HATCHMENT

This article appears in Volume V13, Page 62 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: HAN-HEG

HATCHMENT , properly, in heraldry, an escutcheon or armorial shield granted for some act of distinction or " achievement," of which word it is a corruption through such forms as atcheament, achement, hathement, &c. " Achievement " is an adaptation of the Fr. achevement, from achever, a chef venir, Lat. ad ca put venire, to come to a head, or conclusion, hence accomplish, achieve. The term "hatchment " is now usually applied to funeral escutcheons or armorial shields enclosed in a black

lozenge

LOZENGE (from the Fr. losenge, or losange; the word also appears in Span. losanje, and Ital. losanga; perhaps derived from a word meaning a stone slab laid on a grave, which appears in forms such as Provencal lousa, Span. losa, the ultimate origin of whic

-shaped

frame

FRAME

suspended against the

wall

WALL (O. Eng. weal, weall, Mid. Eng. wal, wane, adapted from Lat. vallum, rampart; the
original
- ORIGINAL
O. Eng. word for a wall was wag or tenth)
WALL, RICHARD (1694-1778)

of a deceased person's

house

HOUSE
HOUSE (O. Eng. hiss, a word common to Teutonic languages, cf. Dut. huis, Ger. Haus; in
Gothic
- GOTHIC
it is only found in gudhiss, a temple; it may be ultimately connected with the root of " hide," conceal)

. It is usually placed over the entrance at the level of the second floor, and remains for from six to twelve months, when it is removed to the parish church. This custom is falling into disuse, though still not uncommon. It is usual to hang the hatchment of a deceased head of a

house

HOUSE
HOUSE (O. Eng. hiss, a word common to Teutonic languages, cf. Dut. huis, Ger. Haus; in
Gothic
- GOTHIC
it is only found in gudhiss, a temple; it may be ultimately connected with the root of " hide," conceal)

at the universities of Oxford and

Cambridge

over the entrance to his

lodge

or residence.
If for a bachelor the hatchment bears upon a shield his arms, crest, and other appendages, the whole on a black ground. If for a single woman, her arms are represented upon a

lozenge

LOZENGE (from the Fr. losenge, or losange; the word also appears in Span. losanje, and Ital. losanga; perhaps derived from a word meaning a stone slab laid on a grave, which appears in forms such as Provencal lousa, Span. losa, the ultimate origin of whic

,
bordered with knotted ribbons,
also on a black ground. If the
hatchment be for a married
man ( as in the

illustration

ILLUSTRATION

), his
arms upon a shield impale those
of his surviving wife; or if she
be an heiress they are placed
upon a scutcheon of pretence,
and crest and other appendages
are added. The dexter half of
the ground is black, the sinister
white. For a wife whose hus-
band is alive the same arrange-
ment is used, but the sinister
ground only is black. For a
widower the same is used as
for a married man, but the
whole ground is black; for a widow the husband's arms are given with her own, but upon a lozenge, with ribbons, without crest or appendages, and the whole ground is black. When there have been two wives or two husbands the ground is divided into three parts per

pale

PALE (through Fr. pal, from Lat. palms, a stake, for paglus, from the stem pag- of pangere, to fix; " pole " is from the same original source)

, and the division behind the arms of the survivor is white. Colours and military or naval emblems are sometimes placed behind the arms of military or naval officers. It is thus easy to discern from the hatchment the sex, condition and quality, and possibly the name of the deceased.
In Scottish hatchments it is not unusual to place the arms of the father and mother of the deceased in the two lateral angles of the lozenge, and sometimes the 4, 8 or 16 genealogical escutcheons are ranged along the margin.

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