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Article MASONRY IN HERALDRY. ← Page 2 of 3 →
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Masonry In Heraldry.
than the fylfot itself , which will exemplify the p hase of connected symbolism more perfectly still . The Labarnm , the standard of the later Roman empire , is said by the heraldic authorities of the Tudor era , aud the subsequent writers who have trod in their steps , to embody iu itself the whole of those divisions of the shield which , under the name of honourable ordinaries , form the groundwork of the modern system of emblazonment ¦ are the vowels in fact of the heraldic alhabet . This figure is composed in reality of the two Greek letters
p X , P , and , as the initial of Christos , superseded the eagle on the insignia of Constantine . But when we look into its construction , we can see at once why the later mediaeval herald found in it the germ of his complicated system . The lines of which it is composed give the perpendicular , the horizontal , the angle of ninety degrees , or the fourth part of a circle , the inclination of a falling body from left to riht and from right to left . Combinedas we often find itwith the
g , , ordinary cross , there is no variety of outline of which the straight line is susceptible which we may not father upon it . In the figures which can be constructed from these lines , some fanciful authors have claimed to discover the various equipments of the knight : the chief , his helmet ; the saltire , his sword ; the pale , his spear ; the bend , his scarf ; the fess , his girdle ; and the chevron , his spur ! Others again contended that they typified certain ranks or
qualifications . The chief , says one , signified a senator or honourable man ; the saltire , another tells us , was an engine to take wdld beasts , and therefore given to rich and covetous people , such as would not easily depart from their substance . " I need scarcely point out , " says Mr . Planche , " that had such been the facts , the shield of every baron summoned to Parliament , and of every honourable gentleman must of right and by rule have displayed a chief , and few , if any ,
would have acknowledged the sin of covetousuess by bearing a saltire . Can any one be surprised that heraldry should have become ridiculous when its professors luxuriated iu such absurd conceits and illustrations . " These so-called honourable ordinaries , as this able author informs us , appear on the shields of the eleventh and twefth centuries , uot as armorial ensigns , but as the necessary wooden or metal strengthenings of the shields themselves , in some instances more ornamental than others , and no doubt gilt , silvered , aud painted in the gayest colours , according to the fancy of the bearer .
This , no doubt , is -quite unanswerable as a common-sense explanation of that which has been the ground-work of many a folio of misty nonsense . Nor do I demur to the assertion of the writer in the St . James ' s Gazette , of September 28 th , that with a race incapable of imitating organic shapes , and just beginning to invent for itself a decorative style , these three elementary figures , the circle , the triangle , and the cross , seem the first which would naturally suggest themselves . Noughts and crosses are indeed the very most orignal elements in all decorative art .
But this by no means involves , to my thinking , an entire dismissal of symbolic investigation from our minds . We know quite well that forms were not invented for symbols , but that existing forms were appropriated to meanings which more advanced knowledge conferred upon them ; the ordinary manual signs in use as pantomimic representations of emotion b y the most savage tribes , have in this manner been adopted b y incorporation into the symbolic language of Freemasonry . Just in the same way the natural divisions of shields falling
into the shapes most in accordance with traditionary lore , became consecrated to legendary history . The cross and saltire became national emblems , and in legend were associated with St . George and St . Andrew : the chevron , the quarter , and the tau , with founders or architects of the great mediceval buildings . One valuable , because genuine , instance of this , I can quote from my own experience . During the restoration of the fine old Norman church of St . Cross , near Winchester , I was asked for the blazon of the arms of the founder , Henry of Blois , Bishop of Winchester , the brother of King Stephen . In a MS . in the B "'«« ih Museum I found them thus described : a bend , double
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Masonry In Heraldry.
than the fylfot itself , which will exemplify the p hase of connected symbolism more perfectly still . The Labarnm , the standard of the later Roman empire , is said by the heraldic authorities of the Tudor era , aud the subsequent writers who have trod in their steps , to embody iu itself the whole of those divisions of the shield which , under the name of honourable ordinaries , form the groundwork of the modern system of emblazonment ¦ are the vowels in fact of the heraldic alhabet . This figure is composed in reality of the two Greek letters
p X , P , and , as the initial of Christos , superseded the eagle on the insignia of Constantine . But when we look into its construction , we can see at once why the later mediaeval herald found in it the germ of his complicated system . The lines of which it is composed give the perpendicular , the horizontal , the angle of ninety degrees , or the fourth part of a circle , the inclination of a falling body from left to riht and from right to left . Combinedas we often find itwith the
g , , ordinary cross , there is no variety of outline of which the straight line is susceptible which we may not father upon it . In the figures which can be constructed from these lines , some fanciful authors have claimed to discover the various equipments of the knight : the chief , his helmet ; the saltire , his sword ; the pale , his spear ; the bend , his scarf ; the fess , his girdle ; and the chevron , his spur ! Others again contended that they typified certain ranks or
qualifications . The chief , says one , signified a senator or honourable man ; the saltire , another tells us , was an engine to take wdld beasts , and therefore given to rich and covetous people , such as would not easily depart from their substance . " I need scarcely point out , " says Mr . Planche , " that had such been the facts , the shield of every baron summoned to Parliament , and of every honourable gentleman must of right and by rule have displayed a chief , and few , if any ,
would have acknowledged the sin of covetousuess by bearing a saltire . Can any one be surprised that heraldry should have become ridiculous when its professors luxuriated iu such absurd conceits and illustrations . " These so-called honourable ordinaries , as this able author informs us , appear on the shields of the eleventh and twefth centuries , uot as armorial ensigns , but as the necessary wooden or metal strengthenings of the shields themselves , in some instances more ornamental than others , and no doubt gilt , silvered , aud painted in the gayest colours , according to the fancy of the bearer .
This , no doubt , is -quite unanswerable as a common-sense explanation of that which has been the ground-work of many a folio of misty nonsense . Nor do I demur to the assertion of the writer in the St . James ' s Gazette , of September 28 th , that with a race incapable of imitating organic shapes , and just beginning to invent for itself a decorative style , these three elementary figures , the circle , the triangle , and the cross , seem the first which would naturally suggest themselves . Noughts and crosses are indeed the very most orignal elements in all decorative art .
But this by no means involves , to my thinking , an entire dismissal of symbolic investigation from our minds . We know quite well that forms were not invented for symbols , but that existing forms were appropriated to meanings which more advanced knowledge conferred upon them ; the ordinary manual signs in use as pantomimic representations of emotion b y the most savage tribes , have in this manner been adopted b y incorporation into the symbolic language of Freemasonry . Just in the same way the natural divisions of shields falling
into the shapes most in accordance with traditionary lore , became consecrated to legendary history . The cross and saltire became national emblems , and in legend were associated with St . George and St . Andrew : the chevron , the quarter , and the tau , with founders or architects of the great mediceval buildings . One valuable , because genuine , instance of this , I can quote from my own experience . During the restoration of the fine old Norman church of St . Cross , near Winchester , I was asked for the blazon of the arms of the founder , Henry of Blois , Bishop of Winchester , the brother of King Stephen . In a MS . in the B "'«« ih Museum I found them thus described : a bend , double