Monsters

Monsters

Monsters, (fr. monstrueux): bearing in mind how much, is the way of devices, heraldry derived from the crusades and pilgrimages to the Holy Land, and what a taste seems to have been created for romance at the beginning of the twelfth century, as evidenced by the rapid expansion of the stories surrounding the exploits and death of King Arthur, it is no wonder that tales of travellers suggested remarkable animals for the varieties of distinguishing charges. The Griffin, and with it the Dragon, the one a compound of the Lion and Eagle, the king of beasts and of birds, the other an imaginary Crocodile, with the head of a serpent and the wings of a bat, were the two favourites. From the latter the forked tongue, painted of a different tincture(generally gules), added to the terrible appearance of the monster.

Somewhat similar to these was the Cockatrice, and with it the Wyvern; these animals having but two legs instead of four, and partaking more of the character of the reptile than of the beast. Examples of each will be found under the respective heads of Griffin and Cockatrice; beneath the first of these heads are grouped the Dragon, Alce, and Opinicus; beneath the other the Wyvern, Basilisk, Amphistera, and Hydra.

Another class of monsters arose from adding wings to beasts, i.e. to the Horse, Stag, and Bull, and the python or winged serpent may be classed with them; these will be found noticed under the heading of Pegasus, the winged horse. In the same way the Lion and the Ox, amongst the symbols of the Evangelists, are always represented winged.

After adding birds' and bats' wings to some animals it was only a step to add fishes' tails to others, and such appears to by simply the origin of such monsters as those to which the name of sea-horse, sea-lion, sea-dragon, and sea-dog have been applied.

But next we find a group in which men appear combined with portions of animals; the old Satyr from Roman story, with the Satyral and Centaur(or Sagittarius), which last was one of the sign of the Zodiac and King Stephen's badge; also the Lampago, and man-tiger, the last two being probably but one figure. All these appear on shields. Nor is the representation of mythical forms of woman overlooked. The Sphinx with the woman's head standing at the head of them, and the classical Harpy, follows on one side, the Mermaid and Siren on the other. The mystery of fire was associated with the Phœ“nix and the Salamander. These latter will be found noted under the respective headings of Satyr, Sphinx, Mermaid, and Phœ“nix.

Lastly, combinations of animals will be found in the examples of the Unicorn and Apre, the one a horse with the tail of lion, the other a bull with the tail of a bear: Allocamelus, partly an ass and partly a camel; the head of the Goat, which has been varied according to fancy, forming the lion-goat, and the deer-goat; and even the Eagle is in one case represented with hound's ears.