THE CREST OF THE BARON

Curved shield fulle flute, with lesser crossbar greye over

scarlet; high tower stone greye flanked twain lesser towers

crowned diadem baronial; in centro crossbar hammer lordes

atopped quill scribent in golden; in dextrous quatre brok sinuous.

The Baron’s crest reflects the perceived nature of the line’s achievements. The central tower

represents safety through foresight; the flanking towers indicate both support and

loyalty to vassals. The baronial diadem above it is a reminder that the realm is

still, technically, a barony. The hammer was added to mark the position of the

Barons as Lord High Priests of the Order of the Hammer; it has never been removed.

The golden quill represents both intelligence and wealth through trade. Its position

atop the hammer it symbolic of the importance of trade over religion. The lesser cross – its

arms beneath the centre-line – is the traditional pattern of the Baronial line. The positioning

of the stream – sinuous to indicate carefulness – in the ‘sinister’ quarter means that the land

to which it lays claim (the Principality of Blackbrook) is a vassal rather than a territory. This is

fiction; although the Barons claim Blackbrook through their possession of the

Archduchy of Lesser Blackbrrok it is no vassal. Were it ever to become incorporated

into the Baron’s domains the stream would be moved to the ‘dextrous’ side, on the right*.

*Sides are taken as they would appear to a person holding the shield i.e. they are reversed.