The Handbook to English Heraldry Part 14

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 233.--Crest-Wreath.]

_Crest-Coronet._ A coronet from which issues, or which supports, a crest. No. 232.

_Crest-Wreath_, or _Torse_. In the Middle Ages, of rich materials and costly workmans.h.i.+p; now represented as being formed of two rolls of silk of the princ.i.p.al metal and colour in the arms, which are twisted to show the metal and colour alternately. The earliest examples are about A.D.

1375. No. 233 shows three varieties of representation. (See Chapter XIV.)

_Crined._ Having a mane or hair.

_Cross._ One of the Ordinaries. Nos. 90-110.

_Crown._ The ensign of Royal and Imperial dignity; in Heraldry borne as a charge, and also used to denote the rank of a Sovereign Prince. The Crown that is generally borne as a charge is represented without arches, and resembling No. 232. Certain other crowns, each distinguished by an appropriate t.i.tle, are also sometimes borne on s.h.i.+elds, or introduced as heraldic accessories. (See _Celestial_, _Eastern_ or _Radiated_, _Mural_, _Naval_, and _Vallary_ Crowns.) The different forms a.s.sumed at different periods by the Royal Crown of England are faithfully exemplified in the seals and the coinage of the successive Sovereigns, and several fine examples are preserved in the Royal effigies. The adornment of the regal circlet was arbitrary before the fifteenth century; still, it always was enriched with gems and surmounted by golden foliage. HENRY V. first arched his crown; and by HENRY VI. the circlet was first heightened with alternate crosses-patee and fleurs de lys. This arrangement has since been retained, the subsequent alterations being restricted to changes in the number and in the contour of the arches. The crown of His Majesty the KING has the circlet heightened with four crosses and as many fleurs de lys; from the crosses rise the arches, which are surmounted by a mound and a cross-patee. No.

234. This, the heraldic crown, is not an exact reproduction of the actual crown of the King.

_Crozier._ Strictly, the cross-staff of an archbishop; distinguished by its form from the pastoral-staff with a crook-head, of bishops; but the term is loosely and very generally applied also to the crook-headed pastoral-staff.

_Crusilee_, _Crusily_. Having the field semee of crosses-crosslets, or of other small crosses, their peculiar form (when not crosslets) being specified.

_Cubit arm._ A human arm couped between the elbow and the wrist.

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 234.--Crown of H.M. The King.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 235.--Dacre Knot and Badges.]

_Cup_, _Covered Cup_. A vessel formed like a chalice, and having a raised cover; borne by the BOTILERS, BUTLERS, &c.

_Cus.h.i.+on_, _Pillow_, _Oreiller_. Unless described of another form, square or oblong, and with a ta.s.sel at each corner.

_Dacre Knot._ No. 235. (See _Knot_.)

_Dancette._ No. 38B. In early blazon, a fesse dancette is styled simply "a _dancette_" or "a _danse_." Nos. 78, 146; and No. 20A, page 70.

_Debruised._ When an ordinary surmounts an animal or another charge.

_Decrescent._ A half-moon having its horns to the sinister. No. 166C.

_Deer._ In general practice very little if any differentiation is made between the _Stag_, the _Buck_, and the _Hart_; the female is a _Hind_, and of course is without attires. (See Chapter VIII.)

_Degrees._ A term applied to the steps upon which a Cross Calvary is represented.

_Demembered_, _Dismembered_. Cut into pieces, but without any alteration in the form of the original figure.

_Demi._ The half. The upper, front, or dexter half, unless the contrary be specified. No. 186.

_Depressed._ Surmounted.

_Dexter._ The right side. No. 27C.

_Diaper_, _Diapering_. Surface decoration. No. 68.

_Difference_, _Differencing_. An addition to, or some change in, a Coat-of-Arms, introduced for the purpose of distinguis.h.i.+ng Coats which in their primary qualities are the same. (See Chapters XII. and XIII.)

_Dimidiated._ Cut in halves per pale, and one half removed: No. 250.

(See Chapter XI.)

_Disclosed._ With expanded wings, in the case of birds that are _not_ birds of prey. The contrary to _Close_.

_Displayed._ Birds of prey with expanded wings. No. 200.

_Disposed_, _Disposition_. Arranged, arrangement.

_Dividing Lines._ No. 38: also Nos. 27-37.

_Dolphin._ A favourite fish with Heralds. The heraldic Dolphin of antiquity is exemplified in No. 8; that of the Middle Ages in No. 163.

_Dormant._ Asleep, as in No. 179.

_Double-queued._ Having two tails. No. 181.

_Doubling._ The lining of a Mantle or Mantling.

_Dove-tail._ No. 381.

_Dragon._ A winged monster having four legs. No. 236.

_Duke._ The highest rank and t.i.tle in the British Peerage; first introduced by EDWARD III. in the year 1337, when he created the BLACK PRINCE the first English Duke (in Latin, "_Dux_"). A Duke is "Most n.o.ble"; he is styled "My Lord Duke," and "Your Grace"; and all his younger sons are "Lords," and all his daughters "Ladies," with the prefix "Right Honourable." His eldest son bears, by courtesy, his father's "second t.i.tle"; and, accordingly, he generally bears the t.i.tle of Marquess. Whatever his t.i.tle, however, the rank of the eldest son of a Duke is always the same, and it a.s.signs to him precedence between Marquesses and Earls. The Coronet of a Duke, arbitrary in its adornment until the sixteenth century was far advanced, is now a circlet, heightened with eight conventional strawberry-leaves, of which in representations three and two half-leaves are shown; No. 237. It encloses a velvet cap. The present ducal coronet is represented in the portrait of LUDOVICK STUART, K.G., Duke of RICHMOND and LENNOX, who died in 1624; the picture, the property of the Crown, is at Hampton Court.

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 236.--Dragon.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 237.--Circlet of a Duke's Coronet.]

_Ducal Coronet._ A term commonly, but not very accurately, applied to a _Crest Coronet_. No. 232.

_d.u.c.h.ess._ The wife of a Duke. She is "Most n.o.ble," and is styled "Your Grace." Her coronet is the same as that of a Duke.

_Eagle._ See Chapter IX., page 92.

_Eaglet._ An Eagle on a small scale.

_Earl._ In Latin, "Comes"; in French, "Comte" or "Count." Before 1337, the highest, and now the third degree of rank and dignity in the British Peerage. An Earl is "Right Honourable"; he is styled "My Lord"; his eldest son bears his father's "second t.i.tle," generally that of Viscount; his other sons are styled "Honourable," but all his daughters are "Ladies." The circlet of an Earl's Coronet has eight lofty rays of gold rising from the circlet, each of which supports a large pearl, while between each pair of these rays there is a golden strawberry-leaf.

In representations five of the rays and pearls are shown; No. 238.

Elevated cl.u.s.ters of pearls appear in an Earl's coronet--that of THOMAS FITZ ALAN, Earl of ARUNDEL--as early as 1445; but the present form of the coronet may be a.s.signed to the second half of the following century.

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 238.--Circlet of an Earl's Coronet.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 239.--Eastern Crown.]

_Eastern_, _Radiated_, or _Antique Crown_. No. 239.

_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.