The arms of Sir Gawain consisted of a gold pentangle on a red background
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--Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (619-620) |
The arms of the family of James Cottrell consisted of three gold mascles on a blue background (Azure, three mascles or). These three mascles can be re-arranged to define a gold pentangle, see Section D.1. No worse than relating masclellez in Pearl (l.732) to the sable mascles in the arms of the Mascy of Sale [GREENWOOD56] (p.11). The arms James Cottrell assumed in Portugal were a blue and gold chessboard, perhaps striking a memory of Sir Gawain in Wolfram's “Parzival” having to defend himself with a chessboard when he didn't have a shield to hand.
© 2005-2007 Ron Catterall