A Complete Guide to Heraldry Part 27

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 404.--Elephant and castle.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 405.--Hare salient.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 406.--Coney.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 407.--Squirrel.]

Elephants' tusks have also been introduced into grants, as in the arms of Liebreich (borne in pretence by c.o.c.k) and Randles ["Or, a chevron wavy azure between three pairs of elephants' tusks in saltire proper"].

_The Hare_ (Fig. 405) is but rarely met with in British armory. It appears in the arms of Cleland, and also in the crest of Shakerley, Bart. ["A hare proper resting her forefeet on a grab or"]. A very curious coat ["Argent, three hares playing bagpipes gules"] belongs to an ancient Derbys.h.i.+re family FitzErcald, now represented (through the Sacheverell family) by c.o.ke of Trussley, who quarter the FitzErcald s.h.i.+eld.

_The Rabbit_ (Fig. 406), or, as it is more frequently termed heraldically, the Coney, appears more frequently in heraldry than the hare, being the canting charge on the arms of Coningsby, Cunliffe ["Sable, three conies courant argent"], and figuring also as the supporters of Montgomery Cunningham ["Two conies proper"].

_The Squirrel_ (Fig. 407) occurs in many English coats of arms. It is always sejant, and very frequently cracking a nut. {215}

_The Ape_ is not often met with, except in the cases of the different families of the great Fitz Gerald clan. It is usually the crest, though the Duke of Leinster also has apes as supporters. One family of Fitzgerald, however, bear it as a charge upon the s.h.i.+eld ["Gules, a saltire invected per pale argent and or, between four monkeys statant of the second, environed with a plain collar and chained of the second. Mantling gules and argent. Crest: on a wreath of the colours, a monkey as in the arms, charged on the body with two roses, and resting the dexter fore-leg on a saltire gules. Motto: 'Crom-a-boo'"], and the family of Yorke bear an ape's head for a crest.

The ape is usually met with "collared and chained" (Fig. 408), though, unlike any other animal, the collar of an ape environs its loins and not its neck. A winged ape is included in Elvin's "Dictionary of Heraldry" as a heraldic animal, but I am not aware to whom it is a.s.signed.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 408.--Ape collared and chained.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 409.--Brock.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 410.--Otter.]

_The Brock_ or _Badger_ (Fig. 409) figures in some number of English arms.

It is most frequently met with as the crest of Brooke, but will be also found in the arms or crests of Brocklebank and Motion.

_The Otter_ (Fig. 410) is not often met with except in Scottish coats, but an English example is that of Sir George Newnes, and a demi-otter issuant from a fess wavy will be found quartered by Seton of Mounie.

An otter's head, sometimes called a seal's head, for it is impossible to distinguish the heraldic representations of the one or the other, appears in many coats of arms of different families of the name of Balfour, and two otters are the supporters belonging to the head of the Scottish house of Balfour.

_The Ermine_, _the Stoat_, and _the Weasel_, &c., are not very often met with, but the ermine appears as the crest of Crawford and the marten as the crest of a family of that name. {216}

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 411.--Urcheon.]

_The Hedgehog_, or, as it is usually heraldically termed, the _Urcheon_ (Fig. 411), occurs in some number of coats. For example, in the arms of Maxwell ["Argent, an eagle with two heads displayed sable, beaked and membered gules, on the breast an escutcheon of the first, charged with a saltire of the second, surcharged in the centre with a hurcheon (hedgehog) or, all within a bordure gules"], Harris, and as the crest of Money-Kyrle.

_The Beaver_ has been introduced into many coats of late years for those connected in any way with Canada. It figures in the arms of Lord Strathcona and Mount Royal, and in the arms of Christopher.

The beaver is one of the supporters of the city of Oxford, and is the sole charge in the arms of the town of Biberach (Fig. 412). Originally the arms were: "Argent, a beaver azure, crowned and armed gules," but the arms authorised by the Emperor Frederick IV., 18th July 1848, were: "Azure, a beaver or."

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 412.--Arms of the town of Biberach. (From Ulrich Reichenthal's _Concilium von Constanz_, Augsburg, 1483.)]

It is quite impossible, or at any rate very unnecessary, to turn a work on armory into an Ill.u.s.trated Guide to Natural History, which would be the result if under the description of heraldic charges the attempt were made to deal with all the various animals which have by now been brought to the armorial fold, owing to the inclusion of each for special and sufficient reasons in one or two isolated grants.

Far be it from me, however, to make any remark which should seem to indicate the raising of any objection to such use. In my opinion it is highly admirable, providing there is some definite reason in each case for the introduction of these strange animals other than mere caprice. They add to the interest of heraldry, and they give to modern arms and armory a definite status and meaning, which is a relief from the endless monotony of meaningless lions, bends, chevrons, mullets, and martlets.

But at the same time the isolated use in a modern grant of such an animal as the kangaroo does not make it one of the peculiarly heraldic menagerie, and consequently such instances must be dismissed herein with brief mention, particularly as many of these creatures heraldically exist only as supporters, in which chapter some are more fully {217} discussed. Save as a supporter, the only instances I know of the _Kangaroo_ are in the coat of Moore and in the arms of Arthur, Bart.

_The Zebra_ will be found as the crest of Kemsley.

_The Camel_, which will be dealt with later as a supporter, in which form it appears in the arms of Viscount Kitchener, the town of Inverness (Fig.

251), and some of the Livery Companies, also figures in the reputed but unrecorded arms of Camelford, and in the arms of Cammell of Sheffield and various other families of a similar name.

The fretful _Porcupine_ was borne ["Gules, a porcupine erect argent, tusked, collared, and chained or"] by Simon Eyre, Lord Mayor of London in 1445: and the creature also figures as one of the supporters and the crest of Sidney, Lord De Lisle and Dudley.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 413.--Bat.]

_The Bat_ (Fig. 413) will be found in the arms of Heyworth and as the crest of a Dublin family named Wakefield.

_The Tortoise_ occurs in the arms of a Norfolk family named Gandy, and is also stated by Papworth to occur in the arms of a Scottish family named Goldie. This coat, however, is not matriculated. It also occurs in the crests of Deane and Hayne.

_The Springbok_, which is one of the supporters of Cape Colony, and two of which are the supporters of Viscount Milner, is also the crest of Randles ["On a wreath of the colours, a springbok or South African antelope statant in front of an a.s.segai erect all proper"].

_The Rhinoceros_ occurs as one of the supporters of Viscount Colville of Culross, and also of the crest of Wade, and the _Hippopotamus_ is one of the supporters of Speke.

_The Crocodile_, which is the crest and one of the supporters of Speke, is also the crest of Westcar ["A crocodile proper, collared and chained or"].

_The Alpaca_, and also two _Angora Goats'_ heads figure in the arms of Benn.

_The Rat_ occurs in the arms of Ratton,[18] which is a peculiarly good example of a canting coat.

_The Mole_, sometimes termed a moldiwarp, occurs in the arms of Mitford ["Argent, a fess sable between three moles displayed sable"]. {218}

CHAPTER XIII

MONSTERS

The heraldic catalogue of beasts runs riot when we reach those mythical or legendary creatures which can only be summarised under the generic term of monsters. Most mythical animals, however, can be traced back to some comparable counterpart in natural history.

The fauna of the New World was of course unknown to those early heraldic artists in whose knowledge and imagination, no less than in their skill (or lack of it) in draughtsmans.h.i.+p, lay the nativity of so much of our heraldry. They certainly thought they were representing animals in existence in most if not in all cases, though one gathers that they considered many of the animals they used to be misbegotten hybrids.

Doubtless, working on the a.s.sumption of the mule as the hybrid of the horse and the a.s.s, they jumped to the conclusion that animals which contained salient characteristics of two other animals which they knew were likewise hybrids. A striking example of their theories is to be found in the heraldic Camelopard, which was anciently devoutly believed to be begotten by the leopard upon the camel. A leopard they would be familiar with, also the camel, for both belong to that corner of the world where the north-east of the African Continent, the south-east of Europe, and the west of Asia join, where were fought out the wars of the Cross, and where heraldry took on itself a definite being. There the known civilisations of the world met, taking one from the other knowledge, more or less distorted, ideas and wild imaginings. A stray giraffe was probably seen by some journeyer up the Nile, who, unable to otherwise account for it, considered and stated the animal to be the hybrid offspring of the leopard and camel. Another point needs to be borne in mind. Earlier artists were in no way fettered by any supposed necessity for making their pictures realistic representations.

Realism is a modernity. Their pictures were decoration, and they thought far more of making their subject fit the s.p.a.ce to be decorated than of making it a "speaking likeness."

Nevertheless, their work was not all imagination. In the _Crocodile_ {219} we get the basis of the dragon, if indeed the heraldic dragon be not a perpetuation of ancient legends, or even perhaps of then existing representations of those winged antediluvian animals, the fossilised remains of which are now available. Wings, however, need never be considered a difficulty. It has ever been the custom (from the angels of Christianity to the personalities of Mercury and Pegasus) to add wings to any figure held in veneration. Why, it would be difficult to say, but nevertheless the fact remains.

_The Unicorn_, however, it is not easy to resolve into an original basis, because until the seventeenth century every one fondly believed in the existence of the animal. Mr. Beckles Wilson appears to have paid considerable attention to the subject, and was responsible for the article "The Rise of the Unicorn" which recently appeared in _Ca.s.sel's Magazine_.

That writer traces the matter to a certain extent from non-heraldic sources, and the following remarks, which are taken from the above article, are of considerable interest:--

"The real genesis of the unicorn was probably this: at a time when armorial bearings were becoming an indispensable part of a n.o.ble's equipment, the attention of those knights who were fighting under the banner of the Cross was attracted to the wild antelopes of Syria and Palestine. These animals are armed with long, straight, spiral horns set close together, so that at a side view they appeared to be but a single horn. To confirm this, there are some old illuminations and drawings extant which endow the early unicorn with many of the attributes of the deer and goat kind. The sort of horn supposed to be carried by these Eastern antelopes had long been a curiosity, and was occasionally brought back as a trophy by travellers from the remote parts of the earth. There is a fine one to be seen to-day at the abbey of St. Denis, and others in various collections in Europe. We now know these so-called unicorn's horns, usually carved, to belong to that marine monster the narwhal, or sea-unicorn. But the fable of a breed of horned horses is at least as old as Pliny" [Had the "gnu" anything to do with this?], "and centuries later the Crusaders, or the monkish artists who accompanied them, attempted to delineate the marvel. From their first rude sketches other artists copied; and so each presentment was pa.s.sed along, until at length the present form of the unicorn was attained. There was a time--not so long ago--when the existence of the unicorn was as implicitly believed in as the camel or any other animal not seen in these lat.i.tudes; and the translators of the Bible set their seal upon the legend by translating the Hebrew word _reem_ (which probably meant a rhinoceros) as 'unicorn.' Thus the worthy Thomas Fuller came to consider the existence of the unicorn clearly proved by the mention of it in Scripture! Describing {220} the horn of the animal, he writes, 'Some are plain, as that of St.

Mark's in Venice; others wreathed about it, which probably is the effect of age, those wreaths being but the wrinkles of most vivacious unicorns. The same may be said of the colour: white when newly taken from the head; yellow, like that lately in the Tower, of some hundred years' seniority; but whether or no it will soon turn black, as that of Plinie's description, let others decide.'

"All the books on natural history so late as the seventeenth century describe at length the unicorn; several of them carefully depict him as though the artist had drawn straight from the life.

"If art had stopped here, the wonder of the unicorn would have remained but a paltry thing after all. His finer qualities would have been unrecorded, and all his virtues hidden. But, happily, instead of this, about the animal first conceived in the brain of a Greek (as Pegasus also was), and embodied through the fertile fancy of the Crusader, the monks and heraldists of the Middle Ages devised a host of spiritual legends. They told of his pride, his purity, his endurance, his matchless spirit.