Inverted Arms
The earliest mention in heraldic writing of a dishonorable display of arms (and, according to Fox-Davies, the only one reliably attested in actual use; see historical examples below) was inverting the entire shield, first documented by Johannes de Bado Aureo in his heraldic treatise Tractatus de armis (c. 1394). Contemporary accounts of executions for treason describe the traitor being marched to his execution in a paper tabard displaying his inverted arms, and other accounts tell of displaying the inverted arms of prisoners, released on parole, who refuse to pay their ransom.
Read more about this topic: Abatement (heraldry)
Famous quotes containing the words inverted and/or arms:
“Can they never tell
What is dragging them back, and how it will end? Not at night?
Not when the strangers come? Never, throughout
The whole hideous inverted childhood? Well,
We shall find out.”
—Philip Larkin (1922–1986)
“Who fed me from her gentle breast,
And hushed me in her arms to rest,
And on my cheek sweet kisses prest?
My Mother.”
—Ann Taylor (1783–1824)