The saltire, recalling the French form of scaling-ladder of the Middle Ages, reminds us of how the brave Joan of Arc placed the salcier with her own hands against the fort of Tournelles. And we remember how, when her shoulder was presently pierced by an English arrow, she herself drew it out from the ghastly wound, rebuking the women who wept round her with the triumphant cry: "This is not blood, but glory!"
Fig. 24.
In addition to the ordinaries, there are fifteen sub-ordinaries. These less important divisions of the shield are known in heraldry as the canton, inescutcheon, bordure, orle, tressure, flanches, lozenge, mascle, rustre, fusil, billet, gyron, frette, and roundle. Owing to limited space, we cannot go into detail with regard to these charges, but we may mention that the canton, from the French word for a corner, is placed, with rare exceptions, in the dexter side of the field, being supposed to occupy one-third of the chief. It is often added as an "augmentation of honour" to a coat of arms. The badge of a baronet, the red hand, is generally charged on a canton, sometimes also on an inescutcheon, and it is then placed on the field, so as not to interfere with the family arms (Fig. 24). The inescutcheon is a smaller shield placed upon the field, and, when borne singly, it occupies the centre (Fig. 25). Three, or even five, escutcheons may be borne together. The bordure (Fig. 26) is a band surrounding the field, which may be either void—that is, bearing no kind of device—or it may have charges upon it, as in the arms of England, where the bordure is charged with eight lions. The orle and the tressure are only varieties of the bordure, just as the mascle, rustre, and fusil, are variations of the diamond-shaped figure known as the "lozenge" (Fig. 27). The latter is always set erect on the field. The arms of an unmarried woman and a widow are always displayed on a lozenge. The mascle—a link of chain armour—is a lozenge square set diagonally, pierced in the centre with a diamond-shaped opening, whilst the rustre is a lozenge pierced with a round hole. The fusil is a longer and narrower form of diamond.
Fig. 25.Fig. 26.Fig. 27.
Fig. 28.
The billet is a small elongated rectangular figure, representing a block of wood, and is seldom used. The gyron (Fig. 28), which is a triangular figure, does not occur in English heraldry as a single charge, but what is termed a coat gyronny is not unusual in armorial bearings, when the field may be divided into ten, twelve, or even sixteen pieces. All arms borne by the Campbell clan have a field gyronny. The origin of the word is doubtful; some trace it to the Greek for curve, others to a Spanish word for gore or gusset. The introduction of a gyron into heraldry dates from the reign of Alfonso VI. of Spain, who, being sore beset by the Moors, was rescued by his faithful knight, Don Roderico de Cissnères. The latter, as a memento of the occasion, tore three triangular pieces from Alfonso's mantle, being henceforward allowed to represent the same on his shield in the shape of a gyron. The frette, formerly known as a "trellis," from its resemblance to lattice-work, is very frequent in British heraldry; it also occurs as a net in connection with fish charges. In the Grand Tournament held at Dunstable to celebrate Edward III.'s return from Scotland, one Sir John de Harrington bore "a fretty arg., charged upon a sable field."