Chimerical Figures of Heraldry.
[Illustration]
"Manye merveylles there ben in that regioun."
_Sir John Maundevile._
The days of the Crusaders were the days of romance. "From climes so
fertile in monsters as those through which these adventurers passed,"
observes Dallaway, "we cannot wonder that any fiction was readily received
by superstitious admirers, whose credulity nothing could exhaust." The
narrations of those warriors who had the good fortune to revisit their
native lands were eagerly seized upon by that new class of literary
aspirants, the Romance writers, by means of whose wonder-exciting
productions, giants, griffins, dragons, and monsters of every name, became
familiarized to all. For ages the existence of these products of a
"gothick fancy" was never called in question. The early travellers, such
as Marco Polo and our own renowned Sir John Maundevile, pandered to the
popular taste, and what those chroniclers of 'grete merveyles' reported in
the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries was religiously believed in the
sixteenth, and hardly questioned even in the seventeenth. In the early
part of this period, indeed, it can scarcely be expected that the
multitude at least should have been disabused of the delusion, when the
existence of witchcraft was considered an essential part of the common
creed,--when a learned herald, like Guillim, could write a tirade against
"divellish witches that doe worke the destruction of silly infants, and
also of cattel,"--and when the supreme magistrate of these realms could
instigate the burning of deformed old women, and write treatises upon
"Daemonology," which, among other matters, taught his loyal and undoubting
subjects that these maleficae were wont to perform their infernal pranks by
means of circles, some of which were _square_, and others _triangular_! It
was reserved for the advancing light of the eighteenth century to break
the spell, and scatter these monsters to the winds. This, however, was not
to be done at once; for our grandfathers, and even our fathers, gathered
their knowledge of popular _natural_ history from a book which contained
minute descriptions of the _dragon_, 'adorned with cuts' of that
remarkable hexapede, for the edification of its admiring readers!
Under the category of Heraldric Monsters the following deserve especial
notice:--
The Allerion
Chimera
Cockatrice
Dragon
Griffin
Harpy
Lyon-Dragon
Lyon-Poisson
Mermaid
Montygre
Martlet
Opinicus
Pegasus
Sphinx
Sagittary
Satyr
Unicorn
Wyvern
Winged Lyon
Winged Bull.[117]
The _allerion_ is a fabulous bird without either beak or legs, described
by some writers as very small, like a martlet, while others give him the
size of an eagle. The name is derived from the circumstance of his being
destitute of all his extremities except the wings (ailles). Three such
birds, according to the chroniclers of the middle ages, were shot with an
arrow from a tower, by Godfrey of Boulogne, duke of Lorraine, at the siege
of Jerusalem, during the first crusade; and three allerions upon a bend,
in honour of that event, are borne as the arms of the duchy of Lorraine to
this day.[118]
The _chimera_ is, to use the words of Bossewell, "a beaste or monstre
hauing thre heades, one like a Lyon, an other like a Goate, the third like
a Dragon."[119]
The _cockatrice_[120] is a cock, with the wings and tail of a dragon. The
best account of him is given by Leigh: "Thys though he be but at ye most a
foote of length yet is he kyng of all serpentes[121] of whome they are
most afrayde and flee from. For with his breath and sight he sleath all
thynges that comme within a speare's length of him. He infecteth the water
that he commeth neare. His enemy is the wesell, who when he goeth to fight
with y{e} cockatrice eateth the herbe commonlye called Rewe, and so in
fight byting him he dyeth and the wesell therewith dyeth also. And though
the cockatrice be veneme withoute remedye whilest he liueth, yet when he
is dead and burnt to ashes, he loseth all his malice, and the ashes of him
are good for alkumistes, and namely, in turnyng and chaungeyng of
mettall." To this latter remark he adds, "I have not seene the proofe
thereof, and yet I have been one of Jeber's cokes."
The _dragon_ is usually depicted with a serpentine body, sharp ears, a
barbed tongue and tail, strong leathern wings armed with sharp points, and
four eagles' feet, strongly webbed; but there are many modifications of
this form. "Of fancy monsters, the winged, scaly, fiery dragon is by far
the most poetical fabrication of antiquity. To no word, perhaps, are
attached ideas more extraordinary, and of greater antiquity, than to that
of dragon. We find it consecrated by the religion of the earliest people,
and become the object of their mythology. It got mixed up with fable, and
poetry, and history, till it was universally believed, and was to be found
everywhere but in nature.[122] In our days nothing of the kind is to be
seen, excepting a harmless animal hunting its insects. The light of these
days has driven the fiery dragon to take refuge among nations not yet
visited by the light of civilization. The _draco volans_ is a small
lizard, and the only reptile possessing the capacity of flight. For this
purpose it is provided on each side with a membrane between the feet,
which unfolds like a fan at the will of the animal, enabling it to spring
from one tree to another while pursuing its food. It is a provision
similar to that of the flying squirrel, enabling it to take a longer
leap."[123] The annexed cut represents a _dragon volant_, as borne in the
arms of Raynon of Kent, and the _draco volans_ of the zoologists. A
fossil flying lizard has been found in the lias of Dorsetshire, which, to
employ the words of Professor Buckland, is "a monster resembling nothing
that has ever been seen or heard of upon earth, excepting the dragons of
romance and heraldry."
[Illustration]
Considering the hideous form and character of the dragon, it is somewhat
surprising to find him pourtrayed upon the banner and the shield as an
honourable distinction; unless he was employed by way of trophy of a
victory gained over some enemy, who might be symbolically represented in
this manner. The dragon often occurring at the feet of antient monumental
effigies is understood to typify _sin_, over which the deceased has now
triumphed; and the celebrated monster of this tribe slain by our patron
saint, St. George, was doubtless a figurative allusion to a certain
pestilent heresy which he vehemently resisted and rooted out. Favine, on
the Order of Hungary, remarks that the French historians speak of Philip
Augustus 'conquering the dragon' when he overcame Otho IV, who bore a
dragon as the standard of his empire.[124] It has been suggested that the
design of commanders in depicting monsters and wild beasts upon their
standards was to inspire the enemy with terror.[125]
[Illustration]
The dragon forms a part of the fictitious arms of King Arthur; and another
early British king bore the surname of =Pen-Dragon=, or the 'dragon's
head.' The standard of the West Saxon monarchs was a golden dragon in a
red banner. In the Bayeux tapestry a dragon on a pole repeatedly occurs
near the person of King Harold; and in the instance which is copied in the
margin, the words 'HIC HAROLD' are placed over it.[126] It was an early
badge of the Princes of Wales, and was also assumed at various periods by
our English monarchs. Henry III used it at the battle of Lewes in 1264.
"Symoun com to the feld,
And put up his banere;
The Kyng schewed forth his scheld,
His _Dragon_ fulle austere.
The Kyng said 'On hie,
Symon jeo vous defie!'"
_Robert Brunne._
"The order for the creation of this 'austere' beast," says Mr. Blaauw, "is
still extant. Edward Fitz-Odo, the king's goldsmith, was commanded, in
1244, to make it 'in the manner of a standard or ensign, of red samit,' to
be embroidered with gold, and his tongue to appear as though continually
moving, and his eyes of sapphire, or other stones agreeable to him."[127]
"Then was ther a Dragon grete and grimme,
Full of fyre and also venymme,
With a wide throte and tuskes grete."[128]
The dragon-standard must have been in high favour with commanders, for in
the same war we find it unfurled in the opposite cause by the leader of
the baronial party:
"When Sir Simoun wist the dome ageyn them gone,
His felonie forth thrist, somned his men ilkon,
Displaied his banere, lift up his Dragoun!"
_Robt. Brunne._
"When Sir Simon knew the judgment given against them, his wickedness burst
forth, he gathered all his men, displayed his banner, and lifted up his
Dragon."[129] The expression '_his_ dragon' must not be understood to
imply any peculiar right to the device, for the arms of De Montfort were
widely different, viz. 'Gules, a lion rampant, double queue, argent.' From
the indiscriminate use of the monster by different, and even by contending
parties, I should consider him merely as the emblem of defiance. The
Dragon must not be confounded with the usual pennon, or standard of an
army, as it was employed in addition to it. Matthew of Westminster,
speaking of the early battles of this country, says, "The king's place was
_between_ the Dragon and the standard."[130] Among the ensigns borne at
Cressy was a burning dragon, to show that the French were to receive
little mercy.[131] This dragon was of red silk, adorned and beaten with
very broad and fair lilies of gold, and bordered about with gold and
vermilion. The French frequently carried a red pennon, embroidered with a
dragon of gold. Our Henry VI caused a particular coin to be struck, the
reverse of which exhibited a banner charged with a demi-dragon, and a
black dragon was one of the badges of Edward IV. A red dragon was one of
the supporters of Henry VII, Henry VIII, and Elizabeth, whence the title,
Rouge-dragon, of one of the existing pursuivants in the College of Arms.
The _griffin_, or griphon, scarcely less famous than the dragon, was a
compound animal, having the head, wings, and feet of an eagle, with the
hinder part of a lion. He is thus described by Sir John Maundevile in the
26th chapter of his 'ryght merveylous' Travels:
"In that contree [Bacharie] ben many Griffounes, more plentee than in ony
other contree. Sum men seyn that thei han the body upward as an egle, and
benethe as a lyoun; and treuly thei seyn sothe that thei ben of that
schapp. But 0 Griffoun hathe the body more gret and more strong thane 8
lyouns, of such lyouns as ben o' this half (hemisphere); and more gret and
strongere than an 100 egles, suche as we han amonges us. For 0 Griffoun
there wil bere fleynge to his nest a gret hors, or 2 oxen yoked to gidere
as thei gon at the plowghe. For he hathe his talouns so longe and so large
and grete upon his feet, as thowghe thei weren hornes of grete oxen, or of
bugles or of kygn, so that men maken cuppes of hem to drynke of, and of
hire ribbes and of the pennes of hire wenges men maken bowes fulle stronge
to schote with arwes, and quarell."
Casley says that in the Cottonian Library there was a cup of the
description just referred to, four feet in length, and inscribed--
"=Griphi unguis divo Cuthberto Dunelmensi sacer=,"
a dedication which, I must confess, puzzles me sorely. A griffin's claw
and the 'saint-bishop' of Durham seem as absurd a combination of ideas as
that presented in the old proverbial phrase of 'Great A and a Bull's
Foot,' or by the tavern sign of 'The Goat and Compasses.' If wisdom,
according to classical authority, lies in a well, so does the wit of this
association. Another griffin's claw, curiously mounted on an eagle's leg
of silver, which came at the Revolution from the Treasury at St. Denis, is
preserved in the cabinet of antiquities in the King's Library at Paris.
Three such talons were formerly kept at Bayeux, and were fastened on high
days to the altar as precious relics! A 'corne de griffoun' is mentioned
in the Kalend. of Excheq. iii, 176. Another, about an ell in length, is
mentioned by Dr. Grew in his 'History of the Rarities of the Royal
Society,' p. 26. The Doctor thinks it the horn of a roebuck, or of the
_Ibex mas_. Leigh says that griffyns "are of a great hugenes, for I have a
clawe of one of their pawes, which should show them to be as bygge as
_two_ lyons." The egg was likewise preserved as a valuable curiosity, and
used as a goblet. "Item, j oef de griffon, garnis d'argent, od pie et
covercle." The griffin was assumed by the family of Le Dispenser, and the
upper part appears as the crest on the helm of Hugh le Dispenser, who was
buried at Tewkesbury in 1349. Another strikingly designed representation
of this curious animal is seen at Warwick, at the feet of Richard
Beauchamp, who died in 1439.[132]
The _harpy_, unusual in English armory, has the head and breasts of a
woman, with the body, legs, and wings of a vulture. This was a classical
monster. Guillim, imitating Virgil,[133] says:
"Of monsters all, most monstrous this; no greater wrath
God sends 'mongst men; it comes from depths of pitchy hell;
And virgin's face, but wombe like gulfe insatiate hath;
Her hands are griping clawes, her colour pale and fell."
The coat 'Azure, a harpy or,' was 'in Huntingdon church' in Guillim's
time.
The _lyon-dragon_ and the _lyon-poisson_ are compound monsters; the former
of a lion and a dragon, and the latter of a lion and a fish. These are of
very rare occurrence, as is also the _monk-fish_, or Sea Friar, which
Randle Holme tells us 'is a fish in form of a frier.' 'Such a monstrous
and wonderful fish,' he adds, 'was taken in Norway.'
The identity of the popular idea of the _mermaid_ with the classical
notion of the syren is shown in the following passage from Shakspeare:
"Thou rememberest
Since once I sat upon a promontory,
And heard a Mermaid on a dolphin's back
Uttering such dulcet and harmonious breath,
That the rude sea grew civil at her song."
And Brown, in his 'Vulgar Errours,' observes, "few eyes have escaped
[that] the picture of a Mermaid, with woman's head above, and fishy
extremity below, answers the shape of the antient syrens that attempted
upon Ulysses." The heraldric mermaid usually holds a mirror in her right
hand and a comb in her left. The existence of mermaids was religiously
believed not many ages since, and many accounts of their being captured
on the English coast occur in the writings of our old chroniclers, and
other retailers of marvels. The specimens exhibited of late years have
been pronounced ingenious combinations of the upper half of the ape with
the tail of a fish.
The montegre, manticora, or _man-tyger_, had the body of a lion (q.
tiger?), the head of an old man, and the horns of an ox. Some heralds, by
way of finish, give him dragon's feet.
Butler's well-known line,
"The herald's _martlet_ hath no legs,"
has rendered most readers aware of the singular defect of this otherwise
beautiful charge. Heraldric authors differ as to the identity of this
bird. Its being called in Latin blazon 'merula,' and in French 'merlotte,'
the diminutive of 'merle,' has induced some to consider it a blackbird;
while others, with greater plausibility, decide in favour of the common
house martin, the legs of which are so short and the wings so long that
when it alights upon the ground it cannot rise without great difficulty.
Hence originated the mistake of pourtraying it without legs, "and for this
cause," sagely observes Guillim, "it is also given for a _difference_ of
younger brethren to put them in minde to trust to their wings of vertue
and merit to raise themselves, and not to their legges, having but little
land to put their foot on."
The _opinicus_ differs slightly from the griffin, having four lion's legs
instead of two, and the tail is short like that of a camel. It is used as
the crest of the Barber-Chirurgeons Company. The _pegasus_ or winged-horse
ranks among the chimerical figures of heraldry borrowed from classical
fable, and is more frequently employed as a crest or supporter than as a
charge. The _sphinx_ occurs very rarely. The _satyr_ or satyral exhibits a
human face attached to the body of a lion, and has the horns and tail of
an antelope.
The _sagittary_ is the centaur of antiquity--half man, half horse, and is
said to have been assumed as the arms of king Stephen on account of the
great assistance he had received from the archers, and also because he had
entered the kingdom while the sun was in the sign Sagittarius. Sir John
Maundevile tells us that in Bacharie "ben many Ipotaynes, that dwellen
somtyme in the watre and somtyme on the lond; and thei ben half man and
half hors: and thei eten men _when they may take hem_"--an excellent
_gloss_ upon Mrs. _Glass_, 'First _catch_ your hare,' &c.[134]
The _unicorn_ is the most elegant of all these fanciful figures, and is
too well known as the sinister supporter of the royal arms to need any
description. Mr. Dallaway derives the heraldric unicorn from the spike
antiently fixed to the headpiece of a war-horse, and resembling a horn;
but as this does not account for the cloven hoofs and slender, tufted
tail, I should reverse the inference, and derive that appendage from the
popular notion of the unicorn.
The unicorn of antiquity was regarded as the emblem of strength; and as
the dragon was the guardian of wealth, so was the unicorn of chastity. His
horn was a test of poison, and in virtue of this peculiarity the other
beasts of the forest invested him with the office of water-'conner,' never
daring to taste the contents of any pool or fountain until the unicorn
had stirred the waters with his horn to ascertain if any wily serpent or
dragon had deposited his venom therein. Upton and Leigh detail the
'wonderful art' by which the unicorn is captured. "A mayde is set where he
haunteth, and she openeth her lappe, to whome the Vnicorne, as seeking
rescue from the force of the hunter, yeldeth his head and leaueth all his
fierceness, and resting himself vnder her protection, sleapeth vntyll he
is taken and slayne!"
The Hebrew _reem_ being rendered in our version of the Bible unicorn, has
confirmed the vulgar notion that the animal intended was the cloven-hoofed
and single-horned figure of heraldry; but there is nothing in the word
sanctioning the idea that the animal was single-horned; and on referring
to the passages in which the term is introduced, the only one which is
quite distinct on this point seems clearly to intimate that the animal had
_two_ horns. That passage is Deut. xxxiii, 17. 'His horns are like the
_horns_ of the reem;' the word here is singular, not plural, and should
have been 'unicorn,' not 'unicorns,' in our version.[135] It has lately
been attempted to prove that the reem of Scripture was the animal now
known as the nhyl-gau.[136] Reem is translated in the Septuagint by
'[Greek: monokeros],' which is exactly equivalent to our unicorn. If a
one-horned animal be contended for, the rhinoceros is the only one now
known that is entitled to the attribute of _unicornity_. Leigh declares
the unicorn of our science to be a mortal foe to elephants, and such,
according to zoologists, is the character of the rhinoceros. These two
are, however, the only points of resemblance; for while the unicorn of
heraldry is of light and elegant symmetry, the rhinoceros of the African
deserts is an animal so clumsy and ponderous that it has been known to
require eight men to lift the head of one into a cart.[137]
The _wyvern_ is one of the most usual of this description of charges. It
is represented as a kind of flying serpent, the upper part resembling a
dragon with two fore legs, and the lower part a snake or adder. The name
is derived from the Anglo-Saxon 'wivere,' a serpent.
The bull and the lion with the wings of an eagle occasionally occur in
continental armory, but I do not recollect an instance of either in
English heraldry. The winged lion is the achievement of the city of
Venice.
The foregoing enumeration of heraldric monsters includes all that are
generally borne, and even some that scarcely ever occur; but Randle Holme,
in his 'Academy of Armory,' figures and describes a multitude of others,
some of which I strongly suspect to have been the offspring of his own
prolific fancy. The triple-headed Cerberus was borne, this writer tells
us, by the name of _Goaler_, while another family bore 'the scarlet beast
of the bottomless pit:' ensigns of _honour_, truly!
What shall we say of
The _Nependis_, or ape-hog, half ape, half swine;
The _Minocane_, or _Homocane_, half child, half spaniel dog;
The _Lamya_, a compound of a woman, a dragon, a lyon, a goat, a dog, and
a horse;
The Dragon-tyger, and Dragon-wolf;
The Lyon-wyvern;
The Winged Satyr-fish;
The Cat-fish and Devil-fish;
The Ass-bittern (the arms of Mr. Asbitter!)
The Ram-eagle;
The Falcon-fish with a hound's ear;
and
The 'Wonderfull Pig of the Ocean?'
_From Holme's Academy of Armory._
[Illustration: Ram-eagle.]
[Illustration: Cat-fish.]
[Illustration: Ass-bittern.]