Part 3 (2/2)

Le Blason plein echoit en partage a l'aine, Tout autre doit briser comme il est ordonne.”

The _deux panes_ in the second line refers to furs (_pannes_ in modern heraldry). This book is ill.u.s.trated, and in it the tinctures are correctly represented by lines and dots, and the remark is made ”Autrefois on marquoit les Emaux par des lettres,” but the author does not allude to the invention of the system of dots and lines attributed to Father Silvestre Petra Sancta.

The introduction states that the author, the Reverend Father Claude Francois Menestrier, was born in Lyons in 1631, and had been for many years a member of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). He wrote many other learned treatises on heraldry.

For the tinctures the French use the same terms as ourselves, except that for green they employ _sinople_, because _vert_, properly p.r.o.nounced, is not easily to be distinguished from the fur _vair_. This is a sensible distinction, as is also their expression, _contre hermine_, to describe what British heralds call ermines, in contradistinction to ermine, a difference so little marked in our case as easily to pa.s.s unnoticed and give rise to errors.

The conventional system above mentioned of engraving the tinctures is also the same in France as in Great Britain, and these devices may be easily fixed on the mind of the merest novice by a short study of Mr. J.

Ashby-Sterry's entertaining (proposed) work on ”Heraldry made Easy:”

”If _Argent_, my friend, you would wish to attain, You'll do it by leaving your paper quite plain.

If metal more tempting you wish to seek for, Deck paper with dots, it will represent _Or_.

Perpendicular lines, by armorial rules, Convey to the herald the notion of _Gules_.

But lines horizontal and perfectly true Mean _Azure_, best known to the vulgar as blue.

For _Vert_ take your pencil,--I beg you'll attend,-- Draw parallel lines to the course of the bend.

The sinister bend you must follow, I'm sure, To give to the eye the idea of _Purpure_.

Lines crossing each other and forming a plaid Will simulate _Sable_, so sombre and sad.

For _Tenne_ your pencil should cunningly blend The lines of the fess and the sinister bend.

Lines crossing each other and forming a net, Will signify _Sanguine_, you must not forget!”

As most of the princ.i.p.al heraldic devices used on British arms were adopted when Norman French was our courtly language, and are described in that tongue, it does not require much study to enable anyone who can decipher a British coat-of-arms to do the same with an ordinary French s.h.i.+eld, or even to understand the written description of one.

Yet coming to more advanced heraldry, dealing with such questions as descents, marriages, arms of a.s.sumption, of succession, of concession, and the proper marshalling of arms, the difficulties increase, and many apparent contradictions arise.

Until the downfall of Louis XVI., the aristocracy of France was not only the most ancient and the proudest in Europe, but, speaking generally, possessed higher hereditary privileges and greater power than the n.o.bility of any other civilized nation in the world.

One of their most cherished rights was that of bearing coat armour, but little by little a rich middle cla.s.s sprung up (the despised _bourgeoisie_), which misappropriated coronets and coats-of-arms, and shortly before the outbreak of the Revolution, heraldry in France was in a most confused and chaotic condition.

As to the origin of French heraldry, little is known with any certainty.

That tournaments were first held in Germany about 938 is generally admitted. At these the fundamental rules of all heraldry must, no doubt, have been formulated, whence they gradually pa.s.sed into France, through the north-eastern provinces. Then followed the Crusades, which gave a great impetus to the science of heraldry, as is shown by the vast number of crosses in early arms; the crescents and stars, which were copied from the captured standards of the Saracens; and the fabulous monsters of the East, which became the heraldic devices of many n.o.ble families descended from ancient warriors who fought in Palestine. Louis VII.

(Louis le Jeune), who superintended all the arrangements for the coronation of his son, Philip Augustus, was the first to employ the _Fleur-de-Lys_ as the royal badge of France, which he caused to be emblazoned on all the ornaments and utensils employed in the coronation ceremony. He was also the first king who employed that badge on his seal.[1] This was before 1180.

Henceforward heraldry became generally popular, and many works were written to define the rules of chivalry, each one more elaborate than the preceding. King John of France devoted much attention to heraldry, as did several of his successors, and then the historians Froissart, Monstrelet, and Olivier de la Marche introduced it into their chronicles. Indeed, there is scarcely one early French romance which does not contain the full blazon of the imaginary arms conferred upon its fabulous personages.

When at length heraldry became fully recognized, its signs and emblems were chosen as the badges of hereditary n.o.bility. In the course of time this attracted the envy of vain and unscrupulous people, who usurped the insignia of n.o.bility which they were not by law ent.i.tled to wear.

These malpractices gave rise to great confusion, and were not only severely reprehended by all true lovers of heraldry, but were the subject of many royal edicts, commanding that all offenders should be heavily fined.

Before the year 1555 it had been a recognized custom that a member of any one of the great families of France might change his name and his arms without royal authority, a practice which was particularly useful in certain marriages.

Thus, supposing the last inheritor of a famous family name to have been a female, on marriage her husband could a.s.sume her name and armorial bearings, and thus perpetuate a line which otherwise (as in Great Britain) would have become extinct.

But, as may be easily imagined, this voluntary subst.i.tution of name and arms gave rise to many abuses and disputes. Accordingly, by an ordinance of King Henry II., dated at Amboise, March 26, 1555, it was forbidden to a.s.sume the name, or the arms, of any family other than one's own, without having first obtained letters patent, and a fine of 1,000 livres was to be paid by any person usurping the arms and insignia of n.o.bility.

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