Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Advantages Resulting From The Study Of Heraldry.
the first pointed character . A connection may , in fact , be traced between the distinguishing mouldings of architecture and the ordinaries of Heraldry . In the earliest periods of both we find chevrons , fesses , and bends " indented , " " engrailed , " " wavy , " or " nebule , " as the case may be . In the next progressive period of bothwe find a greater
, profusion of ornamental enrichment ; next the use of geometrical patterns , in both alike , as the trefoil , quatrefoil , cinquefoil ; next the use of complicated coats of arms in the one science , and of equally complicated architectural enrichments in the other ; the use of canting symbols on the shield or crest , and of carved rebuses on the boss , or the
bracket . Lastly , both visibly declined at one and the same time ; the debased succeeded the pointed style of architecture , and the language of Heraldry rapidly lost its purity , and armorial bearings became pictorial rather than symbolic . It will be unnecessary for me to say much of the symbolism which exists in Heraldry as well as in architecture ; until
some more able Herald and Ecclesiologist than myself undertakes to investigate the principal points of resemblance between the two , I must refer the reader to an excellent chapter on the connection of Heraldry with ecclesiastical architecture in Mr . Aliffe Pooles' recently published work .
The introduction of the cross and other symbols in both is , of course , the principal argument on which Mr . Poole bases his theories on the subject . That there exists in Heraldry a deep symbolical meaning , few can doubt . The devices displayed , the colours or tinctures used , all add a symbolical signification which , though perhaps only properly
understood by the initiated , was nevertheless believed , and therefore respected by the lower orders . Thus , though in early times the science of Heraldry was a mystery , known in all its abstruse details only to the learned , yet few were so ignorant of its meaning as not in some measure to understand the emblazoned figures exhibited upon the shields ,
and hence to honour the noble and chivalrous champions of their faith and nation . In the middle ages , such a passion pervaded the lower classes for scanning the descents of the nobility and gentry , that Chaucer describes his Pilgrims , the miller , cook , and other plebeian folk , very busily discussing the rich blazonries of the painted windows of Canterbury Cathedral , and showing their plebeian ignorance by very bad Heraldry , To return to the subject of architec-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Advantages Resulting From The Study Of Heraldry.
the first pointed character . A connection may , in fact , be traced between the distinguishing mouldings of architecture and the ordinaries of Heraldry . In the earliest periods of both we find chevrons , fesses , and bends " indented , " " engrailed , " " wavy , " or " nebule , " as the case may be . In the next progressive period of bothwe find a greater
, profusion of ornamental enrichment ; next the use of geometrical patterns , in both alike , as the trefoil , quatrefoil , cinquefoil ; next the use of complicated coats of arms in the one science , and of equally complicated architectural enrichments in the other ; the use of canting symbols on the shield or crest , and of carved rebuses on the boss , or the
bracket . Lastly , both visibly declined at one and the same time ; the debased succeeded the pointed style of architecture , and the language of Heraldry rapidly lost its purity , and armorial bearings became pictorial rather than symbolic . It will be unnecessary for me to say much of the symbolism which exists in Heraldry as well as in architecture ; until
some more able Herald and Ecclesiologist than myself undertakes to investigate the principal points of resemblance between the two , I must refer the reader to an excellent chapter on the connection of Heraldry with ecclesiastical architecture in Mr . Aliffe Pooles' recently published work .
The introduction of the cross and other symbols in both is , of course , the principal argument on which Mr . Poole bases his theories on the subject . That there exists in Heraldry a deep symbolical meaning , few can doubt . The devices displayed , the colours or tinctures used , all add a symbolical signification which , though perhaps only properly
understood by the initiated , was nevertheless believed , and therefore respected by the lower orders . Thus , though in early times the science of Heraldry was a mystery , known in all its abstruse details only to the learned , yet few were so ignorant of its meaning as not in some measure to understand the emblazoned figures exhibited upon the shields ,
and hence to honour the noble and chivalrous champions of their faith and nation . In the middle ages , such a passion pervaded the lower classes for scanning the descents of the nobility and gentry , that Chaucer describes his Pilgrims , the miller , cook , and other plebeian folk , very busily discussing the rich blazonries of the painted windows of Canterbury Cathedral , and showing their plebeian ignorance by very bad Heraldry , To return to the subject of architec-