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a label
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a label of five
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Consists of narrow band across the top of the shield with three or five tag penatants from it. Used as a mark of Cadency fro the eldest son during his father's lifetime, and sometimes in the early Middle Ages as a permanent mark of difference.
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A bearing closely resembling the strap with pendants which form the saddle crossed the horse's chest. It is the oldest mark of difference, but sometimes borne as a charge. As a difference it was used generally by the princes of the royal house. The number of points did not necessarily mean anything, although the label of three points was supposed to represent the heir during the lifetime of his father; five points, during the lifetime of his grandfather; seven points, while the great-grandfather still lived, etc. According to the modern system, the elder son of an elder son places a label upon a label.
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A cord of running knots surrounding the arms of widows and unmarried women.
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lamb
Holy or Paschal; represented with a numbus round the head, such as bearing a flag.
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The point of a label. A mantle is sometimes referred to as a lambrequin.
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One of the six heralds of the College of Arms.
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Or, on a bend sable,
a (tilting) spear of
the field headed argnt
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a lance or spear
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lance
Alternate Terms: Spear, Tilting-Spear, Tilting-Spears
Shakespeare's father was granted arms as follows: “Or, on a bend sable a lance of the field.”
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Said of animals having the tongue of a colour different from the body. Usually, it is proper, or Gules.
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Tongued; having the tongue visible. Applied to the tongue of a bird or beast when of a different tincture from that of the body.
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a latin cross
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la"tin kros
Alternate Terms: Cross of Passion, Holy Cross, Long Cross
Of ancient use. The essential symbol of the Christian religion. It forms the basis for many examples of period and SCA Armory.
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Alternate Term: Perculaced
A bordure formed of perpendicular and horizontal bars, interlaced or otherwise.
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Alternate Terms: Lattised, Treillé
A pattern similar to Fretty, but placed crossways. It is often cloué, or shown as nailed at each crossing.
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Or, a laurel vert --
Arms of the SCA
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A wreath of leaves.
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A green vegetation, a bunch of which is held in the mouth by the liver on the arms of Liverpool.
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leaf
The leaves common to heraldry are the strawberry, hazel, oak and elm.
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a leopard rampant
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lee'oh-pahrd
Alternate Term: Pard
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Always borne Gardant or full-faced, as opposed to the Lion usually borne with the face in profile. Modern heraldry has abolished this distinction, and represents the Leopard with his spots. A Leopard's head should how the neck erased; and a Leopard's face, the head turned to the spectator, without the neck.
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In heraldry, a Lion in side view, having one forepaw raised and the head facing the observer.
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The title of one of the heralds under Henry V.
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“A Lion as a Leopard.” The early heralds seem to have gotten the Lion confused with the Leopard, and when describing him in any attitude except passant he was leo-pardé.
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Azure, three figures
of 7 two and one -- ernard
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leht-lers'
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Letters of the alphabet occur in some shields.
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Letters of the Alphabet (fr. lettres) are occasionally employed as charges. The following instances will suffice to shew the different ways in which they have been used. The letters may be old Text, or Greek, or Roman, and hence the type should be stated. The signification of the letters of the charge is not always apparent. When an M occurs it is no doubt as a rule intended for MARIA or MARY.
“Sable, on a fesse between two cinquefoils in chief argent, and on a mount in base three sprigs of oak proper, acorned or, the text letters ABCDEF of the field” – Lang.
“Gules, three text S's Or” – Kekitmore.
“argent, a chevron (another two chevrons) between three text T's sable” – Tofte.
“Azure, a cross argent charged with the letter x, in the fesse point, and the letter i, in the honour point, both sable” – Christ Church Priory, Canterbury. (These letters were evidently intended as a contraction of the word Christi. Since the Reformation the above insignia have been used for the Deanery, the ancient letters having generally been changed to x and i.)
“argent, a cross Gules with a letter r in the centre” – City of Rochester.
“Party per chevron argent and sable, in chief the Greek letters A and of the second, in base a grasshopper of the first; on a chief Gules a Lion passant guardant Or” – Greek Professorship at Cambridge, granted 1590.
“Sable, on a pale argent a Greek upsilon Gules” – Clark, London, granted 21 Jan. 1604.
“argent, On A cross Azure The Letter M Crowned Or” – arms Ascribed To William, De St. Mary's Church, Bishop of London, 1199-1221; Simon Mepham, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1328-33; Simon Sudbury, alias Tybold, Bishop of London, 1362; Archbishop of Canterbury, 1375-81.
“Per chevron or and vert, in chief the letter M sable, in base a falcon of the first” – John Marshall, Bishop of Llandaff, 1478-96.
“Gules, on a fesse argent a Roman A” – Althoun.
“Per pale, sable and argent, three Roman B's counterchanged” – Bridlington Priory, Yorkshire.
“Or, a capital Z Gules” – De Zeddes.
“argent, a fesse between three S's sable” – Shugley, co. Chester.
“Azure, a Lion rampant argent resting his dexter hind-foot on the letter H” – Town of Horsham, Sussex.
Sometimes figures and astronomical signs are used.
“Azure, three figures of 7 two and one” – Bernard.
“Per fesse argent and or, a fesse wavy Azure between a sword and a branch of aurel is saltire proper passing a ring of the astronomical character of Mars sable in chief, and the stump of a tree, one branch sprouting from the dexter side thereof issuing from water in base proper” – Stockenstorm, Maasstrom, Cape of Good Hope, Baronet, 1840.
“Azure, on a fesse between three mullets of six points or two characters of the planet Venus sable” – Thoyts, Sulhamstead, co. Berks, and London; granted 1788.
Sometimes a combination of letter are used, and this especially in canting arms and in Rebuses. Names of various kinds, both of places and persons, are found inscribed sometimes with, at others without, scrolls.
“argent, on a chevron between three cock's heads erased, the two in chief respectant sable, an escallop-shell or, in chief the letters A L Azure” – Alcock.
“Azure, a paschal lamb couchant with the banner all argent; round the head a nimbus or, in base the letters P P of the last” – Town of Preston, co. Lancaster.
“Azure, in chief a scroll argent inscribed B R E, in fesse a tun of the second” – Breton.
“Gules, a bugle-horn stringed and garnished within the word RIPPON in orle (i.e. in pale the letters I and N, in chief the letters R and P, and in fesse those of P and O)” – Town of Ripon.
“The word eye under an antique ducal coronet” – Town of Eye, Suffolk.
“Per chief embattled Azure and Gules; in chief the letters JOHES or; in base a tun of the last thereon the letters BRIT sable” – The late John Britton. F.S.A.
“Sable, a Lion rampant argent holding between the paws a mural crown or, a canton ermine thereon pendent by a riband Gules fimbriated Azure a representation of the medal presented for services subinscribed WATERLOO in letters sable” – Churchill.
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The cormorant.
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Alternate Term: Lys of the Field
The usual style of lily.
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a lion couchant
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Usually depicted in the heraldic style, with tufts of hair on his body, etc. The usual forms of the charge are
- Rampant
- Passant
- Gardant
- Rampant-regardant
- Passant-gardant
- Passant-regardant
- couchant
- Coward
- Sejant rampant
- Statant
- Salient
Lions may be also conjoined, or bicorporated, or incorporated; but these are probably rare forms. A Demi-Lion shows the tail; differing, thus, from a Lion's head couped. He may also be Dismembered, or Dechaussé, when divided by cuts, but the portions left in place as to show the outline. Lions are often represented with two tails, or “queue fourchée”.
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The Lion is the most popular beast in heraldry. He appears in the arms of Great Britain, Denmark, Spain, Holland, Bohemia, Saxony and numerous lesser countries. As early as 1127 Henry I used the Lion as an ornament on a shield. Of the 918 bannerets of Edward II, 225 bore Lions. The early English heralds seem to have confused the Lion with the Leopard. While never drawn spotted as the real Leopard, he was described in most attitudes as leo- pardé, or a Lion as a Leopard. The Lion is drawn in about 30 attitudes, but it is seldom he is seen in other than rampant or passant.
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In allusion to the Lions on the arms of Great Britain. In English heraldry a Lion passant Gardant or is generally blazoned as “a Lion of England.”
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Alternate Term: Leonced
A bearing adorned with Lions’ heads, as, for instance, a cross with its ends terminating in Lions’ heads.
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Alternate Terms: Lioncelle, Lion's Welp
Several Lions in one coat are sometimes thus termed; but the distinction is perhaps fanciful.
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A fabulous bird, after which Liverpool is supposed to have derived its name. It resembles the cormorant. The arms of Liverpool are blazoned: “argent, a liver sable, billed and legged Gules, holding in his bill a bunch of laver vert.”
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“The liver was a foolish invention to account for the name (of Liverpool). There was the ‘pool’, which accounted for the last syllable, and there was the bird on the seal or shield, which, in the absence of other information, was supposed to indicate the prefix. A stuffed bird has from time immemorial been preserved in the Town Hall, supposed to be a specimen of the genus liver. It is, in reality, an immature cormorant, which has not attained its final dark plumage.” Sir J. A. Picton, in Notes and Queries, May 3, 1884.
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Alternate Term: Lezard
An animal resembling a wildcat, with brown fur, and spots of a darker shade. The reptile lizard also occurs, and is probably Vert.
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a stag lodged
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lodjd
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Term used for a beast of the chase when couchant.
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Couchant; especially applied to stags, etc.
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a Lothringian cross
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loth'rin-gee-an kros
An ascribed cross. Used in late period by the duchal family of Lorraine as a badge. It is not attested in other Armory. It is not attested in SCA Armory.
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Applied to ordinaries abated from their common position.
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a lozenge
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One of the subordinaries, being a diamond-shaped figure. When the field or a charge is completely covered with lozenges or alternative tinctures, it is 'Lozengy'.
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A diamond-shaped bearing, usually with its upper and lower angles slightly acute.
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The form of the escutcheon upon which women place their arms. Specifically, for spinsters and widows. As the shield was used in war, it was peculiar to men, and the female had no part therein; hence an unmarried woman from earliest times placed her arms on a lozenge, perhaps in allusion to the fusil, or distaff; when married, she shares the shield of her husband.
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Lozengy argent and gles
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Alternate Term: Lozengee
A bearing or the field divided into lozenge-shaped compartments of different tinctures, the lines being drawn in the direction of the bend and bend sinister.
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Lozengy Couped Per Fss
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Lozengy couped Per Fess is a bearing or the field divided into lozenge-shaped compartments of different tinctures, the lines being drawn in the direction of the fess, bend and bend sinister.
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A fish now known as the pike.
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lure
Two wings joined with their tips downward are said to be conjoined in lure. The reference is to the hawk's lure, already explained.
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Alternate Terms: Louterel, Loutre
The otter.
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A Scottish official (also called Lord Lyon) who derives his title from the Lion rampant on the arms of Scotland. He has authority to inspect the arms and ensigns armorial of all noblemen and gentlemen in the kingdom; to give proper arms to those entitled to bear them; to matriculate such arms , and to fine those bearing arms which are not matriculated. He is assisted by heralds, pursuivants and messengers-at-arms.
Lyon Court is the office or court of Lyon King-of-Arms; the Scottish College of Arms.
heralds in the Lord Lyon's Court:
- Albany
- Islay
- Marchmont
- Ross
- Rothesay
- Snowdown
Pursuivants in the Lord Lyon's Court
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