[HS] Lesson 4: Unique English armory examples, #1

[Sara L Uckelman <liana@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Greetings!

In response to a question that came up in commentary I had the
opportunity tonight to research the occurances of a particular
design motif in English armory: A fess between two chevronels.
Using a central ordinary as a secondary charge (see the CoA
Glossary for definitions of these terms if you need it) is quite
rare, and this particular combination is pretty much the only
combination that you'll see, and it appears to be peculiar
to England.  One commentar went so far as to say it was unique
to a family, and I was curious to see whether this was true.

I flipped through Foster, Joseph, _The Dictionary of Heraldry_ 
(New York: Arch Cape Press, 1989), looking just at the color
emblazons on each page (he gives both blazons and Victorian
redrawings of the arms - however, scanning the blazons would've
been more work than it was worth at this time).  Doing this, I
found twelve examples of the motif (not counting a few where
multiple members of the same family bore those arms):

1.	Robert Baynarde, "Sable, a fess between two chevronels Or" (p. 12)
2.	Robert de Breton, "Per pale gules and azure, a fess between 
two chevrons argent" (p. 36)
3.	John de Charnell, "Or, a fess ermine between two chevronels 
gules" (p. 45), and "Sir John of Warwickshire, bore the reverse--gules 
and Or."
4.	Richard Cornerth, "Azure, a fess between two chevronels Or" (p. 54)
5.	John De Lisle, "Or, a fess between two chevronels sable," also 
borne by Robert del Idle, John, Baron Lisle, William de Lylle, and others 
(pp. 68, 120, 129)
6.	Robert Fitz Walter, "Or, a fess between two chevronels gules" (p. 89)
7.	William de Galeys, "Gules, a fess between two chevronels Or" (p. 93) 
8.	William de Kidesby, "Sable, a fess Or between two chevrons argent" 
(p. 121)
9.	Richard Norfolk, "Gules, a fess between two chevronels argent" (p. 149)
10.	Gilbert Peche, "Argent, a fess between two chevronels gules" (p. 154)
11.	Edmund Peche, "Argent, a fess between two chevronels gules, as many 
martlets in chief and on in base sable" (p. 154)
12.	Henry Walpole "Or, on a fess between two chevrons sable three crosses 
crosslet Or" (p. 201)

So, this design is not unique to a particular family, and would be a
lovely design to suggest to someone who wants to recreate a member of
one of these families.

Assignment: Go through the links in the Medieval Heraldry Archive
under the header "England", and see if you can find any more examples
of this motif.  Send me what you find, and I'll collect everyone's
answers and make them available on the web.

-Aryanhwy


-- 
vita sine literis mors est
http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/
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