A System of Heraldry - Clan Strachan Society

42
OF THE FESSE.
dexter arm from the elbow, proper, holding a cross croslet or, pointed downward :
motto, Think well. L. R.
Argent, a pale gule jv quartered with, the arms of Carnegie Earl of Northesk.
GRANDMAIN in England, gules, a pale or.
The family of ABBATI in France, d''azure, a pale tfargent. The old Earls of Athol, paly of six, sable and or, which after became the feudal
ones of that dignity, to the families that were invested therewith. As to the
Cummins, Stewarts, and Murrays, for which see the arms of Murray Duke of.
Athol.
CHAP. X
OF THE FESSE.
THIS honourable ordinary possesses the third middle part of the field horizoi;.
tally. Guillim says, it is formed by two lines drawn traverse the escutcheon,
which comprehends in breadth the third part of the field. Menestrier describes it,
" Une pie'ce honorable qui occupe le tiers de 1'ecu horisontalment." And Sylvester
Petra Sancta, in his 26th chap. De Fascia Tesseraria, says, " Tsenia haec medi-
" am scuti regionem occupat, tertiamque ibi area partem implet ; refert vero mili-
" tarem cingulum quemadmodum scutaria coronis refert capitis diadema ;" and so
will have it to represent the military belt, as the chief does the diadem of the
head.
It is written by us and the English fesse, and anciently faisse; by the French,
face, who it bring from the Latin \vovdfascia, which signifies a scarf; which word,
Chiffletius uses in many of his Blazons, as in his arms of Bethune, fascia coccinea
scuto i. e. argenteo impressa, argent, a fesse gules, Plate III.
fig. 26. Sir George
Mackenzie, in his Science of Heraldry, tells us, it represents the scarf of a warrior
en ecbarpe, and from bearing argent, a fesse azure, the first of the Sharps, who
came from France with King David, was called Monsieur d'Esharp, and by cor-
ruption Sharp, of which name there are several families with us, who carry the
same arms with additional figures, as at the end of this chapter, among other
blazons.
The fesse, in armories, is generally taken to represent the military belt and girdle
of honour, used in the ceremonies of old at the investiture of the nobility and
knights. Cambden, in his Blazons, calls it balteum militare ; Minshew, cingulum
honoris; and Guillim, in his Display, makes use of both these words: Who says,
That the girdle of honour was anciently bestowed by emperors, kings, and generals,
upon soldiers for their special services ; and quotes that saying of Jpab to the
man that brought him the news that Absalom was hanging by the hair of the head
on aaoak tree, 2 Sam. xviii. n. " Why didst thou not smite him there to the
"
ground, and I should have given thee ten shekels of silver, and a girdle," which-
some translations have, an arming belt. Some latinize it, cingulum or balteum,
which was used as a sign of honour by all nations, and in all ages ; called by the
French of old, bauhlrick, the knightly belt, because kings and princes, in the ce-
remony of knighting their favourites, girded them with the belt. Favin, in his
Theatre of Honour, tells us, That when Charlemagne went to the battle against the
Hungarians in the town of Ratisbon, he created his son Lewis Debonnair knight,
by engirthing him with the bauldrick; which he describes to be a military belt or
girdle, to which was fixed, on the left side, a sword, and, on the right, a long poniard
or war-knife, much like, says he, to the daggers used in Scotland.
Spelman also tells us, That knighthood was of old conferred by the cincture of
the military belt. And Selden, in his Titles of Honour, says, The girding with
the belt was an essential part of that ceremony : And, therefore, we find the por-
niitures and statues of great men, on monuments and grave-stones", with this gir-
dle or belt, as a sign of nobility or knighthood, variously adorned with figures, precious
stones, and studs of gold and silver, to represent their eminency. Such an
jne has been anciently carried in the armorial ensigns of the noble and princely k-
txiily of STEWART, which we call a fesse cheque, as Plate III. fig. 27.