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The Blaker Society © L. In parma argentea tignum nigrum albicantibus mustulinis maculis respersum

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inter tria Maurorum Capita ad collum plane secta & auri-comata
D’argent au chevron d’+count’+hermines acompagne de trois têtes de Mores
F.
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coupées au naturel & chevelées d’Or

The English version says that the chevron has ermine spots, but the

Latin makes it clear that it is black with white spots (i. e., ermines), and
the French has hermines, emphasized by alteration to counter-hermines.
In all three descriptions the heads are moors’ heads with golden hair.

Blaker of Portslade, Sussex: 1633
Ermine chevron: moors’ heads: black hair

The 1633-4 Visitation of Sussex is printed by the Harleian Society
from Harleian MS 1562, and gives Argent, a chevron ermine between
three Moors’ heads in profile, couped at the shoulders sable. ‘Under the
hand & seale of Willm. Segar, Garter, to Edward Blaker 19 Feb.
1616.’ A fault in the printed Harleian Society volumes, is that they tend
to cram in information from various sources, rather than presenting a
single manuscript in its original form. So there remains a slight doubt
with the Blaker pedigree of 1633-4 taken from Harleian MS 1562
whether the blazon and the reference to the grant of arms are actually
stated in MS 1562 or have been lifted from elsewhere. The reference is to
folio 164 of Harleian 1562.

Blaker of Portslade, Sussex: c. 1633
Ermine chevron: girls’ heads: golden hair

The pedigree in Harleian 6164 was as per the 1634 visitation, but
the heads are of three girls with long wavy blonde hair facing slightly
forwards. According to Sims, there are several contemporary
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manuscripts that have the same pedigree - Harleian 1076 f. 30b; 1084 f.
92b; 1135 f. 49; 1194 f. 71b; 1406 f. 84; 1562 f. 163; 6164 f. 14b.
Nicolas, in 1825, describes Harleian MS 6164 as ‘A copy of the
[1633] Visitation on Vellum, with the Arms handsomely painted.’ The
original printed British Museum catalogue says: ‘A Book in folio, written
in a fair hand upon Vellum, containing the Arms in Colours & Pedegrees

20 on a silver shield, a black chevron sprinkled with the white spots of a weasel, between the heads of
three moors, cut off straight at the neck, and with hair of gold
21 of silver, with a chevron of +counter+ermine, together with three moors’ heads cut off naturally and
with hair of gold
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Information of Ken Toll. Ken has seen 1084 and 6164 - 1084 moors’ heads, 6164 maidens’. So the
score so far, out of seven manuscripts, is Moors 2, Maidens 1.