Part 24 (1/2)

_Aggroupment-- Combination-- Quartering-- Dimidiation-- Impalement-- Escutcheon of Pretence-- Marshalling the Arms of Widowers, Widows, and others; Official Arms; and, the Accessories of s.h.i.+elds._

”Marshalling is a conjoining of diverse Coats in one s.h.i.+eld.”

--GUILLIM.

Upon this concise definition, Guillim, in another part of his work, adds the following comment:--”_Marshalling_ is an orderly disposing of sundry Coat Armours pertaining to distinct Families, and their contingent ornaments, with their parts and appurtenances, in their proper places.”

Hence it is apparent that this term, ”Marshalling,” implies--

1. First, the bringing together and the disposition of two or more distinct ”Coats in one s.h.i.+eld”:

2. Secondly, the aggroupment of two or more distinct Coats to form a single heraldic composition, the s.h.i.+elds being still kept distinct from one another: and,

3. Thirdly, the a.s.sociation of certain insignia with a s.h.i.+eld of arms, so as to produce a complete heraldic achievement.

The a.s.sociation of ”Arms” with Names, Dignities, and Estates would necessarily require, at an early period in the history of Heraldry, the establishment of some regular and recognised system for the combination and aggroupment of various distinct coats and insignia, whenever a single individual became the representative of more than one family, or was the hereditary possessor of several dignities and properties.

Again: it would be equally necessary that this system should extend to the becoming heraldic declaration and record of _Alliances_ of every kind, including (a matter of no little importance in the Middle Ages) _feudal dependence_.

In another, and a secondary sense, this same term, _Marshalling_, is used by Heralds to denote the general arrangement and disposition of heraldic charges and insignia in blazon upon the field of a s.h.i.+eld.

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 316.--Seal of Margaret, Queen of Edward I.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 317.--Seal of Margaret, Lady de Ros. (_Laing._)]

In its simplest form, MARSHALLING is effected by _Aggroupment_ without Combination--by placing two or more s.h.i.+elds of arms, that is, in such positions as to form a connected group of distinct s.h.i.+elds, either with or without various accessories. Seals afford excellent examples of Marshalling of this order. These Seals may be cla.s.sified in two groups,--one, in which an effigy appears; and a second, in which the composition does not include any effigy. Here I may observe that the same armorial blazonry that was displayed upon their military surcoats by Princes, n.o.bles, and Knights, was adopted by Ecclesiastics for the decoration of their official vestments, and also (towards the close of the thirteenth century) by Ladies of rank, as an appropriate style of ornamentation for their own costume: and many examples of the effigies of Ladies, with a few of Ecclesiatics, adorned in this manner with heraldic insignia, exist in Seals and in Monumental Memorials. In Beverley Minster there is a n.o.ble effigy of a priest, a member of the great family of PERCY (about A.D. 1330), the embroideries of whose vestments are elaborately enriched with numerous allied s.h.i.+elds of arms.

Upon his episcopal seal, LEWIS BEAUMONT, Bishop of Durham from 1317 to 1333, has his effigy standing between two s.h.i.+elds of Arms (to the dexter, _England_; to the sinister, a cross potent between four groups of small crosses patees, three crosses in each group), while his chasuble is semee de lys and also charged with a lion rampant--the arms of the house of Beaumont. The obverse of the Seal of MARGARET, daughter of PHILIP the Hardy, King of France, the second Queen of our EDWARD I., ill.u.s.trates this usage in the instance of ladies: No. 316. Upon her tunic the Queen has emblazoned the three lions of her royal husband; on her right side is a s.h.i.+eld of _France_, the arms of her royal father; and on the left side a corresponding s.h.i.+eld is charged with a lion rampant. I have already shown the reverse of this fine Seal (No. 251), which in the original is one inch more in depth than it appears in these woodcuts.[5] Other characteristic examples are the Seals of AGNES DE PERCY, whose effigy, having the arms of Louvaine upon the tunic, holds two armorial s.h.i.+elds, one in each hand: and of MARGARET, Countess of LINCOLN and PEMBROKE (about 1241), who blazons the old arms of DE LACI--_quarterly or and gu., a bend sa., over all a label vert_--upon the tunic of her effigy, and has the same arms on a s.h.i.+eld to the dexter, while another s.h.i.+eld to the sinister is charged with the _lion rampant_, borne by the DE LACIES as Earls of LINCOLN. The effigies of ill.u.s.trious Ladies, which appear on Seals with allied s.h.i.+elds of arms, are not always represented in heraldic costume: good examples are the Seals of ISABELLE OF FRANCE, Queen of EDWARD II., and of ELIZABETH, daughter of EDWARD I., who was Countess, first of HOLLAND, and afterwards of HEREFORD: both are engraved in Sandford's ”Genealogical History of England,” page 121. The Seal of MARGARET BRUCE, of Skelton, Lady DE ROS, attached to a deed, dated 1820, has the effigy of the n.o.ble lady, wearing her ermine mantle, and supporting two s.h.i.+elds of arms--the s.h.i.+eld of DE ROS, _gu., three water-bougets arg._, to the dexter, and a s.h.i.+eld of BRUCE, _a lion rampant_: No. 317. I am indebted, for the use of the excellent woodcut of this very interesting seal, to Mr. Laing of Edinburgh, the talented author of the two n.o.ble volumes on the _Early Seals of Scotland_, which occupy a foremost position amongst the most valuable as well as the most beautiful heraldic works that have ever been published in Great Britain. (See page 11.) In the Monumental Bra.s.ses and also in the Sculptured Monumental Effigies of Ladies of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, heraldic costume is frequently represented, and the figures are constantly a.s.sociated with groups of s.h.i.+elds of arms. As most characteristic examples I may specify the effigy of a Lady, about A.D. 1325, at Selby in Yorks.h.i.+re; and the Bra.s.s in Westminster Abbey, A.D. 1399, to ALIANORE DE BOHUN, d.u.c.h.ess of GLOUCESTER.

[Footnote 5: In No. 251 the initial A of the word AQVITANNIE has been omitted.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 318.--Seal of Joan, Countess of Surrey.]

The aggroupment of various armorial ensigns upon a Seal, without the presence of any effigy, is exemplified in the characteristic Seal of JOAN, daughter of HENRY Count DE BARRE, and of ALIANORE, daughter of EDWARD I., the widow of JOHN DE WARRENNE, Earl of SURREY, A.D. 1347. In this remarkable composition, No. 318, the arms, blazoned on lozenges, are, in the centre, _Warrenne_; in chief and base, _England_; and to the dexter and sinister, _De Barre_ (No. 162): also, at the four angles of the group, the lion and castle of _Leon_ and _Castile_, in direct allusion to the descent of the Countess from ALIANORE, first Queen of EDWARD I. In the original, this elaborate composition is only one and a half inches in diameter. Still smaller, measuring no more than one and a quarter inches in diameter, and yet no less rich in either its Heraldry or its Gothic traceries, is the beautiful little Counter-seal of MARY DE SAINT PAUL, wife of AYMER DE VALENCE, Earl of PEMBROKE, which is faithfully shown on an enlarged scale, in order to render the details more effectively, in No. 319. This ill.u.s.trious lady, who founded Pembroke College, Cambridge, A.D. 1373, was the daughter of GUY DE CHASTILLON, Count of ST. PAUL, by his wife MARY, daughter of JOHN DE DREUX, Duke of BRITTANY, and of BEATRICE, sister of EDWARD I. On her Seal, accordingly, the Countess of Brittany marshals, in the centre, the arms of her husband (_De Valence_: No. 86), and those of her father (_De Chastillon_--_gu., three pallets vair, on a chief or a label of three points az._), united upon a single s.h.i.+eld by ”Dimidiation”--a process presently to be described: to the dexter, the arms of her Royal relatives of _England_ are blazoned in a circular compartment: to the sinister, in a similar compartment, are the fleurs de lys of _France Ancient_, No. 247, at that time so closely allied with the English lions: and, finally, in a third roundle, in the base of the composition, are the arms of _De Dreux_ (_chequee or and az., within a bordure gu.;[6] over all a canton of Brittany_, No. 15, borne by the maternal grandfather of the Countess: the legend is, + S . MARIE . DE . SEYN .

POVL . COMITISSE . PEMPROCHIE. The original impression of this Seal, from which the woodcut, No. 319, was drawn, is appended to a charter, dated 1347, which is preserved amongst the muniments of Pembroke College. A very good example of the aggroupment of s.h.i.+elds upon a Seal, under conditions differing from those that now have been ill.u.s.trated, I have already given in No. 204. Another beautiful and most interesting example, now unfortunately partially mutilated, is the Seal of MATILDA of LANCASTER, the wife, first, of WILLIAM DE BURGH, Earl of ULSTER (and by him mother of ELIZABETH, the wife of Prince LIONEL OF CLARENCE), and, secondly, of Sir RALPH DE UFFORD. This seal, of circular form, No. 320, displays to the dexter a s.h.i.+eld of _De Burgh_--_or, a cross gu._; to the sinister, a s.h.i.+eld of _Ufford_--_or, a cross engrailed sa._, in the first quarter _a fleur de lys, for difference_: in base there is a lozenge of _De Chaworth_ (the mother of the Countess was MATILDA DE CHAWORTH)--_barrulee arg. and gu., an orle of martlets sa._; and in chief there remains part of another lozenge of _Lancaster_, to complete this remarkable heraldic group. Of the legend there remains only . .

ILLV MATILD' ... . SE ... The introduction of _Badges_, with a s.h.i.+eld or s.h.i.+elds of arms, in the composition of a Seal, is another variety of this same system of Marshalling. No. 321, the Seal of OLIVER DE BOHUN, exemplifies this usage, having the _white swan Badge_ of the n.o.ble house of BOHUN thrice repeated about the s.h.i.+eld. See No. 114. Also see, in the frontispiece, the Seal of Earl RICHARD DE BEAUCHAMP, No.

449, which is described in Section II. of Chapter XXII.

[Footnote 6: In No. 319 the bordure of _De Dreux_ in the roundle in base is charged with Lions of England, as borne by JOHN DE DREUX; but the presence of these in the Seal of the Countess is uncertain.

See No. 322.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 319.--Seal of Mary, Countess of Pembroke.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 320.--Seal of Matilda of Lancaster.]

Marshalling by Aggroupment was practised under another form by placing s.h.i.+elds of arms in the different panels of the same architectural monument.

MARSHALLING _by Combination_ is effected by actually forming, for the blazonry of a single s.h.i.+eld, a composition which includes the princ.i.p.al charges of two or more allied s.h.i.+elds. The composition of the s.h.i.+eld borne by the house of DE DREUX, to which I have just referred in describing the Seal of the Countess of Pembroke, No. 319, is a most striking example of this variety of Marshalling: and this s.h.i.+eld was borne by JOHN DE DREUX, created Earl of RICHMOND by his uncle King EDWARD I., who lived and died in England, as it is represented in No.

322--the _field, chequee or and azure_, being for De Dreux; the _canton ermine_ for Brittany; and the _bordure, gules charged with golden lions of England_, representing the royal s.h.i.+eld of England, and showing the close connection existing between the Earl of Richmond and his Sovereign. The s.h.i.+eld of Prince JOHN of ELTHAM (No. 24), _England within a bordure of France_, is another characteristic example of this Marshalling by Combination.

[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 321.--Seal of Oliver de Bohun.]