Mantling

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In heraldry, mantling or lambrequin is drapery tied to the helmet above the shield. It forms a backdrop for the shield. In paper heraldry it is a depiction of the protective cloth covering (often of linen[1]) worn by knights from their helmets to stave off the elements, and, secondarily, to decrease the effects of sword-blows against the helmet in battle, from which it is usually shown tattered or cut to shreds; less often it is shown as an intact drape, principally in those cases where a clergyman uses a helmet and mantling (to symbolise that, despite the perhaps contradictory presence of the helmet, the clergyman has not been involved in combat). This is usually the artist's discretion and done for decorative rather than symbolic reasons.

Generally, mantling is blazoned mantled x, doubled [lined] y; the cloth has two sides, one of a heraldic colour (red, blue, green, black, or purple) and the other of a heraldic metal (white or yellow). (See tincture (heraldry) for more on these tinctures.) The mantling is usually in the main colours of the shield, or else in the livery colours that symbolize the entity bearing the arms, though there are exceptions, with occasional tinctures differing from these, or occasional examples in which the outside of the mantling is per pale of two colours, and even rarer examples of other divisions. For example, the Coat of Arms of Canada is mantled white and red, or argent doubled gules. The arms of soverigns are a common exception. The arms of the United Kingdom and those of Emperor Akihito of Japan are both or, lined ermine,[2] such a mantling often being held to be limited to soverigns.

Cyril Woods, Baron of Slane, has a mantling "tasselled Gold,"[3] and there are some other examples of tasselling.

In the early days of the development of the crest, before the torse (wreath), crest coronets and chapeaux were developed, the crest often "continued into the mantling" if this was feasible (the clothes worn by a demi- human figure, or the fur of the animal, for instance, allowing or encouraging this). This still holds true frequently in Germany.

There are examples where the mantling is slashed to form the armiger's badge. More often, however, the outside of the mantling is shown semy of badges, though this is usually not mentioned in the official blazon.

The Heraldry Series
Blazon • Cadency • Canting arms • Coat of arms • Officers of Arms Badge • Crest • Compartment • Mantling • Mon • Quartering • Shield • Supporters