Sarcelled [...] a. Her. [Anglicized f. sarcelle, Sarcelly.] 1. = Sarcelly 2.
1688 R. Holme Armoury I. v. 49-50 A Cross double parted Voided Flory...It is like the Cross Moline Sawed, or cut into 4 quarters, and disposed at a convenient distance; And therefore may be fitly termed a Cross Moline Sarcelled. 1722 Nisbet Syst. Her. I. xv. 113 If the Voiding be of another Colour..than the Field, the Cross is then said to be charged with another Cross; for which our English Heraulds have some needless Terms, as Sarcelled and Resarcelled. 1828-40 Berry Encycl. Her. I, Cross pattée sarcelled at bottom in the form of a ᴧ reversed. Ibid., Cross double voided, by some called a cross voided sarcelled, or sarcelled resarcelled, that is double or twice sawed asunder. 1847 Parker's Gloss. Her. 101 Cross moline sarcelled, or voided throughout, cross recercelée or recersile, or recercelée voided or disjointed, which has also been called a cross fleury biparted.
2. = Sarcelly 3.
1828-40 Berry, Encycl. Her. I, Sarcelled, cut through the middle. Beasts and birds, thus cloven throughout, and the halves..endorsed..is no uncommon bearing in..Germany.
Sarcelly [...] a. Her. Forms: 6 sarsile, 6-7 (9) sarcele, 7 sarcelie, 8 cercilé, cercelly, 9 sarcel(l)é, 8- sarcelly, cercelée. Also erron. 9 sarcell. [a. AF. sercelé, cerselé = OF. cercelé hooped, ringleted, curled, pa. ppl. of cerceler, f. cercel (see Sarcel).
F. cercelé and recercelé (see Recercelé(e) were used synonymously in sense 1 (below). Beside these there was a F. resarcelé (see Resarcelée, of obscure origin) applied to a cross on which another is placed of a different colour. Recercelé, and consequently cercelé, sarcelly, were confused with resarcelé and used for it (sense 2). The cross resarcelée was later sometimes blazoned as a cross voided (i.e. having the central part cut out), and recent English heraldic writers have further extended the use of sarcelly (and sarcelled) by applying them to birds and beasts cut through the middle (sense 3).]
1. Used to designate a variety of the cross moline in which the points are recurved or curled back. The Book of St. Albans blazons this cross as retornyt and reuersit, Fr. recercilee, L. inversa.
c 1500 Sc. Poem Heraldry 141 in Q. Eliz. Acad., etc. 99, xj crois fichye; xij sarsile fere. 1562 Legh Armory 59 The fielde Or, a cross Sarcele Geules. 1572 Bossewell Armorie II. 25 b, Gules, on a Crosse Sarcele D'or, fiue mollettes of the firste. 1780 Edmondson Her. Gloss., Cross-Cercelé. This Cross is like the Cross moline, but with this difference, that the points are turned round. Ibid, Sarcelly, the same as Cercelly. 1864 Boutell Heraldry 79 Cercelée or Recercelée, curling at the extremities. 1897 W. K. R. Bedford Blazon Episc. (ed. 2) 217 Gules, a cross sarcelly ermine.
2. Applied to a cross (esp. a cross moline) voided and open at the ends. (Cf. Resarcelée.)
1661 Morgan Sph. Gentry II. 9 Sarcele Cross [=infra 14 Recercile]. 1722 Nisbet Syst. Her. I. xv. 118 A Cross moline, altogether voided, which some of them call a Cross Cercilé. 1828-40 Berry, Encycl. Her. I, Cross sarcele, sarcell, or sarcelle, is a cross voided, or, as it were, sawed apart. 1889 Elvin Dict. Her. p. xiii, Cross voided, also termed sarcelle.
3. Cut through the middle. (Cf. Sarcelled 2.)
1864 Boutell Heraldry 87 Sarcellée.