Heraldic Science Héraldique
  • ARTICLES
    • Bannière de France et pavillon blanc en Nouvelle-France
    • De précieux bijoux de famille : une légende au sujet du castor
    • Des emblèmes canadiens sur soie
    • L’Amérindien stéréotypé en héraldique canadienne : son évolution en regard de l’image imprimée
    • La médaille Kebeca Liberata a-t-elle inspiré le premier sceau de la ville de Québec?
    • La société de la Nouvelle-France était-elle féodale ?
    • Le Québec sur le Red Ensign : une fantaisie commerciale
    • Le tourisme héraldique : France
    • Le visage sur les cartes de Champlain : portrait ou symbole? (English summary) >
      • Annexe I Cartes ornées de portraits d’explorateurs, navigateurs ou cartographes
      • Annexe II Dessins de Louis Nicolas illustrés de soleils et lunes à visage
    • L’imagerie et le symbolisme de saint Nicolas et du père Noël
    • L’origine symbolique et chevaleresque du nom Dracula
    • Les anciennes armoiries de Montréal
    • Les armes sur les cartes géographiques du Canada >
      • Les armes de souveraineté sur les cartes de la Nouvelle-France et du Canada
      • Cartes canadiennes aux armes de sociétés commerciales
      • Les armes personnelles sur des cartes du Canada
    • Les armoiries de Claude de Ramezay
    • Les armoiries de François-Joseph d’Estienne de Chaussegros de Léry, baron de l’Empire
    • Les armoiries personnelles en Nouvelle-France >
      • Annexe I - La noblesse contestée de Denis-Joseph Ruette d’Auteuil
    • Les armoiries personnelles au Québec
    • Les origines du castor et de la feuille d’érable comme emblèmes canadiens
    • Les pavillons de la marine marchande en Nouvelle-France
    • Les symboles d’une congrégation de sœurs en guerre
    • Les symboles monarchiques dans les emblèmes du Québec
    • Où est passée la bibliothèque de l'Institut Drouin?
    • Un puissant symbole de vengeance qui brave le temps
    • Une accusation de plagiat héraldique au XVIIe siècle
    • A Mystery Emblem for Manitoba
    • A Precursor to the Flag of Nova Scotia
    • Adding and Subtracting Lions
    • Augmentations of Patriotism to Canadian Emblems
    • Canadian Badges on Liberation Plates of the Netherlands
    • Canadian Civic Arms on Ceramics
    • Canadian Postcards with Emblems and Rhymes
    • Did Alexander Scott Carter Give Canada Its National Colours?
    • Entalenté à parler d’armes
    • Globe Crests of Early Navigators
    • Heraldic Anachronisms in Movies and Television Series
    • Heraldic Postcard Colouring Books
    • Heraldic Whimsies
    • Land of the Maple
    • Mystery flags on a Rennaisance map
    • Nineteenth Century Postcards with Canadian Symbols
    • Royalty Mingling with Beavers and Maple Leaves
    • Royal Warrants of Appointment
    • The Achievement of Arms of Bordeaux: an Emblem Born in Strife
    • “The Maple Leaf Forever”: a Song and a Slogan / The Maple Leaf Forever : une chanson et un slogan
    • The Mermaid in Canadian Heraldry and Lore
    • The Much Maligned Arms of the Canada Company >
      • Appendix I The “Au Camélia” Trade Card
      • Appendix II Stylisation Versus Distortion
    • The Rise of the Single Maple Leaf as the Emblem of Canada
    • The Unicorn in Canada
    • Why Was the Beaver Left Out of Canada’s Coat of Arms >
      • Appendix I The Beaver Cutting Down a Maple
      • Appendix II The Flag of the Beaver Line
    • Why Three National Symbols of Sovereignty for Canada?
  • OUVRAGES / WORKS
    • ​La recherche de symboles identitaires canadiens >
      • Avant-propos
      • I Le tricolore de la France >
        • Appendice - Illustrations du tricolore dans des journaux canadiens
      • II L’Union Jack et le Red Ensign >
        • Appendice - Génèse de l'Union Jack
      • III Le choix d’un drapeau national >
        • Appendice 1 - Lettre de Stanley à Matheson
        • Appendice II Symboles métropolitains dans emblèmes provinciaux
      • IV Un ajout aux armoiries du Canada
    • Mythes et légendes au sujet d’emblèmes canadiens >
      • Introduction
      • Les symboles titillent l’imagination
      • La feuille d’érable en Nouvelle-France
      • Le castor
      • Comment la feuille d’érable devient emblème
      • La Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste et la feuille d'érable
      • La licorne et sa chaîne
    • CANADA’S COAT OF ARMS Defining a country within an empire >
      • Preface
      • Chapter 1 European Heritage
      • Chapter 2 The Beaver and Maple Leaf
      • Chapter 3 The Dominion Shield
      • Chapter 4 One Resolute Man
      • Chapter 5 King Rules or Heralds Rule
      • Chapter 6 Bureaucrats and Artists
      • Conclusion
    • A GUIDE TO HERALDRY From a Canadian Perspective >
      • ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
      • PREFACE
      • Chapter I BIRTH AND SURVIVAL OF HERALDRY
      • Chapter II TAKING A CLOSER LOOK
      • Chapter III ARMS VERSUS LOGO
      • Chapter IV THE QUEST FOR ARMS
      • Chapter V DESIGNING ARMS >
        • ANNEX I
      • Chapter VI AN AUXILIARY SCIENCE >
        • ANNEX II
      • CHAPTER VII HERALDRY WITHIN THE SYMBOLS’ FAMILY
      • CONCLUSION
      • APPENDIX I LEARNING TO BLAZON
      • APPENDIX II TRACING PERSONAL ARMS IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES
      • APPENDIX III IDENTIFYING ARMS FROM VARIOUS COUNTRIES
      • BIBLIOGRAPHY
      • GLOSSARY
    • VARIATIONS IN THE ARMS OF SOVEREIGNTY CONNECTED WITH CANADA (a Pictorial Overview) >
      • The “Who was Who?” of Canadian Heraldry / Le « Qui était qui ? » de l’héraldique canadienne >
        • A
        • B
        • C
        • D
        • E
        • F
        • G
        • H
        • I
        • J
        • K
        • L
        • M
        • N
        • O
        • P
        • Q
        • R
        • S
        • T
        • U
        • V
        • W
        • X
        • Y
        • Z
        • APPENDIX/APPENDICE I
        • APPENDIX/APPENDICE II
      • Foreword
      • Royal Arms of Colonial Powers
      • Dominion Shields
      • Arms of Canada
      • Arms and Devices of Provinces and Territories
      • Afterword
    • Glanures héraldiques * Heraldic gleanings >
      • Projet d’un juge d’armes de France pour la Nouvelle-France / Project of a Judge of Arms of France for New France
      • The Arms of a Little-known Navigator / Les armes d’un navigateur peu connu
      • Une bouillabaisse sur écu / A Bouillabaisse on a Shield
      • Managing a Heraldic Conflict / Gestion d’un conflit héraldique
      • Une opinion sur les armes du Québec / An Opinion on the Arms of the Province of Quebec
      • La fleur de lis seule : marque d’autorité et de possession royales en Nouvelle-France / The Single Fleur-de-lis: a Royal Mark of Authority and Possession in New France
      • Un écu fictif pour Samuel de Champlain / A Fictitious Shield for Samuel de Champlain
      • Coïncidences héraldiques / Heraldic Coincidences
      • Vision d’une mort tragique ? / A Tragic Death Foretold?
      • The Mystery “Arms” of the North West Company / Les mystérieuses « armes » de la Compagnie du Nord-Ouest
      • Were the Arms of Newfoundland Granted to the Province Originally? / Les armoiries de Terre-Neuve étaient-elles originellement assignées à la province ?
      • A Tragedy Illustrated on a Coat of Arms / Une tragédie illustrée sur des armoiries
      • Une fleur de lis ardente / A Glowing Fleur-de-lis
      • Chadwick’s Écu Complet for the Dominion of Canada / Chadwick conçoit un « écu complet » pour le Dominion du Canada
      • A “The More the Merrier” Expression of Canadian Patriotism / Le patriotisme canadien selon la formule « plus il y en a, mieux c’est »
      • Gare aux blasphémateurs ! / Blasphemers Beware!
      • An Armorial Bookplate with International Scope / Un ex-libris d’intérêt international
      • La couleur sable est-elle issue d’une fourrure? / Was the Colour Sable Derived from a Fur?
      • Le gouffre, un symbole pré-héraldique universel / The Gurges, a Pre-heraldic Universal Symbol
      • The Customs Value of Heraldic Art / La valeur douanière de l’art héraldique
      • Don’t Tamper With Symbols! / Ne faussez pas les symboles!
      • Pulling Coats of Arms out of a Hat / Des armoiries tirées d’un chapeau
      • La feuille d'érable en chanson / The Maple leaf in song
      • La compagnie maritime Allan Line a-t-elle plagié le tricolore français? / Did the Shipping Company Allan Line Plagiarize the Tricolour of France?
      • Un emblème patriotique inclusif / An Inclusive Patriotic Emblem ​New Page

ANNEX II

Picture
A personal shield with 135 quarters from Fox-Davies, The Art of Heraldry, 1904, p. 375. There are 134 families represented in this accumulation of quarterings, the first quarter being also repeated as the last quarter. 

How would one go about determining to which family such a huge agglomeration of arms belonged, if it were not already known? Since the owner is already identified, what follows is meant to illustrate a route to take if similar arms were found, for instance, on a bookplate without a name.

As for other quartered arms, one begins by identifying the first quarter. A close look at this quarter, perhaps with a magnifying glass, reveals that only two tinctures are involved, the white surface indicating argent and the vertical lines representing gules. Animals are not always easy to identify, but a fox seems the most likely candidate because of the particularly pointed snout. The blazon can thus be established, at least tentatively, as Argent a chevron between three foxes’ heads erased Gules. The word erased refers to the jagged edges at base of the neck.

It is always good to know the country of origin of the arms, something which is sometimes apparent from the object on which they are depicted. At times an educated guess is a good avenue. If one concludes that the shield belongs to the United Kingdom, the next step would be to go to John W. Papworth, An Alphabetical Dictionary of Coats of Arms Belonging to Families in Great Britain and Ireland, Forming an Extensive Ordinary of British Armorials. In the “Table of Alphabetical Titles” which follows the introduction, the word chevron (the main charge) appears with a page number. Flipping through the pages from that number, one arrives at the category “one chevron between heads (beasts)” and then to “fox” where the names William Awys, Fairfax, John Fox, Fox and Lane-Fox are seen.  

Since the name Fox is present in many counties, it seems logical to look at this name before the others. Should the researcher decide to consult Burke’s General Armory first, the work would confirm that some Fox families used arms as the one blazoned, but would yield little useful information for a specific person.  One work that would be consulted eventually is Fox-Davies’ Armorial Families. In there under Fox, one would find the heraldic description of the 135 quarters, the name of each family to whom they belonged, and another illustration of the same arms. The last heir to the arms in 1929 is also revealed as Louisa Emma Lane-Fox.

In this case, the identification proved rather easy because the arms are well documented. Still the research could have taken many lateral tangents, such as deciding that the animals were wolves rather than fox, researching first the other names Awys or Fairfax mentioned in Papworth or, since the approach here is hypothetical, discovering that the arms were not from the United Kingdom at all. Many times when doing this type of research, the first quarter is found to belong to several names. This can also be true of the second quarter. With the names in hand, it is necessary to search through lists of marriages to find a nuptial connexion between two of the names. The amount of time required to do this will vary considerably from one case to another and depends on the strategy adopted. When many names are involved, it can become a formidable task. When it is not be possible to identify the first quarter, it becomes easy to get bogged down.

If two of the quarters can be identified somewhere within the shield and a marriage between the two names is discovered, it may be possible to work one’s way up to the original owner represented in the first and last quarters. This might lead to the owner of the arms at the time they were depicted. Besides a knowledge of heraldry, the process requires exceptional genealogical skills and a willingness to spend countless hours of work, perhaps on and off over days, even months or years. Most arms are represented with only a few of the quarters to which the owner is entitled, but this can make things even worse because the inheritance sequence is disrupted as a result.

The shield illustrated here can undoubtedly be an El Dorado for genealogists, but like mining for gold, it requires a great deal of work and patience. Quarters enter the shield by descent when an armigerous man marries an armigerous heiresses or co-heiresses, which happens sporadically, not at every generation. Even when the families to whom the quarters belong are known, discovering by which marriage each quarter entered the shield entails lengthy genealogical investigation.

The works I consulted in this case are all online and can be viewed by the reader;

1)   Papworth’s Ordinary of British Armorials, pp. xvii, 437:

https://books.google.ca/books?id=dTABAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false;

2) Burke’s General Armrory, p. 582: http://www.archive.org/stream/generalarmoryofe00burk#page/n5/mode/2up;

3) Fox-Davies, Armorial Families, pp. 710-12:

https://archive.org/stream/armorialfamilies01foxd#page/712/mode/2up.

The three works were accessed on 11 November 2015.

Appendix III offers more specific advice on identifying coats of arms.


Chapter VI AN AUXILIARY SCIENCE
Back
Home
Copyright  © Auguste & Paula Vachon