important to define those forms in use during the middle ages, and to name them accurately after the custom of those who bore them in war, a task which the heraldry books have never as yet attempted with success.
The cross in its simple form needs no definition, but it will be noted that it is sometimes borne “voided” and that in a very few cases it appears as a lesser charge with its ends cut off square, in which case it must be clearly blazoned as “a plain Cross.”
Andrew Harcla, the march-warden, whom Edward II. made an earl and executed as a traitor, bore the arms of St George with a martlet sable in the quarter.
Crevequer of Kent bore “Gold a voided cross gules.”
Newsom (14th century) bore “Azure a fesse silver with three plain crosses gules.”
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| St George. | Harcla. | Crevequer. | Latimer. |
Next to the plain Cross may be taken the Cross paty, the croiz patee or pate of old rolls of arms. It has several forms, according to the taste of the artist and the age. So, in the 13th and early 14th centuries, its limbs curve out broadly, while at a later date the limbs become more slender and of even breadth, the ends somewhat resembling fleurs-de-lys. Each of these forms has been seized by the heraldic writers as the type of a distinct cross for which a name must be found, none of them, as a rule, being recognized as a cross paty, a word which has its misapplication elsewhere. Thus the books have “cross patonce” for the earlier form, while “cross clechée” and “cross fleurie” serve for the others. But the true identification of the various crosses is of the first importance to the antiquary, since without it descriptions of the arms on early seals or monuments must needs be valueless. Many instances of this need might be cited from the British Museum catalogue of seals, where, for example, the cross paty of Latimer is described twice as a “cross flory,” six times as a “cross patonce,” but not once by its own name, although there is no better known example of this bearing in England.
Latimer bore “Gules a cross paty gold.”
The cross formy follows the lines of the cross paty save that its broadening ends are cut off squarely.
Chetwode bore “Quarterly silver and gules with four crosses formy countercoloured”—that is to say, the two crosses in the gules are of silver and the two in the silver of gules.
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| Mill-rinds. |
The cross flory or flowered cross, the “cross with the ends flowered”—od les boutes floretes as some of the old rolls have it—is, like the cross paty, a mark for the misapprehension of writers on armory, who describe some shapes of the cross paty by its name. Playing upon discovered or fancied variants of the word, they bid us mark the distinctions between crosses “fleur-de-lisée,” “fleury” and “fleurettée,” although each author has his own version of the value which must be given these precious words. But the facts of the medieval practice are clear to those who take their armory from ancient examples and not from phrases plagiarized from the hundredth plagiarist. The flowered cross is one whose limbs end in fleur-de-lys, which spring sometimes from a knop or bud but more frequently issue from the square ends of a cross of the “formy” type.
Swynnerton bore “Silver a flowered cross sable.”
The mill-rind, which takes its name from the iron of a mill-stone—fer de moline—must be set with the crosses. Some of the old rolls call it croiz recercele, from which armorial writers have leaped to imagine a distinct type. Also they call the mill-rind itself a “cross moline” keeping the word mill-rind for a charge having the same origin but of somewhat differing form. Since this charge became common in Tudor armory it is perhaps better that the original mill-rind should be called for distinction a mill-rind cross.
Willoughby bore “Gules a mill-rind cross silver.”
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| Chetwode. | Swynnerton. | Willoughby. | Brerelegh. |
The crosslet, cross botonny or cross crosletted, is a cross whose limbs, of even breadth, end as trefoils or treble buds. It is rarely found in medieval examples in the shape—that of a cross with limbs ending in squarely cut plain crosses—which it took during the 16th-century decadence. As the sole charge of a shield it is very rare; otherwise it is one of the commonest of charges.
Brerelegh bore “Silver a crosslet gules.”
Within these modest limits we have brought the greater part of that monstrous host of crosses which cumber the dictionaries. A few rare varieties may be noticed.
Dukinfield bore “Silver a voided cross with sharpened ends.”
Skirlaw, bishop of Durham (d. 1406), the son of a basket-weaver, bore “Silver a cross of three upright wattles sable, crossed and interwoven by three more.”
Drury bore “Silver a chief vert with a St Anthony’s cross gold between two golden molets, pierced gules.”
Brytton bore “Gold a patriarch’s cross set upon three degrees or steps of gules.”
Hurlestone of Cheshire bore “Silver a cross of four ermine tails sable.”
Melton bore “Silver a Toulouse cross gules.” By giving this cross a name from the counts of Toulouse, its best-known bearers, some elaborate blazonry is spared.
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| Skirlaw. | Drury. | St Anthony’s Cross. | Brytton. |
The crosses paty and formy, and more especially the crosslets, are often borne fitchy, that is to say, with the lower limb somewhat lengthened and ending in a point, for which reason the 15th-century writers call these “crosses fixabill.” In the 14th-century rolls the word “potent” is sometimes used for these crosses fitchy, the long foot suggesting a potent or staff. From this source modern English armorists derive many of their “crosses potent,” whose four arms have the T heads of old-fashioned walking staves.
Howard bore “Silver a bend between six crosslets fitchy gules.”
Scott of Congerhurst in Kent bore “Silver a crosslet fitchy sable.”
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| Hurlestone. | Melton. | Howard. | Scott. |
The Saltire is the cross in the form of that on which St Andrew suffered, whence it is borne on the banner of Scotland, and by the Andrew family of Northamptonshire.
Nevile of Raby bore “Gules a saltire silver.”
Nicholas Upton, the 15th-century writer on armory, bore “Silver a saltire sable with the ends couped and five golden rings thereon.”
