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How to
read a Coat of Arms
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using the Arms of
Duncan of Ardownie as an
example.
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The “Blazon” (heraldic
description) of the Arms is; Gules, on a
chevron between three cinquefoils in
chief Argent and a hunting-horn in base
of the same, tipped and garnished Azure,
three buckles of the third. (1698)
[Where the term “of the same”
is used it refers to the previously mentioned
colour (tincture) or metal; similarly where
the term “of the second” (or third etc) is
used it refers to the second mentioned
colour/metal.]
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Gules -
The very first word always describes the colour
(tincture) or metal of the shield. NOTE this is
called a shield, NOT a crest. The crest is the
device that sits on top of the shield (on a
helmet in the full achievement).
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Gules, on a chevron -
We now know that upon the shield is a
chevron. To find out what colour the chevron is
we must go to the next mentioned colour - in
heraldry all things mentioned BEFORE a colour
are of that colour. We note that the next
mentioned colour is Argent (Silver - more often
illustrated as White) so that is what we paint
the chevron. We also note that the words “on
a chevron” means that
eventually there will be something or some
things (charge or charges) on the chevron
itself.
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3
Cinquefoils |
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Argent, on a chevron between three cinquefoils
in chief Argent - From
this we know that the chevron is between three cinquefoils and
that the cinquefoils are
in chief (at the top
of the shield) and of the colour (tincture) Argent
(White).
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Argent, on a chevron between three
cinquefoils in chief Argent and a hunting-horn in
base of the same - This tells us that in the base
of
the shield is a
hunting-horn
and that it is
the same
colour as that last mentioned (Argent).
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Gules, on a
chevron between three cinquefoils in chief
Argent and a hunting-horn in base of the
same, tipped
and garnished Azure - This tells us that
the hunting- horn is garnished Azure (the
decoration on the horn is blue).
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So
- this is what it looks like so far but don’t
forget we are still waiting for something to go
on the chevron itself (Remember the “on a chevron”
bit?)
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Gules, on a chevron
between three cinquefoils
in chief Argent and a hunting-horn in
base of the same, tipped and garnished
Azure, three buckles of the
third.
So we place our
three buckles
onto our chevron and the of
the third tells us that the
colour of the buckles is Azure (Blue).
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And it all adds together to produce: Gules, on a chevron between three
cinquefoils in chief Argent and a
hunting-horn in base of the same, tipped
and garnished Azure, three buckles of the
third. |
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Let us
now deal with the CREST -
remember what we said earlier - this
is the device that sits on top of the
helmet. It is NOT the shield.
The Duncan of Ardownie Crest is
described (blazoned) thus:
A grey-hound
issuing from the wreath, proper,
collared Or.
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The
blazon for the Crest starts with the
words: On
a Helm with a Wreath Argent and
Gules This tells
us that we have a helmet and upon the
helmet is a Silver and Red Wreath.
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The
wreath fits on top of the helmet and
it "holds" the device called the Crest
onto it.
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[Not
mentioned in the blazon but almost
always drawn is the "mantling". This is
the cloth used to shade the wearer from
the sun. It is sometimes drawn shredded
and sometimes drawn whole.] |
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A grey-hound
issuing from the wreath, proper = This is
fairly straight forward, what we have
is a greyhound of natural colour
(proper) issuing from the wreath
(coming out of the wreath).
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A grey-hound
issuing from the wreath, proper,
collared Or. This tells us
that the grey-hound is wearing a
collar and that the collar is Or
(Gold).
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Putting it all together
we get the full achievement:
Arms: Gules, on a chevron
between three cinquefoils in chief
Argent and a hunting-horn in base
of the same, tipped and garnished
Azure, three buckles of the third.
Crest: On a Helm with a Wreath
Argent and Gules
A grey-hound
issuing from the wreath, proper,
collared Or.
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by Martin Goldstraw, FSA
Scot. |
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