A System of Heraldry - Clan Strachan Society

OF CELESTIAL FIGURES, tfr.
crest, a dove volant holding in her beak a branch of olive : motto, patior fcf spero.
Lyon Register. Plate X. lig. 4.
The halt moon is frequently in armories an ancient sign of honour with many
nations. The priests of the Jews, as a sign of emmency, had their tires and
mitres after the form of a half moon ; as the prophet Isaiah tells them, that their
tires like the moon should be taken from them. The Romans used the half moon
as a sign of honour, which they wore on their shoes, called lunati calcei, and
were allowed to none but those that were noble. The false prophet Mahomet,
who began to appear in anno 674, had an half moon on his ensign, which is still
continued ; and St Lewis of France, in the year 1269, u P n his expedition to
Africa, to honour and encourage his subjects, instituted an order of knighthood,
called the Double Crescents, i. e. half moons; of which the collar of the order was
composed, and thereat hung for badge, a ship ;
sometimes, the Order of the ship.
231
for which that order was called
The half moon is termed crescent, increscent, decrescent, and crescent reversed,
according to its position
in the shield.
THE CRESCENT.
IT is the half moon with the points or horns upward towards the end of the
shield, Plate X. iig. 5. By the Latins, lima erectis cornibus, or cornibus svrsum
versis ; and by the French, croissant, or croissant montant, to distinguish it from
increscent. Many families in Europe carry crescents : Some as relative to their
name, as the families of Luna in Spain, Crescenti in Rome, Lunati in Pavia, and
the Lonati in Milan.
Others again, upon the account their lands and territories are formed like a half
moon : Thus, the city of Bourdeaux, in Guienne, is, by cosmographers, called portuslunee,
because situate like a half moon in the river Garonne, for which it carries
in its arms a crescent.
The ancient and honourable family of SEATON may be said to have assumed
crescents for armorial figures, upon the account that their ancient territories and
lands, in East-Lothian, are formed by the river of Forth into three great bays,
like three half moons ; and from which lands they have the surname of Seaton,
which is among the ancientest surnames with us. They had other lands in England,
as Seaton in Northumberland, now called Seaton-Delaval, since it was possessed
by the honourable family of the name of Delaval, and Seaton of Whitbystrand,
in Yorkshire ; for proof of this, Dugdale, in his Baronage of England, torn. II.
page 736, says, that Edmond Manly, who had behaved himself so valiantly in the
wars against Scotland, obtained from King Edward I. the manor of Seaton of Whitbystrand,
which was a part of the lands of Christopher Seaton, (one of the progenitors
of the family of Seaton, Earls of Winton) who married the sister of Robert the
Bruce, King of Scotland. As for the antiquity of this noble family, we have, by the
history of the family, and an old genealogical tree, and other documents, that
Dougal de Seaton, who lived in the reign of King Edgar, sort to King Malcolm
III. was succeeded by his son, Secher de Seaton, in the lands of Seaton, Winton
and Winchburgh, who is to be found a witness in the charters of King David I. ;
and his son, Alexander de Seaton, is witness in that king's charters to Walter de
Riddle, fas in Sir James Dalrymple's Collections.) And his son and successor,
Philip de Seaton, obtains a charter of confirmation of the above-mentioned lands
which belonged to his father : Which principal charter I had several times in my
hands, of which I shall give here a short abstract.
"
Wi'lielmus Dei gratia, Rex Scotorum Episcopis, &c. sciatis Stpraesentes
fu-
"
turi me concessisse, & hac prsesenti charta mea confirmasse, Philippo de Seaton,
"
terram quae fuit patris Seaton & Winton, & Winchburgh tenendam, sibi St
"
haeredibus suis, de & hanredibus meis, per servitium unius militis, &c." to which
the king's seal is ; appended on the one side is the king's image, on a throne, and
on the other side on, horseback, holding a sword in his right hand, and a shield in
his left.