PEEPS AT HERALDRY
AGENTS
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[Illustration: PLATE 1.
HERALD, SHOWING TABARD ORIGINALLY WORN OVER MAIL ARMOUR.]
[Illustration:
PEEPS AT HERALDRY
BY
PH[OE]BE ALLEN
CONTAINING 8 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS
IN COLOUR AND NUMEROUS LINE
DRAWINGS IN THE TEXT
LONDON
ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK
1912
]
TO MY COUSIN
ELIZABETH MAUD ALEXANDER
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. AN INTRODUCTORY TALK ABOUT HERALDRY 1
II. THE SHIELD--ITS FORM, POINTS, AND TINCTURES 8
III. DIVISIONS OF THE SHIELD 16
IV. THE BLAZONING OF ARMORIAL BEARINGS 24
V. COMMON OR MISCELLANEOUS CHARGES 31
VI. ANIMAL CHARGES 39
VII. ANIMAL CHARGES (CONTINUED) 47
VIII. ANIMAL CHARGES (CONTINUED) 56
IX. INANIMATE OBJECTS AS CHARGES 63
X. QUARTERING AND MARSHALLING 70
XI. FIVE COATS OF ARMS 74
XII. PENNONS, BANNERS, AND STANDARDS 80
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PLATE
1. HERALD SHOWING TABARD, ORIGINALLY WORN
OVER MAIL ARMOUR _frontispiece_
FACING PAGE
2. THE DUKE OF LEINSTER 8
Arms: Arg. saltire gu.
Crest: Monkey statant ppr., environed
round the loins and chained or.
Supporters: Two monkeys environed
and chained or.
Motto: Crom a boo.
3. MARQUIS OF HERTFORD 16
Arms: Quarterly, 1st and 4th, or on a pile
gu., between 6 fleurs-de-lys az., 3 lions
passant guardant in pale or; 2nd and 3rd gu.,
2 wings conjoined in lure or. Seymour.
Crest: Out of a ducal coronet or a ph[oe]nix
ppr.
Supporters: Two blackamoors.
Motto: Fide et amore.
4. THE EARL OF SCARBOROUGH 41
Arms: Arg. a fesse gu. between 3 parrots vert,
collared of the second.
Crest: A pelican in her piety.
Supporters: Two parrots, wings inverted vert.
Motto: Murus aëneus conscientia sana.
5. BARON HAWKE 48
Arms: Arg. a chevron erminois between three
pilgrim's staves purpure.
Crest: A hawk, wings displayed and inverted
ppr., belled and charged on the breast with
a fleur-de-lys or.
Supporters: Dexter, Neptune; sinister, a
sea-horse.
Motto: Strike.
6. SIR WILLIAM HERSCHEL 73
Arms: Arg. on mount vert, representation of
the 40 feet reflecting telescope with its
apparatus ppr., on a chief az., the
astronomical symbol of Uranus irradiated or.
Crest: A demi-terrestrial sphere ppr.,
thereon an eagle, wings elevated or.
Motto: C[oe]lis exploratis.
7. THE FLAGS OF GREAT BRITAIN 80
(1) The Union Jack, (2) The Royal Standard.
8. A CRUSADER IN MAIL ARMOUR _on the cover_
_Also fifty-five small black and white illustrations
throughout the text._
"... The noble science once
The study and delight of every gentleman."
"And thus the story
Of great deeds was told."
PEEPS AT HERALDRY
CHAPTER I
AN INTRODUCTORY TALK ABOUT HERALDRY
What is heraldry?
The art of heraldry, or armoury, as the old writers called it,
consists in blazoning the arms and telling the descent and history
of families by certain pictorial signs. Thus from age to age an
authenticated register of genealogies has been kept and handed on from
generation to generation. The making and keeping of these records have
always been the special duty of a duly appointed herald.
Perhaps you think that explanation of heraldry sounds rather dull, but
you will soon find out that very much that is interesting and amusing,
too, is associated with the study of armorial bearings.
For heraldry, which, you know, was reckoned as one of the prime
glories of chivalry, is the language that keeps alive the golden deeds
done in the world, and that is why those who have once learnt its
secrets are always anxious to persuade others to learn them too.
"Although," says the old writer, Montague; "our ancestors were little
given to study, they held a knowledge of heraldry to be indispensable,
because they considered that it was the outward sign of the spirit of
chivalry and the index also to a lengthy chronicle of doughty deeds."
Now, it is in a language that is all its own that heraldry tells its
stories, and it is unlike any other in which history has been written.
This language, as expressed in armorial bearings, contains no words,
no letters, even, for signs and devices do the work of words, and very
well they do it. And as almost every object, animate and inanimate,
under the sun was used to compose this alphabet, we shall find as we
go on that not only are the sun, moon and stars, the clouds and the
rainbow, fountains and sea, rocks and stones, trees and plants of all
kinds, fruits and grain, pressed into the service of this heraldic
language, but that all manner of living creatures figure as well in
this strange alphabet, from tiny insects, such as bees and flies and
butterflies, to the full-length representations of angels, kings,
bishops, and warriors. Mythical creatures--dragons and cockatrices,
and even mermaidens--have also found their way into heraldry, just
as we find traditions and legends still lingering in the history of
nations, like the pale ghosts of old-world beliefs.
And as though heavenly bodies and plants and animals were not
sufficient for their purpose, heralds added yet other "letters"
to their alphabet in the shape of crowns, maces, rings, musical
instruments, ploughs, scythes, spades, wheels, spindles, lamps, etc.
Each of these signs, as you can easily understand, told a story of its
own, as did also the towers, castles, arches, bridges, bells, cups,
ships, anchors, hunting-horns, spears, bows, arrows, and many other
objects, which, with their own special meaning, we shall gradually
find introduced into the language of heraldry.
But perhaps by now you are beginning to wonder how you can possibly
learn one-half of what all these signs are meant to convey, but
you will not wonder about that long, for heraldry has its own
well-arranged grammar, and grammar, as you know, means fixed rules
which are simple guides for writing or speaking a language correctly.
Moreover, happily both for teacher and learner, the fish and birds and
beasts (as well as all the other objects we have just mentioned) do
not come swarming on to our pages in shoals and flocks and herds, but
we have to do with them either singly or in twos and threes.
Now, even those people who know nothing about heraldry are quite
familiar with the term, "a coat of arms." They know, too, that it
means the figure of a shield, marked and coloured in a variety of
ways, so as to be distinctive of individuals, families, etc.
But why do we speak of it as a _coat_ of arms when there is nothing to
suggest such a term?
I will tell you.
In the far-away days of quite another age, heraldry was so closely
connected with warlike exploits, and its signs and tokens were so much
used on the battle-field to distinguish friends from foes, that each
warrior wore his own special badge, embroidered on the garment or
_surcoat_ which covered his armour, as well as, later on, upon the
shield which he carried into battle.
And this reminds us of the poor Earl of Gloucester's fate at the
Battle of Bannockburn. For, having forgotten to put on his surcoat, he
was slain by the enemy, though we are told that "the _Scottes_ would
gladly have kept him for a ransom had they only recognized him for the
Earl, but he had forgot to put on his coat of armour!"
On the other hand, we have good reason to remember that the "flower of
knighthood," Sir John Chandos, lost _his_ life because he _did_ wear
his white sarcenet robe emblazoned with his arms. For it was because
his feet became entangled in its folds (as Froissart tells us) in his
encounter with the French on the Bridge of Lussac, that he stumbled
on the slippery ground on that early winter's morning, and thus was
quickly despatched by the enemy's blows.
"Now, the principal end for which these signs were first taken up and
put in use," says Guillim, "was that they might serve as notes and
marks to distinguish tribes, families and particular persons from the
other. Nor was this their only use. They also served to describe the
nature, quality, and disposition of their bearer."
Sir G. Mackenzie goes farther, and declares that heraldry was
invented, or, at any rate, kept up, for two chief purposes:
_First_, in order to perpetuate the memory of great actions and noble
deeds. _Secondly_, that governors might have the means of encouraging
others to perform high exploits by rewarding their deserving subjects
by a cheap kind of immortality. (To our ears that last sentence sounds
rather disrespectful to the honour of heraldry.)
Thus, for example, King Robert the Bruce gave armorial bearings to
the House of Wintoun, which represented a falling crown supported by
a sword, to show that its members had supported the crown in its
distress, while to one Veitch he gave a bullock's head, "to _remember_
posterity" that the bearer had succoured the King with food in
bringing some bullocks to the camp, when he was in want of provisions.
Some derive their names as well as their armorial bearings from some
great feat that they may have performed. Thus:
"The son of Struan Robertson for killing of a wolf in Stocket Forest
by a durk--dirk--in the King's presence, got the name of Skein, which
signifies a dirk in Irish, and three durk points in pale for his
arms."
We shall meet with numbers of other instances in heraldry where
armorial bearings were bestowed upon the ancestors of their present
bearers for some special reason, which is thereby commemorated.
Indeed, it is most interesting and amusing to collect the legends as
well as the historical facts which explain the origin and meaning of
different coats of arms.
Here are a few instances of some rather odd charges. (A charge is the
heraldic term given to any object which is _charged_, or represented,
on the shield of a coat of arms.)
To begin with the Redman family:
They bear three pillows, the origin of which Guillim explains--viz.:
"This coat of arms is given to the Redman family for this reason:
Having been challenged to single combat by a stranger, and the day and
the place for that combat having been duly fixed, Redman being more
forward than his challenger, came so early to the place that he fell
asleep in his tent, whilst waiting for the arrival of his foe.
"The people being meanwhile assembled and the hour having struck, the
trumpets sounded to the combat, whereupon Redman, suddenly awakening
out of his sleep, ran furiously upon his adversary and slew him. And
so the pillows were granted to him as armorial bearings, to remind all
men of the doughty deed which he awakened from sleep to achieve."
In many cases the charges on a coat of arms reflect the name or the
calling of the bearer.
When this happens they are called "allusive" arms, sometimes also
"canting," which latter word is a literal translation of the French
term, _armes chantantes_, although, as a matter of fact, _armes
parlantes_ is a more usual term. Here are some examples of allusive
arms.
The Pyne family bear three pineapples, the Herrings bear three
herrings, one, Camel of Devon, bears a camel _passant_; the Oxendens
bear three oxen; Sir Thomas Elmes bears five elm-leaves; three soles
figure on the coat of arms of the Sole family, and to the description
of the last armorial charge, old Guillim quaintly adds:
"By the delicateness of his taste, the sole hath gained the name of
the partridge of the sea."
The arms of the Abbot of Ramsey furnish, perhaps, one of the most
glaring examples of canting heraldry, for on his shield a ram is
represented struggling in the sea!
On the shield of the Swallow family we find the mast of a ship with
all its rigging disappearing between the capacious jaws of a whale,
whilst the Bacons bear a boar.
But whoever designed the coat of arms of a certain Squire Malherbe
must have surely been in rather a spiteful mood, and certainly had a
turn for punning. For on that gentleman's shield we find three leaves
of the stinging-nettle boldly charged!
In the armorial bearings of the Butler family we see allusion made to
their calling in the charge of three covered cups, which commemorates
the historical fact that the ancestor of the present Marquis of
Ormonde, Theobald Walter by name, was made Chief Butler of Ireland
by Henry II. in 1171, an office which was held by seven successive
generations of the Ormonde family. The family of Call charge _their_
shield very appropriately with three silver trumpets.
The Foresters bear bugle horns; the Trumpingtons, three trumpets.
Three eel-spears were borne by the family of Strathele, this being
the old name given to a curious fork, set in a long wooden handle, and
used by fishermen to spear the eels in mud.
The Graham Briggs charge a bridge upon their coat of arms.
A tilting spear was granted as his armorial bearings to William
Shakespeare, which he bore as a single charge; a single spear was also
borne appropriately by one Knight of Hybern.
As a last example of allusive arms, we may quote a comparatively
modern example--viz., the coat of arms of the Cunard family.
Here we find three anchors charged upon the field, in obvious allusion
to Sir Samuel Cunard, the eminent merchant of Philadelphia and the
founder of the House of Cunard.