View source for Murrey

{{short description|In heraldry, purple colour}}
{{for|the English cricketer|Barbara Murrey}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2025}}
{{Infobox heraldic tincture
|title                   = Murrey
|class                   = [[Stain (heraldry)|Stain]]
|non-heraldic_equivalent = [[Mulberry (color)|Mulberry]], [[Maroon (color)|Maroon]]
|hatching                = {{Hatching colors|Murrey}}
|hex                     = 8b004b
|tricking                = m., M.
|gemstone                = [[Onyx|Sardonyx]]
|planet                  = [[Dragon's Tail (star)|Dragon's Tail]]
}}
[[File:Fillet saltire de jong wiki.jpg|thumb|Murrey is used on these de Jong arms: ''Azure, a bezant; a chief per saltire, murrey and azure, filleted argent, over the partition a fillet saltire nowy, also argent.'']]
[[File:Illustration_Morus_nigra0.jpg|thumb|The name of the heraldic stain of murrey derives from the name of the [[Morus nigra|mulberry]], which is the fruit of the tree ''Morus nigra'' whose reddish purple colour murrey originally represented.]]

In [[heraldry]], '''murrey''' is a "[[Stain (heraldry)|stain]]", i. e. a non-standard [[tincture (heraldry)|tincture]], that is a dark reddish purple colour. It is most proximate in appearance to the [[tincture (heraldry)|heraldic tincture]] of [[purpure]], but is distinct therefrom.

==Overview==
According to dictionaries, "murrey" is the colour of [[Mulberry|mulberries]], being somewhere between the [[tincture (heraldry)|heraldic tinctures]] of [[gules]] (red) and [[purpure]] (purple), and almost [[Maroon (color)|maroon]];<ref>{{FOTW|id=vxt-h1|title=Heraldic dictionary}}. Accessed 14 July 2009.</ref> but examples registered in Canada<ref>[http://archive.gg.ca/heraldry/pub-reg/project-pic.asp?ProjectID=97&ProjectElementID=375 Crest of William Dale Murray]: "Issuant from an antique crown or a bison's head in trian aspect murrey accorné or." Canadian Public Register, Volume 4, page 292.</ref> and Scotland<ref>Arms of ____ Brown: "Murrey; a chevron between two fleurs de lys in chief and a plough in base, or." Public Register, Volume 71, page 26.</ref> display it as a reddish brown.

==Poetic meanings==
Centuries ago, arms were often described poetically and the tinctures were associated with different gemstones, flowers and heavenly bodies. Murrey usually corresponded to the following:
* Of jewels, the [[Onyx|sardonyx]]<ref>{{cite book | author=Charles Norton Elvin |location = London | publisher = Kent | year = 1889 | title = A Dictionary of Heraldry | url = https://archive.org/details/cu31924029796426 |page=113 }}</ref>
* Of heavenly bodies, the [[Orbital node#Symbols and nomenclature|Dragon's Tail]]<ref>Elvin, p. 51.</ref>

==Examples==
The livery colours of the [[House of York]] in England in the fifteenth century were [[Azure (heraldry)|azure]] and murrey, as depicted on the shields of the Falcon of the [[Plantagenets]] and the White Lion of Mortimer among the [[Queen's Beasts]].<ref>{{cite book|author=H. Stanford London|title=The Queen's Beasts|publisher=Newman Neame Ltd|pages=25–33}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Mulberry (color)]]
*[[Sanguine (heraldry)|Sanguine]]
*[[Stain (heraldry)]]
*[[Tenné]]
*[[Tincture (heraldry)]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category-inline|Murrey (heraldry)|Murrey}}
{{Shades of violet}}
{{Heraldry}}

[[Category:Stains]]
[[Category:Shades of violet]]


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