Chapter XVI
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_Surcoat._ Any garment worn over armour; but especially the long flowing garment worn by knights over their armour until about 1325, when its form was modified by cutting it short in front, and it was distinguished as a _Cyclas_. See _Jupon_.
_Surmounted._ Placed over another.
_Swan._ When blazoned "_proper_," white with black beak and red legs. It is the badge of the BOHUNS, and of their descendants the LANCASTRIAN PLANTAGENETS, the STAFFORDS, and some others. This Swan has his neck encircled with a coronet, from which a chain generally passes over his back. By HENRY V., the Swan badge of his mother, MARY DE BOHUN, was borne with the wings expanded.
_Sword._ When borne as a charge, straight in the blade, pointed, and with a cross-guard. All the appointments of the weapon are to be blazoned. It appears, as a spiritual emblem, in several episcopal coats of arms; in the arms of the CITY OF LONDON, No. 306, the first quarter of a Shield of ST. GEORGE (_arg., a cross gu._) is charged with _a sword erect gules_, the emblem of ST. PAUL, the special patron of the English metropolitan city. The sword is also borne in blazon in its military capacity.
[Illustration: No. 306.--Arms of City of London.]
_Tabard._ A short garment with sleeves, worn in the Tudor era. It has the arms blazoned on the sleeves as well as on the front and back: No. 307, the Tabard of WILLIAM FYNDERNE, Esquire, from his brass, A.D. 1444, at Childrey in Berkshire: the arms are--_Arg., a chevron between three crosses patée sable_, the ordinary being charged with _an annulet of the field_ "for Difference." A similar garment is the official habit of heralds.
[Illustration: No. 307.--Tabard; A.D. 1444.]
_Tau_, _Tau-Cross_. A cross formed like the letter T, so called in Greek, No. 93; borne as a charge in the arms of DRURY, TAWKE, and some others: this charge is also called the Cross of ST. ANTHONY: it is sometimes borne on a badge, as in the Bishop's Palace at Exeter. See
## Chapter XV .
_Templars_, _Knights_. See