[ANSTHRLD] border, CD and crescent questions

[Teceangl]

> Quoth Teceangl:
> > Have you any period examples of charges in semy being cut off by the bordure?
> 
> No, but that's because I have vanishingly few period rolls of arms.

<heh>  Don't we all.  Have too few, that is.

I have bazillions of coloured Post-Its peeking out of my library of books.
Anything magenta is "period picture!".  Though not an amazingly large amount
of stuff, it's more than I thought I had.

So here's what I saw night before last:

Semy of charges around a central primary charge seems to have not often been
in a regular pattern before about 1470 or so, always instead arranged around
after the primary was laid down.  My two examples of post-1470 may or may not
be redraws, so I cannot say for certain if it is true that they overlaid
charges in semy past that date, but my examples (both crusilly with a lion)
show a charge or two passing beneath the primary.

Semy of charges as the primary group were placed in a regular pattern, almost
always offset so they were regular along diagonal lines.

Only a couple of manuscript renditions of France Ancient show any charges in
semy disappearing beneath a chief or bordure, and in those renditions there
was usually also France Ancient with a bend depicted in the work somethere, 
which always overlies the charges in semy.  In fact, France Ancient seems
to have picked up the gift wrap regular repetitions before anything else
ever did.

No other type of charges in semy seem to have ever passed beneath a chief
or bordure in the examples I have on hand.

Ermine spots are, save for very early period, always in a regular pattern.
Most often spots that would pass beneath the primary charge were simply
omitted from the design.  The examples I have seen of irregular ermine spots
all seem to be pre-1320.  (Maister Iago ab Adam would be the real authority
on this, having done extensive research into period furs.)

Charges used for semy were symmetrical and comprised of either straight
lines or circles.  Billets, delfs, crosses, annulets, roundels, and mullets
are what I've seen most, though I did find one semy of caltrops and another
of saltorels.
Semy-de-lys invariably resulted from a show of affiliation with French
Royalty (probably relationship, but in some cases my sources are not clear
enough to speculate that).

Not enough of my sources give enough information (names, dates, countries)
about the pictures.

Too many of my sources do not appropriately label or note the pictures.

I need more and better sources.

:)

- Teceangl
-- 
    "Black is the color of my love's true hair...."
							 -FKV