Heraldry

Heraldry


The presentation of this particular Blanchard Coat of Arms is intended to add a bit of color to an otherwise rather drab page. There is no attempt to promote this as the Arms of any Blanchard line connected with members of the BLANCHARD List. There are many other Arms that have been attributed to the Blanchard name as well as to the many variants of that name. The two image files that were provided by List member Fred Hartley in July 1996, show a number of examples arranged approximately alphabetically.
Sheet #1 , Pl. CCXXIV Blano(le) - Blanchelaine
Sheet #2 , Pl. CCXXV Blanchelaine - Blandfort

These are large files (in bytes and in dimensions) but, rather than reduce the size of the images to fit on a web page, they have been left at their original size for clearer viewing but require scrolling to see an entire sheet. The inscription at the left side of Sheet #1 is:
Line 1. "General Armorial Pub. in French from 1884-1887 by J. B. Rietstrab (1828-1891)".
Line 2. reads "General Illustrated Armorial, Sauvegarde Historique, Lyon, France".

A good source of information on Heraldry can be found at "Heraldry on the Internet" from James P. Wolf.

One of the many links from this page that you might find interesting is: Pimbley's Dictionary of Heraldry

Here are a few of the items found in "Pimbley's".

Arms - Arms or Armories were so called because originally displayed upon defensive arms, and coats of arms because formerly embroidered upon the surcoat or camis worn over the armor. The term coat of arms, once introduced, was afterward retained, even when displayed elsewhere than on the coat. In the days when knights were so encased in armor that no means of identifying them was left, the practice was introduced of painting their insignia of honor on their shield as an easy method of distinguishing them. Originally these were granted only to individuals, but were afterward made hereditary by King Richard I, during his crusade to Palestine. They may be divided into two general classes: (1) Public, as those of kingdoms, provinces, bishoprics, corporate bodies, etc. And (2) private, being those of private families. These two classes are again separated into many subdivisions, founded mainly on the different methods by which they were granted.
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Arms of Assumption - Those arms which a person may legitimately assume.

Arms of Attribution - Arms that are fictitious, such as indulged in to absurd extent by the heralds of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. "Almost all the older genealogists attribute coats of arms to ancestors long before they were in use. On the tomb of Queen Elizabeth are emblazoned the arms of William the Conqueror and Matilda of Flanders, and of Henry I and Matilda of Scotland, all, of course, pure inventions. It is only of very late years, since a critical spirit has found its way even into heraldry, that these absurdities have been exposed." -- Ency. Brit., vol xi (1902).

Arms of Family - Those received by some distinguished person and borne with modifications by all his descendants.


Shield - The escutcheon or field on which are placed the bearings of coats of arms. There are various forms, mostly taken from the shapes in vogue when shields were used in warfare. Maiden ladies and widows have no shield, but place their arms on a lozenge. [LOZENGE.] [ESCUTCHEON.]


Another link from "Heraldry on the Internet" that you might find interesting is "Heraldry"by Joseph C. Wolf. This provides a brief background on the subject and also includes some comments on "women�s rights to coat armor".



In case you are interested, using the definition given by Pimbley - Blazon (Bla'-zon) To describe a coat of arms; to give an accurate description - the Coat of Arms chosen for the BLANCHARD Page has been described as: "Gules, a chevron or, between in chief two bezants and in base a griffin's head erased of the second."

And from Burke's "General Armory":
gules = the color red
The chief signifying the head from the place it occupies on the shield in the whole upper part of the shield cut off horizontally by a straight or any other of the partition lines used in Heraldry.
bezant = the current coin of Byzantium or Constantinople - in English Heraldry, represented as round flat pieces of gold without imprint.
griffin = an imaginary animal, the upper half that of an eagle, and the lower half, that of a lion.
"erased" = forcibly torn from the body; a head, limb or other object erased, has its severed parts jagged.


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