Two Question on Differencing

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

That does indeed. And thank you for clearing up how the bordures are used - I had assumed it was to mark specific generations.

QUESTION 1 Now, to muddy the waters a bit. Assuming these cadets are springing up in perfect order, what if another son was added to the final generation?

QUESTION 2 It seems the next colour to be used for a bordure is azure, but it has already been used by the elder brother. Does this mean that, when the parent arms have a bordure, that particular colour is skipped when impaling the bordures for any cadet matriculations?

Here's another tree to show what I'm asking:


And I've put Heraldic Cadency on my Amazon.com wishlist just in case one comes up for sale. A quick search shows it's a difficult book to come by!

Thank you, Scott, for your patience and explanations.

RE: QUESTON 1 The next colour in precedence would be sable (black), so in all likelihood the bordure would be per pale gules and sable.

RE: QUESTION 2 Mr. Stoddart is the man credited with devising the "scientific" system of cadency by bordure. Following his system one gets (theoretically at least) to the 14th son of the 14th son of the original grantee before there is any possibly of duplication. His table of precedence for bordures reads as follows:

COLOURS: Or, Argent, Gules, Azure, Sable, Vert, Purpure,Tenne, Ermine, Contre-ermine, Erminoise, Pean, Vair, Potent (phew!)

Variation of Lines of Partition: Engrailed, Invected, Indented, Embattled, Wavy, Nebuly, Rayonee, Raguly, Nowy, Countre-nowy, Dovetailed, Potenty, Urdy, Round-embattled. (phew! again!)

And to reiterate what Gayre has said, the above order is used as the cadets come off the stem, and not in any particular generation.

Knowing all this stuff is why Heralds get the big bucks...

So, looking at the above chart, the fifth son of the original grantee would have a full bordure chequy argent and azure (because we can't have a blue field with a blue bordure). Two generations down, his fourth grandson would have a bordure per pale chequy argent and azure, and gules (the reverse of his cousin's bordure which is per pale gules and chequy argent and azure). So, placing the two similar arms side by side we can tell at a glance that both gentleman have a common great-grandfather, and that one descends from the fourth son, while the other descends from the fifth son of that illustrious gentleman. We can also see that each is the fourth son of their respective fathers.

Pretty neat, huh?

With regard to "skipping over" colours in bordures, the only time this happens is when chequy is substituted for the colour to clearly show the bordure against the field (background colour) of the arms. As each generation tumbles down, the bordure may be further varied by impaling, quartering, or gyronny, in addition to varying the lines of partition.