A System of Heraldry - Clan Strachan Society

^6
OF THE FESSE.
already several examples ; but here I shall add one more, with some variety as to
the fesse.
HERIOT of Trabrown, argent, on a fesse azure, three cinquefoils ot the first. As
for the antiquity of this surname, Buchanan says, WILLIAM, JOHN and GILBERT
HERIOTS, safely conducted Robert, High Steward of Scotland, out of the reach of
his enemies, being narrowly sought after by Edward Baliol and the English. In
e Earl of Haddington's Collections, in the Lawyers' Library, there is a double
of a charter granted by Archibald Earl of Douglas, of the lands of Trabrown, to
John Heriot, designed, Filius fc? .hares diletti confederate nostri Jacobi de Heriot, de
Xudrie Mariscall ; which charter I find confirmed by Archibald Douglas, Earl of
our "bro-
Wigton, Lord Eskdale, anno 1423, with these witnesses, James Douglas,
ther, William Seaton, son and heir of John Lord Seaton ; which charter is also confirmed
by King James I. the ipth year of his reign.
The Heriots of Trabrown, continued in the possession of these lands, lying within
the sheriffdom of Berwick, till the latter end of the reign of King Charles I.
and about that time got the lands of Elphingston in East-Lothian, which they
called Trabrown ; of whom are the Heriots of Long-Niddrie, old tenants to
the earls of Winton: As also, George Heriot, jeweller to King James VI. famous
tor his piety in erecting hospitals
in England and Scotland; especially that at Edinburgh,
of a curious structure, upon the front and other places whereof are his
arms ; argent on a fesse transposed, a crescent between two stars of the first, fig. 6.
Plate IV.
A fesse transposed, is said, when it is placed higher than the centre, and is then
a mark of some eminent virtue, as the fesse cheque, in the arms of the High
Stewards of Scotland before mentioned.
The French have the same practice of transposing, as also of depressing the
tesse, either above or below the centre ; and they term i,t then a fesse hausse,
when it is high, and when depressed below the centre, abaisse. Hausse, says Monsieur
Baron, is said of the cheveron and fesse when they are placed higher than
their ordinary situation, and gives us examples thereof in his UArt Heraldique.
I shall add some examples of a fesse, under other accidental forms.
Fig. 7. Plate IV. Argent, a fesse nebule btween three escutcheons gules ; borne
by Mr JOHN HAY, sometime one of the Under-Clerks of the Session.
Item, Argent, a fesse embattled azure, by the name of BATTLEWALL in England
; this fesse, being only embattled on the upper side, is termed by the
English embattled or crenelle ; but if on both sides, then it is termed count'crcmbattled
; the French say, bretesse ; azure, a fesse counter-embattled argent;
which Mr Holme, in his Academy of Armories, gives to the name of BARNES in
England, with other various examples of counter-embattling, which I pass over, as
mere fancies of his own.
Fig. 8. Plate IV. Vert, a fesse dancette ermine, between a buck's head cabossed
in chief, and two escalops or, carried by the surname of DUFF, as in Pout's MS. of
Blazons which blazon is matriculated for DUFF of ; Craighead, and given to ALEX-
ANDER DUFF of Keithmore, in the L. R.
dancette, as I observed before, is a large indenting, with great and few teeth ;
the fewest are three, and when but of two great teeth, it is like a capital M, with
its legs extended to the two sides of the shield, and it is called a fesse vivre. Menes-
trier gives us several examples of such, as fig. 9. Plate IV. Azure, a fesse vivre,
surmounted of a little cross argent, borne by the family MASALKI in Poland ; and
is of opinion, that the fesse vivre is carried in arms for the letter M, because the
most part of the families who carry it have their names beginning with that letter :
Mr Holme gives us such an example, which he calls a fesse double dancette, like
unto two cheverons conjoined in fesse. In coats of this nature, says he, it is very
necessary to number the points, else the tricker of coats may be deceived by its
term of blazon : Such a coat he gives to the name of FLOWER, a fesse dancette
counter -flowery gules.
As the pale is carried in arms, as before, between two endorses, so the fesse is between
two barrulets, the diminutives of the bar, which are sometimes called cottises,
but not so properly, being the diminutives of the bend.