Arms of Morris of North Emsall, Yorks

[Phil Marris]

Dugdale's Herald's Visitation of Yorkshire recorded the pedigree of "Morris of North Emsall" and gave their Arms as: "Azure, three eagles displayed Or, on a canton Argent a castle Gules".

I understand the first bit "Azure, three eagles displayed Or". But how would the rest of it been overlaid?

[Kiltpin]

Hello Phil, 

A canton is square and is usually 3/4 of the size of a quarter. The default position is in the dexter chief, that is to say in the top left hand corner as we look at the shield. If it is anywhere else it is stated in the blazon. 

The three eagles (2 & 1) are placed first and then the canton is placed on top and covers whatever it covers. The original charges should not be moved out of the way.   

The canton was often used as an augmentation, so would sit on top of other charges.  Not a good arrangement and often ruined a good looking shield, but historically accurate. 

Regards 

Chas 

[Kiltpin]

Given the blazon - Azure, three eagles displayed Or, on a canton Argent a castle Gules - I believe that this is a good representation.

[Phil Marris]

Brilliant. Many thanks,.

[Phil Marris]

Hi again,

What software did you use to draw the Arms? I used to use Blazons, but it doesn't work on Windows 10.

[KGarrad]

Personally I use DrawShield
https://drawshield.net/

It's free to use (being internet based) and, although not perfect, it does most things I have ever wanted to draw.

[Kiltpin]

Hi again,

What software did you use to draw the Arms? I used to use Blazons, but it doesn't work on Windows 10.

 

Hi Phil, 

Boring, I know, but I use MS Paint and an earlier model called Paint XP (both Microsoft products). I have a great repository of images (over 2000) in .png format. This allows me to change colour at will. I generally use the same shield shape and size (2000 x 2000 pixels), or lozenge for a lady, as it prints out nicely on A4 paper. 

I have used Blazon!, Blazons 95, Blazons 2000 and so on and so on, but frankly none do the job properly. 

 Having a good library of images is the key. Once you have an image, it is easy to flip it vertically, or horizontally, or rotate it to any one of the 360^o. 

Regards 

Chas