Part 25 (1/2)
A few very simple diagrams will clearly elucidate the principle of Marshalling the arms of Husband and Wife. Suppose B (_Baron_) to represent the Husband, and F (_Femme_) the Wife: then, No. 330 B may represent the arms of the Husband, and No. 330 F the arms of the Wife.
If F be _not_ an heiress, the arms of B and F, as husband and wife, are borne impaled, as in No. 330 B F; and their son bears No. 330 B only. If F _be an heiress_, the arms of B and F, as husband and wife, are borne as in No. 331--the arms of the wife on an Escutcheon of Pretence; and, in this case, the son of B and F quarters the arms of both his parents, as No. 332. Now, suppose this son, whose arms are No. 332, to marry a lady, _not_ an heiress, whose arms are No. 330 F F, he would simply impale the arms of his wife, as in No. 333, and his son would bear No.
332 only, as his father bore that quartered s.h.i.+eld before his marriage.
But if the wife of the bearer of No. 332 were to _be an heiress_, he would charge the arms of his wife in pretence upon his own hereditary paternal s.h.i.+eld, as in No. 334; and his son, by this heiress, as before, would quarter the arms of both his parents, as in No. 335. It is obvious that Marshalling on this system (of which I here give the general outline) admits of a widely-extended application. Younger sons in all cases place over all the quarterings of their s.h.i.+eld their own distinctive Mark of Cadency, until they inherit some different quartering from those to which the head of their house is ent.i.tled, and the quartering itself then forms sufficient difference.
A _Widower_ who marries again places the arms of both his wives upon any permanent record, but for ordinary purposes of use, _e.g._ on a seal or carriage, bears only the arms of his living wife.
An _Unmarried Lady_ bears her paternal arms on a _lozenge_, without any Helmet, Crest, or Motto.
A _Widow_ bears on a _lozenge_ the arms borne by her husband and herself. Should she marry again, a Widow ceases to bear the arms of her former husband.
A _Peeress in her own right_, if married to a Peer, has both her own arms and those of her husband fully blazoned, and the lozenge and the s.h.i.+eld, with all their accessories, are marshalled to form a single united group, the achievement of the husband having precedence to the dexter. If married to a Commoner, a Peeress in her own right bears her own arms on a lozenge as before, and her husband marshals her arms ensigned with her coronet in pretence on his s.h.i.+eld: and this lozenge and s.h.i.+eld are grouped together, the lozenge yielding precedence.
_Prelates_ bear the arms of their see impaling their own paternal and hereditary arms, the insignia of the see occupying the dexter half of the s.h.i.+eld, this s.h.i.+eld being ensigned with a mitre only. A married Prelate bears also a second s.h.i.+eld, placed to the sinister of the other, on which are marshalled, in accordance with ordinary usage, his own personal arms with those of his wife. The mitre then is placed over the conjoined s.h.i.+elds.
The _Kings of Arms_, in like manner, bear two s.h.i.+elds, disposed to form a single group: on the dexter s.h.i.+eld their official arms impale their personal; and on the sinister s.h.i.+eld their personal arms are marshalled with the arms of their wives.
Again, the same usage obtains in marshalling the arms of _Knights of Orders of Knighthood_ who, when married, bear two s.h.i.+elds grouped together. On the dexter s.h.i.+eld are blazoned the arms of the Knight himself alone; and around this s.h.i.+eld are displayed the insignia of his Order, or Orders, of Knighthood: and on the sinister s.h.i.+eld the arms of the Knight and of his wife are marshalled, but without the knightly insignia. This second s.h.i.+eld is generally environed with decorative foliage. This usage, prevalent in England, is not accepted or adopted by foreign Heralds: nor does it appear to be required by true heraldic principle, or to be strictly in accordance with it. The wife of a Knight shares his knightly t.i.tle, and takes precedence from her husband's knightly rank; and a knight, with perfect heraldic consistency, might marshal his own knightly insignia about the s.h.i.+eld which is charged with his own arms and those of his wife, whether united by impalement, or when the latter are borne in pretence: and thus a single s.h.i.+eld would be borne, and there would cease to exist any motive for endeavouring to impart to a second s.h.i.+eld some general resemblance to its companion by wreaths or other unmeaning accessories. There are ancient precedents for the use of a single s.h.i.+eld.
_Official Arms_ are not hereditary.
_Royal Personages_, when married, bear their own arms on a separate s.h.i.+eld; and a second s.h.i.+eld bears the arms of the husband and wife conjoined.
The circ.u.mstances of every case must exercise a considerable influence in determining the Marshalling of the Accessories of any s.h.i.+eld, Lozenge, or Group. As a general rule, however, the _Helm_ always rests on the chief of the s.h.i.+eld: Commoners, Knights, Baronets, and Peers place their _Crest_ upon the Helm: Peers and Princes place their _Helm_ upon the Coronet, and their Crest is placed upon the Helmet. The SOVEREIGN places the Crest upon the Royal Crown, which is a part of the Royal Crest, and it is unusual to duplicate the Crown by repeating it below the Helmet. The _Mantling_ is displayed from the back of the Helm: it is most effective when simple in its form and adjustment, and when it droops behind the s.h.i.+eld. The _Motto_ is usually placed below the s.h.i.+eld; but if it has special reference to the Crest, above the Crest.
A Scottish motto always goes over the Crest. _Supporters_ are usually placed erect, as if in the act of really supporting the s.h.i.+eld: they ought to stand either on an appropriate ground, or on a Gothic bas.e.m.e.nt to the entire Achievement. _Badges_, with all _Official_ and _Knightly Insignia_, and all other _Honourable Insignia_ of every kind, are rightly marshalled in an Achievement of Arms.
CHAPTER XII
CADENCY
_Marks of Cadency are temporary or permanent-- The Label-- The Bordure-- The Bendlet, Barrulet, and Canton-- Change of Tincture-- Secondary Charges-- Single Small Charges-- Differences of Illegitimacy-- Cadency of Crests, Badges, &c.-- Modern Cadency._
”Merke ye wele theys questionys here, now folowying!”
--BOKE OF ST. ALBANS, A.D. 1486.
Amongst his comrades in arms, or in the midst of a hostile array, the last object that a mediaeval Knight would expect or desire to observe, on the morning of a battle or a joust, would be an exact counterpart of himself. Occasions, indeed, might sometimes arise, when it might be highly desirable that five or six counterfeit ”Richmonds” should accompany one real one to ”the field”; or, when a ”wild boar of Ardennes” might prefer to encounter the hunters, having about him the choice of his own ”boar's brood,” garnished at all points exactly after his own fas.h.i.+on. These, however, are rare and strictly exceptional cases. And the Knight, to whom distinction was as the breath of his nostrils, as he closed his vizor trusted confidently to his heraldic insignia to distinguish him, while, in the fore-front of the fray, with sword and lance and axe he would strive manfully to distinguish himself.
This implies that Heraldry, besides a.s.signing to different families their own distinct insignia, should possess the faculty of distinguis.h.i.+ng the several members, and also the various branches of the same family, the one from the other. A faculty such as this Heraldry does possess, in its marks of CADENCY.
In ”_marking Cadency_”--that is, in distinguis.h.i.+ng the armorial insignia of kinsmen, who are members of the very same family, or of some one of its various branches, it is a necessary condition of every system of ”Differencing” that, while in itself clear and definite and significant, it should be secondary to the leading characteristics of the original Coat of Arms which denotes the senior branch of the Family, and also declares from what fountain-head all the kinsmen of all the branches have derived their common descent.
Various methods for thus marking Cadency were adopted, and accepted as satisfactory, in the early days of Heraldry. Of these I now shall describe and ill.u.s.trate such as are most emphatic in themselves, and in their character most decidedly heraldic,--such also as most advantageously may be retained in use in our own Heraldry of the present time. It will be seen that the ”Differences” which mark Cadency necessarily resolve themselves into two groups or cla.s.ses: one, in which the ”Difference” is _temporary_ only in its significance and use,--as, when an eldest son, on the death of his father, succeeds to the position in the family which his father had held, he removes his Mark of Cadency as eldest son from his s.h.i.+eld, a.s.sumes the unmarked s.h.i.+eld as his father had borne it before him, and transfers to his own son the mark that previously had distinguished his s.h.i.+eld from that of his father. In the other group, the Marks of Cadency are more _permanent_, and consequently may become integral elements of the heraldic composition in which they appear: thus, the mark of Cadency which distinguishes any particular branch of a family, is borne alike by all the members of that branch, and in that branch it is transmitted from generation to generation.
More than one Mark of Cadency may be introduced into the same Coat of Arms; and, for the purpose of some form of secondary distinction, it is quite correct Heraldry to _mark Marks of Cadency_--to charge one variety of mark, that is, upon another.
[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 336.--Eldest Sons of Edward I. and II.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 337.--Black Prince.]
The LABEL, Nos. 271, 272, is blazoned as a Mark of Cadency in the earliest Rolls of Arms, and it appears discharging this duty in the earliest examples. The Label is generally borne with three points, as in No. 271; frequently with five, as in No. 272; and occasionally with four or with more than five points. It is quite certain that no significance was formerly attached to the number of the points, the object in all cases being to make the Label distinctly visible, and to adjust the points to the general composition of the s.h.i.+eld. Labels are of various tinctures. EDWARD I., EDWARD II., and EDWARD III., each one during the lifetime of his father, bore the s.h.i.+eld of England, No. 187, differenced with an _azure label_, sometimes of three points, as in No. 336, and sometimes having five points. EDWARD the BLACK PRINCE marked the Royal s.h.i.+eld of EDWARD III. with a _label argent_, as in No. 337; and a plain silver label has since been the Mark of Cadency of every succeeding heir-apparent to the English throne. The Label has been used in this manner by personages of all ranks who have borne arms, from the time of HENRY III.; and examples abound in all the early Rolls of Arms, in Monuments, and upon Seals.