| I have a small website where I try to sell | | | | from the field of battle. The right to a coat |
| custom-made lapel buttons. In addition to | | | | of arms, for example, was often granted to |
| these made-to-order buttons I also offer | | | | females, and the shield in such cases was |
| several specialty lines of off-the-shelf | | | | typically drawn as a lozenge or |
| items and at this time of year I'm usually | | | | diamond-shaped object. Many shields such as |
| concerned with one of those lines in | | | | the so-called "jousting" shields are |
| particular: Irish heraldic buttons. St. | | | | sometimes drawn as crazy, free-form, |
| Patrick's Day approaches.I'm in no sense an | | | | asymmetric shapes.Very often a shield's area |
| expert on heraldry. Still, although there are | | | | was divided, maybe to signify the merging of |
| many button sites like mine I'm not aware of | | | | two powerful families. In such cases, all the |
| any other with a line of products like that | | | | charges (pictures, or "bearings") shown on |
| one and I don't know why that should be true. | | | | both original shields would usually be |
| It struck me the other day that heraldry | | | | retained, each group confined to its own |
| might offer a wide range of opportunities for | | | | partition of the merged shield. There were, |
| specialization--and to craftspersons in | | | | naturally, technical terms for any number of |
| almost any field from pottery to needlepoint | | | | different ways to divide the area of a |
| to weaving, rugmaking, and even quilting.It's | | | | shield: per pale, per fess, per chevron, per |
| true that we no longer live in the age of | | | | saltire, etc. There were even different |
| chivalry and that not all Americans are | | | | stylized lines used to separate the segments. |
| caught up in the study of their ancestry and | | | | A simple straight line might do the trick, |
| ethnic heritage, but surprisingly many of us | | | | but it could also be "engrailed," |
| are. For example, Overture reports that in | | | | "embattled," "indented," "wavy," |
| November of 2004 the exact phrase "Irish | | | | "dovetailed," etc.As for the charges, they |
| heraldry" was searched for on the web 140 | | | | merit a separate treatment. They include not |
| times. Note that this doesn't include | | | | only lions and eagles in various poses, but a |
| possible searches for related terms like | | | | wide variety of birds, mammals, fish, and |
| Gaelic, Celtic, shields, crests, coats of | | | | mythological beings. Parts of the human body. |
| arms, etc. And it says nothing at all about | | | | The sun, the stars, and many forms of |
| searches for heraldic information from any | | | | vegetation. Structures and ships, books and |
| other part of the world or for heraldry in | | | | bells. And each of them has its own |
| general. As a matter of fact, during the | | | | specialized meaning. For instance, a dragon |
| month of November the word "heraldry" was | | | | stood for vigilance, a snake for wisdom, a |
| used in 11,869 searches, so it seems that a | | | | boar for a fierce fighter, a swallow for |
| market may well exist.On the other hand, | | | | someone who had been dispossessed of land. A |
| heraldry may be considered a rather nerdy | | | | cross might indicate that the bearer or one |
| topic in the modern world. I've noticed that | | | | of his ancestors had fought in the crusades, |
| many people today fall below the snuff-line | | | | and the arms of a sailor would often show a |
| when it comes to their basic knowledge of | | | | ship.As is obvious from those few examples, |
| heraldry. There's no reason why they should | | | | the meaning of some charges still make at |
| know anything about it if their objective is | | | | least some sense to us, while in other cases |
| merely to copy an occasional coat of arms | | | | their meaning is baffling. Different kinds of |
| onto some products that they've made, like, | | | | crowns can indicate different ranks of |
| for instance, some dinner plates or a | | | | nobility; that's logical enough. But a finger |
| sampler. Yet a few paragraphs of information | | | | ring, for instance, might symbolize a fifth |
| about coats of arms may be interesting to any | | | | son, and a tower might stand for |
| who can see the possibilities in the use of | | | | wealth.Heraldry is a colorful topic in every |
| heraldic themes as a quasi-specialty in their | | | | sense. One continually runs into |
| work.A discussion of heraldry must begin, | | | | larger-than-life characters. Here's one, |
| first and foremost, with the idea of the | | | | chosen more or less at random:Sir Francis |
| shield. The shield, I would guess, is | | | | Drake was definitely a sailor, and his arms |
| probably the oldest piece of weaponry other | | | | definitely showed a ship. And what a ship! |
| than the club. The earliest shields were made | | | | Most ships that I've seen in heraldic designs |
| of tough skins stretched over wooden frames. | | | | seem to have one mast but this one has three. |
| Their shape was probably roundish, and the | | | | There's a dragon or griffin seated in the |
| round shield served very well at least | | | | stern with wings outspread. The ship rests |
| through the days of the Roman Legions.As body | | | | atop a large globe of the world showing us |
| armor grew more cumbersome, it became more | | | | the Atlantic Ocean, and above the ship a hand |
| and more difficult in the heat of | | | | emerges from a cloud pointing at the ship |
| hand-to-hand combat to determine who was who. | | | | something that looks very much like a |
| An early step towards solving this problem | | | | microphone plugged into the bow. (I don't |
| came when warriors began painting identifying | | | | know what it is.)All of that constitutes |
| symbols on their shields. By the time of the | | | | merely the crest and, as is to be expected, |
| Middle Ages these symbols were becoming | | | | the crest is resting on a wreath and the |
| strictly codified and proprietary. The | | | | wreath is above the helm. Below the helmet we |
| persons charged with keeping track of them | | | | finally reach the shield, an amazingly simple |
| were high government officials called heralds | | | | shield, given the complexity of its |
| and a technical language, something that | | | | surroundings: on a black background, a silver |
| looks to us today like a strange mixture of | | | | wavy fess (horizontal area) represents the |
| English and French, was growing up around | | | | sea between two wavy stars representing the |
| them to describe them.In all probability this | | | | pole stars. The whole thing commemorated |
| language was really not strange at all, but | | | | Drake's circumnavigation of the earth in |
| very similar to the ordinary speech of the | | | | 1577.These arms were granted to Francis Drake |
| times, that is, the period after the Norman | | | | by Elizabeth I, but he seems to have been a |
| conquest of England. Yet people who discuss | | | | fairly headstrong individual and kept adding |
| heraldry seriously still use these terms | | | | bits and pieces to which he had no real |
| today, and that is no doubt one more reason | | | | right. This tendency got him into a long feud |
| why the study is no longer cool. It should of | | | | with an unrelated Drake family from whom he |
| course not be obligatory to use "or" for gold | | | | swiped elements for his own arms. (In fact, |
| or "vert" for green when writing in modern | | | | he did that twice. After the other family had |
| English, but that's how they insist on doing | | | | successfully defended its claims against him |
| it.To satisfy a herald, a full "coat of arms" | | | | and he had removed the offending bearings |
| had to include many things besides the basic | | | | from his arms, he later decided to put them |
| shield. By the time that the practice of | | | | back where they didn't belong.)All of the |
| heraldry had spread throughout Europe a coat | | | | major online bookstores have, or can locate, |
| of arms included at least the shield, the | | | | many pages full of books on heraldry, from |
| motto, the helm, the wreath, the crest, the | | | | modern works to out-of-print classics and |
| mantling, and possibly several other things | | | | intended for experts or beginners.Jim |
| as well.Surprisingly, the shape of the shield | | | | Donnelly is based in Fresno, CA. He offers to |
| didn't seem to matter much. Books on heraldry | | | | produce pin-back lapel buttons of any |
| often show ten or fifteen different common | | | | description at all, with any photo or drawing |
| shapes. And not every heraldic shield was | | | | and any wording that will fit and that |
| even intended to resemble an actual shield | | | | doesn't include treason. |