THE SHIELD AND ITS TREATMENT (_continued_)
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.
Before leaving the subject of the shield a few words must be written
about the armorial bearings of ladies.
It has always been the practice for the daughters of a house to bear,
without difference or alteration, the arms of their father. This
practice has been departed from only in quite modern times, by the
addition of distinctive labels to the arms borne by our princesses. To
the manner in which married ladies have arranged or 'marshalled' their
arms reference will be made later, but it is necessary here to call
attention to the fact that it has been customary for a long time to
place the arms of widows and single ladies upon shields that are
lozenge-shaped. A good early example is that from the monument in
Westminster abbey church of Frances Brandon duchess of Suffolk (_ob._
1559), shown in fig. 51.
[Illustration: FIG. 51. Lozenge of arms from the monument at Westminster
of Frances Brandon duchess of Suffolk (_ob._ 1559).]
This singularly inconvenient form of shield, upon which it is often
impossible to draw the arms properly, began to be used early in the
fourteenth century.
It was not, however, used for or restricted to the arms of ladies, since
the evidence of seals shows that it was at first used to contain the
armorial bearings of men. There can likewise be little doubt that it and
the roundel, which was also charged with arms, were contemporaneously
invented by the seal engravers as variants from the ordinary form of
shield; and it is interesting to note that the majority of the examples
occur on seals which have a background or setting of elaborate tracery.
The roundel seems to have originated in the covering of the entire field
of a circular seal with the arms of its owner, such as the leopards of
England which are so disposed in a counterseal of Edward of Carnarvon as
prince of Wales. Two seals of John of Gaunt duke of Lancaster, engraved
probably in 1372, show a similar treatment: the one bearing his arms
impaling, and the other his arms impaled with, those of Castile and Leon
(pl. VII B). The former commemorates his marriage with Constance of
Castile, and the latter the duke's claim in right of his wife to the
kingdom of Castile itself.
A large enamelled roundel, _party gules and azure with a gold
charbocle_, accompanies the shield and crested helm which, with it, form
the stall-plate of Ralph lord Bassett (_c._ 1390) at Windsor.
One of the lesser seals appended to the Barons' Letter, that of Robert
FitzPain, is an oval filled with the owner's arms (fig. 52).
[Illustration: FIG. 52. Seal of Robert FitzPain, with arms in an oval.]
One of the earliest examples of arms on a lozenge is on a seal of Thomas
Furnival, who died in 1279, and another but little later is furnished by
the seal of William de Braose, appended to a deed of either 1282 or 1314
at Magdalen College, Oxford (pl. IX B).
[Illustration:
A William Paynel, in 1301.
B William Braose, ? 1282.
C Parnell Bensted, in 1359.
D E Elizabeth of Clare.
PLATE IX.--Use of lozenges and roundels of arms.]
That of William Paynel, appended to the Barons' Letter, also has his
arms on a lozenge (pl. IX A).
The first seal of a lady in which lozenges of arms occur is probably
that of Joan, daughter of Henry count of Barre and Eleanor daughter of
King Edward I, who married, in 1306, John de Warenne earl of Surrey
(fig. 53). This has five lozenges arranged in cross: that in the middle
has her husband's checkers, those on each side her father's barbels,
etc. and those above and below the three leopards of England. The lady's
descent from King Edward is further shown by the castles and lions of
his consort Eleanor of Castile.
[Illustration: FIG. 53. Seal of Joan de Barre, wife of John de Warenne
earl of Surrey, 1306.]
Another interesting example, of a date about 1320, is the seal of
Parnel, daughter of H. de Grapenell, and widow (1) of John FitzJohn and
(2) of Sir John Bensted (_ob._ 1323). This has in the middle a shield of
the arms of Bensted, _gules three gold gemell-bars_, between four
lozenges, apparently for Grapenell and FitzJohn (pl. IX C).
Contemporary with Parnel Bensted's seal are two others in which roundels
are used instead of lozenges. Both are traceried seals of Elizabeth
daughter of Gilbert of Clare earl of Gloucester, and Joan daughter of
King Edward I and Queen Eleanor of Castile. She was thrice married:
first, about 1306 to John of Burgh, son of Richard earl of Ulster;
secondly to Theobald lord Verdon; and thirdly to Roger lord d'Amory, who
died in 1322.
One of these seals has in the middle, in a shield, Elizabeth's own arms
of Clare impaling Burgh within a black border bedewed with tears. Above
and below are roundels of Clare, and on either side other roundels of
Verdon and d'Amory. In the interspaces are the castles and lions of
Castile and Leon (pl. IX D).
The other seal is similarly arranged, but has in the middle a large
shield of d'Amory, between roundels of arms of the lady's other
husbands above and below, and of Clare for her father or herself on
either side. The interspaces again contain castles and lions (pl. IX E).
Four other early seals of great artistic merit displaying roundels may
also be described, especially since they are apparently the work of the
same engraver. They are filled with tracery, consisting of a triangle
enclosing a circle, which contains a large shield, with cusped circles
on its sides containing roundels or devices.
The first is for Mary de Seynt-Pol, who married in 1322 Aymer of Valence
earl of Pembroke (fig. 54). The shield bears the dimidiated arms of
husband and wife; on a roundel in base are the arms of her mother; and
higher up are roundels of England and France, out of compliment to King
Edward II and Queen Isabel.
[Illustration: FIG. 54. Seal of Mary de Seynt-Pol, wife of Aymer of
Valence earl of Pembroke, 1322.]
The second is for John de Bohun earl of Hereford, and has a large shield
of Bohun with roundels also of Bohun. It was probably engraved in 1322,
and before the earl's marriage in 1325 (pl. X A).
[Illustration:
A John de Bohun earl of Hereford, 1322.
B Hugh Courtenay earl of Devon, 1334.
C Henry Sturmy, lord of Savernake Forest, 1355.
D Elizabeth, wife of Walter Bermyngham, in 1341.
E Sibyl, wife of Sir Edmund Arundel, 1350.
PLATE X.--Use of lozenges and roundels of arms.]
The third is for Richard FitzAlan earl of Arundel (1330-1), who
succeeded to the vast Warenne estates in 1347. It has in the middle a
shield of FitzAlan, and about it three roundels with the checkers of
Warenne.
The fourth is for Hugh Courtenay earl of Devon (1334-5-40)or his son
Hugh (1340-77). The shield displays the arms of Courtenay and in each of
the outer circles is a sexfoil (pl. X B).
To these examples may be added a fifth of about the same date, for Henry
Sturmy or Esturmy, lord of the forest of Savernake. This has the Sturmy
shield in the middle, between two roundels of the Hussey arms, and a
third roundel above with the tenure horn of Savernake Forest (pl. X C).
Other seals that may be quoted in illustration of the indiscriminate use
of shields, roundels, and lozenges during the fourteenth century are
those of: (1) Juliana, daughter of Thomas Leybourne, and wife of John
lord Hastings (_ob._ 1325), with a shield of Hastings impaling
Leybourne, encircled by six lozenges of arms indicative of other
alliances and descents, derived from the fact of the lady having been
married thrice; (2) Elizabeth de Multon, wife of Walter Bermyngham, with
the shield of Bermyngham surrounded by six roundels of other arms; (3)
Maud, daughter of Bartholomew Badlesmere, and wife in 1336 of John de
Vere earl of Oxford (fig. 55), with a shield of Vere between lozenges of
Clare, Badlesmere (her father and herself), Clare with label (mother),
and FitzPayn (first husband); (4) Maud, daughter of Henry earl of
Lancaster, married first to William of Burgh earl of Ulster, and
secondly (in 1343-4) to Sir Ralph Ufford (fig. 56), with lozenges of
Lancaster (father and herself) above and Chaworth (mother) below, and
shields of Burgh and Ufford (husbands); (5) Sybil, daughter of William
Montagu earl of Salisbury and Katharine Graunson, with shield of
FitzAlan with a label, for her husband Sir Edmund of Arundel, second
son of Edmund FitzAlan earl of Arundel, between lozenges of Montagu and
Graunson (pl. X E);[2] and (6) Elizabeth, widow of Sir Gilbert
Elsefield, with a lozenge of Elsefield between four roundels of other
arms (impression 1382-3).
[2] Impression attached to a deed in the British Museum, 1350-1.
[Illustration: FIG. 55. Seal of Maud Badlesmere, wife of John de Vere
earl of Oxford, 1336.]
[Illustration:
FIG. 56. Seal of Maud of Lancaster, wife
(1) of William of Burgh earl of Ulster, and
(2) of Sir Ralph Ufford, 1343-4.
]
Alice, wife of Thomas of Heslerton, has on her seal (impression 1374) a
large lozenge of the arms of Heslerton (_gules six silver lions with
gold crowns_) within a quatrefoil, outside of which are four small
banners of arms with martlets between.
Lastly may be noted a seal of Roger Foljambe, attached to a deed of
1396-7, having a lozenge of his arms (_a bend and six scallop shells_)
surrounded by his word or motto.
But seals are not the only authorities for the indiscriminate use of
roundels and lozenges as well as shields of arms. In the Victoria and
Albert Museum at South Kensington is an enamelled coffer of late
thirteenth century work decorated with lozenges of arms of England,
Valence, Dreux, Angoulême, Brabant, and Lacy. The famous Syon cope _de
opere Anglicano_, also in the Victoria and Albert Museum, has the
existing orphrey filled with large armorial roundels and lozenges, and
its border is composed of a stole and fanon embroidered throughout with
lozenges of arms. (See fig. 57.) Christchurch, Canterbury, in 1315
possessed an albe 'sewn with lozenges with the arms of the king of
England and of Leybourne,'[3] and another 'sewn with the arms of
Northwode and Ponyngg in squares';[4] also an albe 'sewn with divers
arms in lozenges with purple frets with a stole and fanon of the same
work,'[5] evidently not unlike those on the Syon cope.
[3] 'consuta de losenges cum armis regis Anglie et de Leyburn.'
[4] 'consuta de armis de Northwode et Ponyngg in quadrangulis.'
[5] 'consuta de diversis armis in lozengis cum frectis purpureis cum
stola et manipulo ejusdem operis.'
[Illustration: FIG. 57. The Syon Cope, now in the Victoria and Albert
Museum.]
It may also be noted that the pillows beneath the head of the effigy at
Westminster of Aveline countess of Lancaster (_c._ 1275) are both
covered with heraldic lozenges: on the upper one with the arms of her
husband alternating with the lion of Redvers; on the lower with the vair
cross on red of her father, William of Forz earl of Albemarle. The gilt
metal bed plate under the effigy of William of Valence earl of Pembroke
(_ob._ 1296), likewise at Westminster, is also covered with a lozengy
diaper of England and Valence, still bright with the original enamel;
the workmanship of this, however, is probably French.
The restriction of the lozenge to the arms of ladies has clearly
therefore no medieval precedent, and there is not any reason why the
modern custom should not be set aside when for artistic reasons a shield
or roundel is preferable.