THE HATCHMENT

Hatchment, a corrupted term applied to denote a family Funeral Achievement, is the coat of arms painted and framed; the frame is a square covered with black cloth, and is placed on the front of the house, suspended by one corner, where it generally remains for twelve months, and thence is removed, and frequently put in the church. The arms on a Hatchment are always painted as borne by the party when living.

To distinguish what party is dead, the ground on which the arms are painted is represented either black, or part black and part white. Thus, the arms of a bachelor, maid, widow, and widower, are painted upon a black ground.

When a married woman dies, her husband still surviving, the sinister half of the ground is painted black, the dexter white; If a married man dies, and his wife survives, the ground is painted the reverse

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DID YOU KNOW?

It is generally considered that the Fleur-de-lys is a corruption of Fleur-de-Luce, which, again, was in itself the representative of Fleur-de-Louis. The flower itself was the common purple Iris, and not a white Lily, and the whole history is apparently summed up in the tradition that when Louis VII., King of France, was setting out on his crusade to the Holy Land, he chose the purple Iris as his heraldic emblem.

Thenceforth it became the Flower of Louis, or Fleur-de-Louis, subsequently Fleur-de-Luca, and in more degenerate times Fleur-de-lys.

THE SHIELD

THE Shield or Escutcheon of the noble in the middle ages bore emblazoned upon it certain devices which served to identify him in the field, and he bore these charges or devices as the soldier of the present day bears his medals or other honourable distinctions. The earliest of these heraldic embellishments of shields may be said to have been in the reign of Richard I.

Shields in Heraldry are also called Escutcheons, or Scutcheons, derived from the word scutum, a hide. These were generally made of wood, covered with the hide of some animal killed in the chase, or with thin metal.

The shape of the shield has varied in different ages from the purest and simplest form to the most elaborate and fantastic.

The Norman shields were long and tapering; to these succeeded short, almost triangular-shaped shields, having the contour of an inverted arch, slightly stilted.

The equilateral form became prevalent early in the fourteenth century, at which period several modifications of the prevailing form were introduced.

In the next century the shields were shortened, and as it advanced their form was altogether changed, and became square

CADENCY

Occasionally, more than one Mark of Cadency appears in the same shield

By Cadency Heralds distinguish the different individuals or the several branches of the same family, all of whom, in right of their common descent, inherit and bear the same arms. A shield of arms may thus be " differenced," either by modifying or adding to the original blazon, while retaining its distinctive character; or by introducing upon the shield some fresh charge, which is to take no part in the actual composition of the arms, but is to have a special and a separate existence of its own as a " Difference."

The modified shield, when once adopted, would become in fact an independent heraldic composition, and would be permanently retained, while yet at the same time it would indicate clearly and emphatically both its origin and its alliances. The shield, on the other hand, that in its own blazon remains unchanged and without even the very slightest modification, but is differenced by a " Mark," or " Marks of Cadency," would be borne only as a temporary distinction, contingent upon the duration or the charge of certain conditions ; and, consequently such a shield would alter its Differences or remove them altogether, in accordance with the new requirements of advancing time.

In these changes in the " Marks of Cadency " which may be borne at different times by the same individuals, and in the origin of the " Marks" themselves, the student of Historical Heraldry will find lying open before him a wide field for singularly interesting and attractive inquiry. Occasionally, more than one Mark of Cadency appears in the same shield; and it also was a practice habitually prevalent with the early Heralds to difference their Differences, that is, to charge one Mark of Cadency upon another.

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