NITPICK: Re: Heraldic Side Note

[Wynn Klosky <klosky@meeker.UCAR.EDU>]

Poster: Wynn Klosky <klosky@meeker.UCAR.EDU>



On Fri, 30 Aug 1996, Craig Levin wrote:

> Nope. You've neglected to state that there's a chief up there.
> Being a herald myself, I can see the error of your blazoner. What
> he or she intended was:

Ummmm, no. What he intended was what I wrote. He showed me 
chapter and verse in a book of his possession, which did not
interest me in the least since I am not a herald. This then
went on up the ranks and was nowhere along the way corrected.
I must assume from this that it is, as I stated, a Herald-Thang.
Either that, or that everyone from Laurel on down needs
re-educating.

> Azure, an estoile of eight rays Argent, and on a chief of the
> second, three gouttes Azure. That's the English CoA's style of
> blazonry, and not the one we prefer.

Obviously not. All the people involved in passing my device
preferred the style of blazonry that was on the submission. :^)

> If you don't tell people that there's a chief up there, you've
> messed up your blazon. Chief, of course, is not only an
> appellation for a charge, but also a direction on the shield-the
> top. "In chief" and "on a chief" are two different things. Think
> of it this way:

Likely I have messed up then, as I don't have my submission copy
in front of me. Likely it was "Azure, an estoile of eight rays
Argent, and ON a chief, three gouttes Azure." I was just copying
off of the previous poster's paper... But nowhere does it mention
the tincture of the chief. Or say "of the second."

<snip>
> That is the proper blazon.

Actually, not, since it is not the one that passed... :^)

> Clarity in blazon is the whole goal of the language. Otherwise,
> it wouldn't have evolved.

Please educate the other heralds regarding this!! :^) Somehow,
in two totally different kingdoms we have heralds (and the one
who advised me was our White Stag (principal) herald)
advocating what you have told me is bad blazoning. Surely
there is some education flaw somewhere? 

branwynn

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