HATCHMENT, or ACHIEVEMENT, the funeral escutcheon placed in front of the house of the deceased, or elsewhere, setting forth his rank and circumstances. It is in the form of a lozenge, and in its center are depicted the arms of the deceased, single or quartered.
The achievement of a bachelor represents his arms in a shield complete, i.e., accom panied with helmet, crest, mantling, motto, and any other external ornaments to which he may be entitled, on a black ground.
In the achievement of an unmarried lady, her arms are placed in a lozenge on a black ground, but without external heraldic ornaments except in the case of a peeress, when her supporters, robe of estate, and coronet are added.
The achievement of a husband whose wife survives, impales his arms with his wife's in a shield with the external ornaments to which he is entitled, the ground of the hatch ment being, under his side of the shield, black, and under his wife's, white. If the wife be an heiress, her arms arc not impaled, but carried in an escutcheon of pretense. The external ornaments are appended, except the insignia of any order of knighthood having a circle or collar, with which heralds do not consider it proper for a knight to encircle his wife's arms. On this account the achievement of a knight has two shields placed side by side, one containing the husband's arms only, encircled by the collar, ribbon, etc., of the order, the other containing those of husband and wife: the ground is divided perpendicularly in the middle of the second shield, and painted black and white. When the wife is a peeress in her own right, there are also two shields—the dexter con taining the arms of the husband, with the lady's arms on an escutcheon of pretense ensigned with her coronet; the sinister lozenge-shaped with the lady's alone, and each accompanied with its proper external decorations. The ground is divided black and white in the middle of the dexter escutcheon.
The arms of a wife whose husband survives are impaled with her husband's arms in a shield, or, in the case of an heiress, borne on an escutcheon of pretense. There is no helmet, crest. or mantling, but a peeress is entitled to her robe of estate. The ground
under the dexter side of the shield is white, and under the sinister, black.
The achievement of a widower differs from that of a husband, in the ground being entirely black.
The achievement of a widow differs from that of a wife, both in having the ground entirely black, and in the form of the escutcheon, which (except in the case of an escutcheon of pretense) is lozenge-shaped. The arms arc encircled by a silver cordon or cordeliere, the symbol of widowhood.
On the decease of the last of a family, a death's head surmounts the shield in place of a crest.
The achievement of a reigning king or queen, whether married or not, represents the royal arms complete on a ground entirely black. That of an archbishop or bishop has the insignia of his see impaled with his paternal arms, the whole surmounted by a mitre, and the ground is per pale ar. and sa. The dean of a cathedral or collegiate church and a king at arms, also impale the arms of office with their family arms. In the 'achievement of the wife of a prelate, there are two shields—the first containing the Impaled arms of the see and the bishop, surmounted by a miter; and the second, the family arms of the bishop with those of his wife. The ground is all white, except that part which is under the arms of the wife.
The funeral escutcheon of Scotland, France, and Germany differs considerably from that in use in England; it indicates not merely the deceased's right to a coat of arms, but his gentility of descent. The hatehment is,innch larger, consisting of a lozenge above 6 ft. square; and the arms' of the deceased, which occupy the center, are surrounded by those of the 8 or 16 families from whom he derived his descent, the paternal quarter ing on the right side, and the maternal on the left. The deceased is not entitled to an achievement unless all these families had a right to bear arms. On the four corners are death's heads and the initials and title of the deceased, the black interstices are powdered with tears.