A System of Heraldry - Clan Strachan Society

TIAL FIGURES, fcfr.
THE INCH ESC:
Is the half moon, with its horns, or points t towards the right side of the shield,
called an increscent, from the Latins, ; and by the French, croissant couche. It i-,'
said to represent the moon in its first quarter, and so the rising in time of some
hopeful spark, illuminated and honoured by the glorious aspect and beams i hisovereign;
as Guillim in his Display: And the Essay to Heraldry, in England,
exemplifies it, by the arms of one Dtscus, gules, an increscent or, as Plate X. fig. 7!
Ermine, three increscents gules, by the fartiily of SYMES of Daventry in Nor-
thamptonshire. Guillim's Display.
GILBERT NIVEN of Shousburgh and Windhouse in Zetland, azure, a fesse betwixt
an increscent and decrescent in chief argent, and, in base, a branch of palm
slipped of the last ; crest, a branch of palm vert : motto, I'ivis sperandum. Lyon
Register. Plate X. fig.
8.
I know no bearing with us that carries only an increscent, but it is
ordinarily
accompanied with other crescents, and then they are crescents affronte or adosse.
THE DECRESCENT.
WHEN the half moon looks to the left side of the shield, the French call it
croissant contourne : A decrescent, says Gerard Leigh, is fit for a man that is advanced
to honour in his old age, when all other things decrease with him, being the
moon in her third : quarter Mr Kent, in his Book of Blazons, gives us the arms of
a baron in Yorkshire, thus, azure, a mullet or, in chief, an increscent and decrescent
argent ; for which we ordinarily say, azure, a star of five points or, and
in chief two crescents adosse argent.
HAIC of Bemerside, an old family in the shire of Berwick, of which before ;
azure, a saltier between two stars in chief and base, and, in the flanks, two crescents
affronte argent, i. e. a decrescent and increscent. See Plate of Achievements.
The LUNATI in Spain carry azure, three half moons affronte, Plate X. fig. 9.
that is, a decrescent and increscent, in the dexter and sinister chief points, and a
crescent in base.
Sylvester Petra Sancta describes them thus, " Argentere lunula:, tres adverse
"
omnes, hoc est, in se invicem vibrantes cornua, in ccerulea parmula." The
French say, d'azur a trois croissants affrontes if argent.
These in the arms of OSTELLI in Stiria are just contrary, adosse, azure, three
half moons back to back argent ; that is an increscent and decrescent in chief, and
a crescent reversed in base.
Favin, in his Theatre of Honour, gives us the blazon of the arms of VALERIA in
Spain, thus, " d'azur au lion rampant d'or, ecartele d'or a quatre croissants joints
" en forme d'annulet d'azur, a la bordure de gueules, charge de huit sautoirs d'or,"
i. e. quarterly, first and fourth azure, a lion rampant or ; second and third or, four
half moons joined together, after the manner of an annulet azure, within a bordure
gules, charged with eight saltiers or : Here the half moons, which seem to make
an annulet, are, a crescent reversed in chief, a decrescent in the dexter, an increscent
in the sinister side, and a crescent in- base.
CRESCENT REVERSED
HAS its points or horns downwards ; such an one, heralds and historians tell us,
Aben. Mahomet, the great Moorish Prince who over-ran Spain, carried on his
banners, viz. vert, a crescent reversed argent, all within a bordure, whereon were
words which signified, God is good, and Mabotntt is his great prophet : And afterwards,
at the famous battle of Naves- de T-jhsa, where that prince was defeat, and
his banner beat down, many families in Spain, to show that their progenitors shared
in that victory, carried crescents reverse, and bordures with holy words and sen-
tences, Plate X. fig. 10. Gtdes, three crescents reversed argent ; thus described by
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