| In Heraldry, the Blazon is the "recipe"
for how the various symbolic parts of the Coat are placed and colored on
the Escutcheon (or shield).
BUTLER The Butler Coat of Arms "adopted" by my family has a Quartered Escutcheon, whereas the Pratt Coat of Arms "adopted" by my mother's family has a Plain (or undivided) Escutcheon. The Blazon for the Butler Coat first indicates that it is a quartered shield and then identifies the Tincture (or color) of the 1st and 4th quarters as being Or (yellow or gold, in this case, yellow). Next, the Blazon describes a band across each of these yellow quarters, in the Chief position, (meaning "across the top") as Indented (or diagonally scallopped) and tinctured Azure, (blue). Next the Blazon describes the 2nd and 3rd quarters as being tinctured Gules (red). The Butler Blazon then numbers and describes the Charges applied to the red quarters as "six Cups Or" (or six golden goblets). By convention the charges are divided evenly between the 2nd and 3rd quarters, giving three Cups to each quarter. The heraldic "Cups" are covered wine gobblets, and are common to many of the various Butler arms. Although probably not exclusive to the Butlers, these Cups are quite rare in other arms compared to the more common charges.
PRATT The Pratt Coat of Arms, as adopted by my mother's family, has a plain escutcheon, tinctured Vert (or green). It has a single horizontal band across its middle in the Fess position, thrice-bent diagonally in the Dancetty style and tinctured Argent (white or silver, in this case, silver). It has two Lions shown in the Rampant (or uprearing) pose, also tinctured silver or Argent and applied in Chief (or in the top portion of the shield). Technically, the Butler Coat of Arms, shown here, is not my Family Coat of Arms, nor is the Pratt Coat of Arms, shown here, the Official Pratt Family Coat of Arms. This is for the simple fact that: In true, official Heraldry there is no such thing as a "family coat of arms." Arms are assigned only to individuals according to royal decree and can only be passed from one generation to the next, father to son(s), by successful application to the Chief Herald of the assigning nation, the least requirements being to show proof of direct blood descendency and evidence of intent to bequeath in the will and testament of the original bearer. Traditionally, then, arms have only been born by titled aristocracy, knights of the realm, and military leaders and heroes, and in many cases, by their direct descendents. Being none of these, I would have to provide, at the very least, proof of a direct blood line from one of the latter (or living) Earls or Dukes down to myself, before I could claim right to bear any Butler Coat of Arms. But then, I don't claim the right to "bear [a coat of] arms" (in the heraldic sense of the word), let alone the right of succession to any Butler title. I just want to exercise a little native family pride in the good old family name and the distant history, (and heraldry), that go with it. I display this "generic" Butler Coat of Arms as a family heirloom and a decorative statement about my Norman-Celtic origins. For all I know, the immediate Butler family I actually descend from may have stemmed from a Saxon stable boy who unofficially adopted the surname from a horse that belonged to the bastard son of a 5th cousin of the 11th Earl and a Spanish peasant chambermaid. Anything is possible. So what, if I still take pride enough in my family name to wish to display this generic crest, inherited by my parents from theirs before them, who may have ordered the original reproduction from a Sears Roebuck Christmas catalog? The unofficial heraldry merchants of almost every Commonwealth country
(and former Crown colony) have sold millions of these faux crests and generic
coats of arms into the hands of common families all over the globe, with
hardly an outcry or formal filing of suit (to my knowledge) by the British
Crown or any of its direct subsidiaries. What is good for the collective
merchant purse would seem, therefor, to be good for the realm. So who am
I to argue with such mercantile tradition? In an era in which a royal marriage
decree seems to have all the worth of a gumwrapper, tossed to the pavement,
I really doubt anyone even pays notice any more to the finer points of
difference between what is right and proper according to the ancient protocol
of arms and what has become common and acceptable among the consumer hoards.
I consume, therfor I am. Therefor, I will continue to refer to this generic
Butler Coat of Arms as "my Family Coat of Arms," and to the adopted, generic
Pratt Coat of Arms as my mother's "Family Coat of Arms," with all due apologies
to the College of Arms and the American College of Heraldry and the SCA,
et al.
Note: The generic Butler Coat of Arms shown here is actually that of
the Earl of Ormond, as indicated by the five-feathered crown at the top
of the coat. Sometimes people refer to the coat of arms as being their
"Family Crest," as though the terms "coat" and "crest" were synonymous,
when in actual heraldic practice, the "crest" is an extra decorative symbol,
added to the top or slightly above the shield, proper, (just where one
would suppose the "crest" to be), which indicates (in the English system)
a royal office of Earl or above, as on this coat of the Earl of Ormond:
The family motto "comme je trouve" (in French for certain Norman arms as compared to Latin for most English arms and Gaelic for most true Celtic arms) roughly translates into English as "as I find" which is to say "I take things as I find them." |
