Dame Heraldry

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HomeHonorable Ordinaries. - Sub-Ordinaries › Honorable Ordinaries. - Sub-Ordinaries: Inescutcheon

Honorable Ordinaries. - Sub-Ordinaries: Inescutcheon

And this little shield, set in the very centre of the larger one is called an Inescutcheon; sometimes the arms of a rich wife are put Dormer. upon it. Sometimes it is used for other purposes. If the Inescutcheon is put upon any other part of the shield, or if there are more than one, then it is called an Escutcheon.

The Mortimers, who trace their family line away back to the Crusader times, have such an inescutcheon. Although their arms Inescutcheon.

Burdett Coutts.
Burdett Coutts.

Mortimer. show no connection with the Holy Wars, their name bears witness to the fact, it having been born in a victorious conflict that their warrior ancestor had with the Saracens upon the solemn shores of the desolate Dead Sea, De Mortui Mari.

Little round objects, too, are sometimes seen - they are called Roundels, and very probably were the flattened tops of the pegs that helped to fasten the leathern cover of the shield to the braces. But now they are considered ornaments, and are of various colors and bear various names.

Portugal.
Portugal.
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