The Handbook to English Heraldry Part 11

_Attires_, _Attired_. The antlers of a Buck, Stag, or Hart: having antlers. A Reindeer is represented in Heraldry with double attires, one pair erect, and the other drooping forward.

_Augmentation._ An honourable addition to a Coat of Arms, specially granted with a peculiar significance: thus, the "Union" Device of the British Empire, blazoned on an inescutcheon, is the "_Augmentation_"

specially granted to the great Duke of WELLINGTON, to be borne on the honour point of his paternal s.h.i.+eld.

_Augmented._ Having an "Augmentation."

_Avellane._ A variety of the heraldic Cross: No. 109.

_Azure._ The colour _blue_ (indicated by horizontal lines): No. 52.

_Badge._ A figure or device, distinct from a crest, and capable of being borne without any background or other accessory. Badges are, however, often depicted upon a standard or roundle of the livery colour or colours. Badges were depicted as a sign of owners.h.i.+p upon property; were worn by servants and retainers, who mustered under the standards on which badges were represented. (See Chapter XV.)

_Banded._ Encircled with a band.

_Banner._ A flag, charged with the coat of arms of the owner, displayed over its entire surface. (See Chapter XVII.)

_Banneret._ A Knight who had been advanced by the King to that higher military rank which ent.i.tled him to display a banner.

_Bar._ One of the Ordinaries: Nos. 81, 82.

_Bars Gemelles._ Barrulets borne in pairs: Nos. 83, 84.

_Barbed._ Pointed, as an arrow. The term is also applied to the small green leaves between the petals of heraldic roses. (See _Rose_.)

_Barbel._ A Fish borne as an allusive device by the family of DE BARRE: No. 162.

_Barded._ Having horse-trappings.

_Bardings._ Horse-trappings, often enriched with armorial blazonry. On the Great Seal of EDWARD I. the Bardings of the King's charger for the first time appear adorned with the Royal arms. On both sides of the horse, the head is supposed to be to the dexter. An example is represented in the Seal of ALEXANDER DE BALLIOL, in Chapter XIV.

_Barnacles_, _Breys_. An instrument used in breaking horses. A rebus of Sir REGINALD BRAY, architect of St. George's Chapel, Windsor, and repeatedly represented there: No. 216.

_Baron._ The lowest rank in the British Peerage. A Baron is "Right Honourable," and is styled "My Lord." His coronet, first granted by Charles II., has on a golden circlet six large pearls, of which four appear in representations, as in No. 217. An Irish Baron has no coronet.

All a Baron's children are "Honourable."

_Baron._ A purely heraldic term signifying a _husband_, a _wife_ in Heraldry being _femme_.

_Baroness._ A lady in whom a Barony is vested by inheritance in her own right; also, the wife of a Baron. In either case she is "Right Honourable"; is styled "My Lady," and her coronet is the same as that of a Baron.

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 216.--Breys.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 217.--Circlet of a Baron's Coronet.]

_Baronet._ An hereditary rank, lower than the peerage, inst.i.tuted in 1612 by JAMES I., who fixed the precedence of Baronets before all Knights, those of the Order of the Garter alone excepted. As originally created, all Baronets were "of Ulster," or "of Nova Scotia"; afterwards all new creations were "of Great Britain"; now all are "of the United Kingdom." The "Badge of Ulster," generally borne as an augmentation upon a canton or small inescutcheon, is--_Arg., a sinister hand, couped at the wrist and appaumee, gu._,--No. 215. The arms of Nova Scotia, which may be (but seldom are) similarly borne on a canton or inescutcheon, are--_Arg., on a saltire az., the Royal arms of Scotland_. (See No.

138.) By letters patent of JAMES I., the wives of Baronets have the t.i.tles of "_Lady_, _Madam_, or _Dame_," at their pleasure prefixed to their names.

_Barrulet._ The diminutive of a Bar.

_Barrulee_, _Barruly_. Barry of ten or more pieces.

_Barry._ Divided into an even number of Bars, which all lie in the same plane: Nos. 85, 86.

_Barry Bendy._ Having the field divided by lines drawn _bar-wise_, which are crossed by others drawn _bend-wise_: No. 119.

_Bar-wise._ Disposed after the manner of a Bar,--crossing the field, that is, horizontally. The term _fessways_ is more usually employed.

_Base._ The lowest extremity: No. 27, B.

_Basilisk._ A c.o.c.katrice having its tail ending in a dragon's head.

_Basinet._ A helm fitting close to the head.

_Baton._ A diminutive of the bend, couped at its extremities.

_Battled_, or _Embattled_. Having battlements, or bordered, as No. 38, F.

_Beacon_, or _Fire Beacon_. An iron case of burning combustibles set on a pole, against which a ladder is placed.

_Beaked._ Applied to birds, not of prey.

_Bearer._ An old Scottish term for a _Supporter_.

_Bearing_, _Bearings_. Armorial insignia, borne on s.h.i.+elds.

_Bell._ Drawn, and generally blazoned as a _church-bell_, unless specified to be a _hawk's-bell_.

_Belled._ Having bells attached.

_Bend._ One of the Ordinaries: Nos. 111-115.

_Bendlet._ The diminutive of a bend: No. 117.

_Bend-wise_, or _In Bend_. Placed in the position of or arranged in the direction of a bend.

_Bendy._ Parted bend-wise into an even number of divisions: No. 116.

_Besant._ A golden "Roundle" or disc, flat like a coin: No. 151, and No.

140.

_Billet._ An oblong figure of any tincture: _Billetee_--strewn with "Billets": Nos. 130, 146.

_Bird._ Many Birds appear in blazon, and they are represented both in heraldic tinctures and "proper"--in their natural aspect. (See Chapters VIII. and IX.)

_Bird-bolt._ An arrow with a blunt head.

_Bishop._ The Bishops are "by Divine permission," and are styled "Right Reverend Father in G.o.d," and "My Lord Bishop." The Bishops of England and Wales are not Peers but are all "spiritual lords" of Parliament, some of the junior Bishops, however, having no seats. The Suffragan Bishops are merely a.s.sistant Bishops, and are not Lords of Parliament.

The heraldic insignia of Bishops consist of _a mitre_ and _pastoral staff_; they impale their official and personal arms, as do the Archbishops; and, like them also, they bear no crests, but they ensign their s.h.i.+elds with a mitre.