A System of Heraldry - Clan Strachan Society

OF THE CROSS, isc. 115
oram scuti minimi- pcrtin^cns, ad quatuor scuti angulos singulis cruJbus itidc m aureis
pracincta in solo argenteo.
Sylvester Petra Sancta says, this cross of Hierusalem is made by the two initial
letters H I, of Hierusalem interlaced, and several antiquaries are of his ; opinion
but Menestrier is in the contrary opinion, and tells m, that the Syrian characters
H I could never form such a figure as the cross : potent And Favin, in hb Theatre
of Honour, will likewise have it to be a cross, and gives ui an ancient account of
it, that it was such an one as that on the gonfanoun or ensign of Jerusalem, that
George, abbot of Mount-Olivet in Jerusalem, and Felix, abbot in Bethlehem,
brought to Charlemagne in the year 792 ; which ensign was of white silk, and
upon it a red cross counter-potent, cantoned with four little crosses ; which five
crosses, says he, did represent our Saviour's five wounds. And afterwards when
Godfrey of Boulogne was made King of Jerusalem, he assumed these crosses for his
royal ensign, and turned them from the red colour, to the metal gold, in a silver
field, contrary to the practice in armories, to place metal upon metal, but was
done with the consent of the princes of Europe, that his arms might move the be-
holders jto enquire after them ; for which they have the special name through all
Europe of Anna inquircntla.
The King of Spam, and the Duke of Savoy as King of Cyprus,
the Duke of
Loraine, and the Duke of Montserrate, as pretenders to the Kingdom of Jerusalem,
do all of them quarter the foresaid arms with their own.
Such a cross, says Randle Holmes, in his Academy of Armories, was carried by
those that were inrolled for the voyage to the Holy Land, about the year 1187,
and was sewed on the left side of their garments, right against the heart ; the
French wore it red, the English white, the Italians yellow, the Flemings green,
and the Germans black : Such a cross as this is carried for arms, for the Episcopal
See of Coventry and Litchfield in England, as fig i. Plate VI. parted per pale,
gules and argent, a cross potent counter-potent, quadrate in the centre, between
four crosses patee, all counter-changed of the same.
When the enss potent, or any other cross, of whatsoever form, is made sharp in
the unde* part, it is then termed fitcbe or aiguise ; the Latins say, cruces in imo
spiculata or cuspidatee. The reason of having them so was from an old custom
which Christians then had, who carried, in their pilgrimages, little crosses, of whatsoever
form they affected, sharp at the point, which they fixed in the ground before
them, in their devotions ; so that we find many crosses in arms fitched, of
which there are two sorts, fitcbe from the middle or centre of the cross, as the
Latins say, quarum pars inferior ab ipso
umbilico
spiculata
est ; the other fitcbe is
when the under part of the cross keeps its specific form, but has a point added to
it, then it is said to be thefeched at the foot ; the French, fitcbe en pied.
An example of the first is the bearing of ETHELRED, King of the West-Saxons,
who lived in the year 946, as English writers tell us, fig. 2. azure, a cross counter-
potent fitched or: Mr Gibbon blazons it thus, portal in scuto cyaneo crucem patibulatam
cujus pars ima ab ipso.
scilicet crucis centra in spiculum prodit. Gules, a
cheveron argent, between ten cross patees argent, as fig. 3. Plate VI. This is ano-
for which we
ther specific form of a cross, which has its extremities ending broad,
say patee ; the Latins say patula, or crux ad scapos patula ; Menestrier says, patee
des croix du les extremites se lagissent en forme cfestendue. Gules, a cross patee or,
borne by the name of Islip in England ; Gerard Leigh calls this a cross forme ;
such crosses are very frequent in armories, and adorn sovereigns' crowns, as those
of Scotland and England, of which afterwards. Camden tells us, in his Remains
of his History, page 180. at the title of armories, that one of the Lords BERKELEY
or BARCLAY (whose progenitor came to England with William the Conqueror, and
took the surname from the castle of Berkeley in Gloucestershire, and carried for
arms, gules, a cheveron argent) he took upon him the cross to the Holy War, inserted
ten crosses patees argent, in his arms ; six of which accompanied the cheveron
in chief, and four in base, as fig. 3. Which family had a numerous issue ;
some of which came to Scotland, but the right male-line, it seems, of this family
failed in the reign of Henry II. and was represented by a daughter, Alice Berkeley
the heiress, who was married to Robert Fitzharding, a powerful man in those
times, whose descendants were called Berkeley-Hardings of whom is descended
;
Ff