A System of Heraldry - Clan Strachan Society

OF ARTIFICIAL FIGURES 1N T ARMORIES.
two pole-axes in pale argent, over all a fesse cbcqut of the second, and azure; crest,
a sinister hand issuing out of the wreath, anil thereon a falcon rising, all proper :
motto, Ma ha an tosbach.
The name of DENNIS, argent, three battle-axes sable, within a bordure gules.
P. MS.
WALTER RANK.EN of Orehardhead, gute.r, three boars' heads erased argent, 2 and i,
betwixt a lance issuing out of the dexter base, and a Lochaber-axe issuing out of
the sinister, both erect in pale of the second ; crc^t, a lance issuing out of the torce i
motto, Fortiter fc? recte. N. R.
ALEXANDER RANK.EN, Merchant in Perth, argent, three boars' heads couped, betwixt
as many battle-axes gules, and in the centre a quatrefoil vert; crcbt, a ->hip,
proper : motto, Providtntia i virtute. N. R.
AUCHMOUTIE of that Ilk, in the shire of Fill-, an old family, now extinct, argent,
a broken spear bend-ways, between two mullets azure. P. MS.
There was another family of the name, lairds oi" Gosford in East-Lothian, a cadet
of the former family, now extinct.
The name of GIBB, with us, gules, a dexter hand holding a broken spear, between
two mullets or. These of that name in England, argent, three battle-axes in fesse
pale-ways sable.
JAMES ELLIS of Southside, or, three helmets with beavers open; crest, a hand
gauntled grasping an adder, proper : motto, Sperno. N. R.
ROBERTON of that Ilk, quarterly, first and fourth argent, a close helmet sable ;
second and third gules, a cross croslet fitched or. W. MS.
This is an old family in Lanarkshire : Robertas de Roberton is witness in a charter
of Robertus filius Waldevi de Bigris, in the reign of King Alexander II. as in the
chartulary of Kelso. See History of Renfrew. From two brothers of this family
were descended the Robertons of Earnock, and of Bedley.
ROBERTON of Earnock, quarterly, first and fourth gules, a close helmet argent ;
second and third argent, a cross croslet fitched gules. P. MS.
ROBERTON of Bedlay, gules, a close helmet argent. Mackenzie's Heraldry.
The name of BALBIRNY, with us, vert, a fesse cheque, argent and azure, between
three cuirasses, or habergeons e .
(/'. breast-plates) of the second, and on a chief of
the same three buckles of the third. P. MS.
The name ARMIGER, in England, azure, two bars argent, between three .close
helmets or.
A gauntlet, the armour of the hand, is carried with us by the name of KEIX..
argent, a gauntlet glove azure, on a chiefgules, a mullet or. P. MS.
Mr Thomas Crawfurd, in his Manuscript, says, that KEIN of Hethelry carried
gules, a gauntlet in fesse or, and, on a chief argent, three stars of the first. When
the arm is wholly covered with armour, it is said to be vambraced ; as by those
of the name of ARMSTRONG, in England, gules, three dexter arms vambraced, proper.
And with us those of the name carry such figures, of which before, page
262.
When the legs are covered with armour, they are said only to be armed, as before,
in the armorial ensign of the Isle of Man.
Spurs, with the Romans, was the badge of knighthood, proper to their Equites.
aurati, as the golden spurs to the German Knights, and the same to the Knights
of the Spur in England, (as Ashmole on the Garter, page 29.). who. likewise tells
us, that a family of the name of KNIGHT, in Shrewsbury, carries argent, three
pallets gules, within a bordnre ingrailed azure, and a dexter canton- of the si-coml.
charged with a spur and its leather or ; and the same canton is earned by other
two families of the name of Knight in England.
With us, GIBB of Cariber, gules, a dexter hand holding a spear bend-ways, between
two spurs or, with leathers argent. Pont and Mr Thomas Crawfurd's Manu-
scripts.
The rowels of spurs are more frequently borne than the whole spur,
called mullcx
or mullets, from the French mollettes tfeperon,
the rowel of a spur. They have ordinarily
six points, and are pierced in the middle, by which they are distinguished
"
from stars, as Monsieur Baron, in his FArt Heraldique, Les mollettes d'eperon, quc
"
Ton appelle simplement mollettes, ont pour 1'ordinaire six poiutes,
&- sont perce'e--