alerion.
In heraldry, the word alerion first appears in the Armorial d'Urfe, c1380-1400. It is, in its present form, a completely heraldic beast, although derived initially from the eagle, and appears almost without exception only in the heraldry of France. Here, it is confined principally to the coats of Lorraine and Montmorency. The alerion, usually more than one, is depicted on the shield as a small eagle displayed, without talons and beak, and with the wings abaissées. The origin is unknown, but is is highly likely that it was used to depict an eagle when there was more than one of these on a shield.
There is a legend that Geoffroy de Bouillon shot three footless birds with one arrow while fighting in the Crusades, and placed them as charges in his arms. The house of Lorraine descending from him continued their use. On seals and coins of the Ducs de Lorraine, the beaks and talons remained until the end of the thirteenth century, disappearing at the beginning of the fourteenth. This may have been because as the seals became smaller there was less room on the shield in which the engravers could work. It was not until the fifteenth century, when the beak disappeared, that the alerion assumed its present stylised form.
The definition of the alerion is itself a problem, since in medieval bestiaries it was shown as a large eagle like bird to denote the king of the birds. It has been suggested that the early heralds deliberately used it as an ironic and deliberate opposite to the traditional bird of the bestiaries, but I believe that it is more likely that, as is the case with so much in heraldry, the bird was originally an eagle and was changed by either necessity because of the space available on the shield or by copies of examples which were unclear.
The alerion is said to be a rebus on the name of Lorraine.
The conjecture about the derivation of the alérion recalls that concerning the merlette (qv). It has been suggested that it derives from the Latin alerio, and that the term was first used as pun on Lorraine (P). The word alerio does not occur in CL, but Lar. gives a possible derivation from Frankish *adalaro, eagle; cp. Gn. adler.
v. also canette.
useless information #32148614
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- Gorgonzola
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Re: useless information #32148614
Yes, and he still has a fine castle in Bouillon, Belgium where you can play with the drawbridge and fuddle around in the torture chamber THAT would be the place for a guild meetJiggs wrote:There is a legend that Geoffroy de Bouillon shot three footless birds with one arrow while fighting in the Crusades,
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Wrath of the Lich King, the expansion that killed challenge.
Wrath of the Lich King, the expansion that killed challenge.
Re: useless information #32148614
Jiggs wrote: three footless birds
or a legless eagle knightAule Valar wrote:so your either a four eagles knight, or a king of eagles knight from what that says?
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- Gorgonzola
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