An Illustrated Dictionary of Words used in Art and Archaeology / Explaining terms frequently used in works on architecture, arms, bronzes, Christian art, colour, costume, decoration, devices, emblems, heraldry, lace, personal ornaments, pottery, painting, sculpture, &c., with their derivations.

by John W. Mollett

Bell. An attribute of St. Anthony, referring to his power of exorcising evil spirits. In heraldry, the bell is drawn and blazoned as a church bell.

Bell-cot, Arch. A BELL-GABLE (q.v.).

Fig. 80. Belled.

Belled, Her. Having bells attached, like the cows in the device of the city of Béarn. (Fig. [80].)

Bell-gable, Arch. A turret raised over the west end of small churches and chapels that have no towers to hang a bell in. This is distinct from the smaller turret at the east end of the nave for the Sanctus Bell (q.v.).

Bellicrepa, Med. Lat. A military dance, of Italian origin.

Bellows were called in A.S. bælg or blastbælg. A MS. of the 14th century represents a man blowing at a three-legged caldron with a perfectly modern-looking pair of bellows. Bellows, in Christian art, are an attribute of Ste. Geneviève.

Bell-ring, Mod. The ring in the Crown of a bell from which the clapper hangs.

Bells on the caparisons of horses were common in the Middle Ages. A passage in the romance of Richard Cœur de Lion describes a messenger “with five hundred belles rygande.” Chaucer’s monk has also bells on his horse’s “bridel” which “gyngle as lowde as doth the chapel belle.”