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Heraldic Challenge




Poster: Kim_Salazar@BayNetworks.COM (Kim Salazar)

Unto the learned company assembled,

I dimly recall that enough knowledge of heraldry to enable an individual to
blazon most familiar arms was thought to be an essential part of the
education of squires.  I imagine now that by extension, apprentices and
proteges would also be encouraged to develop this skill.  Basic heraldry
was one of the things I was expected to learn when I entered a household as
a newcomer.

At tourney, we used to while away time between watching bouts by cornering
a cooperative herald and asking his or her help to "practice" as we bumbled
our way through the blazons of the combatants' devices.  I'm no herald and
I don't claim to be able to do this with any degree of "professional"
accuracy, but knowing a little increased my enjoyment of heraldic display.
Heralds don't speak an arcane, foreign language.  All that's needed is a
bit of practice and exposure to the terms in context less emotionally
charged than getting one's device passed.

As part of an educational exercise for the less heraldic-ly gifted among us
(myself included), might we turn this discussion into an entertaining
exercise?

To that end, I am charmed by the idea of canting arms.  May I invite
everyone here at the Rose to twist their minds and think up hypothetical
yet possibly "passable" canting arms for personages of note (or interesting
name) both historical and in the Laurel Kingdoms?  

I would ask that the person posting a hypothetical device describe the
piece in blazon terms AND in laymans' terms - to the best of their
knowledge - so that these bits of humor can serve a teaching purpose.  I
would also ask that any corrections be offered gently, and taken graciously
in the spirit of the thing.  I'm after amusement and education here, not
debate.

At stake is nothing more than acclaim for wit and good jokes for the rest
of us.

Ianthe d'Averoigne

Kim Salazar
home - salazar@sprynet.com
work - ksalazar@baynetworks.com
http://home.sprynet.com/sprynet/salazar
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