Part 16 (1/2)

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 249.--Edmund, Earl of Lancaster.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 250.--Margaret, Queen of Edward I.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 251.--Seal of Margaret, second Queen of Edward I.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 252.--s.h.i.+eld of Edward III., A.D. 1340.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 253.--s.h.i.+eld of Henry IV., about A.D. 1405.]

_Fleur de lys._ The beautiful heraldic device so long identified with the history of France: No. 246 (from the monument of EDWARD III.?). The fleur de lys, derived, it would seem, from the flower of a lily resembling the iris, was adopted by LOUIS VII. (A.D. 1137-1180) as his royal ensign, and in due time it was regularly charged upon a true s.h.i.+eld of Arms. Originally the Royal s.h.i.+eld of France was--_Az., semee of fleurs de lys, or_; the fleurs de lys scattered freely over the field, and the s.h.i.+eld itself having the appearance of having been cut out of a larger object, over the whole surface of which the flowers had been _semee_. This s.h.i.+eld of France is distinguished as ”_France Ancient_”: No. 247. About A.D. 1365, CHARLES V. of France reduced the number of the fleurs de lys to three; and this s.h.i.+eld is now known as ”_France Modern_”: No. 248. In the year 1275, EDMUND, first Earl of Lancaster, the second son of HENRY III., married BLANCHE of Artois, when he differenced his s.h.i.+eld of England with _a label of France--a blue label charged on each point with three golden fleurs de lys_. No. 249, thus, for the first time did the armorial insignia of England and France appear together upon the same s.h.i.+eld. In 1299 EDWARD I. married his second Queen, MARGARET of France, and then this royal lady placed on one of her Seals a s.h.i.+eld of England and France dimidiated: No. 250. On another of her Seals, a very n.o.ble example of the Seal-engraver's art, Queen MARGARET displayed the s.h.i.+eld of King EDWARD I., her husband, _surrounded, on the field of the Seal, with her father's fleurs de lys_: No. 251. On the Seals of ISABELLE of France, Queen of EDWARD II., the same dimidiated s.h.i.+eld, and another s.h.i.+eld quartering the arms of England with _France Ancient_ and two other French coats (_Navarre_ and _Champagne_) appear. Then Prince JOHN of ELTHAM charged a ”bordure of France” _upon his s.h.i.+eld_, No. 24; thus applying the suggestion of the Seal of Queen MARGARET, No. 251, in such a manner as was consistent with the advanced condition of heraldic art. On his accession in 1327, EDWARD III. placed a fleur de lys on each side of the s.h.i.+eld of England upon his Great Seal: and in 1340, when he claimed the crown of France, EDWARD _quartered France Ancient with his lions of England_: No. 252.

Shortly after his accession, perhaps in 1405, in order to conform to the altered blazonry of the French sovereigns, HENRY IV. quartered _France Modern_ on his s.h.i.+eld: No. 253. The position of the three fleurs de lys was more than once changed in the Royal s.h.i.+eld of England (as I shall hereafter show more particularly) after the accession of the STUARTS; and they were not finally removed till the first year of the nineteenth century. The fleur de lys is also borne on many English s.h.i.+elds, disposed in various ways. In modern cadency the fleur de lys is the difference of the sixth son, or house.

_Fleurettee_, _Florettee_. Terminating in, or bordered with, fleurs de lys; also, _semee de lys_.

_Fleurie_, or _Fleury_. Ending as No. 100; also, _semee de lys_.

_Flexed._ Bowed, bent.

_Flighted._ Feathered, as arrows are.

_Fly._ The length, and also the side of a flag farthest from the staff.

_Foliated._ Crisped, or formed like a leaf.

_Fountain._ No. 153.

_Fourchee_, _Queue Fourchee_. A term applied to a lion with a forked tail.

_Fret_, or _Frette_. A subordinary: No. 148. _Frettee_, _Fretty_: covered with fretwork: No. 149.

_Fructed._ Bearing fruit or seeds.

_Furs._ See p. 41: Nos. 57-65.

_Fusil._ An elongated Lozenge: No. 20A, p. 70. _Fusillee_, or _Fusilly_.

A field entirely composed of Fusils, all lying in the same plane.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Nos. 254, 255.--Fylfot.]

_Fylfot._ A peculiar cruciform figure, supposed to have a mystic signification, found in military and ecclesiastical decorations in England, and on Eastern coins, &c.: Nos. 254, 255; the latter example is from the monument of Bishop BRONs...o...b.., in Exeter Cathedral.

_Gad_, _Gadlyng_. A spike, k.n.o.b, or other figure, projecting from the knuckles of gauntlets.

_Galley._ An ancient s.h.i.+p. (See _Lymphad_.)

_Garb._ A sheaf of wheat; if of any other grain, this to be specified.

_Garnished._ Adorned in a becoming manner.

_Garter, Order of the._ See Chapter XIX.