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<P>Greetings all - </P>
<P>In my search for a picture of a heraldic distaff, I found this definition in a heraldic dictionary:</P>
<P><STRONG>"Fusil</STRONG> - (fu'-sil) An elongated lozenge. The word comes from the French <EM>fuscan</EM> = a spindle, and the bearing is supposed to represent a distaff charged with a yarn.</P>
<P>"Fusils must be made long, and small in the middle. In the ancient coat of Montague [Montacute?], 'Argent, three fusils in fesse gules.' " - <EM>Peacham</EM>.</P>
<P>It has been said the Perceys derived their fusils from their lordship of Spindleton."</P>
<P>Here's a picture:</P>
<P><IMG height=60 alt=Fusil hspace=2 src="http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~jkmacmul/heraldry/fusil.gif" width=49 border=0></P>
<P>If the picture didn't come through, here's the URL (scroll down to geometric charges) - <A href="http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~jkmacmul/heraldry/">http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~jkmacmul/heraldry/</A></P>
<P>There are 36 fusil references in the SCA O&A (although most are fusily, which I think means some kind of background or other patterning) - <A href="http://oanda.sca.org/cgi-bin/oanda_bp.cgi?p=fusil&c=case-insensitive&l=50&s=name+only&d=modern&g=enabled&a=disabled">http://oanda.sca.org/cgi-bin/oanda_bp.cgi?p=fusil&c=case-insensitive&l=50&s=name+only&d=modern&g=enabled&a=disabled</A><A href="http://oanda.sca.org/cgi-bin/oanda_bp.cgi?p=fusil&c=case-insensitive&l=25&s=name+only&d=modern&g=enabled&a=disabled"></A> - so we know that the College of Heralds wouldn't have a problem with using it as a charge.</P>
<P>It's fairly subtle, subtle enough to make us non-spinners not feel funny about carrying around a spinning tool that we can't use. Anyway, I'll leave the rest of the decisions to the herald-types. :)</P>
<P>Angharad</P></DIV><p>
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