Hello all!

With some recent posts, I have found that people seem to be interested in heraldry. So I thought that I would try to share some of the things that I have learned over the years on this topic.

This is the first part of (hopefully, if interest is there) several to explore some of the history of heraldry and how it works.

First, lets start with the basics. Heraldry is simply the fancy name for the pictures that were on medieval shields and tabbards. It originally started as simply as Sir Goodguy wore a read surcoat, and Lord Notsogoodguy wore a blue one. In this way, they were identifiable in the heat of close combat. This practice later spread to the supporters.

As more and more people started using heraldry, the patterns and pictures started getting more complicated. And, because humans love bureaucracy, rules and a lnaguage evolved to control the pictures and thier use.

So, lets start with some of the terminology. The heraldic colors are as follows:

gules - red
vert - green
azure - blue
purpure - purple
sable - black
sanguine - maroon
tenne - orange

And the heraldic metals are:

White/Silver - argent
Yellow/Gold - or

The word description for the heraldic picture is called a blazon. A typical blazon would look something like this:

Azure, a saltire argent

This of course describes the Cross of St. Andrew, and the Scottish National Flag.

The first part describes the color of the files. Azure, blue.
The next part describes the charge, or the object on the field. A saltire (big honkin x) argent, or white.

Blazons can get quite complicated depending on what they are describing. But that is a topic for another show.

In the next edition, I will cover animal charges, and field divisions. So stay tune on the same bat channel, at the same bat time.

James