Bend (heraldry)

Azure, a bend or, possibly the most famous bend in heraldic history, which was the subject of one of the earliest cases in heraldic law in England, Scrope v. Grosvenor (1389)

In heraldry, a bend is a band or strap running from the upper dexter (the bearer's right side and the viewer's left) corner of the shield to the lower sinister (the bearer's left side, and the viewer's right). Authorities differ as to how much of the field it should cover, ranging from one-fifth (if shown between other charges) up to one-third (if charged alone). The supposed rule that a bend should occupy a maximum of one-third of the field appears to exclude the possibility of two or three bends being shown together, but contrary examples exist. Outside of heraldry, the term "bend (or bar) sinister" is sometimes used to imply ancestral illegitimacy.

Modified bends

A bend can be modified by most of the lines of partition, such as the bend engrailed in the ancient arms of Fortescue and the bend wavy in the ancient coat of Wallop, Earls of Portsmouth.

Bend sinister and "bar sinister"

Look up bar sinister in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Argent, a bend sinister gules

The usual bend is occasionally called a bend dexter when it needs to contrast with the bend sinister, which runs in the other direction, like a sash worn diagonally from the left shoulder (Latin sinister means left). The bend sinister and its diminutives such as the baton sinister are rare as an independent motif; they occur more often as marks of distinction.

The bend sinister, reduced in size to that of a bendlet or baton, was one of the commonest brisures (differences) added to the arms of illegitimate offspring of European aristocratic lords.[1][2] A narrow bendlet or baton sinister was the usual mark used to identify illegitimate descendants of the English royal family dating from fifteenth century. For example, Arthur Plantagenet, 1st Viscount Lisle (d.1542), illegitimate son of Edward IV of England, bore the arms of the House of York with a bendlet sinister overall.[2][3][4] The full-sized bend sinister was seldom used in this way, and more recent examples also exist of bends sinister that have no connection with illegitimacy, such as in the arms of the Burne-Jones baronets.[5][6]

Royal descent was considered a mark of honour, even if it was illegitimate as denoted by the addition of the bend sinister.[4] In most of Europe, illegitimate children of nobles, despite having few legal rights, were customarily regarded as noble, and married within the most aristocratic families.[2] Marks of illegitimacy were never subject to strict rules,[7][8] and the customary English use of the bend, bendlet, and baton sinister to denote illegitimacy in this way eventually gave way to the use of different kinds of bordures.[3]

Sir Walter Scott is credited with inventing the phrase bar sinister, which has become a metonymic term for bastardy.[9][10] Heraldry scholar Arthur Charles Fox-Davies and others state that the phrase derives from a misspelling of barre, the French term for bend.[1][7][6] Despite its not being a real heraldic symbol (a bar cannot actually be either dexter or sinister since it is horizontal), bar sinister has become a standard euphemism for illegitimate birth.[9][11]

Diminutive forms

The diminutives of the bend, being narrower versions, are as follows, in descending order of width:

Other

In bend

Arms of Northcote: Argent, three crosses-crosslet in bend sable[15]

The phrase in bend refers to the appearance of several items on the shield being lined up in the direction of a bend, as in the arms of the ancient Northcote family of Devon: Argent, three crosses-crosslet in bend sable.[15] It is also used when something is slanted in the direction of a bend, as in the coat of Surrey County Council in England.[16]

Bendwise

A charge bendwise is slanted like a bend. When a charge is placed on a bend, by default it is shown bendwise.

Party per bend

A shield party per bend (or simply per bend) is divided into two parts by a single line which runs in the direction of a bend. Applies not only to the fields of shields but also to charges.

Bendy

Arms of the first house of Burgundy: Bendy or and azure, a bordure gules

Bendy is a variation of the field consisting (usually) of an even number of parts,[17] most often six; as in the coat of the duchy of Burgundy.

Analogous terms are derived from the bend sinister: per bend sinister, bendwise sinister, bendy sinister.

In national flags

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 Woodward, John (1896). A Treatise on Heraldry, British and Foreign: With English and French Glossaries: Volume 2. Edinburgh: W. & A. K. Johnston. p. 172.
  2. 1 2 3 Montagu, J. A. (1840). A Guide to the study of Heraldry. London: William Pickering. pp. 41–42.
  3. 1 2 Boutell (1914), pp. 190-1.
  4. 1 2 Bertelli, Sergio; Litchfield, R. Burr (2003). The King's Body: Sacred Rituals of Power in Medieval and Early Modern Europe. Penn State Press. pp. 174–5. ISBN 0271041390.
  5. ↑ Fox-Davies (1909), p. 512.
  6. 1 2 O'Shea, Michael J. (1986). James Joyce and Heraldry. Albany: State University of New York Press. pp. 11–12. ISBN 9780887062704.
  7. 1 2 Fox-Davies (1909), p. 508.
  8. ↑ Woodward, John; Burnett, George (1892). A Treatise on Heraldry, British and Foreign: With English and French Glossaries: Volume 2. Edinburgh: W. & A. K. Johnston. p. 553. ISBN 0-7153-4464-1. LCCN 02020303.
  9. 1 2 Wilson, Kenneth (2005). The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. Columbia University Press. p. 56. ISBN 9780585041483.
  10. ↑ Freeman, Jan (2009). Ambrose Bierce's Write It Right: The Celebrated Cynic's Language Peeves Deciphered, Appraised, and Annotated for 21st-Century Readers. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. p. 29. ISBN 9780802719706.
  11. ↑ Hogarth, Frederick; Pine, Leslie Gilbert. "Heraldry: The scope of heraldry". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 22 May 2017.
  12. ↑ Boutell (1914), p. 58.
  13. ↑ Public Register volume 1, page 144.
  14. ↑ Public Register volume 1, page 69
  15. 1 2 Debrett's Peerage, 1968, p.604
  16. ↑ "Civic Heraldry of England and Wales – Weald and Downs Area". www.civicheraldry.co.uk. Retrieved 22 May 2017.
  17. ↑ Boutell (1914), p. 59.

References

Further reading

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