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* * * * *
THE ARTISTIC CRAFTS SERIES
OF TECHNICAL HANDBOOKS
EDITED BY W. R. LETHABY
HERALDRY
[Illustration: BANNER OF THE ARMS OF KING GEORGE THE FIFTH.]
HERALDRY FOR
CRAFTSMEN & DESIGNERS
BY W. H. ST. JOHN HOPE
LITT.D., D.C.L., WITH DIAGRAMS
BY THE AUTHOR AND
NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS
COLOURED LITHOGRAPHS
AND COLLOTYPE REPRODUCTIONS
FROM ANCIENT
EXAMPLES
PUBLISHED BY JOHN HOGG
13 PATERNOSTER ROW
LONDON 1913
PRINTED BY
BALLANTYNE & COMPANY LTD
LONDON
EDITOR'S PREFACE
In issuing this volume of a series of Handbooks on the Artistic Crafts,
it will be well to state what are our general aims.
In the first place, we wish to provide trustworthy text-books of
workshop practice, from the points of view of experts who have
critically examined the methods current in the shops, and, putting aside
vain survivals, are prepared to say what is good workmanship and to set
up a standard of quality in the crafts which are more especially
associated with design. Secondly, in doing this, we hope to treat design
itself as an essential part of good workmanship. During the last century
most of the arts, save painting and sculpture of an academic kind, were
little considered, and there was a tendency to look on 'design' as a
mere matter of _appearance_. Such 'ornamentation' as there was was
usually obtained by following in a mechanical way a drawing provided by
an artist who often knew little of the technical processes involved in
production. With the critical attention given to the crafts by Ruskin
and Morris, it came to be seen that it was impossible to detach design
from craft in this way, and that, in the widest sense, true design is an
inseparable element of good quality, involving as it does the selection
of good and suitable material, contrivance for special purpose, expert
workmanship, proper finish and so on, far more than mere ornament, and,
indeed, that ornamentation itself was rather an exuberance of fine
workmanship than a matter of merely abstract lines. Workmanship when
separated by too wide a gulf from fresh thought--that is, from
design--inevitably decays, and, on the other hand, ornamentation,
divorced from workmanship, is necessarily unreal, and quickly falls into
affectation. Proper ornamentation may be defined as a language addressed
to the eye; it is pleasant thought expressed in the speech of the tool.
In the third place, we would have this series put artistic craftsmanship
before people as furnishing reasonable occupations for those who would
gain a livelihood. Although within the bounds of academic art the
competition, of its kind, is so acute that only a very few per cent. can
fairly hope to succeed as painters and sculptors, yet as artistic
craftsmen there is some probability that nearly every one who would pass
through a sufficient period of apprenticeship to workmanship and design
would reach a measure of success.
In the blending of handwork and thought in such arts as we propose to
deal with, happy careers may be found as far removed from the dreary
routine of hack labour as from the terrible uncertainty of academic art.
It is desirable in every way that men of good education should be
brought back into the productive crafts: there are more than enough of
us 'in the City,' and it is probable that more consideration will be
given in this century than in the last to Design and Workmanship.
* * * * *
Designers have at times to deal with some matters which are almost
common to all the arts, matters which they either know or do not know,
and in which the genius they are apt to trust in goes for little apart
from knowledge. They must learn lettering for inscriptions much like
they once learnt the multiplication table, and they should learn the
elements of heraldry in the same way. This it has been difficult to do,
as most of the books on heraldry, in seeking to be complete, so
effectually muddle up the few important points with the vast number of
things unimportant, or worse, that the art student is likely to give it
up in despair. Many books on heraldry, which in itself is surely a gay
thing, have been made to resemble grammars and dictionaries of a
meaningless jargon.
Any student, however, who has become interested in a single shield, or
in the look of the thing as seen in a collection of fine examples of
heraldry such as are illustrated in this volume, should be able to
master the main principles in an hour or two. The curious terms are only
old-fashioned; they are used, so far as they are necessary, not of
malice, but because it is of the essence of heraldry that everything
shall be so strictly defined that a few words may represent a shield of
arms as surely as a picture. Hence everything has a name, everything is
clear, sharp, and bright, the colours are few, the forms must be large
and simple. Even the seemingly arbitrary dictum that 'no colour must be
put on colour or metal on metal' may probably have arisen from the fact
that when gilding or silvering was used on a shield it would form a
perfect foil for colours, but as they reflected light in the same way,
they could not be distinguished if used one on the other. Even yellow
pigment on white would not tell clearly at any distance; the maxim is
merely a rule for the sake of distinctness. Again, the curious vigorous
drawing of beasts and birds with the eyes staring and the feet spread
out was not the result of a desire to be quaint, but arose naturally
from the same need of being clear. A good naturalistic drawing of a lion
would be useless on a flag. Granted the special needs of heraldry, it
developed in a perfectly understandable way.
On the question of heraldic drawing I should like to caution the student
against thinking that it is so easy as it looks. Elementary and
exaggerated, it may seem as if any child might do it, but in truth it is
terribly difficult. The old shields were designed by experts with great
experience; they placed the charge perfectly on the field and so
distributed the parts that they were balanced in 'weight'; there were no
weak lines and nothing was crowded for lack of room. Much practice made
them perfect, and perfection is still difficult.
The present volume seems to me exactly what artists have wanted.
W. R. LETHABY
_March 1913_
AUTHOR'S PREFACE
This book is an attempt to place before designers and craftsmen such an
account of the principles of the art of Heraldry as will enable them to
work out for themselves the many and various applications of it that are
possible to-day.
To that end the different usages which have prevailed from time to time
are dealt with in detail, and are illustrated as far as may be from
ancient sources.
Should it be thought that undue stress has been laid upon the pre-Tudor
heraldry, to the comparative exclusion of that of later times, it may be
pointed out that until the principles of the earlier heraldry have been
grasped and appreciated, it is impossible to get rid of the cast-iron
uniformity and stupid rules that bound the heraldry of to-day, and tend
to strangle all attempts to raise it to a higher level.
To what extent these chilling ideas prevail, and how necessary it is to
get rid of them, cannot better be illustrated than by two letters
written to the author, after most of the following chapters were in
type, by a critical friend who has not read any of them.
He points out in his first letter that on the very day of his writing
there had been brought to his notice, not for the first time, the great
need that exists for a book in which sculptors and painters may find out
what they legitimately may and what they may not do as regards heraldry.
What, for example, may be left out from an achievement of arms, and how
the different elements composing it may be varied, or even rearranged.
He instances the case of a sculptor who had been supplied with a
drawing, 'brilliant in emerald green and powder blue,' of the arms that
had been granted to a famous Englishman whose memory was about to be
honoured by the setting up of a statue with his arms, etc. carved upon
the pedestal.
The arms in the drawing did not present any difficulties, but the crest
was not shown upon the helm, and the whole was surrounded by a series of
trophies which to this unenlightened sculptor were as heraldic as the
arms and crest. Out of all this, asked the sculptor, what could lawfully
be omitted? If any of the trophies were supporters, must they be shown?
And must the crest be used? Ought the crest to be on a helm? And should
the helm be shown in profile or full-faced?
The contents of the drawing, if all were sculptured, would, in my
friend's opinion, 'either come so small as to be unmonumental, or so
large as to dwarf the statue into a doll.'
It will be seen from the principles enunciated in the present work that
the answers to the foregoing questions were obviously as follows:
I. That the sculptor might use the arms alone if he thought fit, and he
might vary the shape and size of the shield according to his fancy.
II. That he could omit the crest if he wished, but if he elected to use
it, the crest ought certainly to be set upon a helm, which should face
the same way as the crest; the crested helm might also be flourished
about with such mantling as the sculptor thought proper.
III. That in the particular drawing none of the trophies was heraldic.
The sculptor accordingly could omit the whole, if he were so minded, or
could dispose about the arms and crested helm any such other trophies of
like character as would in his judgment look well or be appropriate.
In a further letter my friend enumerates other difficulties that vex
poor artists. Must a shield always be surmounted by a crested helm?
Should the helm face any special way according to the degree of the
bearer thereof? What are the ordinary relative proportions which helm
and crest should bear to the shield? May a shield be set aslant as well
as upright? Should a torse be drawn with a curved or a straight line? Is
it necessary to represent the engraved dots and lines indicative of the
tinctures? What are supporters to stand upon? Are they to plant their
feet on a ribbon or scroll, or on a flowering mound, or what? May arms
entitled to have supporters be represented without them? What are the
simplest elements to which a shield of arms may be reduced?--as, for
example, in a panel some 60 or 70 feet above the eye, and when but a
small space is available.
To a craftsman or designer who has grasped the principles of heraldry
these further questions will present no difficulty, and most of them can
be answered by that appeal to medieval usage which the nature of the
illustrations renders possible.
These illustrations, it will be seen, are largely selected from heraldic
seals, and for the particular reason that seals illustrate so admirably
and in a small compass such a number of those usages to which appeal may
confidently be made. Examples of heraldry in conjunction with buildings,
monuments, and architectural features generally, have also been given,
and its application to the minor arts has not been overlooked.
In order, too, to enable full advantage to be taken of the long period
covered by the illustrations, the most typical of these have been
collected into a chronological series at the end of the book. It is thus
possible to show the gradual rise and decline of heraldic art from the
thirteenth to the seventeenth century, beyond which it is hardly
necessary to go.
The only modern illustrations that have been tolerated are those showing
the formation of the Union Jack, and the degraded condition of the
so-called Royal Standard. The coloured frontispiece is an attempt to
show a more effective way of displaying with equal heraldic
'correctness' the arms of our Sovereign Lord King George the Fifth.
W. H. ST. JOHN HOPE
My thanks are due to the Society of Antiquaries of London
for leave to reproduce the coloured illustrations in pls.
I and II, for the loan of blocks or drawings of figs. 7,
13, 33, 64, 65, 101, 129, 153, 186, 187, 190, and 193, and
for leave to photograph the numerous casts of seals
figured in pls. V-XIV and XVII-XXX and throughout the
book; to the Royal Archæological Institute for loan of
figs. 20 and 107; to the Sussex Archæological Society for
the loan of fig. 142; to the Society of Arts for figs. 6,
15, 17, 28, 30, 41, 45, 46, 48, 51, 55, 73, 74, 86, 92,
114, 126, 127, 150, 154, 155, and 199; to the Royal
Institute of British Architects for figs. 8, 93, and 199;
to Messrs. Cassell & Co. for figs. 21, 53, 54, 56, 63, 81,
84, 85, 91, 108, 109, 117, 118, 124, 132, 133, 139, 151;
to Messrs. Constable & Co. for figs. 9, 14, 43, 67, 68,
72, 75, 76, 77, 78, 83, 136, 137, 138; to Messrs. Parker &
Co. for fig. 143; and to Messrs. Longmans & Co. for figs.
177, 183. Also to Mr. T. W. Rutter for lending the
drawings reproduced in pls. II and III; to Mr. R. W. Paul
for the drawing of fig. 184; to Mr. Mill Stephenson for
the loan of the brass rubbings reproduced in figs. 19, 26,
27, 29, 31, 32, 35-39, 42, 146-148; to the Rev. T. W.
Galpin, Mr. E. M. Beloe, and Mr. Aymer Vallance for the
photographs of figs. 47, 149, and 191 respectively; and to
the Rev. Severne Majendie for leave to photograph the
effigies of the Duke and Duchess of Exeter (figs. 167,
168) in St. Katharine's chapel in Regent's Park.
I wish also to thank, among others, Mr. David Weller, head
verger of Westminster Abbey, for leave to reproduce the
photographs shown in figs. 1, 2, 4, 34, 40, 87, 104, 110,
134, 156, 176, 194, 195; Mr. T. W. Phillips, of Wells, for
those forming figs. 23 and 111; Mr. Charles Goulding, of
Beverley, for those forming figs. 49, 50; Mr. T. Palmer
Clarke, of Cambridge, for those forming figs. 88, 96, 128,
170, 171, and 172; and Mr. Fred Spalding, of Chelmsford,
for the photograph of the New Hall panel in fig. 189.
CONTENTS
CHAP. _page_
I. INTRODUCTION 33
Defects of Modern Heraldic Decoration; Appeal to First
Principles; English _versus_ Foreign Sources;
Definition of Heraldry; Modes of Display; Colours and
Furs; Formation of Arms; Divisions of the Shield; Early
Authorities: Seals, Monuments, Buildings, Wills and
Inventories, Rolls of Arms.
II. THE SHIELD AND ITS TREATMENT 65
Early Forms of Shields; Later Forms; Shields of Irregular
Outline and Surface; The Filling of a Shield; Apparent
_versus_ Absolute Uniformity; Modern Rules as to
Proportion; The Use and Abuse of Quartering: its Origin
and Growth; Differencing of Arms; The Scutcheon of Ulster;
Diapering.
III. THE SHIELD AND ITS TREATMENT (_cont._) 109
Armorial Bearings of Ladies; Use of Lozenges and Roundels
as variant forms of Shields; Arms of Men on Lozenges;
Combinations of Shields with Lozenges and Roundels of Arms
on Seals and in Embroideries.
IV. THE TREATMENT OF CRESTS 123
Origin of Crests; Earliest examples of Crests; Ways of
wearing Crests; The Helm and its treatment; Modern use of
Helms; Absurd Crests; Use of Crests other than by
individuals; The comparative sizes of Helms and Crests.
V. MANTLINGS 139
Origin of Mantlings; Simple early forms; Colours of
Mantlings; Medieval usage as to colours of Mantlings.
VI. CRESTS AND CROWNS, CAPS OF ESTATE, AND WREATHS 148
Crests within Crowns; Nature and Treatment of Crowns; Caps
of Estate: Their possible origin and introduction into
Heraldry; The colour of Caps; The placing of Crests upon
Caps; Wreaths or Torses; Their Colour; Crests and Mottoes;
Use of Crests by Bishops; The ensigning of Arms with
Mitres, Cardinals' and Doctors' Hats, and Caps of Estate.
VII. THE USE OF BADGES, KNOTS, AND THE REBUS 165
Definition of a Badge; Difference between Crests and
Badges; Examples of Badges; The Ostrich-Feather Badge; The
White Hart, etc.; Introduction of Badges into Heraldry;
Their Prevalence; Allusive Badges; Badges of obscure
Origin; Knots and Badges; The Rebus.
VIII. SUPPORTERS 193
The probable Origin of Supporters; Quasi-Supporters; True
Supporters: their Introduction; Supporters of Crested
Helms; Pairs of Supporters; Dissimilar Supporters; The use
of Supporters by Ladies; Other ways of Supporting Shields.
IX. BANNERS OF ARMS 219
The Royal Banner of Arms; The Banner of the Arms of the
City of London; Shapes of Banners; Sizes of certain
Banners; Upright _versus_ Long Banners; Advantages of the
upright form; Banners with Achievements of Arms; Modern
Use of Banners.
X. MARSHALLING OF ARMS 251
Arms of husband and wife; Dimidiating; Impaling;
Scutcheons of Pretence; Impalement with Official Arms;
Arms of ladies; Heraldic Drawing; Mottoes; Use and Misuse
of the Garter; Lettering and Mottoes.
XI. CROWNS, CORONETS, AND COLLARS 269
Crowns and Coronets; Introduction of Coronets; Coronets of
Princes, Dukes, and Earls; Bequests of Coronets;
Illustrations of Coronets and Crowns; Collars and Chains;
Collars of Orders; Lancastrian Collars of SS; Yorkist
Collars of Suns and Roses; Tudor Collars of SS;
Other Livery Collars; Waits' Collars; Collars and Chains
of Mayors, Mayoresses, and Sheriffs; The Revival of
Collars; Inordinate Length of modern Collars.
XII. HERALDIC EMBROIDERIES 319
The introduction of armorial insignia in embroidered
Vestments: on Robes: on Beds, etc.
XIII. TUDOR AND LATER HERALDRY 331
Decorative Heraldry of the Reign of Henry VIII; The
Decadent Change in the Quality of Heraldry; Examples of
Elaborated Arms; Survival of Tradition in Heraldic Art;
Elizabethan Heraldry; Heraldry in the Seventeenth Century
and Under the Commonwealth; Post-Restoration Heraldry.
CHRONOLOGICAL SERIES OF ILLUSTRATIONS 354
INDEX 411
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PLATES
_Facing
PLATE page_
Banner of the arms of King George the Fifth
(_Frontispiece_) Title
I. Arms of Milton Abbey from a window in Ibberton church,
Dorset, c. 1475. (_From_ "_Archæologia_," vol. xlvii.) 48
II. } Shields in stained glass of the 14th century in 54
III. } the Victoria and Albert Museum. (From coloured 56
drawings by Mr. T. W. Rutter)
IV. Part (reduced) of an early Roll of Arms belonging to
the Society of Antiquaries of London 64
V. Examples of shaped shields 70
VI. Various shapes of shields 73
VII. Examples of quartering 89
VIII. Examples of diapered shields 104
IX. Use of lozenges and roundels of arms 112
X. Use of lozenges and roundels of arms 114
XI. Early examples of crests 123
XII. Early uses of crests, on seals of William Montagu earl
of Salisbury, 1337-44 125
XIII. Various treatments of crests 129
XIV. Examples of crests and mantlings 130
XV. Stall-plate (reduced) of Hugh Stafford lord Bourchier,
_c._ 1421 151
XVI. Stall-plate (reduced) of William lord Willoughby, _c._
1421 154
XVII. Crests with mottoes 161
XVIII. Examples of supporters 188
XIX. Origin of supporters 193
XX. Shields with supporters 198
XXI. Shields accompanied by badges 199
XXII. Quasi-supporter 200
XXIII. Shields accompanied by badges 202
XXIV. Shields accompanied by badges 203
XXV. Arms with crown and supporters of Elizabeth Wydville,
queen of Edward IV 208
XXVI. Arms, supporters, and badges of the lady Margaret
Beaufort, 1455 209
XXVII. Methods of arranging shields 214
XXVIII. Examples of banners of arms 216
XXIX. Ways of upholding shields 218
XXX. Crowned shield with supporters and badges of the lady
Margaret Beaufort, 1485 288
XXXI. Right and wrong versions of the Union Jack 248
ILLUSTRATIONS IN TEXT
FIG. _page_
1. Tile with the arms of King Henry III, _c._ 1255, from the
chapter-house of Westminster abbey. (_From a photograph by
Mr. David Weller_) 36
2. Shield of the arms of St. Edward, _c._ 1259, in the quire of
Westminster abbey church. (_From a photograph by Mr. David
Weller_) 37
3. Heraldry on the gatehouse of Kirkham priory, Yorkshire,
built between 1289 and 1296. (_From a photograph by Mr. C.
C. Hodges_) 38
4. Shield with curved bend or baston of Henry de Laci earl of
Lincoln, _c._ 1259, in the quire of Westminster abbey
church. (_From a photograph by Mr. David Weller_) 44
5. Arms of Clopton, from a brass _c._ 1420 at Long Melford in
Suffolk 46
6. Heraldic candle-holder, etc. from the latten grate about the
tomb of King Henry VII at Westminster. (_From_ "_Journal
of the Society of Arts_," vol. xlv. p. 238) 55
7. Firedog with armorial bearings. (_From a drawing by Mr. C.
Prætorius, F.S.A._) 56
8. Chimney-piece in Tattershall castle, Lincolnshire, built by
Ralph lord Cromwell between 1433 and 1455. (_From_
"_Journal of the Royal Institute of British Architects_,"
3rd S. vol. iv. 241) 57
9. Paving tiles with arms and badges of the Beauchamps, from
Tewkesbury abbey church. (_From_ "_The Ancestor_," vol.
ix.) 58
10. Seal of Richard duke of Gloucester, as admiral of England in
Dorset and Somerset (1462) 59
11. Heraldic buckle from the effigy of Robert lord Hungerford
(_ob._ 1459) in Salisbury cathedral church. (_From
Stothard's_ "_Monumental Effigies_") 60
12. Heraldic buckle from the effigy of William lord Bardolf (ob.
1441) in Dennington church, Suffolk. (_From Stothard's_
"_Monumental Effigies_") 60
13. Enamelled shield with the arms of Ballard on the print of a
mazer at All Souls college, Oxford, _c._ 1445. (_From_
"_Archæologia_," vol. l. 151) 61
14. Heraldic paving tiles from Tewkesbury abbey. (_From_ "_The
Ancestor_," vol. ix.) 63
15. Shield with rounded corners (_c._ 1259) of Richard earl of
Cornwall in the quire of Westminster abbey church. (_From_
"_Journal of the Society of Arts_," vol. xlv. 231) 66
16. Shields of English work from the tomb of William earl of
Pembroke, ob. 1296, in Westminster abbey church. (_From
Stothard's_ "_Monumental Effigies_") 67
17. Seal of Hugh Bardolf showing shield with square corners.
From the Barons' Letter. (_From_ "_Journal of the Society
of Arts_," vol. xlv. 228) 68
18. Seal and counterseal of Simon lord of Montagu, with shield
supported by two bearded men and surmounted by the castle
of Corfe, of which Simon became governor in 1298. From the
Barons' Letter 69
19. Shield of ornate form, from a brass at Stoke Poges, Bucks,
1476 70
20. Head of a doorway, now in Norwich Guildhall, with arms of
King Henry VIII, the City of Norwich, and the Goldsmiths'
Company. (_From the Norwich volume of the Archæological
Institute_, p. 173) 72
21. Shield with engrailed edges, _c._ 1520, from the chantry
chapel of abbot Thomas Ramryge in St. Albans abbey church.
(_From Boutell's "English Heraldry,"_ No. 210) 73
22. Shields with ridged charges, from the monument of Guy lord
Bryen, _ob._ 1390, in Tewkesbury abbey church. (_From
Stothard's "Monumental Effigies"_) 74
23. Armorial panels from the George Inn at Glastonbury. (_From a
photograph by Mr. T. W. Phillips_) 75
24. Shield with curved surface from an effigy of a Pembridge at
Clehonger, Herefordshire. (_From Stothard's "Monumental
Effigies"_) 76
25. Shield from the seal of Henry Percy (from the Barons'
Letter) with well-drawn lion 77
26. Shield with a leaping lion, from a brass _c._ 1380 at
Felbrigge in Norfolk 78
27. Shield with an eagle from a brass at Great Tew, Oxon, _c._
1410 79
28. Seal of Queen's College, Oxford, 1341, with well-filled
shields. (_From "Journal of the Society of Arts,"_ vol.
xlv. 230) 80
29. Shield with a griffin, from a brass of 1405, at
Boughton-under-Blean, Kent 81
30. Seal of Peter de Mauley IV (from the Barons' Letter) showing
a simple well-balanced shield. (_From "Journal of the
Society of Arts,"_ vol. xlv. 234) 82
31. Shield with a bend counter-flowered from the brass of Sir
Thomas Bromfleet, 1430, at Wymington, Beds. 82
32. Shield with three lions, from a brass at Stanford Dingley,
Berks, 1444 83
33. Shield of the royal arms done in boiled leather, from the
tomb of Edward prince of Wales at Canterbury, 1376.
(_Reduced from "Vetusta Monumenta,"_ vol. vii.) 84
34. Shield of the King of France, _c._ 1259, in the quire of
Westminster abbey church. (_From a photograph by Mr. David
Weller_) 85
35 and 36. Shields with uncharged ordinaries: from the brass of
bishop Robert Wyvil at Salisbury, 1375; and the brass of
William Holyngbroke at New Romney in Kent, 1375 87
37. Shield with a charged bend from a brass at Kidderminster,
1415 88
38 and 39. Shields with engrailed borders, plain and charged:
from the brass of William Grevel, 1401, at Chipping
Campden in Gloucestershire; and the brass of Thomas
Walysel, _c._ 1420, at Whitchurch, Oxon. 90
40. Quartered shield of Queen Eleanor of Castile, from her tomb
at Westminster, 1291. (_From a photograph by Mr. David
Weller_) 91
41. Arms of King Edward III from his tomb at Westminster. (_From
"Journal of the Society of Arts,"_ vol. xlv. 230) 92
42. Shield with impaled quarters from the brass of Peter Halle,
_ob._ 1420, at Herne in Kent 93
43. Arms of St. Edward, from the tomb of Edmund duke of York,
_ob._ 1402, at King's Langley. (_From "The Ancestor,"_
vol. ii.) 94
44. Seal of Humphrey Stafford earl of Buckingham, Hereford,
Stafford, Northampton, and Perche, as captain of Calais
and lieutenant of the Marches, 1442 95
45. Shield of Sir Hugh Hastings from the Elsing brass (1347),
with diapered maunch and a label of three pieces. (_From
"Journal of the Society of Arts,"_ vol. xlv. 231) 100
46. Part of the gilt-latten effigy of Edward prince of Wales at
Canterbury, showing labels over both the arms and the
crest. (_From "Journal of the Society of Arts,"_ vol. xlv.
232) 102
47. Diapered shield of the arms of Vere, from an effigy in
Hatfield Broadoak church, Essex. (_From a photograph by
the Rev. T. W. Galpin_) 104
48. Diapered shield from the seal of Robert Waldby archbishop
of York, 1390, for the Regality of Hexham. (_From "Journal
of the Society of Arts,"_ vol. xlv. 231) 105
49. Diapered shield of the arms of Clun, from the monument of
the lady Eleanor Percy (_ob._ 1337) in Beverley Minster.
(_From a photograph by Mr. C. Goulding_) 106
50. Diapered shield of the arms of Percy, from the monument of
the lady Eleanor Percy (_ob._ 1337) in Beverley Minster.
(_From a photograph by Mr. C. Goulding_) 107
51. Lozenge of arms from the monument at Westminster of Frances
Brandon duchess of Suffolk, _ob._ 1559. (_From "Journal of
the Society of Arts,"_ vol. xlv. 229) 110
52. Seal of Robert FitzPain, with arms in an oval. From the
Barons' Letter 112
53. Seal of Joan de Barre, wife of John de Warenne earl of
Surrey, 1306. (_From Boutell's "English Heraldry,"_ No.
318) 113
54. Seal of Mary de Seynt-Pol, wife of Aymer of Valence earl of
Pembroke, 1322. (_From Boutell's "English Heraldry,"_ No.
319) 116
55. Seal of Maud Badlesmere, wife of John de Vere earl of
Oxford, 1336. (_From "Journal of the Society of Arts,"_
vol. xlv. 228) 118
56. Seal of Maud of Lancaster, wife of William of Burgh earl of
Ulster, and of Sir Ralph Ufford, 1343-4. (_From Boutell's
"English Heraldry,"_ No. 320) 119
57. The Syon Cope, now in the Victoria and Albert
Museum 121
58. Seal of Thomas de Moulton, with fan-shaped crest on helm and
horse's head. From the Barons' Letter 124
59. Seal of Thomas earl of Lancaster, Leicester, and Ferrers,
showing wiver crest on his helm and horse's head. From the
Barons' Letter 126
60. Seal of Henry of Lancaster, lord of Monmouth, with wiver
crest and quasi-supporters. From the Barons'
Letter 127
61. Seal of Robert de la Warde, with fan crest. From the Barons'
Letter 128
62. Seal of Walter de Mounci, with helm surmounted by a fox as a
crest. From the Barons' Letter 128
63. Seal of Sir Robert de Marni, 1366, with crested helms
flanking the shield. (_From Boutell's "English Heraldry,"_
No. 381) 130
64. Crest, etc. of Sir John Astley, from a MS. _c._ 1420. (_From
"Archæologia,"_ vol. lvii.) 131
65. Crest of Edward prince of Wales, 1376, of leather and
stamped gesso. (_Reduced from "Vetusta Monumenta,"_ vol.
vii.) 132
66. Funeral helm and wooden crest of George Brooke lord Cobham,
_ob._ 1558, in Cobham church, Kent 133
67. Stall-plate of Humphrey duke of Buckingham as earl of
Stafford, _c._ 1429. (_From "The Ancestor,"_ vol.
iii.) 135
68. Stall-plate of Sir Thomas Burgh, K.G., _c._ 1483. (_From
"The Ancestor,"_ vol. iii.) 136
69. Seal of Richard Nevill with separate crests and supporters
for his earldoms of Salisbury and Warwick 137
70. Seal of William lord Hastings, _c._ 1461 140
71. Seal of William de la Pole earl of Suffolk, 1415 141
72. Stall-plate of Ralph lord Bassett, showing simple form of
mantling. (_From "The Ancestor,"_ vol. iii.) 142
73. Stall-plate of Sir Sanchet Dabrichecourt, K.G., _c._ 1421.
(_From "Journal of the Society of Arts,"_ vol. xlv.
233) 143
74. Stall-plate of Sir William Arundel, K.G., _c._ 1421. (_From
"Journal of the Society of Arts,"_ vol. xlv. 233) 145
75. Stall-plate of Richard Beauchamp earl of Warwick, after
1423. (_From "The Ancestor,"_ vol. iii.) 146
76. Stall-plate of Richard Wydville lord Rivers, _c._ 1450.
(_From "The Ancestor,"_ vol. iii.) 147
77. Stall-plate of Hugh lord Burnell, c. 1421. (_From "The
Ancestor,"_ vol. iii.) 149
78. Arms of St. Edmund, from the tomb of Edmund duke of York,
_ob._ 1402, at King's Langley. (_From "The Ancestor,"_
vol. ii.) 150
79. Crest from the stall-plate of Hugh Stafford lord
Bourchier 152
80. Two forms of the same crest. From the stall-plate of Richard
lord Grey of Codnor 153
81. Helm with crest and wreath from the Hastings brass at
Elsing, 1347. (_From Boutell's "English Heraldry,"_ No.
385) 157
82. Helm with crest and torse and simple form of mantling, from
the Harsick brass at Southacre, 1384 159
83. Stall-plate of Sir Simon Felbrigge, _c._ 1421. (_From "The
Ancestor,"_ vol. iii.) 160
84. Privy seal of Henry le Despenser bishop of Norwich,
1370-1406. (_From Boutell's "English Heraldry,"_ No.
351) 162
85. Shield with ostrich-feather badge from the tomb of Edward
prince of Wales (_ob._ 1376) at Canterbury. (_From
Boutell's "English Heraldry,"_ No. 401) 167
86. Seal of Thomas of Woodstock duke of Gloucester with
ostrich-feather and Bohun swan badges. (_From "Journal of
the Society of Arts,"_ vol. xlv. 240) 168
87. Fetterlock-and-falcon badge of the house of York, from Henry
VII's chapel at Westminster. (_From a photograph by Mr.
David Weller_) 169
88. Crowned rose and portcullis from King's college chapel at
Cambridge. (_From a photograph by Mr. J. Palmer
Clarke_) 170
89. Seal of Robert de Clifford, with arms surrounded by rings in
allusion to his mother Isabel Vipont. (From the Barons'
Letter) 171
90. Seal of Robert de Toni as CHEVALER AU CING with the arms
encircled by swans and talbots. (From the Barons'
Letter) 171
91. Seal of Oliver Bohun with swans about the shield. (_From
Boutell's "English Heraldry,"_ No. 321) 172
92. Gilt-latten effigy at Westminster of King Richard II,
pounced with badges, etc. (_From "Journal of the Society
of Arts,"_ vol. xlv. 240) 173
93. Piers and arches in Wingfield church, Suffolk, with badges
of Michael de la Pole earl of Suffolk (ob. 1415) and his
wife Katharine Stafford. (_From a photograph by the Rev.
W. Marshall in "Journal of the Royal Institute of British
Architects,"_ 3rd. S. vol. iv. 245) 176
94. Chimney-piece in the Bishop's Palace at Exeter with the arms
and badges of bishop Peter Courtenay, 1478-87. (_From a
photograph by Heath and Bradnee_) 177
95. Gateway to the Deanery at Peterborough. Built by Robert
Kirkton, abbot 1497-1526. (_From a photograph by Mr. A.
Nicholls_) 178
96. The gatehouse of Christ's College, Cambridge. (_From a
photograph by Mr. J. Palmer Clarke_) 179
97. Bronze door with badges of York and Beaufort from the Lady
chapel of Westminster abbey church. (_From a photograph by
Mr. Emery Walker, F.S.A._) 180
98. Signet with badge and crested helm of Lewis lord Bourchier,
1420 181
99. Seal of Hugh de Vere with boar badge and two wivers as
supporters. From the Barons' Letter 181
100. Signet of William lord Bardolf (_c._ 1410) with eagle badge
derived from his arms 182
101. Signet with flote badge and word of Sir William Oldhalle in
1457. (_From "Archæologia,"_ vol. xxxvii. 337) 182
102. Seal with badge (a _gray_ or badger) of Richard lord Grey of
Codnor, 1392 183
103. Seal of Thomas lord Stanley as earl of Derby and seneschal
of Macclesfield, 1485, with the eagle's claw badge of
Stanley and the legs of the Isle of Man 183
104. Daisy plant (_marguerite_) badge of the Lady Margaret
Beaufort, from Henry VII's chapel at Westminster. (_From a
photograph by Mr. David Weller_) 184
105. Part of the brass at Exeter of canon William Langeton,
kinsman of Edward Stafford bishop of Exeter, 1413, in cope
with an orphrey of ~X~'s and Stafford knots 185
106. Elbow-piece and Bourchier knot from the brass of Sir
Humphrey Bourchier, _ob._ 1471, in Westminster abbey
church 186
107. Alabaster tomb and effigy of Edward Stafford earl of
Wiltshire, _ob._ 1498, in Lowick church, Northamptonshire.
(_From the "Archæological Journal,"_ vol. lxi.
233) 187
108. Rebus of abbot Robert Kirkton from the Deanery Gate at
Peterborough. (_From Boutell's "English Heraldry,"_ No.
295) 188
109. Rebus of Thomas Beckington bishop of Bath and Wells, 1477.
(_From Boutell's "English Heraldry,"_ No. 296) 188
110. Rebus of John Islip abbot of Westminster, from his chantry
chapel. (_From a photograph by Mr. David Weller_) 189
111. Oriel window in the Deanery at Wells with badges of King
Edward IV, and badges and rebuses of Dean Gunthorpe.
(_From a photograph by Mr. T. W. Phillips_) 190
112. Arms and rebus of Sir John Pechy, _ob._ 1522, from painted
glass in Lullingstone church, Kent. (_From Stothard's
"Monumental Effigies"_) 191
113. Seal of John de Moun slung from an eagle and flanked by two
leopards. From the Barons' Letter 195
114. Seal of Alan la Souche in 1301. From the Barons' Letter.
(_From "Journal of the Society of Arts,"_ vol. xlv.
228) 196
115. Seal of John Beauchamp of Hacche, with shield on breast of
an eagle. From the Barons' Letter 197
116. Seal of William de Ferrers with shield upon an eagle with
two heads. From the Barons' Letter 197
117. Seal of Edmund Mortimer earl of March and Ulster, 1400, with
rampant leopard supporters. (_From Boutell's "English
Heraldry,"_ No. 407) 201
118. Seal of Sir William Windsor, 1381, with eagle supporters.
(_From Boutell's "English Heraldry,"_ No. 382) 201
119. Seal of William de la Pole duke of Suffolk, 1448 202
120. Seal of John Nevill lord Montagu, 1461 203
121. Seal of William lord Hastings, _c._ 1461 204
122. Seal of John lord Talbot and Furnival, 1406 205
123. Seal of George duke of Clarence and lord of Richmond, 1462,
with black bulls of Clare supporting his crested
helm 207
124. Seal of Richard Beauchamp earl of Warwick, 1401. (_From
Boutell's "English Heraldry,"_ No. 448) 208
125. Seal of Richard Beauchamp earl of Warwick and of Albemarle
and lord Despenser, 1421 209
126. Seal of Edmund duke of Somerset for the town of Bayeux, _c._
1445. (_From "Journal of the Society of Arts,"_ vol. xlv.
234) 210
127. Seal of Cecily Nevill, wife of Richard duke of York and
mother of King Edward IV, 1461. (_From "Journal of the
Society of Arts,"_ vol. xlv. 235) 212
128. Arms and supporters, a dragon and a greyhound, of King Henry
VII in King's College chapel at Cambridge. (_From a
photograph by Mr. J. Palmer Clarke_) 213
129. Seal of the Mayoralty of Calais. (_From "Archæologia,"_ vol.
liii. 327) 215
130. Seal of Walter lord Hungerford with banners of Heytesbury
and Hussey or Homet, _c._ 1420 216
131. Knights with banners, from an illumination 220
132. Seal of Walter lord Hungerford with banners. (_From
Boutell's "English Heraldry,"_ No. 391) 221
133. Part of the seal of Margaret lady Hungerford, with impaled
banner held up by a lion. (_From Boutell's "English
Heraldry,"_ No. 406) 222
134. Tomb of Lewis Robsart lord Bourchier, K.G. _ob._ 1431, in
Westminster abbey church, with banners of arms upheld by
supporters. (_From a photograph by Mr. David
Weller_) 223
135. The King's banner or "royal standard" as now borne 227
136. Stall-plate, as a banner, of Walter lord Hungerford, after
1426. (_From "The Ancestor,"_ vol. iii.) 230
137. Stall-plate, as a banner, of Richard Nevill earl of
Salisbury, _c._ 1436. (_From "The Ancestor,"_ vol.
iii.) 231
138. Stall-plate, as a banner, of Sir John Grey of Ruthin, _c._
1439. (_From "The Ancestor,"_ vol. iii.) 232
139. Standard of Sir Henry Stafford, K.G. _c._ 1475. (_From
Boutell's "English Heraldry"_ No. 415) 234
140. Knights with pennons, from an illumination 236
141. Armed Knights carrying pennons, from an
illumination 237
142. Armorial vane on Etchingham church, Sussex. (_From "Sussex
Archæological Collections,"_ vol. ix. 349) 240
143. Vane formerly upon the finial of the kitchen roof, Stanton
Harcourt, Oxon. (_From "A Glossary of ... Gothic
Architecture,"_ vol. i. 505) 241
144. Part of King Henry VIII's garden at Hampton Court, from a
contemporary picture. 246
145. Part of King Henry VIII's garden at Hampton Court, from a
contemporary picture. 247
146. Shield of Bryen impaling Bures, from a brass in Acton
church, Suffolk 252
147. Lion with a forked tail, from a brass at Spilsby in
Lincolnshire, 1391 255
148. Shield with three pheasants, from a brass at Checkendon,
Oxon, 1404 256
149. Shield of the arms of Sir Humphrey Littlebury, from his
effigy at Holbeach in Lincolnshire, _c._ 1360, with fine
examples of heraldic leopards. (_From a photograph by Mr.
E. M. Beloe, F.S.A._) 257
150. Early and modern versions of ermine-tails. (_From "Journal
of the Society of Arts,"_ vol. xlv. 236) 258
151. Early and modern versions of vair. (_From Boutell's "English
Heraldry,"_ Nos. 61, 62) 258
152. The Garter, from the brass of Thomas lord Camoys, K.G. at
Trotton in Sussex 261
153. Pewter medallion with Edward prince of Wales, now in the
British Museum. (_From "Archæologia,"_ vol. xxxi.
141) 262
154. Shield of arms encircled by the Garter, from the brass of
Thomas lord Camoys, _ob._ 1419. (_From "Journal of the
Society of Arts,"_ vol. xlv. 237) 264
155. Shields encircled by the Garter and a scroll, from the brass
of bishop Hallam (_ob._ 1416) at Constance. (_From
"Journal of the Society of Arts,"_ vol. xlv. 237) 265
156. Royal arms of King Henry VII within the Garter, of English
work, from the King's tomb by Torregiano at Westminster.
(_From a photograph by Mr. David Weller_) 266
157. Arms of St. George within the Garter, from the brass of Sir
Thomas Bullen, K.G. earl of Wiltshire and Ormond, 1538, at
Hever in Kent 267
158. Crowned effigy of Queen Eleanor at Westminster 270
159. Crowned effigy of Queen Joan at Canterbury 271
160. Helm and crest, and bust, of Richard Beauchamp earl of
Warwick, _ob._ 1439, from his gilt-latten effigy at
Warwick. (_From Stothard's "Monumental
Effigies"_) 274
161. Effigy of a lady, _c._ 1250, in Scarcliffe church,
Derbyshire. (_From Stothard's "Monumental
Effigies"_) 275
162. Effigy of a lady in Staindrop church, Durham. (_From
Stothard's "Monumental Effigies"_) 276
163. Thomas earl of Arundel, _ob._ 1416, from his alabaster
effigy at Arundel. (_From Stothard's "Monumental
Effigies"_) 277
164. Joan Beaufort countess of Westmorland, _ob._ 1440, from her
alabaster effigy in Staindrop church, Durham. (_From
Stothard's "Monumental Effigies"_) 278
165. William FitzAlan earl of Arundel (_ob._ 1487) from his
effigy at Arundel. (_From Stothard's "Monumental
Effigies"_) 279
166. Joan countess of Arundel, from her effigy at Arundel. (_From
Stothard's "Monumental Effigies"_) 280
167. John Holand duke of Exeter, _ob._ 1447, from his effigy at
St. Katharine's hospital, Regent's Park 282
168. Head of a duchess of Exeter, from the monument at St.
Katharine's hospital, Regent's Park 283
169. Alice duchess of Suffolk, _ob._ 1475, from her alabaster
effigy in Ewelme church, Oxon. (_From Hollis's "Monumental
Effigies"_) 284
170. Armorial ensigns and badges of the lady Margaret Beaufort
from the gatehouse of her foundation of Christ's college,
Cambridge. (_From a photograph by Mr. J. Palmer
Clarke_) 286
171. Arms of the foundress, the lady Margaret Beaufort, with yale
supporters, from the base of an oriel in Christ's college,
Cambridge. (_From a photograph by Mr. J. Palmer
Clarke_) 287
172. Armorial panel on the gatehouse of St. John's college,
Cambridge. (_From a photograph by Mr. J. Palmer
Clarke_) 289
173. King Henry IV from his alabaster effigy in Canterbury
cathedral church. (_From Stothard's "Monumental
Effigies"_) 291
174. King Henry III from his gilt-latten effigy at
Westminster 292
175. King Edward II from his alabaster effigy at Gloucester.
(_From Stothard's "Monumental Effigies"_) 293
176. Crowned initials of King Henry VII from his Lady chapel at
Westminster. (_From a photograph by Mr. David
Weller_) 294
177. Thomas Howard third duke of Norfolk (1473?-1554) with the
collar of the Order of the Garter, from the picture by
Holbein at Windsor Castle. (_From Gardiner's "Student's
History of England,"_ p. 410) 295
178. Collars of SS 296
179. Collar of SS from the effigy of William lord Bardolf, _ob._
1441, at Dennington in Suffolk. (_From Stothard's
"Monumental Effigies"_) 297
180. Spandrel of the tomb of Oliver Groos, esquire (_ob._ 1439),
in Sloley church, Norfolk, with collar of SS 301
181. Collars of SS from the effigy of Queen Joan at Canterbury,
and of Robert lord Hungerford at Salisbury. (_From
Stothard's "Monumental Effigies"_) 303
182. Collars of suns and roses from the effigy of a knight at
Aston, Warwickshire, and the effigy of Sir Robert
Harcourt, K.G. 1471 at Stanton Harcourt, Oxon. (_From
Hollis's "Monumental Effigies"_) 305
183. Sir Thomas More wearing the collar of SS: from an original
portrait painted by Holbein in 1527, belonging to the late
Mr. Edward Huth. (_From Gardiner's "Student's History of
England,"_ p. 387) 307
184. Head of the effigy in Ripon Minster of Sir Thomas
Markenfield with livery collar of park-palings. (_From a
drawing by Mr. Roland Paul, F.S.A._) 310
185. Thomas lord Berkeley (_ob._ 1417) with a collar of mermaids,
from his brass at Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire.
(_From Hollis's "Monumental Effigies"_) 311
186. Silver badge belonging to the duke of Northumberland. (_From
a drawing by Mr. C. Prætorius, F.S.A._) 312
187. Waits' Collars of Exeter, King's Lynn, and Norwich 314
188. Part of an embroidered altar frontal with a rebus at Baunton
in Gloucestershire. (_From a photograph by Mr. G.
Clinch_) 320
189. Carved panel with the crowned arms, supporters, and badges
of King Henry VIII at New Hall in Essex. (_From a
photograph by Mr. Fred Spalding_) 333
190. Paving tile with arms and initials of John Lyte (_c._ 1535),
from Marten church, Wilts. (_From a drawing by Mr. C.
Prætorius, F.S.A._) 334
191. Arms with crested helm and badge (a blazing ragged-staff)
of, apparently, Sir John Guldeford of Benenden, _ob._
1565, in East Guldeford church, Sussex. (_From a
photograph by Mr. Aymer Vallance, M.A., F.S.A._) 339
192. Part of a bed-hanging embroidered with the arms of Henry and
Elizabeth Wentworth, _c._ 1560, formerly in the possession
of Sir A. W. Franks, K.C.B. 342
193. Arms of Cotes, from a mazer print of 1585-6. (_From
"Archæologia,"_ vol. l. 174) 343
194. Shield from the tomb of Margaret countess of Lennox, _ob._
1578, in Westminster abbey church. (_From a photograph by
Mr. David Weller_) 344
195. Achievement of arms from the monument of Sir Richard
Pecksall, _ob._ 1571, in Westminster abbey church. (_From
a photograph by Mr. David Weller_) 345
196. Obverse of the Great Seal of the Republic of England,
Scotland, and Ireland, 1655 (reduced) 348
197. Arms, etc. of the Trinity House, London. From a
wood-carving _c._ 1670 in the Victoria and Albert
Museum 349
198. Limewood carving with the arms and crest of the Trevor
family, _c._ 1700, in the Victoria and Albert
Museum 351
199. Part of the carved oak ceiling of the chapel, formerly the
hall, of Auckland castle, Durham, with the arms of bishop
John Cosin. Date 1662-4. (_From a photograph by Mr. H.
Kilburn in "Journal of the Royal Institute of British
Architects,"_ 3rd S. vol. iv. 272) 352
CHRONOLOGICAL SERIES OF ILLUSTRATIONS pp. 354-407
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
Defects of Modern Heraldic Decoration; Appeal to First
Principles; English _versus_ Foreign Sources; Definition
of Heraldry; Modes of Display; Colours and Furs; Formation
of Arms; Divisions of the Shield; Early Authorities:
Seals, Monuments, Buildings, Wills and Inventories, Rolls
of Arms.
To those who have given attention to the study of ancient heraldry few
things are more surprising than the imperfect understanding of its true
principles displayed in their works by so many artists and craftsmen of
every degree. Year after year, in paintings and sculpture at the Royal
Academy and other exhibitions, in the architecture and decorations of
our churches and public buildings, on monuments, on plate, jewellery,
and ornaments of all kinds, the attempt to introduce armorial
accessories, even by some of our best artists, is almost always a
failure.
In so recent a work as the national memorial to Queen Victoria before
Buckingham Palace, the shields for Scotland in the frieze of the
pedestal bear the rampant lion only, and the distinctive double tressure
is again omitted in the Scottish quarter of the royal arms behind the
figure of Victory. The sides of the pedestal also bear fanciful shields
of arms, in the one case with three lamps, in the other with some
allegorical device, charged on bends sinister!
It is only fair to say that the fault appears to be not altogether that
of the artist or craftsman, but should rather be ascribed to the
disregard of the principles and usages of true armory that pervades so
much of the printed literature to which men naturally turn for
information.
He, however, who would know something about heraldic art must go behind
the books to better sources of information, and rid himself once and for
all of the modern cast-iron rules that cramp all attempts to improve
matters. He will then soon find himself revelling in the delightful
freedom and playful common-sense of medieval armory when it was still a
living art, and a science too, utilized for artistic purposes by every
class of worker and unencumbered by the ridiculous conceits of Tudor and
later times.
The appeal, moreover, should largely be confined, if one would have what
is best, to our own land. In the beginning heraldry was much the same in
most European countries, but in course of time foreign armory became
complicated by needless subdivisions and new methods of expression and
combination. It would indeed be foolish to maintain that nothing can be
learnt from foreign sources, but in the earlier stages of study English
heraldry should come first. Not only is it characterized by a beautiful
simplicity which continued practically unchanged until the beginning of
the sixteenth century, but no other country outside England possesses
such a wealth of examples of its various applications, and they lie
immediately to hand for purposes of study and comparison. Moreover,
English heraldry so fully illustrates the general principles followed in
other countries that it is unnecessary at first to go further afield.
Heraldry, or armory as it was anciently called, is a symbolical and
pictorial language of uncertain and disputed origin, which, by the
beginning of the thirteenth century, had already been reduced to a
science with a system, classification, and nomenclature of its own. The
artistic devices known as arms, which may be formed by proper
combinations of the colours, ordinaries, and figures that represent the
letters of this language, had each their significance, and soon came to
be regarded as the hereditary possession of some person, family,
dignity, or office.
[Illustration: FIG. 1. Tile with the arms of King Henry III, _c._ 1255,
from the chapter-house of Westminster abbey.]
The display of arms was restricted primarily to shields and banners,
but occasionally to horse-trappers (pls. XI B and XII B) and such
garments as jupes, gowns, and mantles. Later on heraldry came also to be
used ornamentally, either upon shields or without them, in all kinds of
ways, in architecture and on monuments, on tiles and in glazing, in
woodcarvings and in paintings, in woven stuffs and embroideries, in
jewellery and on seals.
[Illustration: FIG. 2. Shield of the arms of St. Edward, _c._ 1259, in
the quire of Westminster abbey church. An early instance of the use of
heraldry in architecture.]
The colours used in heraldry are red, blue, green, purple, and black,
or, to give them their old names, gules, azure, vert, purpure, and
sable; combined with the yellow of gold and the whiteness of silver.
Orange was never used, probably on account of the difficulty of finding
a stable pigment. It was soon found that for brilliancy of effect the
use of gold or silver with a colour was preferable to that of colour
with colour or metal with metal; two colours are therefore found
together or superposed only under certain conditions, and the same
applies to the two metals.
[Illustration: FIG. 3. Heraldry on the gatehouse of Kirkham priory,
Yorkshire, built between 1289 and 1296.]
Imitations of two furs, ermine and vair, were also used: the one of
white flecked with little black tails; the other of alternating oblong
patches of white and blue, square at the top and rounded at the bottom,
to represent grey squirrels' skins. (See figs. 151, 152.) If vair were
coloured other than white and blue, the resultant was called vairy.
There is also known a black fur with silver ermine-tails.
There were never any exact rules as to the particular tint of the colour
employed, that being simply a matter of taste. Thus blue may range from
a full indigo almost to Cambridge-blue, and red from a bright scarlet,
through vermilion, to a dull brick colour, and so on; and it is
surprising to find how well quiet colours blend together.
In the formation of arms the mere combinations of colours and metals
produced by vertical, horizontal, or other divisions of the shield were
soon exhausted, as were quarters, checkers, etc. There accordingly grew
quite naturally the further use of applied strips or bands based upon
such divisions.
[Illustration: Party]
[Illustration: Party-fessewise]
[Illustration: Quarterly]
[Illustration: Pale]
[Illustration: Fesse]
[Illustration: Cross]
[Illustration: Party-bendwise]
[Illustration: Party-saltirewise]
[Illustration: Gyronny]
[Illustration: Bend]
[Illustration: Saltire]
[Illustration: Border]
[Illustration: Chief]
[Illustration: Quarter]
[Illustration: Cheveron]
[Illustration: Pile]
[Illustration: Orle]
[Illustration: Flanches]
[Illustration: Paly]
[Illustration: Barry]
[Illustration: Wavy]
[Illustration: Bendy]
[Illustration: Checky]
[Illustration: Lozengy]
Thus the vertical parting of a metal and a colour known as party
produced the pale, and a horizontal division the fesse or bar, and these
combined to form the cross suggested by the quarterly lines. An oblique
or slanting parting gave rise to the bend, and the crossing of two such
produced the St. Andrew's cross or saltire. A combination of the lines
of a saltire with a quarterly division produced the varied field called
gyronny. The border almost suggested itself. A cutting off of the upper
half or head of the shield yielded the chief, and of a fourth part the
quarter. One other of these applied pieces, or ordinaries as they were
called, was the cheveron, formed of two strips issuing from the lower
edges of the shield and meeting in a point in the middle, like the
cheverons forming the roof timbers of a house. Another ordinary was the
pile, which was often threefold with lines converging towards the base
as in fig. 72. Sometimes a shield was charged with one of smaller size
called a scutcheon, and the middle of this was occasionally cut out to
form a voided scutcheon or orle. Flanches, as they are called, are very
rarely found; they are formed by drawing incurving lines within each
side of the shield. An even series of pales yielded a vertical striping
called paly, and of piles, pily, while an even number of bars became
barry. Undulated or waved bars formed wavy, and sometimes paly and pily
stripes were also waved (fig. 19). In early examples the bend was often
bended or curved. Bends are so represented in one of the shields in
Westminster abbey (fig. 4), in some of the shields over the nave arcades
in York minster, and on a number of monumental effigies. A narrower bend
which overlaid everything was known as a baston (see fig. 60). A number
of narrow bends produced bendy, but the lines were then straight. A
field divided into squares or checkers formed checky, and when divided
into what are now called lozenges it became lozengy. Pales, fesses,
crosses, saltires, borders, and cheverons sometimes had their edges
engrailed by taking out of them, as it were, a continuous series of
bites separated by sharp points, and the lower edge of a chief or the
inner margin of a border was often indented like the edge of a saw; but
in early heraldry engrailing and indenting were interchangeable terms.
An indented fesse was anciently called a daunce. Cheverons, fesses,
bars, etc. were occasionally battled, through the upper line being
formed into battlements. A fesse was often placed between two cheverons,
as in the well-known arms of FitzWalter; or between two very narrow bars
called cotises, or pairs of cotises called gemell bars. Cheverons,
bends, and pales were also sometimes cotised. Cotises were often of a
tincture different from that of the ordinary which they accompanied, and
sometimes indented or dancetty as in the arms of Clopton (fig. 5) and
Gonvile. The ground or field could be relieved by the use of vair or
ermine, or by the addition of fretting or trellis-work or other simple
means. It was also not unfrequently powdered with small crosses,
fleurs-de-lis, or billets; often in conjunction with a larger charge
like a cinqfoil or a lion.
[Illustration: FIG. 4. Shield with curved bend or baston of Henry de
Laci earl of Lincoln, _c._ 1259, in the quire of Westminster abbey
church.]
[Illustration: FIG. 5. Arms of Clopton, _sable a bend silver and two
cotises dancetty gold_, from a brass _c._ 1420 at Long Melford in
Suffolk.]
Almost from the beginning every kind of device was charged or painted
upon shields, either singly or in multiple, and upon or about such
ordinaries as crosses, cheverons, and fesses. Birds, beasts, and
fishes, and parts of them like heads, or feet, or wings; flowers,
fruits, and leaves; suns, moons or crescents, and stars; fleurs-de-lis,
crosses, billets, roundels, rings, etc.--all were pressed into the
service. The great rule as to colour held good as regards charges, and
it was not permissible to paint a red rose upon blue or a gold star upon
silver; but a red rose upon gold or a silver star upon blue was quite
right.
It has however been lawful at all times to place an ordinary, such as a
fesse or a cheveron, and whether charged or not, upon a parti-coloured
field like quarterly, checky, paly, or barry, or upon vair or vairy. A
quarter, or a chief, or a border, without reference to its colour, can
also be added to any such field.
Conversely, a parti-coloured cross, fesse, or charge of any kind is
allowable upon a plain field.
In the Great Roll of arms, _temp_. Edward II, are instances of two
shields, in the one case of a red lion, and in the other of a red
_fer-de-moline_, on fields party gold and vert; also of a silver leopard
upon a field party gold and gules, and of three red lions upon party
gold and azure. Likewise of a shield with three lions ermine upon party
azure and gules, and of another with wavy red bars upon a field party
gold and silver.
In the arms, too, of Eton College granted by King Henry VI in 1448-9
three silver lilies on a black field are combined with a chief party
azure and gules, with a gold leopard on the red half and a gold
fleur-de-lis on the blue half. King Henry also granted in 1449 these
arms, _party cheveronwise gules and sable three gold keys_, to Roger
Keys, clerk, for his services in connexion with the building of Eton
College, and to his brother Thomas Keys and his descendants.
Shields with quarterly fields often had a single charge in the quarter,
like the well-known molet of the Veres, or the eagle of Phelip.
Arms were sometimes counter-coloured, by interchanging the tinctures of
the whole or parts of an ordinary or charge or charges overlying a
parti-coloured field. This often has a very striking effect, as in the
arms of St. Bartholomew's Hospital, which are _party silver and sable a
cheveron counter-coloured_, or those of Geoffrey Chaucer, who bore
_party silver and gules a bend counter-coloured_. Sir Robert Farnham
bore _quarterly silver and azure four crescents counter-coloured_, or,
as the Great Roll describes them, 'de l'un en l'autre.' The town of
Southampton likewise bears for its arms _gules a chief silver with three
roses counter-coloured_.
In drawing parti-coloured fields it is as well to consider what are the
old rules with regard to them. In the early rolls a field barry of
silver and azure, or of gold and sable, is often described as of six
pieces, that is, with three coloured bars alternating with three of the
metal, though barry of eight and even ten pieces is found. Paly of
six pieces is also a normal number. But the number of pieces must always
be even, or the alternate pieces will become bars or pales. The number
of squares in each line of a checkered field or ordinary is also another
important matter. Six or eight form the usual basis for the division of
a field, but the seven on the seal of the earl of Warenne and Surrey
attached to the Barons' Letter of 1300-1 is not without its artistic
advantages. On an ordinary, such as a fesse or cross, there should be at
least two rows of checkers. Here, however, as in other cases, much
depends upon the size of the shield, and a large one could obviously
carry with advantage either on field or ordinary more squares than a
small one without infringing any heraldic law.
Besides the plain cross familiar to most of us in the arms of St.
George, and the similar form with engrailed edges, there is a variety
known as the ragged cross, derived from two crossed pieces of a tree
with lopped branches. This is often used in the so-called arms of Our
Lord, showing the instruments of His Passion, or in compositions
associated therewith, as in the cross with the three crowned nails
forming the arms of the town of Colchester.
Several other forms of cross have also been used. The most popular of
these is that with splayed or spreading ends, often split into three
divisions, called the cross paty, which appears in the arms of St.
Edward (see figs. 2 and 43). It is practically the same as the cross
called patonce, flory, or fleury, these being names applied to mere
variations of drawing. The cross with _les chefs flurettes_ of the Great
Roll seems to have been one flowered, or with fleurs-de-lis, at the
ends.
Another favourite cross was that with forked or split ends, formed of a
_fer-de-moline_ or mill-rind, sometimes called a cross _fourchée_, or,
when the split ends were coiled, a cross _recercelée_. The arms of
Antony Bek bishop of Durham (1284-1310) and patriarch of Jerusalem were
_gules a fer-de-moline ermine_, and certain vestments 'woven with a
cross of his arms which are called _ferrum molendini_' passed to his
cathedral church at his death. On his seal of dignity the bishop is
shown actually wearing such a vestment of his arms.
The tau or St. Anthony's cross also occurs in some late fifteenth
century arms.
The small crosses with which the field of a shield was sometimes
powdered were usually what are now called crosslets, but with rounded
instead of the modern squared angles, as in the Beauchamp arms (fig.
14), and a field powdered with these was simply called crusily. But the
powdering sometimes consisted of crosses paty, or formy as they were
also styled, as in the arms of Berkeley, or of the cross with crutched
ends called a cross potent, like that in the arms of the Kingdom of
Jerusalem. These crosses often had a spiked foot, as if for fixing them
in the ground, and were then further described as fitchy or crosses
fixable.
Since the elucidation of the artistic rather than the scientific side of
heraldry is the object of this present work, it is advisable to show how
it may best be studied.
The artistic treatment of heraldry can only be taught imperfectly by
means of books, and it is far better that the student should be his own
teacher by consulting such good examples of heraldic art as may commonly
be found nigh at hand. He may, however, first equip himself to advantage
with a proper grasp of the subject by reading carefully the admirable
article on Heraldry, by Mr. Oswald Barron, in the new (eleventh)
edition of the _Encyclopædia Britannica_.
The earliest and best of artistic authorities are heraldic seals. These
came into common use towards the end of the twelfth century, much at the
same time that armory itself became a thing of life, and they were
constantly being engraved for men, and even for women, who bore and used
arms, and for corporate bodies entitled to have seals.
Moreover, since every seal was produced under the direction of its owner
and continually used by him, the heraldry displayed on seals has a
personal interest of the greatest value, as showing not only what arms
the owner bore, but how they were intended to be seen.
From seals may be learnt the different shapes of shields, and the times
of their changes of fashion; the methods of depicting crests; the origin
and use of supporters; the treatment of the 'words' and 'reasons' now
called mottoes; the various ways of combining arms to indicate
alliances, kinships, and official connexions; and the many other
effective ways in which heraldry may be treated artistically without
breaking the rigid rules of its scientific side.
Seals, unfortunately, owing to their inaccessibility, are not so
generally available for purposes of study as some other authorities.
They are consequently comparatively little known. Fine series, both of
original impressions and casts, are on exhibition in the British and the
Victoria and Albert Museums, and in not a few local museums also,[1] but
the great collection in the British Museum is practically the only
public one that can be utilized to any extent by the heraldic student,
and then under the limitation of applying for each seal by a separate
ticket.
[1] It would surely not be a matter of much difficulty or expense to
equip the leading schools of art in this country with sets of casts of
these beautiful objects.
The many examples of armorial seals illustrated in the present work will
give the student a good idea of their importance and high artistic
excellence.
Next to the heraldry on seals, that displayed on tombs and monuments,
and in combination with architecture, may be studied, and, of course,
with greater ease, since such a number of examples is available. Many a
village church is comparatively as rich in heraldry as the abbey
churches of Westminster and St. Albans, or the minsters of Lincoln and
York and Beverley.
It is to the country church, too, that we may often look for lovely
examples of old heraldic glass, which has escaped the destruction of
other subjects that were deemed more superstitious (pls. I, II, and
III).
[Illustration: PLATE I. ARMS OF MILTON ABBEY FROM A WINDOW IN IBBERTON
CHURCH DORSET, C. 1475 (FROM ARCHAEOLOGIA, VOL. XLVII.)]
[Illustration: PLATE II. SHIELDS IN STAINED GLASS OF THE 14TH CENTURY
WITH THE ARMS OF (1) JOHN, EARL OF KENT (2) JOHN OF GAUNT AS KING OF
CASTILE, AND (3) SIR WILLIAM ARUNDEL, K.G.: IN THE VICTORIA AND ALBERT
MUSEUM.]
[Illustration: PLATE III. SHIELDS IN STAINED GLASS OF THE 14TH CENTURY
WITH THE ARMS OF (1) MOWBRAY (2) BEAUCHAMP, AND (3) AUDLEY: IN THE
VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM.]
But the student is not restricted to ecclesiastical buildings in his
search for good examples of heraldry.
Inasmuch as there never was such a thing as an ecclesiastical style, it
was quite immaterial to the medieval master masons whether they were
called in to build a church or a gatehouse, a castle or a mansion, a
barn or a bridge. The master carpenter worked in the same way upon a
rood loft or a pew end as upon the screen or the coffer in the house of
the lord; the glazier filled alike with his coloured transparencies the
bay of the hall, the window of the chapel, or that of the minster or the
abbey; and the tiler sold his wares to sacrist, churchwarden, or squire
alike.
The applications of heraldry to architecture are so numerous that it is
not easy to deal with them in any degree of connexion.
Shields of arms, badges, crests, and supporters are freely used in
every conceivable way, and on every reasonable place: on gatehouses
(figs. 3, 95, 96) and towers, on porches and doorways, in windows and
on walls, on plinths, buttresses, and pinnacles, on cornice, frieze, and
parapet, on chimney-pieces (figs. 8, 94) and spandrels, on vaults and
roofs, on woodwork, metalwork (figs. 6, 7), and furniture of all kinds,
on tombs, fonts, pulpits, screens, and coffers, in painting, in
glass, and on the tiles of the floor (figs. 1, 9, 14).
[Illustration: FIG. 6. Heraldic candle-holder, etc. from the latten
grate about the tomb of King Henry VII at Westminster.]
[Illustration: FIG. 7. Firedog with armorial bearings.]
[Illustration: FIG. 8. Chimney-piece in Tattershall castle,
Lincolnshire, built by Ralph lord Cromwell between 1433 and 1455, with
shields of arms and treasurer's purse and motto.]
[Illustration: FIG. 9. Paving tiles with arms and badges of the
Beauchamps, from Tewkesbury abbey church.]
Though actual examples are now rare, we know from pictures and
monuments, and the tantalizing descriptions in inventories, to how large
an extent heraldry was used in embroidery and woven work, on carpets and
hangings, on copes and frontals, on gowns, mantles, and jupes, on
trappers and in banners, and even on the sails of ships (fig. 10).
[Illustration: FIG. 10. Seal of Richard duke of Gloucester, as admiral
of England in Dorset and Somerset (1462), with arms on the mainsail of
the ship.]
Wills and inventories also tell us that in jewellery and goldsmiths'
work (see figs. 11 and 12) heraldry played a prominent part, and by the
aid of enamel it appeared in its proper colours, an advantage not
always attainable otherwise (fig. 13). Beautiful examples of heraldic
shields bright with enamel occur in the abbey church of Westminster on
the tombs of King Edward III and of William of Valence, and on the tombs
at Canterbury and Warwick respectively of Edward prince of Wales and
Richard Beauchamp earl of Warwick; while in St. George's chapel in
Windsor castle there are actually nearly ninety enamelled stall-plates
of Knights of the Garter of earlier date than Tudor times, extending
from about 1390 to 1485, and forming in themselves a veritable heraldic
storehouse of the highest artistic excellence. (See pls. XV, XVI.)
[Illustration: FIG. 11. Heraldic buckle from the effigy of Robert lord
Hungerford (_ob._ 1459) in Salisbury cathedral church.]
[Illustration: FIG. 12. Heraldic buckle from the effigy of William lord
Bardolf (_ob._ 1441) in Dennington church, Suffolk.]
[Illustration: FIG. 13. Enamelled shield with the arms of Ballard on the
print of a mazer (_c._ 1445) at All Souls college, Oxford.]
Another source of coloured heraldry is to be found in the so-called
rolls of arms.
While heraldry was a living art, it obviously became necessary to keep
some record of the numerous armorial bearings which were already in use,
as well as of those that were constantly being invented. This seems to
have been done by entering the arms on long rolls of parchment. In the
earliest examples these took the form of rows of painted shields, with
the owners' names written over (pl. IV); but in a few rare cases the
blazon or written description of the arms is also given, while other
rolls consist wholly of such descriptions, as in the well-known Great
and Boroughbridge Rolls. These have a special value in supplying the
terminology of the old heraldry, but this belongs to the science or
grammar and not the art of it. The pictured rolls, on the other hand,
clearly belong to the artistic side, and as they date from the middle
of the thirteenth century onwards, they show how the early heralds from
time to time drew the arms they wished to record.
[Illustration: FIG. 14. Heraldic paving tiles from Tewkesbury abbey. The
three uppermost bear the arms of Despenser, Berkeley, and Beauchamp, and
the large one the arms of Robert FitzHamon, the founder, impaled with
the singular cross of the abbey.]
[Illustration: PLATE IV. PART (REDUCED) OF AN EARLY ROLL OF ARMS
BELONGING TO THE SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES OF LONDON.]