CHAPTER II

EARLY HERALDIC AUTHORITIES

_Seals: Monumental Effigies, &c.: Rolls of Arms, Official Heraldic Records, &c.-- Earliest Heraldic Shields and Banners-- Allusive Quality of Early Armory-- Attributed Arms._

"Let us begin at the beginning." --PURSUIVANT OF ARMS.

At the head of the earliest existing authorities in English Heraldry are SEALS. To the fortunate circumstance of the legal importance attached to them we are indebted for the preservation of these equally interesting and valuable relics, in great variety and in very considerable numbers. The heraldic evidence of Seals is necessarily of the highest order. They are original works, possessing contemporaneous authority. Produced with peculiar care and approved by their first possessors, their original authenticity is confirmed by their continued use through successive generations.

Having been in use before the introduction and adoption of Heraldry in England, Seals enable us to compare the devices that preceded true Heraldry with the earliest that are truly heraldic: and thus they show that, in many instances, regular coats-of-arms were derived in their hereditary bearings from similar devices that had been adopted in the same families before the heraldic era. For example: the Seal of John Mundegumri, about A.D. 1175, bears a _single fleur-de-lys_, not placed upon a shield; and, accordingly, here is seen the origin of the _three golden fleurs-de-lys_, borne afterwards upon a blue shield by the descendants of this John, the Montgomeries, Earls of Eglintoun. Again: the Seal of Walter Innes, A.D. 1431, displays the shield of arms of his house--_three blue mullets_ (stars generally of five rays) on a field of silver, No. 11; and these mullets may be traced to the _single star_, that appears on the Seal of William Innes, or De Ynays, No. 12, appended to his deed of homage to Edward I., in the year 1295. I have selected these examples from the "Catalogue of Scottish Seals," published by Mr. Laing, of Edinburgh, that I may be enabled here to refer in the highest terms of admiring commendation to that most excellent work. It is greatly to be desired that a corresponding publication should treat, with equal ability, of the Seals of England which, from the dawn of Heraldry, continue their admirable examples and illustrations throughout its career.

[Illustration: No. 11.--Seal of Walter Innes.]

[Illustration: No. 12.--Seal of Wm. Innes.]

Monumental Effigies, Sepulchral Memorials, early Buildings, and early Stained Glass, frequently are rich in authoritative examples of "the figures of Heraldry." In addition to the various forms and combinations of heraldic composition, these works illustrate the early style of drawing in favour with Heralds during the great eras of mediæval Art, and they have preserved to us most useful and suggestive representations of various devices in their proper heraldic aspect. In many instances the Heraldry of early Monuments and Architecture possesses a peculiar value, arising from the circumstance of the shields of arms and other insignia having been sculptured in low relief or outlined in incised lines, and consequently these devices and compositions retain their original forms: and, in like manner, the original colouring of the Heraldry of Stained Glass remains safe from restoration or destruction, in consequence of the impossibility of re-painting it.

The early written Literature of English Heraldry is calculated to throw but little light upon either its true character or its history. In addition, however, to the various and numerous official documents of the Heralds' College, several examples of one particular class of heraldic record have been preserved, the value of which cannot be too highly estimated. These are ROLLS OF ARMS--long, narrow strips of parchment, on which are written lists of the names and titles of certain personages, with full descriptions of their armorial insignia. The circumstances under which these Rolls were prepared are obviously not identical and for the most part unknown: but, the exact accuracy of their statements has been established beyond all question by careful and repeated comparison with Seals and other Monuments, and also with Documents which give only an indirect and yet not the less conclusive corroboration to the records of the Rolls of Arms themselves. The earliest of these Rolls at present known date about A.D. 1240 to 1245; and since in these earliest Rolls a very decided technical language is uniformly adopted, and the descriptions are all given in palpable accordance with fixed rules which must then have been well understood, we infer that by the end of the first half of the thirteenth century there was in existence a system for the regulation of such matters. Heraldry was perhaps recognised as a Science, with fixed terms and rules for describing heraldic devices and figures, and established laws to direct the granting, the assuming, and the bearing of arms.

The most interesting of these early heraldic Rolls records, in a metrical form, and in Norman-French, the siege and capture of the fortress of Carlaverock, on the Scottish border, by EDWARD I., in the year 1300. In addition to very curious descriptions of the muster of the Royal troops at Carlisle, their march northwards, and the incidents of the siege (which last have a strange resemblance to what Homer has recorded of incidents that took place during the siege of Troy), this Roll gives some graphic personal sketches of the princes, nobles, bannerets, and knights, whose banners and shields of arms are set forth in it with minute exactness. This Roll, as well as several others, has been published, with translations and very valuable notes.

In the Manuscript Collections of the British Museum also, and of other Libraries both public and private, and in the County Histories, and other works of a cognate character, there are many documents which contain various important records and illustrations of early English Heraldry.

In any references to authorities, that it may appear desirable for me to make in the course of this and the following chapters, I must be as concise as possible. A direct reference to Seals, Effigies, &c., will be necessary in each case: but, in referring to Rolls of Arms, it will be sufficient to denote the period of the authority in general terms. Accordingly, I shall refer, not to each particular Roll, but collectively to those of each of the following reigns--HENRY III., EDWARD I., EDWARD II., EDWARD III., and RICHARD II.; and these references will severally be made thus,--(H. 3), (E. 1), (E. 2), (E. 3), and (R. 2).

Amongst the earliest Shields and Banners of Arms, all of them remarkable for their simplicity, many are found to be without any device whatever, their distinction consisting simply in some peculiarity in the colouring. Such examples may be considered to have been derived from pre-heraldic times, and transmitted, without any change or addition, to later periods. The renowned Banner of the Knights Templars, by them called _Beauseant_, No. 13, is black above and white below, which is said to have denoted that, while fierce to their foes, they were gracious to their friends. An ancient Banner of the Earl of Leicester (H. 3) is white and red, the division being made by a vertical indented line; No. 14. This design, however, was not the coat of arms of the earl. The Shield of the ducal House of Brittany, closely connected with the Royal Family of England, is simply of the fur ermine; No. 15. The Shield of Waldegrave is silver and red, as in No. 16: and that of Fitz Warine (H. 3), also of silver and red, is treated as in No. 17.

[Illustration: No. 13.--Banner of Templars.]

[Illustration: No. 14.--Banner of Leicester.]

[Illustration: No. 15.--Brittany.]

[Illustration: No. 16.--Waldegrave.]

[Illustration: No. 17.--Fitz Warine.]

[Illustration: No. 18.--Shield at Whitworth.]

Some of the earliest of the simple devices of true Heraldry were evidently adopted from the _structural formation_ (or from a _structural strengthening_) of the Shields, on which they were displayed. Thus, a raised border, and bands of metal variously disposed in order to impart additional strength to a shield, with distinct colouring, would produce a series of heraldic compositions. A good example occurs in the shield of an early Effigy at Whitworth, Durham, No. 18, in which the heads of the rivets or screws employed to fix the border on the shield, appear to have been made to assume the character of heraldic additions to the simple border and horizontal bands. Other primary devices of the same simple order, which in like manner may have had a structural origin, I shall consider in detail in subsequent chapters. (See

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