CHAPTER XVI

SUPPORTERS

"Standing by the Shield In silence." --IDYLLS OF THE KING.

A SUPPORTER is a figure, sometimes of an angel, frequently of a human being, but more generally of some animal, bird, or imaginary creature, so placed in connection with a Shield of Arms as to appear to be protecting and supporting it. In English Heraldry a single Supporter is of comparatively rare occurrence, but a number of examples are to be found in the Heraldry of Scotland. In early examples, when two Supporters appear, they are in most cases alike: but, more recently (except in the Heraldry of France), the two figures are generally quite distinct the one from the other, the earlier usage of having the two Supporters alike being less frequent. The modern prevailing practice in England is happily exemplified in the well-known instance of the present Royal Supporters, the Lion and the Unicorn.

Supporters are considered to have been introduced into the Heraldry of England during the reign of EDWARD III.; but they may with greater accuracy be assigned to the middle of the fifteenth century, than to the second half of the fourteenth. As armorial insignia of a very high rank, Supporters are granted in England only by the express command of the Sovereign, except to Peers and Knights Grand Cross and Knights Grand Commanders. In Scotland, where they occur more frequently than in the Heraldry of the South of the Tweed, the "Lord Lyon" has power to grant Supporters. Originally by the Scottish Heralds these accessories of Shields were entitled "Bearers."

Supporters are now granted, on payment of fees, to all Peers of the Realm to descend to the holders of a specified Peerage, and to Knights of the Garter, Thistle, and St. Patrick, and to Knights Grand Cross and Knights Grand Commanders of all other orders of knighthood to be borne for life. Most Nova Scotia Baronets and Chiefs of Scottish Clans have supporters registered with their arms.

Supporters probably owe their origin rather to several concurrent circumstances, than to any one particular circumstance. The mere fact of a Knight carrying his own armorial Shield, or his Esquire bearing it beside him, might suggest the general idea of some _supporting_ figure in connection with a representation of that Shield. The act of carrying a Banner of Arms, in like manner, might suggest a representation of a "Supporter" for a Shield of Arms. To early Seals, however, Heraldry is in an especial degree indebted for the development of the idea of Supporters, and for bringing it into a definite form. Again, the prevalent use of Badges in the fourteenth century, and in the fifteenth also, would necessarily exercise a powerful influence in the same direction; and would lead Heralds to associate with Shields of Arms certain other figures which, while in themselves distinct and independent, were closely allied with certain Shields of Arms. The prototypes of true Supporters, indeed, as they appear on Seals, are Badges. In fact, it is often difficult to determine whether specified figures on the Seals of a certain period are heraldic supporters or merely representations of Badges.

An Effigy represented upon a Seal, as in No. 405, the Seal of DEVORGUILLA CRAWFORD, about A.D. 1290, from LAING'S Volume: or in Nos. 316, 317, would be even more than a suggestion of a Supporter. The same may be said, when some figure, almost certainly a Badge, was introduced into the composition of a Seal, holding or supporting a Shield by its guige, as in No. 203; or when a Shield, or two or more Shields, were charged upon some figure, as in No. 204: both of these examples, indeed, might be regarded as illustrations of the origin or first adoption of single Supporters.

[Illustration: No. 405.--Seal of Devorguilla Crawford, about 1290.]

The introduction of angelic figures, which might have the appearance of

## acting as "Guardian Angels," in their care of Shields of Arms, was in

accordance with the feeling of the early days of English Heraldry; and, while it took a part in leading the way to the systematic use of regular Supporters, it served to show the high esteem and honour in which armorial insignia were held by our ancestors of those ages. In No. 159 I have already shown an example of a sculptured Shield thus supported by Angels, from St. Albans. In the same noble church there are other examples of the same character in stained glass. Angel Supporters, the figures treated in various ways, occur in very many Gothic edifices;

## particularly, sculptured as corbels, bosses or pateræ, or introduced in

panels, and employed for the decoration of open timber roofs, as in Westminster Hall. They appear also on Seals; as on the Seal of HENRY OF LANCASTER, about A.D. 1350, which has the figure of an Angel above the Shield, and a lion on each side of it.

[Illustration: No. 406.--Part of Seal of Margaret, Lady Hungerford.]

The representation of armorial Banners upon Seals would lead to at least the occasional introduction of some figure to hold, or _support_, the Banner; and here, again, we discern the presence of some of the immediate predecessors of "Supporters," properly so called. In the Seals, Nos. 391, 392, the Banners are not supported, and yet they are indirectly suggestive of giving support to the Shield which is marshalled with them in the same composition. Another Hungerford Seal, that of MARGARET BOTREAUX, widow of the second Baron HUNGERFORD (who died in 1477), in the centre of the composition has a kneeling figure of the noble lady, and on each side a banner of arms is held (_supported_) erect, so that the two banners form a kind of canopy over her head, by a lion and a gryphon. In No. 406 I give a part only of this elaborate Seal, sufficient to show how its general composition bears upon the adoption of Supporters. The Monument in Westminster Abbey of Sir LUDOVIC ROBSART, K.G., Lord BOURCHIER, Standard-Bearer to HENRY V. at Agincourt, has two banners sculptured in the stone work of the canopy, which are placed precisely in the same manner as the banners in No. 406; and, like them, they are held by Badges acting as Supporters. Two well-known seals of the PERCIES are charged with banners, and in each case the banner-staff is held by a single Supporter: one of these figures is a man-at-arms, A.D. 1386; the other is a lion, A.D. 1446. At the same period, two lions appear on another Percy Seal. Another, of the same date, has the shield supported by an armed man, without any banner, but having a lance with a long pennon charged with the Crescent badge of PERCY, No. 412, p. 247. Other Percy Seals, again, of the fourteenth century, on either side of the Shield have two lions or two birds.

Numerous examples of great interest illustrate the early introduction of Badges into the composition of Seals, as accessories of Shields. A Seal of Prince JOHN OF GHENT, which has two falcons and padlocks, is one of the most beautiful and suggestive works of its class: in this Seal the two birds are addorsed, and consequently they also have their backs turned towards the central achievement. This position of the figures on early Seals is not uncommon; but it is an illustration that the use of Badges in the form from which they developed into supporters was an artistic necessity, arising from the form of the spaces to be occupied by the figures upon the Seal. Another most characteristic example of that marshalling of Badges upon Seals, which certainly led the way to true Supporters, is the Seal of Sir MAURICE DE BERKELEY, A.D. 1430, upon which _a mermaid_--the Berkeley badge--is blazoned on each side of the Shield. The two figures are drawn with much skill and elegance. The Shield itself quarters _Berkeley_ within a bordure, and a differenced coat of _Bottetourt_: it hangs from a large helm, which, in its turn, is ensigned by as large a _mitre_--the singular Crest of the Berkeleys. The two figures, generally animals, which fill up the spaces to the dexter and sinister of the central achievement on Seals, in the fifteenth century are almost invariably drawn of a comparatively large size; and, for the most part, they really act as _Supporters to the Crested Helm_, being themselves _supported by the Shield_. The composition of the Seal of EDMUND DE MORTIMER, Earl of MARCH, A.D. 1400, though now mutilated, exhibits in a most satisfactory manner this very effective arrangement, from which true Supporters to a Shield of Arms might obviously be derived. In this Seal, No. 407, the Shield quarters _Mortimer_, No. 131, and--_or, a cross gu._, for _Ulster_. The Seal of WM. DE WYNDESOR, No. 382, illustrates with no less happy effect the occasional use of birds instead of beasts, as Supporting Badges. Other examples exist in great numbers, and in abundant variety: the two that I add from Mr. Laing's Volume, Nos. 408 and 409, are in every respect most characteristic; they are severally the Seals of ROBERT GRAHAM, of Kinpont, and of Sir WILLIAM LINDSAY, of the Byres.

[Illustration: No. 407.--Seal of Earl Edmund de Mortimer; A.D. 1400.]

It is scarcely necessary for me to point out to students that Supporters always have a decided heraldic significance. In supporting a Shield of Arms, they discharge an heraldic duty: but, in themselves, Supporters are armorial symbols of a high rank; and, with peculiar emphasis, they record descent, inheritance, and alliance, and they blazon illustrious deeds.

[Illustration: No. 408.--Seal of Robert Graham, of Kinpont, A.D. 1433.]

[Illustration: No. 409.--Seal of Sir Wm. Lindsay, of the Byres, A.D. 1390.]

Supporters should always be represented in an erect position. In whatever direction also they actually may be looking, they always ought to appear to fulfil their own proper office of giving vigilant and deferential _support to the Shield_. It would be well, in our blazoning of supported Achievements, not only for us to regard a becoming position and attitude for Supporters to be matters determined by positive heraldic law, but also that some satisfactory arrangement should be made and recognised for general adoption, by which an equally becoming _support_ would be provided for "Supporters." An unsatisfactory custom has been either to place the Supporters, whatever they may be, upon some very slight renaissance scroll work that is neither graceful nor consistent, or, to constrain the Motto scroll to provide a foundation or standing-place for them. In the latter case, an energetic lion, or a massive elephant, and, in a certain class of achievements of comparatively recent date, a mounted trooper, or a stalwart man-of-war's man, probably with a twenty-four pounder at his feet, are made to stand on _the edge of the ribbon_ that is inscribed with the Motto. Mr. Laing has enabled me to give an excellent example of Supporters--two lions standing upon a motto-scroll or ribbon--in No. 410, the Seal of JOHN DRUMMOND, created Earl of MELFORT and Viscount FORTH in the year 1686: the Shield is _Scotland, within a bordure componée_; the Supporters are gorged with collars charged with thistles; and the Crest is the Crest of Scotland issuing from a celestial Crown. As says the Motto of Sir WILLIAM MAHON, "_Moniti, meliora sequamur_"--now that we have been told of it, let us produce something better than this support for our Supporters. Happily the best heraldic artists of the moment seem very generally to have reverted to the older and more preferable form.

[Illustration: No. 410.--Seal of John Drummond, Earl of Melfort, A.D. 1686.]

The Heralds of France still restrict the term "Supporters"--"_Les Supports_"--to animals; whilst to human beings, to figures of angels, and to mythological personages or other figures in human form, when supporting a Shield, they apply the term "_Les Tenants_." When trees or other inanimate objects are placed beside any armorial shield, and so discharge the duty of Supporters in French achievements, they are distinguished as "_Les Soutiens_." An old French writer on Heraldry, PALLIOT, however, says that in his time (A.D. 1660), _Tenant_ is used in the singular number, and denotes any kind of _single Supporter_, while _Supports_ is used when there are _two_.

In the French Heraldry of the present time, a single Tenant or Support is of rare occurrence; and when two Tenants or Supports appear in blazon, they are generally, though not always, alike.

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