[ANSTHRLD] {TH}orkell {o, }lf_ss - chevron braced with one inverted, both ensigned

[Tim McDaniel]

I'd like to take them separately, as they are unrelated.

On Tue, 31 Aug 2010, Joshua Brandl <norfildur at hotmail.com> wrote:
> First Device Image:
> Argent a chevron sable issuing an ermine spot tail fesspoint,
> pierced twice by a chevron inverted gules issuing an ermine spot tail
> fesspoint.
> http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll227/aednial/chevronsablepiercedbychevrongules.gif
...
>
> the chevrons idea came from one from the "glossary of terms used in
> heraldry" by glough and parker 1966 edition. the original blazon was
> Azure, a chevron gules pierced by a bend ermine. i can provide page
> numbers if needed

<http://www.heraldsnet.org/saitou/parker/Jpglossp.htm#Pierced>
"A singular, and perhaps single, instance of an ordinary piercing or
perforating another is:--
     Or, chevron gules pierced with[or perforated by] a bend
     ermine[otherwise a bend ermine perforating a chevron
     gules]--HODSTOKE, or HADSTOCK, Suffolk."

I had never heard of that sort of piercing before.  Papworth's
Ordinary has it on p. 376, left column, third from the top, this with
abbrev. expanded:

    Or a chevron gules pierced by a bend ermine.  Hadstock,
    Suffolk.  Haystacke.  Hodstoke, V.

    Or a chevron gules and a bend ermine.  Hadstock.

suggesting that the first might be an artistic variant of the second.
It defines source "V" as Glover's Ordinary.  Anglo-Norman Armory II
dates the roll to c. 1255, but oddly enough, I can't find it in there,
whether under blazon or by that surname (Hod*).  And the ordinary is
not in Brault's Aspilogia III (the Rolls of Arms of Edward I, but 1255
is too early for him, I suppose).

The proposal has a chevron braced with a chevron inverted, which had
been registered before though it's not common.

It has a very unusual piercing.  We have one example above, but
Papworth's may have erred (given that it's not in ANA2), and
Papworth's example is of two differing ordinaries, both of which are
in their common orientations.

It has a treatment of the tips of the chevron that I've never seen
before and don't know how to blazon.  I find "ensigned" in Parker for
a treatment of the tip of a chevron, and registered without comment in

     1/05: Stephan of Churchton. Device. Azure, a chevron ensigned with
     a Latin cross between three annulets engrailed on the outer edge
     Or.

But there were other Latin crosses ensigned (mostly on horseshoes) and
fleurs-de-lys.  These are not "ermine spot tails", because they are
not tails.  They are the three dots used on top of one of the common
depictions of an ermine spot (the part that isn't the tail), but
<http://www.heraldsnet.org/saitou/parker/Jpglosse.htm#Ermine> shows
three other depictions, none of which have separate dots, and I've
seen other different ones, like one that's a box with a wiggly tail.
So I don't see how you can blazon it as part of an ermine spot.  You
could try to blazon it with something involving roundels, but they
would be much larger and further away.

So I don't see how to blazon it.  An unblazonable design is
unregisterable, so if nobody else sees a way, it would have to be
returned.  If you could blazon it (or if you substituted a possibly
known variant such as a cross or fleur-de-lys), it still has
significant changes from the period design that you found.

Denyel de Lyncoln
-- 
Tim McDaniel, tmcd at panix.com