Peeps at Heraldry

by Phoebe Allen

Perhaps you think that explanation of heraldry sounds rather dull, but you will soon find out that very much that is interesting and amusing, too, is associated with the study of armorial bearings.

For heraldry, which, you know, was reckoned as one of the prime glories of chivalry, is the language that keeps alive the golden deeds done in the world, and that is why those who have once learnt its secrets are always anxious to persuade others to learn them too.

"Although," says the old writer, Montague; "our ancestors were little given to study, they held a knowledge of heraldry to be indispensable, because they considered that it was the outward sign of the spirit of chivalry and the index also to a lengthy chronicle of doughty deeds."

Now, it is in a language that is all its own that heraldry tells its stories, and it is unlike any other in which history has been written.

This language, as expressed in armorial bearings, contains no words, no letters, even, for signs and devices do the work of words, and very well they do it. And as almost every object, animate and inanimate, under the sun was used to compose this alphabet, we shall find as we go on that not only are the sun, moon and stars, the clouds and the rainbow, fountains and sea, rocks and stones, trees and plants of all kinds, fruits and grain, pressed into the service of this heraldic language, but that all manner of living creatures figure as well in this strange alphabet, from tiny insects, such as bees and flies and butterflies, to the full-length representations of angels, kings, bishops, and warriors. Mythical creatures—dragons and cockatrices, and even mermaidens—have also found their way into heraldry, just as we find traditions and legends still lingering in the history of nations, like the pale ghosts of old-world beliefs.

And as though heavenly bodies and plants and animals were not sufficient for their purpose, heralds added yet other "letters" to their alphabet in the shape of crowns, maces, rings, musical instruments, ploughs, scythes, spades, wheels, spindles, lamps, etc.

Each of these signs, as you can easily understand, told a story of its own, as did also the towers, castles, arches, bridges, bells, cups, ships, anchors, hunting-horns, spears, bows, arrows, and many other objects, which, with their own special meaning, we shall gradually find introduced into the language of heraldry.

But perhaps by now you are beginning to wonder how you can possibly learn one-half of what all these signs are meant to convey, but you will not wonder about that long, for heraldry has its own well-arranged grammar, and grammar, as you know, means fixed rules which are simple guides for writing or speaking a language correctly.

Moreover, happily both for teacher and learner, the fish and birds and beasts (as well as all the other objects we have just mentioned) do not come swarming on to our pages in shoals and flocks and herds, but we have to do with them either singly or in twos and threes.

Now, even those people who know nothing about heraldry are quite familiar with the term, "a coat of arms." They know, too, that it means the figure of a shield, marked and coloured in a variety of ways, so as to be distinctive of individuals, families, etc.