Hatchings –

the curse of Petra Sancta

by Mike Oettle

AS noted elsewhere, the use of hatchings does not add to heraldry and should not be encouraged. But its widespread occurrence means that it is necessary to have a code to unlock its secrets.

Franklyn and Tanner^[1] note that it was evolved and developed by copper-plate engravers. The earliest was a Walloon^[2] by name of Francquart (circa 1623). Fox-Davies^[3] notes that further systems were devised by Butkens (1626), the Jesuit Father S da Pietra Santa (or Petra Sancta), author of Tesseræ Gentilitia (1638); Lobkowitz (1639), Gelenius; and De Rouck (1645). These systems all differed from each other.

Franklyn and Tanner continue:

“Numerous systems developed and by mid XVII cent. the Rev. Petra Sancta evolved a standard set of ‘signatures’ which were in constant use till the end of the XIX cent., and by which much high-grade engraving was, for visual appreciation, utterly ruined. At no time was ˜ favoured by the officers of arms who made their rough notes in ‘trick’ (q.v.). In the XX cent. ˜ has fallen into desuetude, but it is not entirely abandoned . . .”

Fox-Davies also quotes H G Ströhl, author of Heraldischer Atlas, who remarks:

“The system of hatching used by Marcus Vulson de la Colombière, 1639, in the course of time found acceptance everywhere, and has maintained itself in use unaltered until the present day . . . hatchings have been invented for brown, grey, &c; which, however, seems rather a superfluous enriching.”

The Petra Sancta hatchings for the seven principal colours/tinctures of heraldry are shown at left (with a spelling error next to the last one); on the right (from a to i) is Colombière’s additional list of: a) brown; b) blood-red; c) earth-colour; d) iron-grey; e) water-colour; f) flesh-colour; g) ashen-grey; h) orange; and i) colour of nature.

Fox-Davies notes that instead of using the h)-style hatching for tenné (regarded in English-language heraldry as being orange), British practice is to use a combination of horizontal (azure) and sinister diagonal (purpure) lines for tenné, and to use diagonal lines in both directions (a combination of those for vert and purpure) for both (or either of) sanguine and murrey.

A further complication is noted by Fox-Davies: “The hatchings of the shield and its charges always accommodate themselves to the angle at which the shield is placed, those of the crest to the angle of the helmet.”^[4]

However a highly pertinent point is raised, again by Fox-Davies:

“But though this system of representing colours by ‘hatching’ has been adopted and extensively made use of, it is questionable whether it has ever received official sanction, at any rate in Great Britain. It certainly has never been made use of in any official record or document in the College of Arms.

“It is unlikely that any change will be made in the future, for the use of tincture lines is now very rapidly being discarded by all good heraldic artists in this country. With the reversion to older and better forms and methods these hatchings become an anachronism, and save that sable is represented by solid black they will probably be unused and forgotten before very long.”