A System of Heraldry - Clan Strachan Society

156
OF THE CHEVERON.
WALTERSON, i. e. Filius Walteri, says Sir James Balfour, carried sable, a fesse
between two cheverons or, in the year 1292.
Plate VII. fig. 9. SOULES Lord LIDDISDALE, in anno 1278, carried ermine, three
cheverons gules, which were afterwards quartered by the Earls of Douglas, for the
title of Liddisdale. As for the antiquity of the name and family, Sir James Dal-
rymple, in his Collections, tells us, that Ranulphus de Soules is a witness in
King David I. his charters. He and his successors, in other Kings' charters, are often
designed Pincerna Regis, and in the chartulary of Newbattle, Gulielmus de
Soules is designed Butellarius Regis, in the year 1320. This family was very powerful
in the time of the controversy betwixt the Bruce and Baliol, but they adhered
to the latter. Sir William Soules was governor of Berwick in the year 1320. He
was suspected and convicted of treason, and forfeited by King Robert the Bruce,
and Sir Alexander Seaton of that Ilk was made governor of Berwick in his place.
His lands, Souleston or Salton, in East-Lothian, came to the Abernethys, who
were lords of Sulton ; and afterwards, by mariiage, to Fraser Lord Salton ; but the
barony belongs now to Fletcher of Salton, of whom before.
The surname of HORN in England, gules, three cheverons or.
I shall add here some ancient instances of carrying three cheverons, as in a
said to be written
Manuscript of Arms of the Captains of William the Conqueror,
and illuminated by the Monks of Ely, in that king's reign ; which Menestrier tells
us, in his Rise of Arms, is to be seen in the college of the Benedictines at Douay :
among these of William the Conqueror's captains, is Breanus de Clare, whose
blazon is, I? or, a trois chevrons de gueules, which agrees with the seal of arms of
Gilbert de Clare, Earl of GLOUCESTER and HERTFORD, whereon were three cheverons^
which Sandford in his Genealogical History gives us : as also, the arms of Sir WAL-
TER MANNY", which were or, three cheverons sable .
When the field is filled with pieces of metal and colour of equal numbers, after
the form of cheverons, we say cheverony of so many pieces, as of these arms of
the county of Ravousbergh in Germany ; cheverony of six argent and gules, Plate
VII. fig. 10. THe French, Chevronne d'argent et de gueules de six pieces ; and
Uredus blazons them, Scutum senis ex argento y minio cantberiis exaratum. Mr
Gibbon, in his Introduction Ad Latinam Blazoniam ; Clypeum in senas squales coccineas
vicissim, y argenteas pro tignorum modo, delineatum.
Plate VII. fig. ii. The cheveron, as other ordinaries, is sometimes carried
couped.
The name of JONES in England, argent, a cheveron couped purpure.
The diminutive of a cheveron to the half of its breadth, is called by the English
a chevronel, and the half of a chevronel as to its breadth, a couple doss ; but the
last is not carried alone, say they, except when a cheveron is between two of
them, as the endorses with a pale, of which before. The French call the English,
Coupe doss estay or estai, " C'est un petit chevron dont on se sert pour etaier ou
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appuier quelque chose." The Latins, statumen, fultura, or an wider-prop.
Sir NICOLAS RENTON, who was Lord Mayor of London, in the year 1632, car-
ried sable, a cheveron betwixt two couples classes, and accompanied with three
cinquefoils or, Plate VII. fig. 12. thus latined by the foresaid Mr Gibbon: " In
'
scuto pullo cantherium duabus hinc inde cantheriolis aureis praecinctum, & inter
" tria quinque folia ejusdem metalli interpositum."
The cheveron, besides the accidental forms, common to other ordinaries, may
be said to have specific ones, as to be rompu, braced, couche, reversed, and contre-
pointts.
Rompu is said by the English of cheverons that are broken at the top, for
which the French say, brlse, Guillim, in his Display of Heraldry, gives us an.
example of a cheveron rompu, (or rampe} argent, in a field sable, but does not
tell us, by whom, and for what reason it is so carried. Mr Holmes culls it a che-
7WOM disjointed, and says the name of SORTON carries sable, a cheveron disjointed
argent. Monsieur Baron gives us the arms of ANDREZEL in France, thus : de sable,
a trois chevrons brise-z d'or, i. e. sable, three chcvronels bruised, or rompu or,
Plate VII. fig. i^. The like arms are given by Menestrier to the family
in France, who instead of the word brise, uses eceme, which, (says he) " Se dit
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du chevron dont la pointe est coupee tout droit sans brisure," i..e.. when the top
of VIOLLE