Label - A bearing closely resembling the strap with pendants which form the saddle crossed the horse's chest. It is the oldest mark of difference, but sometimes borne as a charge. As a difference it was used generally by the princes of the royal house. The number of points did not necessarily mean anything, although the label of three points was supposed to represent the heir during the lifetime of his father; five points, during the lifetime of his grandfather; seven points, while the great-grandfather still lived, etc. According to the modern system, the elder son of an elder son places a label upon a label.
Lace d'amour - (leese da'moor) A cord of running knots surrounding the arms of widows and unmarried women. (Universal Dict.)
Lambrequin - (lam'-ber-kin) The point of a label.
A mantle is sometimes referred to as a lambrequin. (In this connection see MANTLE.)
Lampasse - (lam-pas-see') The same as LANGUED.
Lancaster - One of the six heralds of the College of Arms.
Lance - Shakespeare's father was granted arms as follows: "Or, on a bend sable a lance of the field."
Langued - (langd) Tongued; having the tongue visible. Applied to the tongue of a bird or beast when of a different tincture from that of the body.
Lattice - A bordure formed of perpendicular and horizontal bars, interlaced or otherwise.
Laver - A green vegetation, a bunch of which is held in the mouth by the liver on the arms of Liverpool.
Leaf - The leaves common to heraldry are the strawberry, hazel, oak and elm.
Legged - The same as MEMBERED.
Leopard - The title of one of the heralds under Henry V.
Leo-parde - "A lion as a leopard." The early heralds seem to have gotten the lion confused with the leopard, and when describing him in any attitude except passant he was leo-pardé.
Leonced - [See LIONCED.]
Liard - A gray horse.
Limbeck - [See DISTILLATORY.]
Lion - The lion is the most popular beast in heraldry. He appears in the arms of Great Britian, Denmark, Spain, Holland, Bohemia, Saxony and numerous lesser countries. As early as 1127 Henry I used the lion as an ornament on a shield. Of the 918 bannerets of Edward II, 225 bore lions. The early English heralds seem to have confused the lion with the leopard. While never drawn spotted as the real leopard, he was described in most attitudes as leo-pardé, or a lion as a leopard.
The lion is drawn in about 30 attitudes, but it is seldom he is seen in other than rampant or passant.
Lion's Welp - The same as lioncelle
Lion of England - In allusion to the lions on the arms of Great Britain. In English heraldry a lion passant gardant or is generally blazoned as "a lion of England."
Lionced- (li'unst) A bearing adorned with lions' heads, as, for instance, a cross with its ends terminating in lions' heads.
Lioncel- [See LIONCELLE.]
Lioncelle - Diminutive of lion, occasionally used if
several on shield.
Guide's Note: My copy of this document was missing a
definition for Lioncelle. I have provided one from The
Oxford Guide to Heraldry.
Liver- A fabulous bird, after which Liverpool is supposed to have derived its name. It resembles the cormorant. The arms of Liverpool are blazoned: "Argent, a liver sable, billed and legged gules, holding in his bill a bunch of laver vert."
- "The liver was a foolish invention to account for the
name [of Liverpool]. There was the "pool," which accounted
for the last syllable, and there was the bird on the seal or
shield, which, in the absence of other information, was supposed
to indicate the prefix. A stuffed bird has from time immemorial
been preserved in the Town Hall, supposed to be a specimen of the
genus liver. It is, in reality, an immature cormorant, which has
not attained its final dark plumage." - Sir J. A. Picton, in
Notes and Queries, May 3, 1884.
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