ANSTHRLD - Bar sinisters in this ILOI

[Timothy A. McDaniel]

Maredudd Brangwyn wrote:
<< I believe from looking at the color copy that the consulting herald
selected a bar over a bendlet because it appears to stop at the chief.
It appears to be 1/2 bend or bendlet and 1/2 bar. >>

That comment is senseless.

First: In SCA usage, "a bar" is one of a group of two or more
*horizontal* stripes that do not touch the top or bottom of the
shield.  In general, "a bar" or "a barrulet" cannot be bourne singly.
>From Baldwin's precedents:

    SCA practice allows a diminutive name of an ordinary to be used
    only when there is more than one of the ordinary, or when the
    charge has been so positioned as to reduce its importance in the
    coat.  One might thus have "a fess", "two bars", or "in base a
    bar", but never simply "a bar".  [BoE, cvr ltr, 25 Apr 86, p.2]

If it's not diminished -- if it's a central ordinary -- then:
    If it is drawn too thin to be plausibly blazoned as "a bend" or "a
        fess" or "a pale",
    Then it is returned,
    Else it is reblazoned as "a bend", "a fess", "a pale", or whatever.

Second: note also "horizontal" in the definition.  If it's not
horizontal, it can never be "a fess" or "a bar".  (If it angled
sharply in the middle, it would be returned for being unblazonable.
If it was not steep enough for "a bend" but it also was not
horizontal, it would be returned for being unblazonable and for
blurring the distinction between two charges that get a CD.  But
neither case happens here.)

Third: "sinister" in blazons means that it's facing sinister or
shifted towards the sinister half of the field, depending on the
usage.

    Facing sinister: A bar or fess is horizontal.  It cannot face
    sinister, or if it does, it's visually identical to a plain bar --
    like trying to tell whether a featureless disk has been rotated.
    (C.f. lesbian sheep.)

    Moved to sinister: a bar extends the width of the field.  "A bar
    to sinister" would have part of it shoved off the edge of the
    shield.  I *suppose* "a bar *couped* issuant from sinister" might
    be possible, but that's not what we have here.


So "a bar sinister" cannot possibly be right.  Some fiction authors
with little knowledge of heraldry say that it is the mark of
bastardry, but
- "a bar sinister" is impossible, as I mentioned
- there were no standard marks for *anything* in period

As best I can tell from the emblazon printed, this is simply a bend
sinister or bendlet sinister and a chief.  If it's too narrow to be
blazoned "a bend sinister", it's returnable as aforesaid.

Daniel de Lincolia
-- 
Tim McDaniel is tmcd at jump.net; if that fail,
    tmcd at us.ibm.com is my work account.
"To join the Clueless Club, send a followup to this message quoting everything
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