Crests, Supporters, Badges, etc.
[Illustration: (Gilderedge. Bourchier. Exmew.)]
Hitherto our attention has been principally directed to the escocheon and
its charges. It now remains to treat of those heraldric ornaments which
surround the shield, as crests, helmets, wreaths, mantlings, supporters,
scrolls, mottoes, and badges: and first, of crests, and their
accompaniments.
Every one must have remarked that when the heraldric insignia of a family
are represented in full, the shield or escocheon is surmounted with a
helmet, the antient covering for the warrior's head. These helmets are
drawn according to certain fixed rules. Although their general shapes are
as various and fanciful as those of shields, their positions, &c. are
regulated by the rank of the bearers: for instance, the sovereign's
helmet is of gold, full faced, and open, with six bars; that of dukes is
of steel, placed a little in profile, and defended with five gold bars;
that of baronets and knights is of steel, full-faced, the visor up, and
without bars; and that of esquires and gentlemen is also of steel with the
visor down, ornamented with gold, and placed in profile. According to some
authors, the helmets of bastards should be turned to the sinister or left
side, to denote their illegitimacy.[166]
Upon the top of the helmet is the _wreath_, which was originally a kind of
chaplet surrounding the warrior's head. It was composed of two bands, or
skeins of silk twisted together and tinctured of the principal metal and
colour of the arms. The wreath is used in the majority of bearings, but
occasionally a ducal coronet or a chapeau occurs instead.[167] From this
ornament, whether wreath, chapeau, or coronet, rises the CREST.
The word crest appears to be derived from the Latin _crista_, the comb or
tuft which grows upon the heads of many species of birds. The idea, as
well as the name, was doubtless borrowed from this source. The crest was
sometimes called a COGNIZANCE from cognosco, because by its means the
wearer was _known_ or distinguished on the field of battle.
Crests were originally worn by military commanders upon the apices of
their helmets as the proud distinction of their rank; and, by adding to
their apparent stature, served to give them a formidable aspect. They also
enabled their soldiers to rally round their persons, and to follow their
movements in the confusion of the battle. The tall plumes of birds, human
heads, and figures of animals in a rampant posture, seem to have been
among the earliest devices made use of.
The antiquity of crests for the uses above referred to, is far greater
than that of the introduction of heraldry. The helmets of the divinities
and heroes of the classical era are thus decorated. The owl on that of
Minerva may be cited as an example. Jupiter Ammon is represented as having
borne, as a crest, a ram's head, which Alexander the Great adopted in
token of his pretended descent from that deity. The use of crests by
antient warriors is alluded to by Phaedrus in his fable of the battle of
the mice and weasels, where the generals of the former party are
represented as wearing horns fastened to their heads:
"Ut conspicuum in praelio
Haberent signum quod sequerentur milites."
_Fab. LIII._
In heraldry, the adoption of crests is modern compared with that of
coat-armour,[168] and many families at the present time have no crests.
This is easily accounted for. We have seen that they were at first used
exclusively by commanders. In time, however, the spirit of imitation led
persons of inferior rank to assume those of their feudal superiors; and
hence far less regularity is found in the heraldry of crests than in that
of coat-armour. In many cases crests have been borrowed from one or other
of the charges of the shield: hence if the coat contain a lion rampant,
the crest is frequently a demi, or half lion, or a lion's head; and should
three or six eagles occupy the shield, another eagle often serves as a
crest.
With respect to the material of which the actual crests were composed,
some assert that it was leather, or pasteboard stiffened and varnished, to
preserve it from the wet; but the few that I have had an opportunity of
inspecting are composed of more substantial materials. Thus the crest of
one of the Echingham family, 'a demi-lion rampant,' on a helmet preserved
in Echingham church, co. Sussex, is of wood, and that of a knight of the
Pelham family in Laughton church, in the same county, 'a peacock in his
pride,' is of iron.
The crests engraved at the head of this chapter have been selected on
account of their singularity.[169]
The flourished ornament behind the crest, and which is often made to
encompass the entire armorial insignia, was originally either a mantle of
estate, worn when the warrior was not actually engaged in battle, and
tinctured of the metal and colour of his arms,[170] or from the
_lambrequin_, a small piece of cloth or silk employed to protect the
helmet from rain, as well as to prevent the polished steel from dazzling
the eyes of the spectator. The jags and flourishes are conjectured to
represent the cuts which a valiant knight would receive in battle; and
hence the extravagant fashion of painting these mantlings was probably
intended as a compliment to the prowess of the bearer.
SUPPORTERS are those figures which stand on each side of the escocheon,
and appear to support, or hold it up. In Latin blazon they are termed
Talamones and Atlantes, and in French _supports_ or _tenans_. As crests
are more recent than coat-armour, so supporters are of later date than
crests.
Menestrier, the great classic of French heraldric literature, deduces the
origin of supporters from the antient tournaments, at which it was
customary for the knights who engaged in those chivalrous exercises to
have shields of their arms adorned with helmets, mantlings, wreaths,
crests, and other ornamental appendages suspended near the lists. These
were guarded by pages and armour-bearers fantastically attired as
Saracens, Moors, Giants, and Mermaids, or disguised with skins to resemble
lions, bears, and other animals. The figures adopted in this kind of
masquerade became afterwards the supporters of the family achievement.
As I have not had the good fortune to read Menestrier's work, and only
know it through quotations, I am unable to ascertain by what arguments and
proofs his hypothesis is strengthened; but I may be allowed to express my
doubts as to this picturesque origin of supporters. The account of it
given by Anstis, in his Aspilogia, appears to me to be far more probable:
"As to supporters, they were (I take it) _the invention of the graver_,
who, in cutting, on seals, shields of arms, which were in a triangular
form and placed on a circle, finding a vacant place at each side and also
at the top of the shield, thought it an ornament to fill up the spaces
with vine branches, garbs, trees, flowers, plants, ears of corn, feathers,
fretwork, lions, wiverns, or some other animals, according to their
fancy.[171]
"If supporters had been esteemed formerly (as at this time) the marks and
ensigns of nobility, there could be no doubt but there would have been
then, as now, particular supporters appropriated to each nobleman,
exclusive of all others; whereas, in the seals of noblemen affixed to a
paper wrote to the Pope, in the year 1300, the shields of arms of
twenty-seven of them are in the same manner supported (if that term may be
used) on each side by a wivern, and seven of the others by lions; that of
John de Hastings hath the same wivern on each side of his shield of arms,
and also on the space over it; in the manner as is the lion in the seals
of Hache, Beauchamp, and De Malolacu. The seals of Despencer, Basset, and
Baddlesmere, pendent to the same instrument, have each two wiverns, or
dragons, for supporters; and that of Gilbert de Clare, three lions, placed
in the form above mentioned. The promiscuous usage of wiverns to fill the
blank in the seals is obvious to all who are concerned in these matters.
"But what is a stronger argument is, that the same sort of supporters as
those here mentioned is placed in the seals of divers persons whose
families were never advanced to the peerage, and who, not styling
themselves knights, doubtless were not bannerets; persons of which degree
(if I mistake not) now claim supporters during their lives, as well as
knights of the Garter, and some great officers of state. Instances of
this kind are often met with; nay, the engraver hath frequently indulged
his fancy so far as to insert figures which do not seem proper, according
to the present notion of supporters to arms; as two swords on each side
the arms of Sir John de Harcla; and St. George fighting with the Dragon on
one side, and the Virgin with Our Saviour in her arms on the other side,
of a seal affixed to a deed executed by Lord Ferrers, whose arms, on the
impress of a seal pendent to a deed, dated 17th May, 9{o} Henry VI, have
not any supporters. This, as well as many other omissions of supporters,
by many noblemen, in their old seals, seems likely to imply that they were
not the right of the nobility exclusive of others.
"When supporters were first assumed, if there were two on one seal, they
were generally the same; but sometimes there was only one, and sometimes
three, as may be seen on various seals.
"The manner of placing these supporters was also very different; as
sometimes, when the shield lay on the side, the supporters have been
placed so as to seem to be supporting the crest, as appears in the seal of
the Earl of Arundel, in which seal there is not any coronet. Some were
placed all standing one way; and, if but one, it was placed sometimes on
one side of the shield of arms, and sometimes on the other: sometimes,
again, it was placed at the bottom, and the arms set on it; and sometimes
behind, with the arms against it, and the head above the shield, and in a
helmet, as in the seal of William, Lord Fitz-Hugh, 12th Henry VI."
From a MS. of Wingfeld, York Herald, deposited in the College of Arms, it
appears that many families below the rank of nobility antiently used
supporters, and it is asserted that the descendants of persons who used
them have a right to perpetuate them, however they were acquired. Many
examples are cited of commoners having used supporters from an early
period: some in virtue of high offices, as those of Lords Warden of the
Cinque Ports; Comptrollers of the Household, &c.; others without any such
qualification, as, for instance, the Coverts of Sussex, the St. Legers of
Kent, the Carews of Surrey, the Savages of Cheshire, the Pastons of
Norfolk, &c. In the hall at Firle Place, co. Sussex, are the arms of Sir
John Gage, Comptroller of the Household to Queen Mary, supported by two
greyhounds. The descendants of that gentleman, long afterwards elevated to
the peerage by the title of Viscount Gage, continue to use the same
supporters. A few other instances of such resumption occur.
By a singular anomaly the Baronets of Nova Scotia are allowed by their
patents of creation to carry supporters, while the English Baronets, their
superiors both in dignity and antiquity, have not that privilege. Some of
these, however, as well as distinguished naval and military commanders,
have, at various times, received the royal license to use them.
I have attempted, in vain, to collect an authentic list of the supporters
of the royal arms of England from the time of Edward III, when, according
to some authors, they were first assumed. There are discrepances in the
authorities which are not easily accounted for. They are seldom agreed
upon those of any early sovereign. For example, Berry gives Richard II a
lion and a hart; Fosbroke says, _two angels_, and makes him the first king
who adopted supporters. Henry IV, according to Nisbet, had two angels;
Dallaway says, a lion and an antelope; and Sandford, a swan and an
antelope! To Henry V, Nisbet assigns two antelopes, while Willement, out
of Broke, gives him the lion and antelope. The probability is that all
parties are right, each having reference to a particular instance in which
the respective supporters are employed. One thing is certain, that while
the colours and charges of the shield have remained unchanged from a very
early date, the supporters have experienced many vicissitudes. Edward IV
changed his supporters at least three times; and until the reign of James
I, when the lion and unicorn became stationary, the royal supporters do
not seem to have been regarded as part of the _hereditary_ ensigns of the
kingdom.[172]
I shall only add on this subject some extraordinary fashions in the use of
supporters. I am inclined to think that these adjuncts to arms originated,
partly, in the corbels of Gothic architecture, on which shields are
frequently supported in the hands of angels.[173] Numerous instances of
this kind occur in antient churches and halls built in the decorated
style. Sometimes these angels are vested in terrene habiliments, as in the
annexed cut, from a drawing of a sculptured stone among the ruins of
Robertsbridge Abbey.
[Illustration]
Shields of arms are sometimes supported by a single animal, as in the case
of the arms of Prussia, where an eagle with two heads performs that duty.
Several instances of arms borne upon the breast of an eagle are found in
English heraldry: the following occur to my recollection, namely, those
of Richard Earl of Cornwall, brother of Henry III,[174] those of the
Lathams of Latham, in the fourteenth century,[175] and those of John le
Bray, on his seal attached to a deed dated 1327.[176] A curious instance
of this kind of supporter occurs in the arms of the lord of the manor of
Stoke-Lyne, co. Oxon. The figure employed in this case is neither angel
nor eagle, but a hawk. When Charles I held his parliament at Oxford, the
then lord of Stoke-Lyne having rendered him an important service, the king
offered him the honour of knighthood, which he gratefully declined, and
merely requested the royal permission to place the arms of his family upon
the breast of a hawk. This being granted, the lords of the manor have ever
since employed a hawk displayed as their supporter.[177]
[Illustration]
There is another species of supporter, the use of which seems to have been
almost restricted to the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and which is
seldom noticed in our books of heraldry. The arms are represented upon a
banner, the staff of which is supported by an animal in a rampant, or,
more usually, in a sejant, posture. The arms of Sir Roger Fynes, Treasurer
of the Household to Henry VI, are thus represented over the great gate of
Hurstmonceux castle, built by him. The supporter is the _alaunt_, or
wolf-dog,[178] and the scroll round the pole seems to have contained a
motto, which is now illegible.
Some very singular supporters occur in French heraldry. Under the _ancien
regime_ the arms of most of the great officers of state were supported by
ensigns emblematical of their various duties; for example--
_Officers._ _Supporters._
The Admiral of France bore Two anchors.
Vice-Admiral, One anchor in pale behind the
shield.
Great Huntsman, Two bugles at the dext. and sin.
bases of the shield.
Grand Master of Artillery, Two mounted cannons at ditto.
Grand Marshal, At the base of the shield a cloud,
from the dexter side of which
proceeds a hand holding a
sword in pale, and from the
sinister, another hand holding
a baton of office.
Grand Louvetier, Two wolves' heads at the base
(Wolf-hunter,) corners of the shield.
Grand Esquire, Two swords in pale with sashes.
Grand Butler, Two bottles ornamented with the
royal arms.
[Illustration]
The most singular supporters, perhaps, in the whole circle of heraldry are
those of the noble French family of Albret. Two lions couchant, wearing
helmets, support the lower part of the shield, and, above, are two eagles,
each standing with one foot upon the head of the lion, while with the
other he holds the upper part of the escocheon. The French armorists make
a distinction between _supports_ and _tenans_: in this instance the lions
are known by the former term, and the eagles by the latter.
Mottoes will form the subject of a short separate chapter: it therefore
only remains, in this brief view of extra-scutal insignia, to notice
BADGES.
Some families, as has already been observed, have no crests; a still
greater number have no mottoes; and supporters belong to an exclusive few.
Badges are still more unusual, and in modern times it would perhaps be a
matter of difficulty to enumerate twenty families who use them.
_Badge_, in its ordinary acceptation, signifies the mark or token of any
thing; thus we are accustomed to call fetters the _badge_ of slavery, and
a plain gold ring the _badge_ of matrimony; and thus in a figurative, or
moral sense, Shakspeare says,
"Sweet mercy is nobility's true _badge_."
The word is of uncertain etymology. Junius derives it from 'bode,' or
'bade,' a messenger, and supposes it to be a _contractio per crasin_ from
'badage,' the credential of a messenger. Skinner and Minsheu, again,
deduce it from 'bagghe,' Dutch, a jewel, or from 'bague,' French, a ring.
But Johnson, with more reason, considers it a derivative of the Latin
'_bajulo_,' to carry.
"But on his breast a bloody cross he bore,
The dear resemblance of his dying lord;
For whose sweet sake that glorious _badge_ he wore."
_Spenser._
In heraldry, _badges_ are a kind of subsidiary arms used to commemorate
family alliances, or some territorial rights or pretensions.[179]
Sometimes, also, and perhaps more generally, they serve as trophies of
some remarkable exploit achieved by an ancestor of the bearer. In the
feudal ages most baronial families had their peculiar badges, and their
dependents were recognized by having them embroidered upon their sleeves
or breasts. They were generally placed upon a ground tinctured of the
livery colours of the family.[180] Something analogous to this fashion is
retained in the crest which adorns the buttons of our domestic servants,
and still more so in the badges by which the firemen and watermen of
London are distinguished. Badges were also employed in various other ways,
as, for example, on the furniture of houses, on robes of state, on the
caparisons of horses, on seals, and in the details of gothic edifices. An
instance of the various applications of the badge of one noble family has
been familiar to me from childhood--the Buckle, the badge assumed by Sir
John de Pelham in commemoration of his having been principally concerned
in the capture of John, king of France, at the battle of Poictiers.[181]
This trophy occurs, as an appendage to the family _arms_, into which it is
also introduced as a quartering; on the _ecclesiastical buildings_ of
which the family were founders, or to which they were benefactors;[182] on
the architectural ornaments of their _mansions_ at Laughton, Halland, &c.;
on antient _seals_; as the _sign of an inn_ near their estate at
Bishopstone, &c.; and among the humbler uses to which the BUCKLE has been
applied may be mentioned the decoration of the cast-iron chimney-backs in
the farmhouses on the estate, the embellishment of milestones, and even
the marking of sheep. Throughout the whole of that part of eastern Sussex
over which the Pelham influence extends there is no 'household word' more
familiar than the =Pelham Buckle=.[183]
The following are the badges of a few other antient families:
The Lords Hungerford used a golden garb, which seems to have been taken
from the arms of the Peverells, whose co-heiress married William Lord
Hungerford, temp. Henry V. They were 'Azure, three garbs or.'
Edward Lord Hastings, who married the grand-daughter and heiress of the
peer just named, bore on his standard the garb with a sickle--another
badge of the Hungerfords--united by a golden cord.
John de Willoughby de Eresby, temp. Edward III, used two buckles, which he
probably borrowed from the arms of his wife, the heiress of Roceline:
'Gules, crusily and three buckles argent.'
One of the Nevilles, Lords Bergavenny, bore two badges: first, two staples
interlaced, one gold, the other silver; and second, a fret gold: these
occur on a tomb at Mereworth, co. Kent.[184]
[Illustration]
The badge of the Lords Dacre was an escallop united to a ragged staff, as
in the margin.
The family of Parr used a tuft of daisies; and the Percies a silver
crescent:
"The minstrels of thy noble house,
All clad in robes of blue,
With silver crescents on their arms,
Attend in order due."
_Hermit of Warkworth._
In the 'Rising of the North Countrie' this badge and the _dun bull_ of the
Nevilles are mentioned. Of the latter we are told:
"Lord Westmoreland his ancyent raysde,
The _dun bull_ he rays'd on hye,
And three dogs with golden collars,
Were there set out most royallye."[185]
[Illustration]
Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk, used the punning device of lions and
_mulberry_-trees; and Vere, Earl of Oxford, a long-necked silver bottle,
with a blue cord, allusive to his hereditary post of lord high
chamberlain.
Sometimes these insignia answered the double purpose of the crest and the
badge. Some badges, however, as Mr. M. remarks, are not at all suitable
for crests. This applies particularly to _Knots_, which were composed
either of silk, or of gold and silver lace, and were antiently a favourite
species of badge. The families of Harrington, Wake, Bouchier, Stafford,
Heneage, and others, each bore a peculiar knot.
The regal heraldry of this country is peculiarly rich in badges. Mr.
Montagu has, with great research, compiled a nearly perfect list of them
from William Rufus to James I, to which the reader who desires further
information on this subject is referred.[186] Meantime I shall notice a
few of the most celebrated.
The broom-plant, or _planta-genesta_, was introduced by Henry II. From
this badge the illustrious line of Plantagenet derived their surname. The
story of its origin, be it true or false, is well known.
The first monarch who assumed the rose was Edward I, who bore the flower
or, the stalk green. From this, in some way as yet unexplained, probably
originated the white and red roses of his descendants, the rival houses of
York and Lancaster. Richard II adopted the white hart and white falcon,
both of which afterwards became the titles of pursuivants. The white swan
of Henry IV is said to have been derived from the Bohuns, Earls of
Hereford, the family of his first wife. The double S,[187] concerning
which so much conjecture has been wasted, was another badge of this
monarch.
"The device of Margaret of Anjou, Queen of Henry VI, was a daisy, in
allusion to her name:
'The daise a floure white and rede,
In French called la belle Margarete.'
_Chaucer._"
The extensive use of badges by the retainers of princes is shown by the
order of Richard III for the making of thirteen thousand _boars_ "wrought
upon fustian," to be used at his coronation.
The rose and portcullis are amongst the most familiar of royal badges.
These were used by the Tudors. The Tudor rose was a blending of the white
and red roses of the two factions, united in this line of sovereigns. The
portcullis came originally from the family of Beaufort. James I combined
the dexter half of the Tudor rose with the sinister moiety of the Scottish
thistle, ensigned with a crown. At present, when the badges of the three
kingdoms are represented with the royal arms, little attention is paid to
heraldric propriety. The rose, shamrock, and thistle are figured, not
_secundum artem_, but according to the fancy of the painter.
Henry VIIIth's regard to heraldric matters is shown by his giving to
pieces of ordnance names corresponding with the titles borne by the
officers of arms.[188] This is further exemplified by the names he gave
the ships composing his fleet, as Hart, Antelope, Tegar, and Dragon. The
smaller vessels were mostly distinguished by the names of the royal
badges, such as the Fawcon and Fetterlock, Portquilice, Hynde,
Double-Rose, Hawthorn,[189] &c.[190] Some of these badges are still
retained as signs of inns, particularly the Swan and White-Hart, both of
which should be ducally gorged and chained, though these appendages, from
the ignorance of sign-painters, are frequently omitted.
[Illustration: (Abbot Islip's Rebus, vide p. 125)]