Electoral Bonnet. A cap of crimson velvet guarded with ermine, borne, in the Royal Arms, over the inescutcheon of the arms of Hanover from 1801 till 1816. No. 240.

Embattled, and Counter-Embattled. A term applied to a fess or bar when so depicted both above and below.

Embowed. Bent. An arm embowed has the elbow to the dexter, unless blazoned to the contrary.

Embrued. Stained with blood.

Endorse. A diminutive of the pale.

Enfiled. Pierced, e.g. with a sword, or surrounded, e.g. with a coronet.

Engrailed. The border-line, No. 38D.

Enhanced. Raised towards the chief. Thus the arms of Byron, No. 241, are—Arg., three bendlets enhanced gu.

see text see text

No. 241.— Shield of Byron.

Ensigned. Adorned; having some ensign of honour placed above—as a coronet above a shield.

Entire. Said of a charge when it is necessary to express that it extends to the border lines of a shield, coat, or banner; also of a shield, coat, or banner of arms, when borne without any difference or mark of cadency.

Entoire, Entoyre. A bordure charged with a series of inanimate figures or devices, as crosslets, roundles, &c.; to a similar bordure of living figures the term Enaluron is applied. These are not terms ordinarily in use.

Enveloped, Environed. Surrounded.

Equipped. Fully armed, caparisoned, or provided.

Eradicated. Torn up by the roots.

Erased. Torn off with a ragged edge; the contrary to Couped.

Ermine, Ermines, Erminois. Nos. 57-60 and 57A. The animal, the ermine, sometimes appears in blazon, and an ermine spot is borne as a charge.

Erne. An eagle. (See p. 96.)

Escarbuncle. No. 19.

Escroll. A ribbon charged with a motto; also a ribbon, coiled at its extremities, borne as a charge.

Escutcheon. An heraldic shield: Nos. 39-40: also No. 27. An Escutcheon, when borne as a charge, is usually blazoned as an “Inescutcheon”: thus, the Arms of Hay are,—Arg., three inescutcheons gu.: see also Nos. 131, 133.

Escutcheon of Pretence. A shield charged upon the centre of the field of another shield of larger size, and bearing a distinct Coat-of-Arms.

Escallop, or Escallop-Shell. A beautiful and favourite charge; No. 165.

Esquire. A rank below that of Knight. Besides those Esquires who are personal attendants of Knights of Orders of Knighthood at their installations, this title is held by most attendants on the person of the Sovereign, and all persons holding or having held the Sovereign’s commission in which they are so styled.

Estate. Dignity and rank.

Estoile. A star with wavy rays or points, which are six, eight, or sometimes even more in number: No. 242. (See Mullet.)

False. Said of any charge when its central area is removed—thus, an Annulet is a “false roundle.”

Fan, or Winnowing Fan, or Vane. The well-known implement of husbandry of that name, borne by the Kentish Family of De Sevans or Septvans—Az., three fans or (E. 2). This shield appears in the Brass to Sir R. de Sevans, A.D. 1305, at Chartham, in Kent, and in the cloisters at Canterbury.

Fan Crest. An early form of decoration for the knightly helm, exemplified in the 2nd Great Seal of Richard I., and in many other Seals, until about A.D. 1350. (See Chapter XIV.)

Feathers. Generally those of the Ostrich, sometimes of the swan, the turkey, and a few other birds, borne generally as Crests and Badges, both singly and in plumes or groups. (See Ostrich Feather, Panache, and Chapter XIV.)

Femme. The Wife, as distinguished from the “Baron,” the Husband.

Fer-de-Moline, or Mill-rind. The iron affixed to the centre of a mill-stone; No. 243: a modification of the Cross-moline; No. 97.

Fermail (plural Fermaux). A buckle: No. 244. Several varieties of form appear in blazon, it being usual to specify them as round, oval, square, or lozenge-shaped. They are always blazoned as buckles.

see text	see text	see text
No. 243.— Fer-de-Moline.	No. 244.— Fermails.	No. 245.— Fetter-lock.

Fess, or Fesse. One of the Ordinaries: Nos. 76-80. Fesse-wise, In Fesse. Disposed in a horizontal line, side by side, across the centre of the field, and over the Fesse-Point of a shield: No. 27, M.

Fetter-lock. A shackle and padlock—a Yorkist Badge: No. 245; is from the Brass to Sir S. de Felbrigge, K.G., at Felbrigg, Norfolk, A.D. 1414; this, however, being a very unusual shape.

Field. The entire surface of a Shield or Banner, or of an Ordinary.

File. A Label, from the Latin filum, a narrow ribbon.

Fillet. A diminutive of a Chief.

Fimbriated. Bordered—the border (which is narrow) lying in the same plane with the object bordered: No. 89.

Fish. Numerous Fish appear in blazon, and generally in their proper tinctures. They are borne as allusive charges, and also as types of some connection between those persons who bear them and the sea or lakes or rivers. Mr. Moule has published an admirable volume on the “Heraldry of Fish,” beautifully illustrated with examples drawn by his daughter. (See p. 77.)

Fitchée. Pointed at the base, as in No. 110.

Flanches, Flasques. Subordinaries: Nos. 141, 142.

Fleur de lys. The beautiful heraldic device so long identified with the history of France: No. 246 (from the monument of Edward III.?). The fleur de lys, derived, it would seem, from the flower of a lily resembling the iris, was adopted by Louis VII. (A.D. 1137-1180) as his royal ensign, and in due time it was regularly charged upon a true Shield of Arms. Originally the Royal Shield of France was—Az., semée of fleurs de lys, or; the fleurs de lys scattered freely over the field, and the Shield itself having the appearance of having been cut out of a larger object, over the whole surface of which the flowers had been semée. This Shield of France is distinguished as “France Ancient”: No. 247. About A.D. 1365, Charles V. of France reduced the number of the fleurs de lys to three; and this Shield is now known as “France Modern”: No. 248.

see text	see text
No. 247.— France Ancient.	No. 248.— France Modern.

In the year 1275, Edmund, first Earl of Lancaster, the second son of Henry III., married Blanche of Artois, when he differenced his shield of England with a label of France—a blue label charged on each point with three golden fleurs de lys. No. 249, thus, for the first time did the armorial insignia of England and France appear together upon the same Shield. In 1299 Edward I. married his second Queen, Margaret of France, and then this royal lady placed on one of her Seals a Shield of England and France dimidiated: No. 250. On another of her Seals, a very noble example of the Seal-engraver’s art, Queen Margaret displayed the Shield of King Edward I., her husband, surrounded, on the field of the Seal, with her father’s fleurs de lys: No. 251. On the Seals of Isabelle of France, Queen of Edward II., the same dimidiated shield, and another shield quartering the arms of England with France Ancient and two other French coats (Navarre and Champagne) appear. Then Prince John of Eltham charged a “bordure of France” upon his shield, No. 24; thus applying the suggestion of the Seal of Queen Margaret, No. 251, in such a manner as was consistent with the advanced condition of heraldic art.

see text	see text
No. 249.— Edmund, Earl of Lancaster.	No. 250.— Margaret, Queen of Edward I.

see text

No. 251.— Seal of Margaret, second Queen of Edward I.

On his accession in 1327, Edward III. placed a fleur de lys on each side of the Shield of England upon his Great Seal: and in 1340, when he claimed the crown of France, Edward quartered France Ancient with his lions of England: No. 252. Shortly after his accession, perhaps in 1405, in order to conform to the altered blazonry of the French sovereigns, Henry IV. quartered France Modern on his shield: No. 253. The position of the three fleurs de lys was more than once changed in the Royal Shield of England (as I shall hereafter show more particularly) after the accession of the Stuarts; and they were not finally removed till the first year of the nineteenth century. The fleur de lys is also borne on many English Shields, disposed in various ways. In modern cadency the fleur de lys is the difference of the sixth son, or house.

see text	see text
No. 252.— Shield of Edward III., A.D. 1340.	No. 253.— Shield of Henry IV., about A.D. 1405.

Fleurettée, Florettée. Terminating in, or bordered with, fleurs de lys; also, semée de lys.

Fleurie, or Fleury. Ending as No. 100; also, semée de lys.

Flexed. Bowed, bent.

Flighted. Feathered, as arrows are.

Fly. The length, and also the side of a flag farthest from the staff.

Foliated. Crisped, or formed like a leaf.

Fountain. No. 153.

Fourchée, Queue Fourchée. A term applied to a lion with a forked tail.

Fret, or Frette. A subordinary: No. 148. Frettée, Fretty: covered with fretwork: No. 149.

Fructed. Bearing fruit or seeds.

Furs. See p. 41: Nos. 57-65.

Fusil. An elongated Lozenge: No. 20A, p. 70. Fusillée, or Fusilly. A field entirely composed of Fusils, all lying in the same plane.

Fylfot. A peculiar cruciform figure, supposed to have a mystic signification, found in military and ecclesiastical decorations in England, and on Eastern coins, &c.: Nos. 254, 255; the latter example is from the monument of Bishop Bronscombe, in Exeter Cathedral.

see text	see text
No. 254.	No. 255.
Fylfot.

Gad, Gadlyng. A spike, knob, or other figure, projecting from the knuckles of gauntlets.

Galley. An ancient ship. (See Lymphad.)

Garb. A sheaf of wheat; if of any other grain, this to be specified.

Garnished. Adorned in a becoming manner.

Garter, Order of the. See Chapter XIX.

Garter King-of-Arms. The chief of the official Heralds of England, and officer of arms of the Order of the Garter. (See Herald.)

Gemelles. See Bars Gemelles.

Gem-Ring. A ring for the finger, set with a jewel.

Genet. A spotted animal, somewhat like a marten: a badge of Queen Joanna of Navarre.

George, Saint. The Patron Saint of England. The circumstances which led to his association with England are unknown. His Shield of arms, a red cross on a silver field, first appears in English Heraldry in the fourteenth century: No. 1.

George, The. A mounted figure of the Saint in the act of piercing the dragon with his lance, and worn as a pendant to the collar of the Order of the Garter; added to the insignia of the Order, with the Collar, by Henry VII. The Lesser George has the same group on an enamelled field, and surrounded by the Garter of the Order, the whole forming a “jewel,” generally oval in shape: it was introduced by Henry VIII., and is now worn pendent from the dark-blue ribbon of the Order, the ribbon passing over the left shoulder and the jewel hanging on the right side of the wearer. Originally, this “Lesser George” was worn from either a gold chain or a black ribbon: by Queen Elizabeth the colour of the ribbon was changed to sky-blue, and it assumed its present darker hue in the reign of Charles II.

Gerattyng. Differencing by the introduction of small charges. It is an early term, now obsolete.

Gimmel-ring. Two annulets, interlaced.

Girt, Girdled. Encircled, or bound round.

Gonfannon. A long flag, pointed or swallow-tailed at the fly, and displayed from a transverse bar attached to a staff.

Gorged. Encircled round the throat.

Gouttée, Guttée. Sprinkled over with drops either of gold—gouttée d’or; of silver—d’eau; of blue—de larmes (tears); of red—de sang (blood); or of black—de poix (pitch).

Grand Quarters. The four primary divisions of a Shield, when it is divided quarterly: Nos. 30, 36, 37. The term “Grand Quarter” may be used to signify a primary quarter or division of a quartered Shield or Coat, and to distinguish such a quarter when it is quartered.

Grieces. Steps.

Guardant. Looking out from the field: Nos. 172, 174, 176, 187.

Guige. A Shield-belt, worn over the right shoulder, and frequently represented in heraldic compositions as if sustaining a Shield of arms: Nos. 48, 49.

Gules. Red: No. 53.

Gurges, or Gorges. A charge formed of a spiral line of blue on a white field, and supposed to represent a whirlpool: borne (H. 3) by R. de Gorges: No. 256.

see text see text

No. 256.— Shield of R. de Gorges.

Gyron. A Subordinary. Gyronny. A field divided into Gyrons: No. 147. (See page 70.)

Habited. Clothed.

Hames, Heames. Parts of horses’ harness.

Hammer, or Martel. Represented in blazon much in the same shape as the implement in common use (H. 3).

Harp. A device and badge of Ireland. The Irish Harp of gold with silver strings on a blue field forms the third quarter of the Royal Arms.

Hart. A stag, with attires; the female is a Hind: page 81.

Hastilude. A tournament.

Hatchment. An achievement of arms in a lozenge-shaped frame, placed upon the front (generally over the principal entrance) of the residence of a person lately deceased. In the case of the decease of an unmarried person, or of a widower or widow, the whole of the field of the hatchment is painted black; but in the case of a married person, that part only of the field is black which adjoins the side of the achievement occupied by the armorial insignia of the individual deceased. Thus, if a husband be deceased, the dexter half of the field of the hatchment is black, and the sinister white; and so, in like manner, if the wife be deceased, the sinister is black and the dexter white.

Hauriant. A fish in pale, its head in chief.

Hawk’s bells, jesses, and lure. A falconer’s decoy, formed of feathers with their tips in base, and joined by a cord and ring, No. 257; also bells with straps to be attached to hawks, No. 258.

see text	see text
No. 257.— Hawk’s Lure.	No. 258.— Hawk’s Bells and Jesses.

Heightened. Raised; placed above or higher.

Heights. Applied to plumes of feathers which are arranged in rows or sets, one rising above another. See Panache.

Helm, Helmet. Now placed as an accessory above a Shield of arms, and bearing its Crest after the fashion in which, in the Middle Ages, both Helm and Crest were actually worn in tournaments. A modern usage distinguishes Helms as follows:—The Sovereign—Helm of gold, with six bars, set affrontée, No. 259; Noblemen—Helm of silver, garnished with gold, set in profile, and showing five bars, No. 260; Baronets and Knights—of steel with silver ornaments, without bars, the vizor raised, set affrontée, No. 261; Esquires and Gentlemen—of steel, the vizor closed, and set in profile, Nos. 262, 263. The Helms that appear on early Seals and in other heraldic compositions till about A.D. 1600, are all set in profile, and the shield generally hangs from them couchée, as in No. 49. In these early compositions, the shield is small in proportion to the helm and its accessories.

see text	Helms of	see text
No. 259.— the Sovereign.		No. 260.— Nobles.
see text	see text	see text
No. 261.	No. 252.	No. 263.
Baronets and Knights.	Esquires and Gentlemen.

Hemp-brake, Hackle. An instrument having saw-teeth, used for bruising hemp.

Heneage Knot. No. 264.

see text	see text
No. 264.— Heneage Knot.	No. 265.— Arms of the Heralds’ College.

Herald. An officer of arms. The Heralds of England were incorporated by Richard III.; and from Queen Mary, in 1555, they received a grant of Derby House, on the site of which, between St. Paul’s Cathedral and the Thames, stands their present official residence, Heralds’ College, or the College of Arms. The college now consists of three Kings-of-Arms—Garter, Clarenceux, and Norroy; six Heralds, who have precedence by seniority of appointment—Chester, Lancaster, Richmond, Windsor, York, and Somerset; and four Pursuivants—Rouge Dragon, Portcullis, Rouge Croix, and Bluemantle. The official habit is a Tabard, emblazoned with the Royal Arms, and the Kings and Heralds wear a Collar of SS. The Kings have a Crown, formed of a golden circlet, from which rise sixteen oak-leaves, nine of which appear in representations; and the circlet itself is charged with the words, Miserere mei Deus secundum magnam misericordiam tuam (“Have mercy on me, O God, according to thy great loving-kindness”).

The supreme head of the English Heralds, under the Sovereign, is the Earl Marshal, an office hereditary in the family of the Duke of Norfolk. The Arms of the College are—Arg., a cross gu., between four doves their dexter wings expanded and inverted az.: No. 265; Crest—From a crest-coronet or, a dove rising az.; Supporters—Two lions ramp. guard. arg., ducally gorged or. Each of the Kings has his own official arms, which he impales with his paternal coat on the dexter side of the shield. The Arms of Garter are—Arg., a cross gu.; on a chief az., a ducal coronet encircled with a Garter of the Order, between a lion of England and a fleur de lys, all or. Clarenceux and Norroy have the same shield, but the former has a lion of England only, crowned, on a chief gules; and the latter, on a chief per pale az. and gu., has a similar lion between a fleur de lys and a key, all of gold.

There is also another King styled “Bath,” who is specially attached to the Order of the Bath; he is not a member of the College.

“Lyon King-of-Arms” is the chief Herald of Scotland; and the establishment over which he presides is styled the “Lyon Office.” The Arms of the Office are—Arg., a lion sejant erect and affronté gu., holding in his dexter paw a thistle slipped vert, and in the sinister an escutcheon of the second; on a chief az., a saltire of the first: No. 266.

Ireland is the heraldic province of “Ulster King-of-Arms.” His official armorial ensigns differ from those of Garter only in the charges of the chief, which are a lion of England between a golden harp and a portcullis.

Herison. A hedgehog.

Hill, Hillock. A mound of earth.

Hirondelle. A swallow.

Hoist. The depth of a flag from chief to base. See Fly.

Honour Point. No. 27, L.

Humettée. Cut short at the extremities.

Hurst. A clump of trees.

Hurt. A blue roundle.

Illegitimacy. See Chapter XII.

Imbrued, or Embrued. Stained with blood.

Impaled. Conjoined per pale.

Impalement. The uniting of two (or more) distinct coats per pale, to form a single achievement.

Imperially Crowned. Ensigned with the Crown of England.

Incensed, Inflamed. On fire; having fire issuing forth.

Increscent. No. 166, B. See Decrescent.

Indented. No. 38, A.

Inescutcheon. An heraldic Shield borne as a charge. This term is sometimes used to denote an Escutcheon of Pretence.

In bend. Disposed in the position of a bend; In Chevron, In Chief, In Cross, In Fesse, &c. Disposed after the manner of a chevron, or in the chief of the shield, or in the form of a cross, &c.

In Foliage. Bearing leaves.

In Lure. Wings conjoined in the form of a hawk’s lure.

In her piety. A term applied to a pelican feeding her young.

In Pretence. A term applied to a single inescutcheon placed upon and in the centre of a larger escutcheon.

In Pride. Having the tail displayed, as a peacock’s.

In Quadrangle. When four charges are so disposed that one is in each quarter of the shield.

In Splendour. The sun irradiated.

Irradiated. Surrounded by rays of light.

Issuant. Proceeding from, or out of.

Jambe, Gambe. The leg of a lion, or other beast of prey: No. 185.

Jelloped. Having wattles and a comb, as a cock.

Jesses. Straps for hawk’s bells.

Jessant. Shooting forth. Jessant de lys.—A combination of a leopard’s face and a fleur-de-lys: No. 267.

Joust. A tournament.

Jupon. A short, sleeveless surcoat, worn over armour from about 1340 to about 1405. It is often charged with armorial insignia, and thus is a true “coat of arms.”

see text	see text	see text	see text
No. 267. Jessant de lys.			No. 270. Hastings Badge.
	No. 268, 269.— Heraldic Keys.

Key. When represented in early blazon, Keys have always elegant forms. No. 268 is from Peterborough Cathedral, and No. 269 from Exeter.

King-of-Arms. See Herald.

Knighthood, Orders of: Knights. See Chapter XVI.

Knot. An intertwined cord, borne as a badge. The varieties of this device are—The Bourchier, No. 219; the Bowen, No. 220; the Harington (the same as a Frette), No. 148; the Heneage, No. 264; the Lacy, No. 274; the Stafford, No. 304; and the Wake and Ormond, No. 313. Cords were sometimes intertwined about other figures and devices, and so formed what may be regarded as Compound Badges, which significantly declared the union of two houses: thus, the knot of Edward Lord Hastings unites the Hungerford sickle with the Peverel garbe: No. 270; and the Dacre knot is entwined about the Dacre escallop and the famous “ragged staff” of Beauchamp and Neville: No. 235.

see text	see text	see text
Labels.— No. 271.	No. 272.	No. 273.

Label, or File. A narrow ribbon placed across the field of a shield near the chief, and having three, five, or sometimes other numbers of points depending from it, its object being to mark Cadency. In the early Labels the number of the points was arbitrary, the usual numbers being five and three; and, subsequently, three points were almost universally used; the object always was to render the Label conspicuous. In blazon a Label is supposed to have three points; but, if more, the number is to be specified; thus, No. 271 is simply “a Label,” but No. 272 is “a Label of five points.” Labels appear early in the thirteenth century, and in the next century they are in constant use. Various charges may be placed on the “points” of Labels to extend their capacity for “differencing.” Since the time of Edward the Black Prince the Label of the Prince of Wales has been plain silver. The Label is almost exclusively (now without any exception) used in Royal Cadency; but, in modern Heraldry, in the case of all other persons it is the peculiar mark of the eldest son. The Label is also found as a charge. It has become a usage in the degenerate days of Heraldry to represent the Label as in No. 273, instead of the earlier and far preferable forms of Nos. 271, 272.

Lacy Knot. No. 274.

Lambrequin. A mantling.

Langued. A term which refers to the tincture of an animal’s tongue.

Leaves. Their peculiarities are to be blazoned, as laurel leaves, oak leaves, &c.

Leopard, Leopardé. See page 84.

Letters of the Alphabet sometimes are Charges. Thus, the Arms of the Deanery of Canterbury are—Az., on a cross arg., the letter “x” surmounted by the letter “i” sable: the “x” is on the cross at the intersection of its limbs, and the “i” is above it.

Line, or Border Line. No. 38.

Lined. Having a cord attached: also, having a lining.

Lion. See page 83.

Lioncel. A lion drawn to a small scale, and generally rampant, Nos. 114, 115, 197.

Livery Colours. Of the Plantagenets, as one family, white and scarlet; of the house of York, blue and murrey; of the house of Lancaster, white and blue; of the house of Tudor, white and green. The present Royal Livery is scarlet and gold. In the Middle Ages, all great families had their own livery colours, which had no necessary relation to the tinctures of the shield.

Lodged. A term denoting animals of the chase when at rest or in repose, Nos. 25, 26.

Lozenge. A square figure set diagonally, No. 47 (also see page 69). The armorial insignia of unmarried ladies and widows, with the sole exception of a Sovereign, are blazoned on a Lozenge instead of an Escutcheon.

Lozengy. A field divided lozengewise: No. 145.

Luce, or Lucy. The fish now called pike. See page 77 and No. 164.

Lure. See In Lure.

Lymphad. An ancient galley, No. 275. It was the feudal ensign of the Scottish lordship of Lorn, and as such quartered by the Duke of Argyll.

Maintenance, Cap of. See Chapeau.