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Amartlet inEnglish heraldry is a mythical bird without feet that never roosts from the moment of its drop-birth until its death fall; martlets are proposed to be constantly on the wing. This condition is an allegory for continuous effort, expressed inheraldic charge depicting astylised bird similar to aswift or ahouse martin, without feet. It should be distinguished from themerlette ofFrench heraldry, which is a duck-like bird with a swan-neck and chopped-off beak and legs. Thecommon swift rarely lands outside breeding season, and sleeps while airborne.
The word "martlet" is derived from the bird known as themartin, with the addition of the diminutive suffix "-let"; thus martlet means "little martin". The origin of the name martin is obscure, though it may refer to the festivalMartinmas, which occurs around the same time martins begin their migration from Europe to Africa.[1]
These mythical birds are shown properly in English heraldry with two or three short tufts of feathers in place of legs and feet.Swifts, formerly known as martlets, have such small legs that they were believed to have none at all, which provides a likely explanation for the legend of the legless martlet.
InFrench heraldry, thecanette oranet is a small duck (French:canard), shown without feet. According to Théodore Veyrin-Forrer[2]la canette représente la canne ou le canard; si elle est dépourvue du bec et des pattes, elle devient une merlette. ("The canette represents the duck or drake; if she is deprived of beak and feet she becomes a merlette"). In Frenchun merle, from Latinmerula (feminine),[3] is a maleblackbird, a member of thethrush family (formerly the term was feminine and could designate a male:une merle—a hen blackbird:une merlesse). Amerlette (diminutive form ofmerle: a little blackbird) in common parlance, since the 19th century, is a female blackbird, but in heraldic terminology is defined asune figure représentant une canette mornée ("a figure representing a little female duck 'blunted'").Une cane is a female duck (malecanard, "drake") andune canette, the diminutive form, is "a little female duck". The verbmorner in ancient French means "to blunt", in heraldic terminology the verbal adjectivemorné(e) means:sans langue, sans dents, sans ongles et des oiseaux sans bec ni serres ("without tongue, without teeth, without nails, and, of birds, without beak or claws").[4] English heraldry uses the terms "armed" and "langued" for the teeth, claws and tongue of heraldic beasts, thusmornée might be translated as "dis-armed". Thus the English "martlet" is not the same heraldic creature as the French"merlette".[5]
The arms of the Valence family,Earls of Pembroke show one of the earliest uses of the martlet to difference them from their parent house ofLusignan. Their arms were orled (bordered) with martlets, as can be seen on the enamelled shield of the effigy ofWilliam de Valence, 1st Earl of Pembroke (d.1296) inWestminster Abbey. Martlets are thus shown in the arms ofPembroke College, Cambridge, a foundation of that family.
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Theattributed arms ofEdward the Confessor containfive martlets or (golden martlets). The attribution dates to the 13th century (two centuries after Edward's death) and was based on the design on a coin minted during Edward's reign.[6]KingRichard II (1377–1399)impaled this coat with thePlantagenet arms, and it later became the basis of the arms ofWestminster Abbey, in which The Confessor was buried, and ofWestminster School, founded within its precinct.
The French word forswallow ishirondelle, from Latinhirundo,[3] and therefore martlets have appeared in thecanting arms of the ancient family of de Arundel ofLanherne, Cornwall and later ofWardour Castle. The arms borne by Reinfred de Arundel (d.c.1280),lord of the manor of Lanherne, were recorded in the 15th-century ShirleyRoll of Arms as:Sable, six martlets argent.[7] This family should not be confused with that of FitzAlanEarls of Arundel, whose seat wasArundel Castle inSussex, who bear for arms:Gules, a lion rampant or.
Theshield of the county ofSussex,England contains six martlets said to represent the six historicalrapes, or former administrative sub-divisions, of the county.It seems likely this bore acanting connection to the title of the Earls of Arundel (the French word for swallow ishirondelle), who were the leading county family for many centuries, or the name of their castle. TheUniversity of Sussex's coat of arms also bears these six martlets.
Abend between six martlets forms the coat of arms ofDundalk,Ireland. The bend and martlets are derived from the family of Thomas de Furnivall who obtained a large part of the land and property of Dundalk and district in about 1319 by marriage to Joan de Verdon daughter of Theobald de Verdon.[8] Three of these martlets, in reversedtinctures, form the arms of the local association football teamDundalk FC.
It has been suggested that the restlessness of the martlet due to its supposed inability to land, having no usable feet, is the reason for the use of the martlet in English heraldry as thecadency mark of a fourth son. The first son inherited all the estate byprimogeniture, the second and third traditionally went into the Church, to serve initially as priests in churches of which their father held theadvowson, and the fourth had no well-defined place (unless his father possessed, as was often the case, more than two vacant advowsons). As the fourth son often therefore received no part of the family wealth and had "the younger son's portion: the privilege of leaving home to make a home for himself",[9] the martlet may also be a symbol of hard work, perseverance, and a nomadic household. This explanation seems implausible, as the 5th and 6th sons were equally "restless", yet no apparent reference is made to this in their proper cadence mark (anannulet andfleur-de-lys respectively).
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The inability of the martlet to land is said by some commentators[who?] to symbolize the constant quest for knowledge, learning, and adventure. Martlets appear in the arms ofWorcester College,St Benet's Hall, andUniversity College at Oxford University, ofMagdalene College andPembroke College at Cambridge, and of long-established English schools includingBromsgrove,Warwick, andPenistone Grammar. More recently they have been adopted byMcGill University, theUniversity of Houston,Charles Wright Academy,Mill Hill School (London),Westminster Under School (London)Westminster School (Connecticut),Saltus Grammar School (Bermuda), McGills House ofAldenham School and theUniversity of Victoria (British Columbia) — where the student newspaper is likewise namedThe Martlet.
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