CHAPTER XIV
CRESTS
"On high their glittering crests they toss." --LORD OF THE ISLES.
"Then he bound Her token on his helmet." --ELAINE.
The idea of a CREST, of some accessory specially designed to form its crowning adornment, appears inseparable from the existence and use of a Helm. The Warriors and Warrior Divinities of classic antiquity are represented to us, wearing head-pieces richly crested: and, in the Middle Ages, had no other Heraldry ever been devised, assuredly ornaments of some kind would have been placed on helms and basinets, and these insignia would have been held in high esteem and honour. Accordingly, about the time that Coat-Armour became hereditary, having been reduced to a system and accepted as an independent science, heraldic Crests began to be worn as honourable distinctions of the most exalted dignity by the mediæval chivalry.
[Illustration: No. 375.--Richard I.]
[Illustration: No. 376.--Henry de Perci.]
[Illustration: No. 377.--Henry de Laci.]
[Illustration: No. 378.--Seal of Alexander de Balliol, A.D. 1292.]
Upon the Second Great Seal of RICHARD I. the cylindrical helm of the King appears surmounted by a kind of cap or fan charged with a lion passant, the whole being arched over by a radiated ornament somewhat resembling a displayed fan, as in No. 375. Similar Crests, somewhat modified in their details, are represented in other seals of the same era, and with them the flowing Contoise or Scarf is sometimes associated, as in No. 376, from the seal of Baron HENRY DE PERCI, A.D. 1300. Similar ornaments were also placed by the knights of those ages upon the heads of their chargers. The seal of HENRY DE LACI, Earl of LINCOLN, A.D. 1272, shows the Fan-Crest both upon the helm of the Earl, No. 377, and the head of his war-horse. Another equally characteristic example is the Seal of ALEXANDER DE BALLIOL, No. 378, appended to the "General Release" given by JOHN BALLIOL to EDWARD I., 2nd January, 1292: it will be observed that this knight displays the arms of his house, No. 134, upon his Shield, and also, in addition to the Fan-Crest, upon the barding of his charger. Again I am indebted to the kindness and liberality of Mr. Laing for the use of his admirable woodcut of this fine and interesting seal.
[Illustration: No. 379.--Helm of Thomas, second Earl of Lancaster.]
The flowing Contoise continued to be attached to helms till about the middle of the fourteenth century; unless, indeed, some veritable "lady's favour" were worn in its stead by knights favoured as was Sir LAUNCELOT, who, on a memorable day,--
"Wore, against his wont, upon his helm A sleeve of scarlet, broidered with great pearls, Some gentle maiden's gift."
[Illustration: No. 380.--Helm and Crest of Sir Geoffrey Luterell: A.D. 1345.]
[Illustration: No. 381.--Seal of Sir Robert de Marny, A.D. 1366.]
The seal of THOMAS, second Earl of LANCASTER, about A.D. 1320, gives an excellent example both of such figures as were beginning at that early time to supersede the Fan-Crests, and also of the Contoise; No. 379. About this same period the fashion was introduced of fixing two tall spikes, one on each side of the Crest, upon the helm, probably intended in the first instance to display the contoise. These singular spikes may have been derived by the English Heralds from their brethren of Germany, who delighted, as they still delight, in placing upon helms as Crests, or as the accessories of Crests, small banners displayed from staves set erect and surmounted by spear-heads. In German Heraldry also Crests are very frequently placed between tall upright horns or trumpets: and, sometimes, upon a German helm the Crest stands between horns shaped like two elephant's trunks (for which they have often been mistaken by English Heralds), placed in the same erect position, and, like the trumpets, so adjusted as to have the general aspect of the curved outline of a classic lyre. The helm of Sir GEOFFREY LUTERELL, A.D. 1345, No. 380, drawn from a celebrated illumination, between the tall spikes has a late example of the Fan-Crest; and it exemplifies the practice sometimes adopted of charging armorial insignia upon Crests of this fan form. The Arms of Luterell--_Or, a bend and six martlets sa._--were borne by Sir GEOFFREY thus differenced (E. 2)--_Az., a bend and six martlets arg._ A pair of lofty upright wings were held in much esteem in the Heraldry of both England and Scotland, to form the accessories of Crests. The Seal of Sir ROBERT DE MARNY, A.D. 1366, No. 381, shows his armorial shield--_Gu., a lion rampant arg._, suspended from a tree, between two crested helms, the crest in both cases being a _winged chapeau_, having the wings very tall and very slender.
From the earliest times, Crests have occasionally been identical with the principal charge in the Shield of Arms, or they have repeated the principal charge with some slight modification of attitude or accessory: but, more generally, Crests have been altogether distinct. The Dragon and the Wyvern, the latter well exemplified in No. 315, are amongst the earliest figures that were borne as Crests in England. Other early Figure-Crests are the Lion, crowned and assumed for the first time by an English Sovereign by EDWARD III.; and the Eagle, borne by the same Prince. Various devices and figures are found gradually to have been added to these earliest Crests. The graceful and peculiarly appropriate _Panache_ soon joined them, with the heads of various animals and other creatures: and, as the fourteenth century advances, the _Crest-Coronet_, No. 232, the _Crest-Wreath_, No. 233, and the _Chapeau_, No. 224, assume their places in connection with Crests; and the _Mantling_ falls in rich folds from them, covering the back of the Helm. In the succeeding century, with Helms less dignified in form, but more elaborately enriched, and with strangely fantastic Mantlings, Crests become considerably larger in their proportions; and they often are extravagant in their character, devices constantly being assumed and borne as Crests, which are no less inconsistent with true heraldic feeling, than with the peculiar conditions and the proper qualities of true heraldic Crests. The Crest of the Duke of HAMILTON, No. 301, is far from being one of the most inconsistent devices that were intended to be worn upon helms. And, as it is scarcely necessary for me to add, every really consistent Crest should be such a figure or device as might be actually worn upon his helm, by a mediæval knight, with dignity and with a happy effect.
[Illustration: No. 382.--Seal of William de Wyndesor.]
Early examples of Panache-Crests exist in considerable numbers, and they show much variety of treatment. No. 285, already given at page 142, shows a Panache of several heights of feathers, the general outline having an oval contour. In No. 283, from the Seal of EDWARD DE COURTENAY, Earl of DEVON, A.D. 1372, there are three heights of feathers, and the outline has a square form. Again, the Seal of WILLIAM LE LATIMER, A.D. 1415, gives the peculiar Panache, with the no less peculiar variety of mantling, shown in No. 284. A Panache of ample proportions, and of exceedingly graceful form, is represented in the Seal of WILLIAM DE WYNDESOR, A.D. 1381. The comparatively small size of the armorial Shield, as it generally appears when introduced into the composition of Seals in the fourteenth century, is shown in a striking manner in this same example, No. 382, which in the woodcut is slightly enlarged, in order to show the device more clearly: the arms are--_Gu., a saltire or_. Other fine examples of Panache-Crests may be seen in the effigies of Sir RICHARD DE PEMBRIDGE, K.G., A.D. 1375, in Hereford Cathedral; of Sir ROBERT DE MARMION, A.D. 1400, at Tanfield, Yorkshire; and of Sir THOMAS ARDERNE, about the same date, at Elford, in Staffordshire. The very fine effigy of Sir EDWARD DE THORPE, A.D. 1418, at Ashwelthorpe, in Norfolk, has a helm of rare beauty of form, with a rich mantling, and a most graceful Panache of peacock's feathers; and peacock's feathers also form the Panache of Lord FERRERS of CHARTLEY, in his Brass, A.D. 1425, at Merevale, in Warwickshire. And, once more, upon the Seal of THOMAS DE HATFIELD, Bishop of Durham, A.D. 1345, the Panache rises from the episcopal mitre, after the same manner as it does in No. 383 from a Coronet.
[Illustration: No. 383.--Crest of Sir Richard Grey, K.G., A.D. 1420.]
Another episcopal Seal, that of Bishop HENRY LE DESPENCER, No. 351, shows a Shield of small size when compared with the helm and crest, the latter being the favourite device of a gryphon's head between two tall upright wings. The Seals of the FITZALANS, Earls of Arundel, and the Seal of JOHN TIPTOFT, Earl of Worcester, may be specified as displaying fine examples of the same Crest. With them may be grouped the Crest of Sir RICHARD GREY, K.G., Lord Grey of Codnor, A.D. 1420--_A peacock's head and neck, between two wings erect, the feathers az., and their pens_ (quills) _arg._, No. 383, from the Garter-plate at Windsor. This Crest rises from such a Crest-Coronet as was borne on their helms by noblemen in the time of HENRY V.
The use of the _Chapeau_, or Cap of Estate, instead of a Crest-Coronet, to support a Crest upon a helm, I have already illustrated with Nos. 198 and 199, severally the Lion-Crests of the BLACK PRINCE and of his son RICHARD II. Like No. 199, No. 384 is from one of the unrivalled series of helms sculptured in Westminster Hall, with the Crest and Ostrich-feather Badge of King RICHARD II. In both of these examples the adjustment of the _Mantling_ is shown. Two famous Lion-Crests are those borne by the great families of HOWARD and PERCY, severally Dukes of Norfolk and Northumberland. The HOWARD lion, originally granted by RICHARD II. to THOMAS MOWBRAY, Earl Marshal, and now borne by the Duke of NORFOLK, is _a lion statant guardant, his tail extended or, and ducally gorged arg._: the PERCY lion is _statant, his tail extended or_: each lion stands upon a chapeau. The Lion-Crest of the BLACK PRINCE, being charged with the _silver Label_ (which he may be said to wear after the fashion of a collar), exemplifies the prevailing practice of _differencing Crests with marks of Cadency_. Crests admit every variety of Difference: and Mantlings also are frequently differenced with small charges, or with badges; as in the Garter-plate of Sir JOHN BEAUMONT, K.G., and in the Brass at Little Easton, Essex, to Sir HENRY BOURCHIER, K.G., Earl of ESSEX.
[Illustration: No. 384.--Helm, Crest, Mantling, and Badge of Richard II., from Westminster Hall.]
The _Crest-Wreath_ first appears about the middle of the fourteenth century. The earliest example to which I can refer is represented in the Brass to Sir HUGH HASTINGS, at Elsyng, in Norfolk, A.D. 1347. In this most remarkable engraven memorial, the finial of the principal canopy is surmounted by a helm with mantling, wreath, and the crest of HASTINGS--_a bull's head sable_; No. 385. In the effigy of Sir R. DE PEMBRIDGE, K.G., already noticed, the date of which is 1375, the crest is united to the great helm that supports the head of the knight by a wreath formed of a band of four-leaved flowers. A little later, A.D. 1384, at Southacre, in Norfolk, the Brass of Sir JOHN HARSYCK has a Crest-Wreath formed of two rolls, probably of silk, twisted as in No. 386. In the second half of the next century, amongst many good examples of Crest-Wreaths I select as typical specimens those which appear in the Brasses to Sir WILLIAM VERNON, A.D. 1467, at Tong, in Shropshire, No. 386; and to Sir ROBERT HARCOURT, K.G., No. 387, at Staunton Harcourt, Oxfordshire.
[Illustration: No. 385.--Crested Helm of Sir Hugh Hastings; A.D. 1347.]
[Illustration: No. 386, 387, and 388.--Crest-Wreaths.]
The Crest-Wreath in the form shown in the last examples, and now almost universally used in representations of such Crests as are without the Crest-Coronet and the Chapeau, may fairly be considered to have been derived from the rich ornamentation, generally, as it would seem, formed of costly textile fabrics, if not executed in jewelled or enamelled goldsmith's work, that was frequently wreathed about knightly basinets. These wreath-like ornaments are represented in numerous effigies both sculptured and engraven; and they are shown to have been worn either flat, as in No. 388, or wrought to high relief, as in No. 389. These two examples are severally from the effigies of a knight in Tewkesbury Abbey Church, about A.D. 1365, and of Sir HUMPHREY STAFFORD, A.D. 1450, at Bromsgrove, in Worcestershire. The enamelled effigy of Earl WILLIAM DE VALANECE, A.D. 1296, at Westminster, has a wreath of delicate workmanship in relief, which once was set with real or imitative jewels.
For many years after their first appearance, heraldic Crests were regarded as insignia of great dignity and exalted estate; and it was not till a considerably later period that the right to bear a Crest came to be regarded as an adjunct of the right to bear arms. Still later, when they were granted with Coat-Armour to corporate bodies, communities, and institutions, Crests altogether lost their original significance; and they became, in their use, Badges in everything except the habit of placing them, with their accessories of Wreath or Crest-Coronet, of Chapeau and Mantling, upon representations of helms.
[Illustration: No. 389.--Basinet with Crest-Wreath, Effigy of Sir Humphrey Stafford, A.D. 1450.]
When they were actually worn, Crests were undoubtedly constructed of some very light materials. It is probable that _cuir bouilli_ (boiled leather), the decorative capabilities of which were so well understood by mediæval artists, was generally employed.
It has been sometimes held that Crests are personal bearings only; and, therefore, not hereditary, though capable of being bequeathed or granted by their possessors. This theory is not sustained by early or general usage; and, accordingly, Crests must be pronounced to be hereditary, as is Coat-Armour.
It is evident that as one person may inherit, and therefore may quarter, two or more Coats of Arms, so the same person might claim to bear _two or more Crests_ by a similar right of inheritance. This in early times resulted in selection because no early British precedent exists for the simultaneous display of _two_ Crests. But it was soon recognised that as no woman could bear a Crest, she ought not to transmit one, and the idea of the inheritance of the Crest with a quartering from a female ancestress ceased. At the present day, several Crests, each with its own helm and mantling, are occasionally represented above a Shield of arms: but, in England, by strict heraldic rule, two (or more than two) Crests can be borne by one individual, only when he has obtained the Royal licence to bear and use the _Surname and Arms_ of another family _in addition_ to those of his own family, or, by a special grant from the Crown.
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