-Lis]

Seventh Son, the ROSE

[Ill.u.s.tration: Rose]

Eighth Son, the CROSS MOLINE

[Ill.u.s.tration: Cross Moline]

Ninth Son, the DOUBLE QUATREFOIL

[Ill.u.s.tration: Double Quatrefoil]

Should either of the nine brothers have male children, the eldest child would place the label on the difference that distinguished his father; the second son would place the crescent upon it; the third the mullet; continuing the same order for as many sons as he may have.

The label only, is used in the arms of the royal family as a difference; but the points of the label are charged with different figures to distinguish the second and succeeding sons. The arms of the sons of King George III. were thus distinguished: the shield of the arms of the Prince of Wales by a label; the Duke of York's by the label, the centre point of which was charged with a red cross; that of the Duke of Clarence by a label, the dexter and sinister points of which were charged with an anchor, the centre point with the red cross; each of the succeeding sons were differenced by charges on the points of the labels.

All the figures denoting differences are also used as perfect charges on the shield; but their size and situation will sufficiently determine whether the figure is used as a perfect coat of arms, or is introduced as a difference or diminution.

Sisters have no differences in their coats of arms. They are permitted to bear the arms of their father, as the eldest son does after his father's decease.

Guillim, Leigh, and other ancient armorists mention divers figures, which, they a.s.sert, were formerly added to coats of arms as marks of degradation for slander, cowardice, murder, and other crimes, and to them they give the name of abatements of honour; others have called them blots in the escutcheon: but as no instance can be produced of such dishonourable marks having been borne in a coat of arms, they may justly be considered as chimerical, or at any rate obsolete, and unworthy of consideration at the present time. p.o.r.ney pithily observes, "that arms being marks of honour, they cannot admit of any note of infamy, nor would any one bear them if they were so branded.

It is true, a man may be degraded for divers crimes, particularly high treason; but in such cases the escutcheon is reversed, trod upon, and torn in pieces, to denote a total extinction and suppression of the honour and dignity of the person to whom it belonged."

The only abatement used in heraldry is the baton: this denotes illegitimacy. It is borne in the escutcheons of the dukes that a.s.sume the royal arms as the illegitimate descendants of King Charles the Second.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Baton]

CHAP. IV.

HONOURABLE ORDINARIES.

Honourable ordinaries are the original marks of distinction bestowed by sovereigns on subjects that have become eminent for their services, either in the council or the field of battle. Volumes have been written upon the origin and form of the honourable ordinaries. These long and tedious inquiries can only be interesting to antiquaries: it is sufficient for the tyro in Heraldry to know that they are merely broad lines or bands of various colours, which have different names, according to the place they occupy in the shield; ancient armorists admit but nine honourable ordinaries--the chief, the pale, the bend, the bend sinister, the fess, the bar, the chevron, the cross, and the saltier.

The _chief_ is an ordinary terminated by an horizontal line, which, if it is of any other form but straight, its form must be expressed; it is placed in the upper part of the escutcheon, and occupies one third of the field.

Ex. Argent, on a chief, gules, two mullets, sable.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Chief]

Any of the lines before described may be used to form the chief.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Chief]

Ex. Argent, a chief, azure, indented.

The chief has a diminutive called a _fillet_; it must never be more than one fourth the breadth of the chief.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fillet]

Ex. Or, a chief, purpure, in the lower part a fillet, azure.

This ordinary may be charged with a variety of figures, which are always named after the tincture of the chief.

It may be necessary to inform the reader that, in describing a coat of arms, the general colour of the shield or the field is first described, then the honourable ordinaries, their tinctures, then the object with which they are charged. We shall have to remark more particularly on the order of describing ordinaries, tinctures, and charges on coats of arms, when we treat of the rules of heraldry; but the student might have been confused if this brief direction had been omitted, as we shall have to describe every shield of arms in the same order.