Hatching System - Other Hatching Systems

Other Hatching Systems

The French heraldist Imbert de la Phalecque and his Italian counterpart Goffredo di Crollanza claimed that the work of Philippe de l'Espinoy was the first one that adopted the hatching system applied in the blazon. His two-volume book was published in Douai in 1631 and in 1632 respectively. (A facsimile of l’Espinoy’s book titled Recherche des antiquités et noblesse de Flandre was published in 1972.) This city, now in France, was then part of Flanders. The illustrations in this book include 1,121 escutcheons, standards and seals of armorial bearings, on wood, besides 58 copperplate illustrations that at first sight appear to have hatchings. If one however compares these "hatchings" with the descriptions, then one finds out that there isn't any system in it at all. For instance Gules is alternately indicated by horizontal or vertical or diagonal lines or is left blank. It seems l'Espinoy considered lines and dots merely as a sort of artistic additions which he put in at random. There is no hatching table at all.

Most other known hatching systems also originated in the Low Countries. The tiny hatching table of the above-mentioned Jacob Franquart, to be found in his Pompa funebris Alberti Pii Austriaci (1623), was the earliest hatching method after Zangrius. The Cistercian abbot from Antwerp and historian and genealogist Christophe Butkens also developed his own system, but it was used by him in an inconsequent way which led to the misunderstandings and the resultant sudden disappearance of this system. The hatching table of Thomas de Rouck was radically different from that of Zangrius. Aegidius Gelenius was one of the most respected Cologne historians of his time. He developed a late hatching system but it did not gain popularity. Gelenius was deeply influenced by Petra Sancta and both the men met personally several times in Cologne. Gelenius also studied the coats of arms and antiquities of the Rhenish nobility in the territory neighboring the Low Countries. However, Gelenius’ hatching system is identical only at two points with Petra Sancta, indicating that he consciously tried to develop an independent system but failed to make a serious cut, or it can also indicate that Petra Sancta's system was not yet fully developed when they met in Cologne. If this is true, it makes certain the primacy of de la Colombière as the inventor of the hatching system.

The last hatching method was developed by Charles Segoing, a French heraldist and royal historian in 1654 (Armorial universel, contenant les armes des principales maisons de l'Europe. Paris, 1654). His system is similar to the method of Petra Sancta. On the table X of his work, Otto Titan von Hefner published still another system of hatching from 1639, attributed to Lobkowitz. (On page 49, footnote 4 Hefner names his source as Rietstap's Handboek der Wapenkunde, p. 96.) His book titled Philippus Prudens contains as many as 27 engraved portraits of the Portuguese kings, among them several with hatched coat of arms, but tere is no hatching table at all. However, in his earlier book from 1636 we can really find a hatching table. (One of the book censors was Christophe Butkens.)

In 1632 Lobkowitz was sent to the Low Countries where he became a renowned preacher and missionary. His first book Steganographia ars orthographia was published in 1636 in Brussels when he was a professor at the Leuven University – the same city where Jan Baptist Zangrius was also active. Here Lobkowitz published a major work titled Theologia Moralis ad prima, eaque clarissima principia reducta printed by Perus Zangrius (Lovanii, typis ac sumptibus Petrus Zangrius, 1645). His book titled Philippus Prudens containing some hatched arms was published in 1639 by Balthasar Moretus in Antwerp. The coats of arms were engraved by Cornelis Galle Sr., after the drawings of Erasmus Quellinus Sr (Liège, 1584 - Antwerp, at the end of 1639 or in the beginning of 1640), a Flemish Baroque Era painter, and the engraving of the frontispiece was made by Jacob Neeffs (Antwerp, June 3, 1610–1660).

Christoffel Plantin (1520–1589), grandfather of Balthasar Moretus, set up his printing shop called 'De Gulden Passer' (Golden Compasses) in Antwerp in 1555, publishing both Catholic and Protestant literature. This Frenchman, who fled his native country to Antwerp to escape the persecution during the 1540s, was the best-known printer of his time. Moretus was also a close friend to Rubens who made several illustrations for the company‘s publications. This company also published a work by Justus Lipsius in 1604 using the same portrait of Lipsius that was engraved by Zangrius in 1601. Zangrius had also some Parisian connections. The Parisian Book Society knew several representatives of a number of leading engravers originating from the Netherlands, for instance, the famous Jodocus Badius (1462–1535) from Asse, and the not-so-famous Johannes Lodoicus Tiletanus (1566–1581) from Tielt. He started off as a corrector at Badius, married the sister-in-law of Badius' daughter Madeleine and became an uncle to Petrus Zangrius.

• Table Pl. I. of Rietstap with different hatching systems

• Table X. of Hefner with different hatching systems

• Various hatching systems published by Oszkár Bárczay (A heraldika kézikönyve müszótárral. Budapest 1897. Table II). The name 'Pegoing' is a typing error for the name 'Segoing'.

• The original of the armorial chart of Jan Baptist Zangrius from the Helmond archive

• The hatching table of Zangrius from his armorial chart

• Hatching table of Jacob Franquart

• Enlarged hatching table of Christophe Butkens

• The Hatching Table of Caramuel Lobkowitz (Declaración Mystica de las Armas de España. Bruxelles, 1636. 3. l.)

• The Hatching Table of Caramuel Lobkowitz in detail (1636)

• The approval of the 1636 book of Caramuel Lobkowitz by the censor Christophe Butkens

• Hatched arms of Portugal from the book of Lobkowitz, Philippus Prudens (1639). Or, hatching non recognizable; Argent plain; Gules, dots; Azure, horizontal lines; Vert, hatching non recognizable; Sable, missing.

• Another hatched arms of prince Henry from the book of Lobkowitz, Philippus Prudens (1639). Gules, a cross argent.

• Enlarged hatching table of Thomas de Rouck

• The Hatching table of Aegidius Gelenius

• The hatching table of Charles Segoing, from the 1660 edition of his book

• Another hatching table of Charles Segoing, from the 1660 edition of his book

• Hatchings of additional tinctures (Naturfarbe and Eisen) according to Rink. Presented by Johann Christoph Gatterer, Abriss der Heraldik. Nürnberg, 1774. Tab. II. fig. 19. and 20.