Avalerion or alerion is a term for a heraldic bird. Historically, it referred to the regular heraldic eagle. Later heralds used the term ''alerion'' to refer to "baby eagles" or "eaglets". To differentiate them from mature eagles, alerions were shown as an ''eagle displayed inverted'' without a beak or claws (''disarmed''). To differentiate it from a ''decapitate'' (headless) eagle, the alerion has a bulb-shaped head with an eye staring towards the dexter (left-hand side) of the field. This was later simplified in modern heraldry as an abstract winged oval. An example is the arms of the Duchy of Lorraine ( or, on a bend

gules In heraldry, gules () is the tincture with the colour red. It is one of the class of five dark tinctures called "colours", the others being azure (blue), sable (black), vert (green) and purpure (purple). In engraving, it is sometimes depict ...

, 3 alerions abaisé argent). It supposedly had been inspired by the assumed arms of crusader

Geoffrey de Bouillon Godfrey of Bouillon (, , , ; 18 September 1060 – 18 July 1100) was a French nobleman and pre-eminent leader of the First Crusade. First ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem from 1099 to 1100, he avoided the title of king, preferring that of princ ...

, who supposedly killed three white eaglets with a bow and arrow when out hunting. It is far more likely to be canting arms that are a pun based on Lorraine / Erne. (''alerion'' is a partial

anagram An anagram is a word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters of a different word or phrase, typically using all the original letters exactly once. For example, the word ''anagram'' itself can be rearranged into ''nag a ram'', also the word ...

of ''Lorraine''). Medieval bestiaries use ''alerion'' for a mythological bird described as somewhat larger than an eagle of which only a single pair was said to live at any time. A pair of eggs was laid every 60 years; after hatching, the parents drowned themselves. The term ''avalerion'' is used on the

Hereford Map The Hereford Mappa Mundi is a medieval map of the known world ( la, mappa mundi), of a form deriving from the T and O pattern, dating from c. 1300. Archeological scholars believe the map to have originated from eastern England in either York ...

near the Hydaspes and the

Indus The Indus ( ) is a transboundary river of Asia and a trans-Himalayan river of South and Central Asia. The river rises in mountain springs northeast of Mount Kailash in Western Tibet, flows northwest through the disputed region of Kashmir, ...

, possibly based on a description by Pliny. The word's ultimate origin is unclear, possibly adapted from the German ' or ' ("eagle"). It is found in 12th-century French as ' and in medieval Latin as ' (a large eagle-like bird).

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* {{Heraldry footer Legendary birds Heraldic birds Medieval European legendary creatures Birds in mythology Fictional birds of prey Heraldic eagles

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