Part 29 (1/2)
These Badges, thus displayed rather to effect disguise or to excite curiosity than to secure recognition, must be regarded for the most part as the expressions of heraldic revelry--as the fantasies and eccentricities of an age, which loved to combine quaint conceits and symbolical allusions with the display of gorgeous magnificence.
Accordingly, Badges of this order are found generally to have been a.s.sumed on the occasion of the jousts or Hastiludes, the masques, and other pageants that in feudal times were celebrated with so much of elaborate and brilliant splendour.
The adoption of Badges of this peculiar character is exactly in keeping with the sentiment which prompted men of exalted rank and eminent distinction to appear in public, on occasions of high festivity, bearing the arms of some friend, kinsman, or ally, instead of their own. A mark of especial favour and of peculiar distinction would be conferred, when a Sovereign or a Prince thus would display upon his own person the armory of some honoured subject or comrade. EDWARD III. delighted thus to honour the most distinguished cavaliers of his chivalrous Court. For example, in or about the year 1347, royal Hastiludes were celebrated at Lichfield with great splendour, the jousters consisting of the KING and seventeen Knights, and the Earl of LANCASTER and thirteen Knights.
A conspicuous part was taken in these festivities by the King's daughter ISABELLE, afterwards Countess of BEDFORD, and by six Ladies of high rank, with twenty-one other Ladies, who all wore blue dresses and white hoods of the same materials as well as the same colours as the robes of the Knights, together with various masks or vizors. On this occasion, the KING himself over his armour wore a surcoat with the Arms of Sir THOMAS DE BRADESTONE. These Arms in a Roll of EDWARD III. are blazoned as--_Arg., on a canton gu. a rose or_ (see _Archaeologia_, x.x.xi., pp. 40 and 118). On another occasion, during Hastiludes at Canterbury, EDWARD III. ”is said to have given eight harnesses, worked with the arms of Sir STEPHEN DE COSYNTON (_az., three roses arg._), to the PRINCE OF WALES, the Earl of LANCASTER, and six other Knights.” In the same spirit, RICHARD DE BEAUCHAMP, Earl of WARWICK, at a great festival of arms held at Calais under his presidency, on the first day entered the lists decorated with the arms of his ancestor the Lord TONEY: on the second day, he wore the arms of Hanslap: and, on the third day, ”he appeared as the Earl of WARWICK, quartering Beauchamp, Guy, Hanslap, and Toney, on his trappings; his vizor open, and the chaplet on his helm enriched with pearls and precious stones.” In such times, Badges of curious device and occult signification could not fail to enjoy a popularity, not the less decided because of the restricted use and exclusive character of the Badges themselves.
[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 390.--Secretum of Robert Bruce, Earl of Carrick; A.D. 1296.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 391.--Seal of Sir Walter de Hungerford, K.G.; A.D. 1425.]
EXAMPLES OF BADGES, such as are distinctive, and consequently of the cla.s.s that I have first described. The Badges of PERCY are a _silver crescent_ and a _double manacle_: of HOWARD, a _white lion_: PELHAM, _a buckle_: DOUGLAS, a _red heart_: SCROPE, a _Cornish chough_: CLINTON, a _golden mullet_: TALBOT, a _hound_: BOHUN, a _white swan_: HUNGERFORD, a _sickle_: PEVEREL, a _garb_: STOURTON, a _golden ”drag” or sledge_.
The various ”Knots,” described and ill.u.s.trated in Chapter X., Nos. 219, 235, 263, 270, 274, 304, and 313, are Badges. The _bear and ragged staff_ of the BEAUCHAMPS, and, after them, of the NEVILLES and DUDLEYS, I have already noticed. Seals frequently have Badges introduced upon them, in very early times, by themselves, the Badge in each case const.i.tuting the device of the Seal (see p. 193). The Secretum or private Seal of ROBERT BRUCE, Earl of CARRICK, the father of the King, appended to the homage-deed extorted by EDWARD I. from the Scottish n.o.bles, is a good example, No. 390: this is another of Mr. Laing's beautiful woodcuts. Badges also constantly appear upon Seals in a.s.sociation with s.h.i.+elds of arms. Thus, a Seal of one of the BERKELEYS, A.D. 1430, has a mermaid on each side of an armorial s.h.i.+eld. Two other examples of this kind I have already given: No. 318, the Seal of JOAN DE BARRE, which is charged with the _castle_ and _lion_ of Castile and Leon, as Badges: and No. 321, the Seal of OLIVER DE BOHUN, charged, about the s.h.i.+eld, with the Bohun _Swan_. On his Seal, No. 391, Sir WALTER DE HUNGERFORD, K.G., Lord of HEYTESBURY and HOMET (the latter a Norman barony), displays his own Badge, the _sickle_, in happy alliance with the _garb_ of Peverel (borne by him in right of his wife, CATHERINE, daughter and co-heir of THOMAS PEVEREL), to form his Crest.
The Crest, it will be observed, in No. 391, is _a garb between two sickles_. The s.h.i.+eld of Hungerford only--_sa. two bars arg., and in chief three plates_, is also placed between _two sickles_. Two banners, denoting important alliances, complete the Heraldry of this remarkable composition: the banner to the dexter, for Heytesbury, bears--_per pale indented gu. and vert., a chevron or_; and that to the sinister, for Hussy--_barry of six erm. and gu._ Lord HUNGERFORD died in 1449, and was succeeded by his eldest surviving son, Sir ROBERT DE HUNGERFORD. The Seal of this Sir Robert, used by him during the lifetime of his father, precisely the same in its heraldic composition as his father's Seal, is remarkable from having _each of its four sickles differenced with an ermine-spot upon the blade_, to mark Cadency; and also, with the same motive, it shows that a label of three points was charged upon the s.h.i.+eld, and upon each of the two banners; No. 392.
[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 392.--Seal of Sir Robert de Hungerford: before A.D. 1449.]
Through an alliance with the Hungerfords, _sickles_ were borne, as one of their Badges, by the great family of COURTENAY. They appear, with a _dolphin_, a _tau cross_, and this same _tau-cross_ having _a bell_ attached to it, as in No. 393, sculptured on the fine heraldic chimney-piece, the work of Bishop PETER DE COURTENAY (died in 1492), now in the hall of the Episcopal Palace at Exeter.
The BADGES of our early Heraldry are comparatively but little understood. They invite the particular attention of students, both from their own special interest, and the light they are qualified to throw upon the personal history of the English people, and also from their peculiar applicability for use by ourselves at the present day. Indeed, at this time, when the revival of true Heraldry is in the act of being accomplished with complete success, it appears to be peculiarly desirable that Badges should be brought into general use. It is not enough for us to revive our old English Heraldry as once in the olden time it flourished in England, and to rest content with such a revival: but we must go on to adapt our revived Heraldry, in its own spirit and in full sympathy with its genuine feeling, to conditions of our age and of the state of things now in existence. And very much may be done to effect this by the adoption of Badges, as our favourite and most expressive heraldic insignia, both in connection with Coat-Armour and for independent display. Unlike Crests, which must necessarily be a.s.sociated with helms and the wearers of helms, and consequently have both a military and a mediaeval character, Badges are equally appropriate for use by Ladies, as well as by men of every profession, and they belong alike to every age and period. This has been recognised officially, to the extent that the officers of arms have now reverted to the ancient practice of granting and confirming badges and Standards.
[Ill.u.s.tration: No. 393.--A Courtenay Badge, at Exeter.]
ROYAL BADGES.--I conclude this chapter with a concise list of the more important of the Badges that have been borne by the Sovereigns and Princes of England; and with some general remarks upon the famous Badge of the _Ostrich Feathers_, now considered to be exclusively the Ensign of the PRINCES OF WALES, not as such, but as the heirs-apparent to the Throne.
The _Planta-genista_, or Broom-plant, No. 21, is well known as an English Royal Badge, from the surname derived from it for one of the most remarkable of the Royal Houses that ever have flourished in Europe.
As well known are the _Rose_, _Thistle_, and _Shamrock_, severally the Badges of the three realms of the United Kingdom of ENGLAND, SCOTLAND, and IRELAND. A _golden Rose stalked proper_ was a badge of EDWARD I.: and from it apparently were derived, but by what process it is unknown, the _White Rose_ of YORK, the _Red Rose_ of LANCASTER, and the _White and Red Rose_ of the House of TUDOR.
WILLIAM RUFUS: _A Flower of five foils._
HENRY I.: _A Flower of eight foils._
STEPHEN: _A Flower of seven foils: a Sagittarius._
HENRY II.: _The Planta-genista: an Escarbuncle: a Sword and Olive-Branch._
RICHARD I.: _A Star of thirteen rays and a Crescent: a Star issuing from a Crescent: a Mailed Arm grasping a broken Lance, with the Motto--”Christo Duce.”_
JOHN and HENRY III.: _A Star issuing from a Crescent._
EDWARD I.: _An heraldic Rose or, stalked ppr._
EDWARD II.: _A Castle of Castile._
EDWARD III.: _A Fleur de lys: a Sword: a Falcon: a Gryphon: the Stock of a Tree: Rays issuing from a Cloud._
RICHARD II.: _A White Hart lodged: the Stock of a Tree: A White Falcon: the Sun in splendour: the Sun clouded._
HENRY IV.: _The Cypher SS: a crowned Eagle: an Eagle displayed: a White Swan: A Red Rose: a Columbine Flower: A Fox's Tail: a crowned Panther: the Stock of a Tree: a Crescent._ His QUEEN, JOAN OF NAVARRE: _An Ermine_, or _Gennet_.