Part 27 (2/2)
Sir R. BYG.o.d--_Or, on a cross gu. five escallops arg._ Sir WM.
KIRKETOT--_Az., on a cross arg. five escallops gu._ Sir WM. DE BERHAM--_Sa., a cross between four crescents arg._ Sir R. DE BANNEBURY--_Arg., a cross patee between four mullets gu._ Sir J.
RANDOLF--_Gu., on a cross arg. five mullets sa._ Sir G. DE DUREM--_Arg., on a cross gu. five fleurs de lys or_. Sir P. DE GEYTONE--_Arg., crusilee and three fleurs de lys az._ Sir R. DE HOFTOT--_Az., a cross patee erm. between four roses erm._
CHEVRONS.--Sir G. ROSSEL--_Or, a chevron az., between three roses gu._ Sir J. DE CRETINGE--_Arg., a chevron between three mullets gu._ Sir R.
MALET--_Sa., a chevron between three buckles arg._ Sir T. DE ANVERS--_Gu., a chevron between three mullets or_. Sir WM. DE BERKEROLES--_Az., a chevron between three crescents or_. Sir W.
BLUET--_Or, a chevron between three eagles vert_. Sir R. DE CAPLE--_Arg., a chevron gu. between three torteaux_. Sir T. MALET--_Sa., a chevron between three buckles arg._ Sir R. DE PEYVRE--_Arg., on a chevron az. three fleurs de lys or_, No. 125. Sir R. DE BOTERELS--_Chequee or and gu., on a chevron az. three horseshoes arg._
[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 373.--At St. Albans.]
LIONS.--The Earl of LINCOLN--_Or, a lion rampt. purp._, No. 194. The Earl of ARUNDEL--_Gu., a lion rampt. or_. Sir HENRY DE PERCY--_Or, a lion rampt. az._, No. 196. Sir JOHN MOWBRAY--_Gu., a lion rampt.
arg._, No. 193. Sir R. DE SOTTONE (Sutton)--_Or, a lion rampt. vert_.
Sir J. DE NORTONE--_Vert, a lion rampt. or_. Sir W. FAUCONBERG--_Arg., a lion rampt. az._ Sir G. DE HAUTVILLE--_Sa., crusilee, a lion rampt.
arg._ Sir ---- DE MOUNTFORT--_Arg., crusilee gu., a lion rampt. az._ Sir WM. MAUFEE--_Arg., semee of escallops gu., a lion rampt. sa._ Sir J. DE CREPPINGE--_Gu., billetee or, a lion rampt. arg._ Sir R. DE a.s.sCHEBY--_Arg., a lion rampt. sa. billetee or_. Sir J. DE DEYVILLE--_Gu., semee de lys, a lion rampt. arg._ _Arg., within a bordure gu. bezantee, a lion rampt. sa._, for Sir T. DE PICKERING; and, _Arg., within an orle of roses gu., a lion rampt. sa._, for Sir R.
PIERPOUND, both apparently founded on the s.h.i.+eld of the Earl of CORNWALL, No. 140, which also is blazoned in this Roll. Sir J. LE STRANGE--_Gu., two lions pa.s.s. arg._, No. 191. Sir J. DE SOMERI--_Or, two lions pa.s.s. az._ Sir R. DE ST. WALY--_Or, two lions pa.s.s. gu._ Sir N. CARRU (Carew)--_Or, three lions pa.s.s. sa._ Sir J. GIFFARD--_Gu., three lions pa.s.s. arg._, No. 192. Sir R. LE FITZ PAYN--_Gu., three lions pa.s.s. arg., over all a bendlet az._ Sir G. DE CANVYLE--_Az., three lions pa.s.s arg._ In the beautiful chantry of Abbot THOMAS RAMRYGE, at St.
Albans, one of the large sculptured s.h.i.+elds is charged with a lion rampant within what may be considered to be an _orle of roses_--the arms, as I have just shown, a.s.signed in the Roll of EDWARD II. to Sir R.
PIERPOUND. This s.h.i.+eld, carefully drawn by the engraver himself from the original in the Abbey Church of St. Alban, is represented in No. 373.
AUGMENTATION, or AUGMENTATION OF HONOUR, is a term employed to denote an addition to a s.h.i.+eld of arms, specially granted by the Sovereign to commemorate some worthy or ill.u.s.trious deed, and forming an integral element of the s.h.i.+eld as an hereditary bearing. Such additions will be found marshalled in the forms of Chiefs and Inescutcheons as Cantons, or as Quarterings; or they may a.s.sume the character of additional charges.
Also, this same term denotes similar additions of Crests, Badges, or any other accessories of s.h.i.+elds.
The Augmentation displayed upon the Ducal s.h.i.+eld of WELLINGTON, a most honourable exception to the prevailing degenerate heraldic feeling of the period in which it was granted to the Great Duke, in characteristic and expressive qualities is second to no other example of its own cla.s.s and order. This true Augmentation of Honour is the _National Device of the British Empire_, as it is blazoned in the ”Union Jack,” charged upon an inescutcheon, and displayed upon the honour point of the Duke's paternal s.h.i.+eld.
An equally significant Augmentation of an earlier date is borne in the Arms of HOWARD. These Arms before the battle of Flodden were--_Gu., a bend between six crosses crosslets fitchee arg._ To commemorate the great victory won by him at Flodden Field, Sept. 9, 1513, when JAMES IV.
of Scotland was defeated and slain, HENRY VIII. granted to THOMAS HOWARD, Duke of Norfolk, and to his descendants, as an Augmentation of Honour, the _Royal s.h.i.+eld of Scotland_ (No. 138), _but having a demi-lion only, which is pierced through the mouth with an arrow_, to be borne in the middle of the bend of his proper arms. This s.h.i.+eld is represented in No. 374; and in No. 374A the augmentation is shown on a larger scale.
[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 374.--Howard, after Flodden.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 374A.--The Howard Augmentation.]
A small group of additional examples will be sufficient to ill.u.s.trate this most interesting cla.s.s of historical Arms, and at the same time will not fail to excite in students a desire very considerably to extend the series through their own inquiries and researches. In memory of the devoted courage and all-important services of JANE LANE, after the disastrous battle of Worcester, CHARLES II. granted as an Augmentation a _Canton of England_ (No. 187 marshalled on a canton), to be added to the hereditary Coat of Lane, which is--_Per fesse or and az., a chevron gu.
between three mullets counterchanged_. The Crest of the family of DE LA BERE is said to have been conferred by the BLACK PRINCE upon SIR RICHARD DE LA BERE, as a memorial of the good service rendered by that gallant knight on the memorable field of Cressi. This Crest is--_Out of a crest-coronet a plume of five ostrich feathers per pale arg. and az._, the Plantagenet colours--the device (as Mr. LOWER observes) being evidently derived from the Prince's own Badge, and also forming a variety of the ”panache,” the Crest then held in such high estimation.
The heart charged upon the s.h.i.+eld of DOUGLAS (see Nos. 156, 157, p. 74) is another remarkable Augmentation. So also is the adoption of the armorial insignia of the CONFESSOR, No. 2, by RICHARD II., and his marshalling it upon his own Royal s.h.i.+eld, impaled to the dexter with the quartered arms of France and England.
English Heraldry has been required to recognise another and a perfectly distinct cla.s.s of ”Augmentations,” which consist of additions to the blazonry of a s.h.i.+eld or of additional quarterings or accessories, granted as tokens of Royal favour, for heraldic display, but without any particular ”merit” in the receiver, or any special historical significance in themselves. Augmentations of this order may be considered to have been first introduced by RICHARD II., when he granted, ”out of his mere grace,” to his favourite ROBERT DE VERE, Earl of OXFORD, Marquess of DUBLIN and Duke of IRELAND, a differenced Coat of ST. EDMUND (No. 3)--_Az., three crowns or, within a bordure argent_, to be quartered with the DE VERE arms as the arms of IRELAND. In the same spirit, RICHARD II. granted, as similar Augmentations, the arms of the CONFESSOR to be marshalled, with Differences, on their s.h.i.+elds by THOMAS and JOHN HOLLAND, Dukes of SURREY and EXETER, and by THOMAS MOWBRAY, Duke of NORFOLK. It will be remembered that it was one of the capital charges against the then Earl of SURREY, a lineal descendant of this THOMAS MOWBRAY, the Duke of NORFOLK, in 1546, that he had a.s.sumed, without the special licence of HENRY VIII., the same arms of the CONFESSOR as an augmentation.
By EDWARD IV. similar augmentations, ”by grace” and not ”for merit,”
were granted; and by HENRY VIII. the system was carried to excess in the grants made to augment the armorial blazonry of ANNE BOLEYN, and of his English consorts, her successors.
ABATEMENT is a term which was unknown until it made its appearance in certain heraldic writings of the sixteenth century, when it was used to denote such marks or devices as, by the writers in question, were held to be the reverse of honourable Augmentation--_Augmentations of dishonour_ indeed, and tokens of degradation. True Heraldry refuses to recognise all such pretended abatements, for the simple reason that they never did exist, and if they could exist at all, they would be in direct antagonism to its nature, its principles, and its entire course of action. Honourable itself, Heraldry can give expression only to what conveys honour, and it records and commemorates only what is to be honoured and held in esteem.
The very idea of an heraldic Abatement implies, if not a complete ignorance, certainly a thorough misconception of the character and the office of Heraldry. Even if Heraldry were to attempt to stigmatise what is, and what ought to be esteemed, dishonourable, who would voluntarily accept insignia of disgrace, and charge and display them upon his s.h.i.+eld, and transmit them to his descendants? And the believers in Abatement must hold that Heraldry can exert a compulsory legislative power, which might command a man to blazon his own disgrace, and force him to exhibit and to retain, and also to bequeath, any such blazonry.
A belief in heraldic Abatement, however, is by no means singular or rare. A curious example of its existence was recently brought under my notice, in connection with one of the most renowned of the historical devices of English Heraldry. The _bear_, the badge of the BEAUCHAMPS, Earls of WARWICK, which appears at the feet of the effigy of Earl RICHARD in the Beauchamp chapel at Warwick, in accordance with a special provision to that effect, is ”_muzzled_”; and, wearing a muzzle has this bear been borne, as their Badge, by the successors of the BEAUCHAMPS in the Warwick Earldom, the Earls of the houses of NEVILLE, DUDLEY, RICH, and GREVILLE. But, it would seem that a legend has found credence at Warwick Castle itself, which would a.s.sociate the muzzle of the bear with some dishonourable action of an Earl of the olden time; and, consequently, it was proposed that at length this Abatement should be removed from the bears still at Warwick! Earl RICHARD DE BEAUCHAMP was not exactly the man to have displayed upon _his_ bear any ensign of dishonour; nor were his son-in-law, the ”King-maker,” and Queen ELIZABETH'S ROBERT DUDLEY, at all more probable subjects for any similar display; still, it is quite certain that they bore the muzzled bear, as he appears on the seal of the great Earl, No. 448.[7] That muzzle, doubtless, has its becoming heraldic significance, without in the slightest degree partaking in the a.s.sumed character of an Abatement.
I hope eventually to be able to trace out conclusively what the muzzle may really imply, and I commend the research to other inquirers: meanwhile, neither at Warwick nor elsewhere is there any such thing as ”Abatement” in English Heraldry.
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