From: owner-scribes@castle.org (scribes digest)
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Subject: scribes digest V1 #83
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scribes digest       Tuesday, February 24 1998       Volume 01 : Number 083



In this issue:

    [scribes]: Re: scribes digest V1 #81

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Date: Tue, 24 Feb 1998 10:42:52 +0000 (GMT)
From: Barbara Webb <bhw@psychology.nottingham.ac.uk>
Subject: [scribes]: Re: scribes digest V1 #81

> >>On the other hand it may be possible that as a heraldic charge quills
> do have barbs - does anyone know if "quills" as opposed to feathers
> were used in (period) heraldry & if so whether they were illustrated as
> barrels or as still barbed? That might explain where the general
> misconception about 'writing with feathers' came from...<<
> 
> All the heraldic representations I've seen contain barbs - sometimes along
> the length, sometimes just at the very end.  Without them it would pretty
> much just look like a slash across the field.
> 
> But that's kind of beside the point.  The embattled quill is simply a
> charge used by the Caidan scribes at their choice to signify their
> membership to the Caid college of scribes - I don't think the idea was to
> have a realistic representation here, but something recognizable as a
> "quill" to anyone who looked at it.   Most folks think of quills with barbs
> - - you pretty much have to be a scribe to think of them without them.  

Thanks for that info: and my apologies if my previous message seemed a 
little abrupt - I did realise it was just a charge. It is just a "pet
peeve" that most folks have this misconception about quills. I'd be 
interested to know what period heraldry you have seen with a barbed 
quill, if you could pass that on. 

Thanks

Caitlin de Courcy

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End of scribes digest V1 #83
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