Part 52 (1/2)
”On the seal of HUMPHREY DE BOHUN in 1322 the _guige_ is held by a swan, the badge of the Earls of HEREFORD; and in 1356 the s.h.i.+eld of the first Earl of DOUGLAS is supported by a lion whose head is covered by the crested helm, a fas.h.i.+on of which there are many examples. A helmed lion holds the s.h.i.+eld of MAGNUS I., Duke of BRUNSWICK, in 1326.
”On the seal of JEAN, Duc de BERRI, in 1393 the supporter is a helmed swan (compare the armorial slab of HENRY of LANCASTER, in BOUTELL, Plate LXXIX.). Jean IV., Comte d'ALENcON (1408), has a helmed lion sejant as supporter. In 1359 a signet of LOUIS VAN MALE, Count of FLANDERS, bears a lion sejant, helmed and crested, and mantled with the arms of FLANDERS between two small escutcheons of NEVERS, or the county of Burgundy [”Azure, billetty, a lion rampant or”], and RETHEL [”Gules, two heads of rakes fesswise in pale or”].
”A single lion sejant, helmed and crested, bearing on its breast the quartered arms of BURGUNDY between two or three other escutcheons, was used by the Dukes up to the death of CHARLES THE BOLD in 1475. In LITTA'S splendid work, _Famiglie celebri Italiane_, the BUONAROTTI arms are supported by a brown dog sejant, helmed, and crested with a pair of dragon's wings issuing from a crest-coronet. On the seal of THOMAS HOLLAND, Earl of KENT, in 1380 the s.h.i.+eld is buckled round the neck of the white hind lodged, the badge of his half-brother, RICHARD II. Single supporters were very much in favour in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and the examples are numerous. {411} CHARLES, Dauphin de VIENNOIS (_c._ 1355), has his s.h.i.+eld held by a single dolphin. In 1294 the seal of the Dauphin JEAN, son of HUMBERT I., bears the arms of DAUPHINe pendent from the neck of a griffon. The s.h.i.+elds of arms of BERTRAND DE BRICQUEBEC, in 1325; PIERRE DE TOURNEBU, in 1339; of CHARLES, Count of ALENcON, in 1356; and of OLIVER DE CLISSON in 1397, are supported by a warrior who stands behind the s.h.i.+eld. In England the seal of HENRY PERCY, first Earl, in 1346, and another in 1345, have similar representations.
”On several of our more ancient seals only one supporter is represented, and probably the earliest example of this arrangement occurs on the curious seal of William, first Earl of Douglas (_c._ 1356), where the s.h.i.+eld is supported from behind by a lion 'sejant,' _with his head in the helmet_, which is surmounted by the crest.
”On the seal of Archibald, fourth Earl of Douglas (_c._ 1418), the s.h.i.+eld is held, along with a club, in the right hand of a savage _erect_, who bears a helmet in his left; while on that of William, eighth Earl (1446), a _kneeling_ savage holds a club in his right hand, and supports a couche s.h.i.+eld on his left arm.”
[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 666.--Arms of Sigmund Hagelshaimer.]
An example reproduced from Jost Amman's _Wappen und Stammbuch_, published at Frankfurt, 1589, will be found in Fig. 666. In this the figure partakes more of the character of a s.h.i.+eld guardian than a s.h.i.+eld supporter. The arms are those of ”Sigmund Hagelshaimer,” otherwise ”Helt,” living at Nurnberg. The arms are ”Sable, on a bend argent, an arrow gules.” The crest is the head and neck of a hound sable, continued into a mantling sable, lined argent. The crest is charged with a pale argent, and thereupon an arrow as in the arms, the arrow-head piercing the ear of the hound.
Seated figures as supporters are rare, but one occurs in Fig. 667, which shows the arms of the Vohlin family. They bear: ”Argent, on a fesse sable, three 'P's' argent.” The wings which form the crest are charged with the same device. This curious charge of the three letters is explained in the following saying:--
”Piper Peperit Pecuniam, Pecunia Peperit Pompam, Pompa Peperit Pauperiem, Pauperies Peperit Pietatem.”
{412}
There are, however, certain exceptions to the British rule that there can be no single supporters, if the objects upon which s.h.i.+elds of arms are displayed are accepted as supporters. It was always customary to display the arms of the Lord High Admiral on the sail of the s.h.i.+p. In the person of King William IV., before he succeeded to the throne, the office of Lord High Admiral was vested for a short time, but it had really fallen into desuetude at an earlier date and has not been revived again, so that to all intents and purposes it is now extinct, and this recognised method of depicting arms is consequently also extinct. But there is one other case which forms a unique instance which can be cla.s.sified with no others. The arms of Campbell of Craignish are always represented in a curious manner, the gyronny coat of Campbell appearing on a s.h.i.+eld displayed in front of a lymphad (Plate II.). What the origin of this practice is it would be difficult to say; probably it merely originated in the imaginative ideas of an artist when making a seal for that family, artistic reasons suggesting the display of the gyronny arms of Campbell in front of the lymphad of Lorne. The family, however, seem to have universally adopted this method of using their arms, and in the year 1875, when Campbell of Inverneil matriculated in Lyon Register, the arms were matriculated in that form. I know of no other instance of any such coat of arms, and this branch of the Ducal House of Campbell possesses armorial bearings which, from the official standpoint, are absolutely unique from one end of Europe to the other.
In Germany the use of arms depicted in front of the eagle displayed, either single-headed or double-headed, is very far from being unusual. Whatever may have been its meaning originally in that country, there is no doubt that now and for some centuries past it has been accepted as meaning, or as indicative of, princely rank or other honours of the Holy Roman Empire. But I do not think it can always have had that meaning. About the same date the Earl of Menteith placed his s.h.i.+eld on the breast of an eagle, as did Alexander, Earl of Ross, in 1338; and in 1394 we find the same ornamentation in the seal of Euphemia, Countess of Ross. The s.h.i.+eld of Ross is borne in her case on the breast of an eagle, while the arms of Leslie and Comyn appear on its displayed wings. On several other Scottish seals of the same era, the s.h.i.+eld is placed on the breast of a displayed eagle, as on those of Alexander Abernethy and Alexander c.u.min of Buchan (1292), and Sir David Lindsay, Lord of Crawford. English heraldry supplies several similar examples, of which we may mention the armorial insignia of Richard, Earl of Cornwall, brother of Henry III., and of the ancient family of Latham, in the fourteenth century. A curious instance of a s.h.i.+eld placed on the breast of a _hawk_ is noticed by Hone in his ”Table {413} Book,” viz.
the arms of the Lord of the Manor of Stoke-Lyne, in the county of Oxford.
It appears therefrom that when Charles I. held his Parliament at Oxford, the offer of knighthood was gratefully declined by the then Lord of Stoke-Lyne, who merely requested, and obtained, the Royal permission to place the arms of his family upon the breast of a hawk, which has ever since been employed in the capacity of single supporter. What authority exists for this statement it is impossible to ascertain, and one must doubt its accuracy, because in England at any rate no arms, allocated to any particular _territorial estate_, have ever received official recognition.
[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 667.--Arms of Vohlin of Augsberg.]
In later years, as indicative of rank in the Holy Roman Empire, the eagle has been rightly borne by the first Duke of Marlborough and by Henrietta his daughter, d.u.c.h.ess of Marlborough, but the use of the eagle by the later Dukes of Marlborough would appear to be entirely without authority, inasmuch as the princedom, created in the person of the first duke, became extinct on his death. His daughters, though ent.i.tled of right to the courtesy rank of princess and its accompanying privilege of the right to use the eagle displayed behind their arms, could not transmit it to their descendants upon whom the t.i.tle of Duke of Marlborough was specially entailed by English Act of Parliament.
The Earl of Denbigh and several members of the Fielding family have often made use of it with their arms, in token of their supposed descent from the Counts of Hapsburg, which, if correct, would apparently confer the right upon them. This descent, however, has been much questioned, and in late years the claim thereto would seem to have been practically dropped. The late Earl Cowper, the last remaining Prince of the Holy Roman Empire in the British Peerage, was ent.i.tled to use the double eagle behind his s.h.i.+eld, being the descendant and representative of George Na.s.sau Clavering Cowper, third Earl Cowper, created a Prince of the Holy Roman Empire by the Emperor Joseph II., the patent being dated at Vienna, 31st January 1778, and this being followed by a Royal Licence from King George III. to accept and bear the t.i.tle in this country.
There are some others who have the right by reason of honours of lesser rank of the Holy Roman Empire, and amongst these may be mentioned Lord Methuen, who bears the eagle by Royal Warrant dated 4th April 1775. Sir Thomas Arundel, who served in the Imperial army of Hungary, having in an engagement with the Turks near Strignum taken their standard with his own hands, was by Rodolph II. created Count of the Empire to hold for him and the heirs of his body for ever, dated at Prague 14th December 1595. This patent, of course, means that every one of his descendants in the male {414} line has the rank of a Count of the Empire, and that every daughter of any such male descendant is a Countess, but this does not confer the rank of count or countess upon descendants of the daughters. It was this particular patent of creation that called forth the remark from Queen Elizabeth that she would not have her sheep branded by any foreign shepherd, and we believe that this patent was the origin of the rule translated in later times (_temp._ George IV.) into a definite Royal Warrant, requiring that no English subject shall, without the express Royal Licence of the Sovereign conveyed in writing, accept or wear any foreign t.i.tle or decoration. No Royal Licence was subsequently obtained by the Arundel family, who therefore, according to British law, are denied the use of the privileged Imperial eagle. Outside those cases in which the double eagle is used in this country to denote rank of the Holy Roman Empire, the usage of the eagle displayed behind the arms or any a.n.a.logous figure is in British heraldry most limited.
One solitary authoritative instance of the use of the displayed eagle is found in the coat of arms of the city of Perth. These arms are recorded in Lyon Register, having been matriculated for that Royal Burgh about the year 1672. The official blazon of the arms is as follows: ”Gules ane holy lambe pa.s.sant regardant staff and cross argent, with the banner of St. Andrew proper, all within a double tressure counter-flowered of the second, the escutcheon being surmounted on the breast of ane eagle with two necks displayed or. The motto in ane Escroll, 'Pro Rege Lege et Grege.'”
Another instance of usage, though purely devoid of authority, occurs in the case of a coat of arms set up on one of the panels in the Hall of Lincoln's Inn. In this case the achievement is displayed on the breast of a single-headed eagle. What reason led to its usage in this manner I am quite unaware, and I have not the slightest reason for supposing it to be authentic. The family of Stuart-Menteith also place their arms upon a single-headed eagle displayed gules, as was formerly to be seen in Debrett's Peerage, but though arms are matriculated to them in Lyon Register, this particular adornment forms no part thereof, and it has now disappeared from the printed Peerage books. The family of Britton have, however, recently recorded as a badge a double-headed eagle displayed ermine, holding in its claws an escutcheon of their arms (Plate VIII.).
Occasionally batons or wands or other insignia of office are to be found in conjunction with armorial bearings, but these will be more fully dealt with under the heading of Insignia of Office. Before dealing with the usual supporters, one perhaps may briefly allude to ”inanimate” supporters. {415}
Probably the most curious instance of all will be found in the achievement of the Earls of Errol as it appears in the MS. of Sir David Lindsay. In this two ox-yokes take the place of the supporters. The curious tradition which has been attached to the Hay arms is quoted as follows by Sir James Balfour Paul, Lyon King of Arms, in his ”Heraldry in relation to Scottish History and Art,” who writes: ”Take the case of the well-known coat of the Hays, and hear the description of its origin as given by Nisbet: 'In the reign of Kenneth III., about the year 980, when the Danes invaded Scotland, and prevailing in the battle of Luncarty, a country Scotsman with his two sons, of great strength and courage, having rural weapons, as the yokes of their plough, and such plough furniture, stopped the Scots in their flight in a certain defile, and upbraiding them with cowardice, obliged them to rally, who with them renewed the battle, and gave a total overthrow to the victorious Danes; and it is said by some, after the victory was obtained, the old man lying on the ground, wounded and fatigued, cried, ”Hay, Hay,”
which word became a surname to his posterity. He and his sons being n.o.bilitate, the King gave him the aforesaid arms (argent, three escutcheons gules) to intimate that the father and the two sons had been luckily the three s.h.i.+elds of Scotland, and gave them as much land in the Ca.r.s.e of Gowrie as a falcon did fly over without lighting, which having flown a great way, she lighted on a stone there called the Falcon Stone to this day. The circ.u.mstances of which story is not only perpetuated by the three escutcheons, but by the exterior ornaments of the achievement of the family of Errol; having for crest, on a wreath, a falcon proper; for supporters two men in country habits, holding the oxen-yokes of a plough over their shoulders; and for motto, ”Serva jugum.”'
”Unfortunately for the truth of this picturesque tale there are several reasons which render it utterly incredible, not the least being that at the period of the supposed battle armorial bearings were quite unknown, and could not have formed the subject of a royal gift. Hill Burton, indeed, strongly doubts the occurrence of the battle itself, and says that Hector Boece, who relates the occurrence, must be under strong suspicion of having entirely invented it. As for the origin of the name itself, it is, as Mr.
Cosmo Innes points out in his work on 'Scottish Surnames,' derived from a place in Normandy, and neither it nor any other surname occurred in Scotland till long after the battle of Luncarty. I have mentioned this story in some detail, as it is a very typical specimen of its cla.s.s; but there are others like unto it, often traceable to the same incorrigible old liar, Hector Boece.”
It is not unlikely that the ox-yoke was a badge of the Hays, Earls of Errol, and a reference to the variations of the original arms, crest, {416} and supporters of Hay will show how the changes have been rung on the s.h.i.+elds, falcon, ox-yokes, and countrymen of the legend.
Another instance is to be found in the arms of the Mowbray family as they were at one time depicted with an ostrich feather on either side of the s.h.i.+eld (Fig. 675, p. 465), and at first one might be inclined to cla.s.s these amongst the inanimate supporters. The Garter plate, however, of John Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, probably supplies the key to the whole matter, for this shows not only the ostrich feathers but also supporters of the ordinary character in their usual position. From the last-mentioned instance, it is evident the ostrich feathers can be only representations of the badge, their character doubtless being peculiarly adaptable to the curious position they occupy. They are of course the same in the case of the Mowbray arms, and doubtless the ox-yoke of the Earl of Errol is similarly no more than a badge.
A most curious instance of supporters is to be found in the case of the arms of Viscount Montgomery. This occurs in a record of them in Ulster's Office, where the arms appear without the usual kind of supporters, but represented with an arm in armour, on either side issuing from clouds in base, the hands supporting the s.h.i.+eld.