Portate

Cross Portate

§30. Cross portate or portante: an ambiguous term which Edmondson says is given by Randle Holmes to a long cross raguly. Other heraldic writers give it to a peculiar form, which is neither chevron, bend, nor cross, but an odd admixture of the three, and is so drawn by Berry, who says that double portant means a cross patriarcale. The idea seems to be a cross 'in bend,' as if being carried. Confusion has also, no doubt, arisen from had drawing, hasty writing, and careless reading. One coat of arms only has a cross so blazoned.