Martlet

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For other uses, see Martlet (disambiguation).
A martlet as depicted in English heraldry, here with tincture sable

A martlet in

Common Swift
rarely lands outside breeding season, and sleeps while airborne.

Etymology

The word "martlet" is derived from the bird known as the

Martinmas, which occurs around the same time martins begin their migration from Europe to Africa.[1]

Description

These mythical birds are shown properly in English heraldry with two or three short tufts of feathers in place of legs and feet. Swifts, formerly known as martlets, have such small legs that they were believed to have none at all, which lends credence to the legend of the legless Martlet.

French merlette

Basic form of the French merlette, not to be confused with the martlet
Arms of the Duke of Ursel, Belgium

In

blackbird, a member of the thrush family (formerly the term was feminine and could designate a male: une merle—a hen blackbird: une merlesse). A merlette (diminutive form of merle: a little blackbird) in common parlance, since the 19th century, is a female blackbird, but in heraldic terminology is defined as une figure représentant une canette mornée ("a figure representing a little female duck 'blunted'"). Une cane is a female duck (male canard, "drake") and une canette, the diminutive form, is "a little female duck". The verb morner in ancient French means "to blunt", in heraldic terminology the verbal adjective morné(e) means: sans langue, sans dents, sans ongles et des oiseaux sans bec ni serres ("without tongue, without teeth, without nails, and, of birds, without beak or claws").[4] English heraldry uses the terms "armed" and "langued" for the teeth, claws and tongue of heraldic beasts, thus mornée might be translated as "dis-armed". Thus the English "martlet" is not the same heraldic creature as the French "merlette".[5]

Early usage

de Valence

Champlevee enamel with diapering

The arms of the Valence family, Earls of Pembroke show one of the earliest uses of the martlet to difference them from their parent house of Lusignan. Their arms were orled (bordered) with martlets, as can be seen on the enamelled shield of the effigy of William de Valence, 1st Earl of Pembroke (d.1296) in Westminster Abbey. Martlets are thus shown in the arms of Pembroke College, Cambridge

, a foundation of that family.

Attributed arms of Edward the Confessor

arms of Plantagenet

The attributed arms of Edward the Confessor contain five martlets or (golden martlets). The attribution dates to the 13th century (two centuries after Edward's death) and was based on the design on a coin minted during Edward's reign.[6] King

Plantagenet arms, and it later became the basis of the arms of Westminster Abbey, in which The Confessor was buried, and of Westminster School
, founded within its precinct.

de Arundel of Lanherne

The French word for

Roll of Arms as: Sable, six martlets argent.[7] This family should not be confused with that of FitzAlan Earls of Arundel, whose seat was Arundel Castle in Sussex
, who bear for arms: Gules, a lion rampant or.

County of Sussex

The shield of the county of Sussex, England contains six martlets said to represent the six historical rapes, or former administrative sub-divisions, of the county. It seems likely this bore a canting connection to the title of the Earls of Arundel (the French word for swallow is hirondelle), who were the leading county family for many centuries, or the name of their castle. The university of Sussex's coat of arms also bear these six martlets.

de Verdon/Dundalk

Dundalk FC
.

Mark of cadency

It has been suggested that the restlessness of the martlet due to its supposed inability to land, having no usable feet, is the reason for the use of the martlet in English heraldry as the

fleur-de-lys
respectively).

Educational significance

The arms of McGill University contain three red martlets, and the university's mascot is called 'Marty the Martlet'

The inability of the martlet to land is said by some commentators[who?] to symbolize the constant quest for knowledge, learning, and adventure. Martlets appear in the arms of Worcester College, St Benet's Hall, and University College at Oxford University, of Magdalene College and Pembroke College at Cambridge, and of long-established English schools including Bromsgrove, Warwick, and Penistone Grammar. More recently they have been adopted by McGill University, the University of Houston, the Charles Wright Academy, Mill Hill School (London), Westminster Under School (London) Westminster School (Connecticut), Saltus Grammar School (Bermuda), McGills House of Aldenham School and the University of Victoria (British Columbia) — where the student newspaper is likewise named The Martlet.

In popular culture

A talking martlet is employed as a story-device in E.R. Eddison's fantasy novel The Worm Ouroboros. At the outset of the novel the martlet conducts the reader to Mercury whereon the action proceeds. Thereafter it performs a linking role as a messenger of the Gods. It also appears in Shakespeare's Macbeth Act 1 Sc 6, when King Duncan and Banquo call it a 'guest of summer' and see it mistakenly as a good omen when they spot it outside Macbeth's castle, shortly before Duncan is killed.

Louise Penny makes reference to the martlet in A Rule Against Murder, the fourth book in her Inspector Gamache series (see chapter 27). Gamache discusses the four adult Morrow children with their stepfather, Bert Finney, while overlooking Lake Massawippi at the fictional Manoir Bellechasse, the site of the murder. Gamache explains that the martlet signifies the fourth child, who must make his/her own way in the world.

Sources

  • Arthur Charles Fox Davies (1909), A Complete Guide to Heraldry, Kessinger Publishing
    ISBN 1-4179-0630-8

References

  1. ^ "martin (n.)". Online Etymology Dictionary.
  2. ^ Précis d'héraldique, Paris, 1951, Arts Styles et Techniques, p.114
  3. ^ a b Cassell's Latin Dictionary
  4. ^ Dictionnaire Larousse Lexis
  5. ^ www.briantimms.fr Archived 2015-06-10 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ Frank Barlow, Edward the Confessor (1984) p. 184, citing R. H. M. Dolley and F. Elmore Jones, 'A new suggestion concerning the so-called "Martlets" in the "Arms of St Edward"' in Dolley (ed.), Anglo-Saxon Coins (1961), 215–226.
  7. ^ [1], quoted Foster, Joseph, Some Feudal Coats of Arms 1298-1418, (1901)
  8. ^ Ireland - DUNDALK
  9. ^ Cock, J., Records of ye Antient Borough of South Molton in ye County of Devon, 1893, Chapter VII: Mr Hugh Squier and his Family, p.174

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Martlets (English) in heraldry.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Martlet&oldid=1221623360"