LADIES' ARMS BORNE IN A LOZENGE.
(Vol. viii., pp. 37. 83. 277. 329.)
I broached a theory with a concluding remark that it would give me great pleasure to see one more reasonable take its place. I fear that, if all your readers anxious to clear up an obscure point in an interesting science take no more trouble than P. P., we shall find ourselves no
nearer our object in the middle of your eightieth volume than we are now in your eighth.
What P. P. is pleased to term the "routine" reason is after all but one among many, and is not better substantiated than some of the others quoted by me; for though the lozenge has a "supposed" resemblance to the distaff or fusil, heraldically it is but a supposed one, and by most writers the difference is very distinctly indicated.
Boyer says:
"A fusil is a bearing in heraldry made in the form of a spindle, with its yarn or thread wound about it. Fusils are longer than lozenges, and taper or pointed at both ends."
The same author thus describes a lozenge:
"A Rhimbus, in geometry, is a figure of four equal and parallel sides, but not rectangular."
Robson says:
"Fusil, a kind of spindle used in spinning. Its formation should be particularly attended to, as few painters or engravers make a sufficient distinction between the fusil and lozenge."
Nisbet describes a lozenge to be—
"A figure that has equal sides and unequal angles, as the quarry of a glass window placed erect pointways."
He adds:
"The Latins say, 'Lozengæ factæ sunt ad modum lozangiorum in vitreis.' Heralds tell us that their use in armories came from the pavement of marble stones of churches, fine palaces and houses, cut after the form of lozenges, which pavings the French and Italians call loze and the Spaniards loza."
Sylvester de Petra-Sancta of the lozenge says much the same:
"Scutulas oxigonias scu acutangulus erectas, et quasi gradiles, referri debere ad latericias et antiquas domus olim, viz. Nobilium quia vulgus, et infamiæ sortis homines, intra humiles casus, vet antra inhabitantur."
Of the fusil Nisbet writes:
"The fusil is another Rhombular figure like the lozenge, but more long than broad, and its upper and lower points are more acute than the two side points."
He adds that:
"Chassanus and others make their sides round, as in his description of them: 'Fusæ sunt acutæ in superiore et inferiore partibus, et rotundæ ex utroque latere;' which description has occasioned some English heralds, when so painted or engraven, to call them millers' picks, as Sir John Boswell, in his Concords of Armory, and others, to call them weavers' shuttles."
Menestrier says of lozenges:
"Lozange est une figure de quatre pointes, dont deux sont un peu plus étendues que les autres, et assise sur une de ces pointes. C'est le Rhomb des mathématiciens, et les quarreaux des vitres ordinaires en ont la figure."
Of fusils:
"Fusées sont plus étendues en longue que les lozanges, et affilées en point comme les fuseaux. Elles sont pièces d'architecture où l'on se sert pour ornement de fusées et de pesons."
The celebrated Boke of St. Albans (1486) thus describes the difference between a lozenge and fusil:
"Knaw ye ye differans betwix ffusillis and losyng. Wherefore it is to be knaw that ffusillis ar euermore long, also fusyllis ar strattyr ouerwart in the baly then ar mascules. And mascules ar larger ou'wartt in the baly, and shorter in length than be fusyllis."
The mascle is afterwards explained to be the lozenge pierced. Again:
"And ye most take thys for a general enformacion and instruccion that certanli losyng eu'more stand upright ... and so withowte dowte we have the differans of the foresayd signes, that is to wete of mascules and losynges."
Dallaway, an elegant writer on Heraldry, says:
"Of the lozenge the following extraordinary description is given in a MS. of Glover, 'Lozenga est pars vitri in vitrea fenestra.' But it may be more satisfactory to observe that the lozenge, with its diminutive, are given to females instead of an escocheon for the insertion of their armorial bearings, one of which is supposed to have been a cushion of that shape, and the other is evidently the spindle used in spinning; both demonstrative of the sedentary employments of women. On a very splendid brass for Eleanor, relict of Thomas of Woodstocke, who died 1384, she is delineated as resting her head upon two cushions, the upper of which is placed lozenge-wise."—P. 140.
The above is taken from his Miscellaneous Observations on Heraldic Ensigns, the following from the body of his great work:
"Females being heirs, or conveying feodal lordships to their husbands, had, as early as the thirteenth century, the privilege of armorial seals. The variations were progressive and frequent; at first the female effigy had the kirtle or inner garment emblazoned, or held the escocheon over her head, or in her right hand; then three escocheons met in the centre, or four were joined at their bases, if the alliance admitted of so many. Dimidiation, accollation, and impalement succeeded each other at short intervals. But the modern practice of placing the arms of females upon a lozenge appears to have originated about the middle of the fourteenth century, when we have an instance of five lozenges conjoined upon one seal; that of the heir female in the centre impaling the arms of her husband, and surrounded by those of her ancestors."—P. 400.
I think this quotation from so learned a writer goes far towards settling the whole question. I confess myself willing to have my theory placed second to this, while I must discard the "distaff"
notion, unless better substantiated than by the French saying from their Salique law, which I here give for P. P.'s information: "Nunquam corona a lance transibit ad fusum." I am willing to admit the antiquity of this notion; for while the shape of the man's shield is traced by Sylvanus Morgan to Adam's spade, he takes the woman's from Eve's spindle!
"When Adam delved, and Eve span,
Who was then the gentleman?"
In Geoffry Chaucer's time the lozenge appears to have been an ornament worn by heralds in their dress or crown. In describing the habit of one, he says:
"They crowned were as kinges
With crowns wrought full of lozenges
And many ribbons and many fringes."
As for the difference between the lozenge and fusil, I could multiply opinions and examples, but hope those given will be sufficient.
I cannot conclude these few hasty remarks without expressing a wish that one of your correspondents in particular would take up this subject, to handle which in a masterly manner, his position is a guaranty of his ability. I refer to the gentleman holding the office of York Herald.
Broctuna.
Bury, Lancashire.