Robert Gayre (1907–1996)

This is the standard work on the topic of historical use of cadency in armory. Each chapter discusses a different kind of historical cadency, with examples of each, and some discussion of countries where that kind of cadency is found, and what time period it dates to. The first chapter starts with the very earliest kind of cadency, which is a change of tincture. It proceeds through addition of ordinaries, addition of semy of charges (gerratting), change of principal charge, and finally gets to the kind of cadency most heralds think of - the English system of adding a label, crescent, or other specific charge for each child.

The copy I read assumed that the book's owner would paint in the illustrations, based on the blazons in the text. It provided a page of suggested paint colors for each heraldic tincture. The text itself thus might have a strip of several shields with the outline of identical charges, distinguishable only by the colors that the book's owner was expected to add. Since this book had been in a public library, the shields were not painted.

What I found most interesting was the discussion of heraldic cadency for the "natural son" of nobility. In other words, an illegitimate child. Such a natural child has rights to the armory of his father, but with a sign of cadency, and the understanding that he is the root of a separate cadet branch.

There are also 3 chapters at the end to follow the use of cadency in heraldry from the 16th c. to the modern era. Heralds will find this a Fascinating book, with a rather old-fashioned style of writing, and a more antiquarian feel, rather than modern research paper style of writing. I rate this at 5 stars for heralds, or 3 stars for readers who are not heralds.… (plus d'informations)