A System of Heraldry - Clan Strachan Society

OF MAN AND HIS PARTS IN ARMS.
The parts of man, such as the head, arms, hands, legs, Stc. are frequent in arms ;
as trophies of victory, signs of great expeditions, and as relative to the name-
the bearers.
These parts, whether of man or beast, when cut off from the body, are either
couped or erased.
Couped, when those parts are cleanly cut off, as it were by a
straight line, and erased, when they seem to be torn or plucked off, having piece >
of the skin or flesh hanging at them, as some say like the teeth of a saw ; for
which the French say, arracbe, the Latins, erasus, avulsus, or lacer.
As for the position of the head in a shield of arms, when the half of the face,
or little more, is only seen, it is said then to be in profile: After this position are
all the heads of Moors, wherefore the word, profile is omitted in the blazon of them.
Moors' heads are frequently surrounded with a ribbon or bandage, like a wreath,
for which they are said to be banded, or tortille.
The old arms of ARRAGON, which are now the ensign of the Island of Sardinia,
are by Favin thus blazoned, d 'argent, a. une croix de gueules, cantonee de quatre
tctes de Motes sable, au bandeau royal, i. e. argent, a cross gules, between four
Moorish Kings' heads, banded of the first : Here the author omits the word couped,
for so their necks are cut, and tells us, for the rise of them, that Pedro the
King of Arragon, in the year 1106, in memory of his victory over four Moorish
Kings, whom he killed in the battle of Alarcon, took their heads for the armorial
figures of the Kingdom of Arragon: But alter wards James King of Arragon disused
them, and carried only the arms of BARCELONA, giving the former to a younger
son, whom he made King of Sardinia, with the motto, Trophea Regni Arra-
gojwm.
The arms of ALGARVE, and of many families in Spain, are of the same kind, and
rise, viz. from victories over Moorish Princes. Those of Algarve are, quarterly,
first and fourth argent, a Moor's head couped sable, tortille of the first ; second
and third gules, the bust of a king clothed and crowned or. Plate X. fig. 25.
Bust is said of the head of a man or woman, with a full face, neck and shoul-
ders ; as Monsieur Baron, in his blazon of the arms of CAMPIDON, in France, d'or,
coupe d'azur, au buste de fenime de carnation, couronnee a /' 'antique d'or, i. e. parted
per fesse, or and azure, the head, neck, and shoulders of a woman in tull front,
proper, crowned with an antique crown of the first.
GLADSTANES of that Ilk, in the shire of Teviotdale, argent, a savage head couped,
distilling drops of blood, and thereupon a bonnet composed of bay and holly
leaves, all proper, within an orle of eight martlets sable ; crest, a griffin issuing out
of the wreath, holding in his right talon a sword, proper : motto, Fide & virtute.
New Register.
This is family pretty ancient, being formerly designed of Cocklaw. I have observed
in a charter granted by King Robert III. of several lands to William Inglis
of Manor, that the right of Gladstanes of Cocklaw is reserved. George Gladstanes,
and William Gladstanes, are witnesses in a charter of Archibald Earl of
Angus to his apparent heir James Douglas, July 2d 1479.
I have seen a charter of Matthew Gladstanes of that Ilk, by which he dispones
and alienates the lands of Overkellwood in Galloway, to Mirabel Gladstanes, his
daughter, and apparent heiress, and to Herbert Gladstanes her husband, of the date
1541 ; which charter is confirmed by King James VI. the 2pth year of his reign :
As also another charter of that king's, of the date 1629, of the lands of Overkell-
wood, to Matthew Hairstanes, and his spouse Elizabeth Gladstanes, who was heiress
of these lands, now called Craigs. Upon which account, the present
Hairstanes
of Craigs, as lineally descended of them, quarters the arms of Gladstanes
with his own. Of which afterwards.
GLADSTANES of Whitelaw, as a cadet, carries the same arms with Gladstanes of
that Ilk, within a bordure invected gules; crest and motto as before. Ibid.
HALBERT GLADSTANES, Merchant in Edinburgh, as descended of a second brother
of Gladstanes of that Ilk, the same, within a bordure indented gules.
MOIR of Scotston, argent, three negroes' heads couped, proper, banded of the
first ; crest, a mort-head, with two leg bones, saltier-ways, proper : motto, Non sibi
ted cunctis. New Register. See Plate X. fig. 26.
3.U