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The
Language of Armory
Heraldry began in
the twelfth century to identify knights in tournaments or in battle.
Each knight had his own pattern, also used in his surcoat. This gave
the pattern its name -- coat of arms. A roll of arms is any collection
of heraldry, whether painted, tricked*, or listed in written form using
the language of armory or blazon. (*In documents the tinctures may be
shown by means of a 'trick,' a line drawing where abbreviations are
substituted for tinctures and numbers or letters for charges.)
Here are some definitions
of blazon: dancettee=connected chevrons; embattled=crenellations;
escutcheon=small central shield, indicative of marriage to an
heraldic heiress; garb=sheaf of wheat; vulned=wounded;
dexter=left; and sinister=right. Heralds described shields
from the point of view of the bearer - the man carrying the shields
- that is from its backside. Spectators see the shield from the front
side hence dexter (Latin for bearer's right) is the left half
and sinister (Latin left) the right side.
Basic tinctures
(colours) found in armorial design are: Argent (silver, usually
shown as white), Azure (blue), Gules (red), Murrey
(mulberry), Or (gold, often depicted as yellow), Purpure
(purple), Sable (black), and Vert (green). There may be
references to 'stains' i.e. Sanguine (blood-red) and Tenne
(tawny). Sometimes use is made of the term ppr (proper, charge
in natural colours). There are no heraldic rules about shades of colour
hence any blue is azure to a herald. The exception is the rare
sky-blue of bleu celeste of some Continental armorists.
Sources: Iain Moncreiffe
& Don Pottinger's Simple Heraldry and Stephen Friar &
John Ferguson's Basic Heraldry.
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