A System of Heraldry - Clan Strachan Society

OF THE SUB-ORDINARIES. 219
the year 1232^ or, a saltier and chief gules, the last charged with three besants of
the fkst.
The surname of LAIDLA\V, sable, three besants or. Balfour's Manuscript.
The surname of GUID, argent, on a cheveron gules, three be-ants or, and, in
base, a dove with an olive branch in its beak. Herbert Quid is infeft in the
lands of Auchencairn 1561, upon a charter granted by Robert Crawfurd of Crawfurdland,
as superior. Herbert's grandchild, John Guid, is infeft in the said lands
1625, whose grandchild- is Mr John Guid, minister at Carnwath, and possessor of
Auchencairn.
EDWARD FOUNTAIN of Loch-Hill, sometime Master of the Revels, argent, on a
fesse azure, three besants ; crest, an eagle rising, proper : motto, Prcrclarius quo
difficilins.
ROBERT FEMNISON, Merchant in Edinburgh, gules, a fesse between three basants
fc? omul.
in chief, and a crane in base ; crest, a crane's head, proper : motto, Vtgilat
Lyon Register.
I have seen the arms of the name of M'MiLLAN painted thus, argent, on a cheveron,
between three mullets sable, as many besants or. The M'MiLLANS are
said to be BUCHANANS by descent, and to have changed their name upon account
of slaughter.
In England, the family of BISSET in Warwickshire has, for arms, azure, ten besants,
4, 2 and i.
3,
When the besants are of gold, the metal may be named or not named in the
blazon ; but if of silver, argent must be .named by the practice of all Europe, ex-
cept with the English, who, from their particular fancy, call them plates.
FOULIS of Ratho, descended of a younger son of Collington, argent, on a, che-
veron, between three laurel leaves vert, as many besants of the first, (the English
would call them plates ;) crest, a dove holding an olive-branch in her beak, proper
and for ; motto, Pax. New Register, fig. 28.
Sir JAMES FALCONER of Phesdo, one of the Senators of the College of Justice,
descended of Falconer Lord Halkerton, a falcon's head, issuing out of a man's
heart, proper, between three mullets azure, all within a bordure of the last r charged
with eight besants argent ; crest, a falcon perching and hooded, proper : motto,
Paratus ad tetbera. New Register.
In England, the name of CLARKE in Somersetshire carries, as Morgan gives
us, three plates and the name of ; TROTISHAM, gules, four plates, 2 and 2 ; and
RAMSAY in Derbyshire, azure, six plates, 3, 2 and i ; and the name of SANDYS there,
sable, six plates, 3, 2 and i.
When the field, or other armorial figures,, seems to be filled with besants of an
indefinite number, they are then said to be seme of besants, or besantie. The ancient
Earls of CORNWALL in England carried sable, besantie or, as in Sandford's
Genealogical History. When Richard, second son of King John, was created Earl of
Poictiers, and Earl of Cornwall in England, lie did not carry the arms of his
father, but those of Poictiers and Cornwall, which he composed together, in one
shield, thus ; argent, a lion rampant gules, crowned or, for Poictiers, within a bordure
sable, besantie or, for Cornwall.
ROCHTORD in England, quarterly, or and gules, a bordure azure, besantie or.
TORTEAUX
Is a round figure, always of one of the colours received in the science of he
raldry which colour ;
must be expressed in the blazon, as torteaux, azure, sable, &c.
but the English appropriate particular names to them, as they are variously colour-
ed, except to those of red the colour.
colour, which they call only torteaux, without naming
Torteaux represents, in armory, cakes of bread, called wastals, of old, liba torta
seu rotunda ; from which torteaux, the Italian Sylvester Petra Sancta, in the 43d
chapter of his Treatise of Heraldry,
entitled De Libis Tesserariis, calls them scu-
t arias placentulas, which heralds take to represent in armories cakes and wastals,
and are so taken by the Spaniards, as Menestrier tells us> from a story out of Argot