The Curiosities of Heraldry Part 16

CHARTERIS, Earl. (Crest, an arm brandis.h.i.+ng a sword; over it) This _is_ our _Charter_!

FANE, Earl of Westmoreland. _Ne vile_ FANO. Dishonour not the temple.

The first and second words allude to his descent from the family of _Neville_.

GRAVES of Gloucesters.h.i.+re. _Graves_ disce mores. Learn serious manners.

COLE. Deum _cole_, Regem serva. Fear G.o.d, serve the King.

JAMES. _J'aime jamais._ I love ever.

COLLINS. _Colens_ Deum et Regem. Reverencing G.o.d and the King.

MAJOR of Suffolk. (Arms, three Corinthian columns.) Deus _major_ columna. G.o.d is a greater support than pillars.

WAKE of Somersets.h.i.+re. _Vigila_ et ora. _Watch_ and pray.

PUREFOY of Leicesters.h.i.+re. _Pure foy_ ma joye. Sincerity is my delight.

RIVERS of Kent. Secus rivos aquarum. By the rivers of waters.

POLE of Devon. _Pollet_ virtus. Virtue bears sway.

TEY of Ess.e.x. _Tais_ en temps. Be silent in time.

WISEMAN of Ess.e.x. Sapit qui Deum sapit. He is _wise_ who is wise towards G.o.d.

PAGITT of Surrey. _Pagit_ Deo. He covenants with G.o.d.

MAYNARD, Viscount. _Ma_nus justa _nard_us. A just hand is a precious ointment.

MOSLEY of Northumberland. _Mos le_gem Regis. Agreeable to the King's law.

ROCHE, Viscount de Rupe, &c. Mon Dieu est ma _Roche_. My G.o.d is my Rock.

VINCENT. _Vincenti_ dabitur. It shall be given to the conqueror.

VYVYAN. Dum _vivimus viva_mus. While we live, let us live.

TEMPLE, Viscount Cobham. _Templa_ quam dilecta. How beloved are thy _Temples_!

ALGOOD. Age omne bonum. Do _all good_.

Having _drawn_ thus largely upon the humour of motto-coiners, and, perchance, upon the patience of those readers who can _draw_ no amus.e.m.e.nt from such conceits, I now _draw_ this chapter to a close, by quoting the motto of the antient company of the _wire-drawers_ of the city of London, which is, Latine, "Amicitiam _trahit_ amor," and Anglice, Love _draws_ friends.h.i.+p!

[Ill.u.s.tration: (Conjectural origin of the Pile, p. 63)]

CHAPTER IX.

Historical Arms--Augmentations.

[Ill.u.s.tration: (Badge of Pelham.)]

"In perpetuum per gloriam vivere intelliguntur."

_Justinian._

By Historical Arms I mean those coats which, upon the testimony either of record or tradition, have been acquired by an act of the original bearer, and which exhibit some trophy or circ.u.mstance connected therewith to the eye of the spectator. AUGMENTATIONS are marks of honour, granted by the sovereign, and _superadded_ to the paternal arms; and borne, for the most part, upon a canton or inescocheon, sometimes upon a chief, fesse, or quarter. This cla.s.s of arms, the most interesting in the whole range of heraldry, has been subdivided into eight kinds; viz. 1, Those derived from acts of valour; 2, From acts of loyalty; 3, From royal and other advantageous alliances; 4, From favour and services; 5, From situation; 6, From profession, &c.; 7, From tenure and office; and 8, From memorable circ.u.mstances and events.[198]

It may be almost unnecessary to observe, that many of the anecdotes about to be related are of a very apocryphal description, referring to periods antecedent to the introduction of armorial bearings. Some of these, however, may be correct in the incidents though incorrect in point of time; and doubtless, in many cases, the arms have been a.s.sumed in rather modern times, to commemorate the exploits of ancestors of a much earlier period; the highly-prized family tradition having been confided to the safer custody of the emblazoned s.h.i.+eld. At all events, I deliver them to the reader as I find them set down in 'myne authoures,' and leave the _onus probandi_ to the families whose honour is concerned in their perpetuation.

First among these pictorial mementoes should be noticed the well-known cognizance of the Prince of Wales, the Ostrich Feathers, the popular origin of which is known to every schoolboy. Whether the King of Bohemia fell by the trenchant blade of the Black Prince himself, or by that of some knight or 'squier of lowe degree,' it would now be useless to inquire; and whether the feathers and the mottoes, =Ich Dien= and =Houmout=, signifying respectively in old German, 'I serve,' and 'A haughty spirit,' had any relation to that event is altogether a matter of dubiety. It has been shown by Mr. J. G. Nichols[199] that the King of Bohemia used (not ostrich feathers, but) a pair of vulture's wings as a crest. It further appears that the _badge_ of the Black Prince was _a single feather_, while, on his tomb at Canterbury, the _three_ feathers are represented singly upon a s.h.i.+eld, the quill of each being attached to a scroll, with the motto ICH . DIENE. The popular version of the story, however, is somewhat supported by the fact that an ostrich, collared and chained, with a nail in his beak, was a badge of the Bohemian monarchs; and Mr. Nichols suggests that the feathers may probably have been adopted by Edward as a trophy of his victory. Randle Holme deduces the three ostrich feathers from a totally different source, and a.s.serts that they were the ensign of the princes of Wales during the independence of that country, prior to the invasion of the English. After this event, (he adds) the eldest sons of the kings of England, as princes of Wales, continued the badge ensigned with a coronet, with the motto, 'Ich Dien,' I serve; to express the sentiment that, although of paramount dignity in that country, they still owed allegiance to the crown of England.[200] It is a.s.serted by other authorities that a single ostrich feather was borne as a badge by Edward III, by all the brothers and descendants of the Black Prince, and by Thomas Mowbray, duke of Norfolk, who was descended by the female line from Thomas de Brotherton, fifth son of Edward I. In the Harl. MS. 304, we are told that,

"=The ostrich fether, sylver, and pen gold, is the King's.

The ostrich fether, pen and all sylver, is the Prince's.

The ostrich fether, gold, y{e} pen ermyne, is the Duk of Lancaster's.

The ostrich fether, sylver, and pen gobone, is the Duk of Somersett's.="

Who has not heard of the '=Bear and ragged staff=' of the earls of Warwick? This is a combination of two badges of that antient line, which sprang, according to the family tradition, from Arthgal, one of the knights of King Arthur's 'Round Table.' _Arth_ or _Narth_, in the British language, is said to signify a bear; hence this ensign was adopted as a rebus or play upon his name. Morvidus, another earl of the same family, a man of wonderful valour, slew a giant with a young tree torn up by the roots and hastily trimmed of its boughs. In memory of this exploit his successors bore as their cognizance a silver staff in a s.h.i.+eld of sable.[201]

The supporters of the Scottish family of Hay, earls of Errol, are two husbandmen, each carrying an ox-yoke. In the year 980, when the Danes invaded this island, an engagement took place at Longcarty, near Perth, in which Kenneth III was routed. An honest yeoman, yclept John de Luz, and his two sons, were ploughing in a field hard by the scene of action.

Seeing their countrymen fly before the victorious enemy, these stalwart ploughmen stopped them in a narrow pa.s.s with the gear of their ploughs, and upbraiding them with cowardice induced them to stand the brunt of a new attack. The Danes, astonished at this unexpected turn of affairs, which they attributed to the arrival of fresh succours, wheeled about and made a hasty retreat, and the Scots obtained a signal victory. Kenneth, to reward the valour of his faithful subject, gave him as much land in the district of Gowrie, as a falcon, flying from his fist, should measure out before he perched. Hence the supporters and the crest (a falcon rising) of this family. The earls of Kinnoul, a younger branch of the family, further allude to the circ.u.mstance first mentioned in their motto, RENOVATE ANIMOS, 'Rouse your courage,' or 'Rally.'

There are still existing indubitable evidences of a great conflict on the spot referred to in this legend; and it may be admitted that the ancestors of the family were concerned in it; but the above heraldric ensigns must be considered to have been adopted as remembrances of long past events, albeit their a.s.sumption may have taken place at a very early period.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

The family of Keith, earls Marischal, bear _Argent, on a chief or, three pallets gules_, OR _gules, three pallets or_. These ensigns likewise originated in an engagement between the Scots and the Danes. An ancestor of the Keiths having greatly distinguished himself in a battle near Dundee, in which Camus, the Danish general, was killed, the Scottish monarch, Kenneth III, charmed with his valour, dipped his royal fingers in the blood of the Dane and drew three stripes or pallets on the top of his chieftain's s.h.i.+eld. Hence the arms of Keith. As in the former instance, this anecdote a.s.sumes the existence of armorial bearings, at too remote a date, though, as in that case, there are evident vestigia of a great battle at the place referred to. A stone called 'Camus's Cross' was standing a few years since; and in the last century a large tomb, inclosed with four huge stones, containing bones, conjectured to have been those of the Northman, was discovered near the spot.[202]

_Bulstrode_, of Bulstrode, co. Bucks, bore, as a crest, _A bull's head, erased gules, attired argent, between two wings of the same_. When William the Conqueror subdued this kingdom he gave the estate of this family to one of his own followers, and lent him a thousand men for the purpose of taking possession, _vi et armis_. The rightful owner calling in the aid of some neighbouring gentlemen, (among others, the ancestors of the Penns and the Hampdens,) gallantly resisted the invader, intrenching himself with an earthwork, which is still pointed out as evidence of the truth of the story. It seems that the besieged party, wanting horses, mounted themselves upon _bulls_, and, sallying out of their camp, so affrighted the Normans that many of the latter were slain and the rest put to flight.

The king hearing of this strange affair, and not wis.h.i.+ng to push matters to an imprudent extent, sent for the valiant Saxon, with a promise of safe conduct to and from his court. The Saxon paid the Conqueror a visit, riding upon a _bull_, accompanied by his seven sons similarly mounted. The result of the interview was that he was allowed to retain his estate. In commemoration of these events, he a.s.sumed the crest above described, together with the name of _Bullstrode_!! The whole narration exhibits strong characteristics of that peculiar genus of history, known as 'c.o.c.k and _Bull_ stories,' although it is probably quite as true as a distich preserved in the family, that

"=When William conquered English ground, Bulstrode had per annum, Three Hundred Pound.="[203]

Among those Welsh chieftains who gallantly defended their country from the aggressions of the English, in the reign of Henry II, was Kadivor ap Dynawal, who recaptured the castle of Cardigan, by scalade, from the Earl of Clare. For this action he was enriched by Rhys, prince of South Wales, with several estates, and permitted to bear, as coat armour, a castle, three scaling-ladders, and a b.l.o.o.d.y spear. These arms were borne by Kadivor's descendants, the Lloyds of Milfield, co. Cardigan, baronets, till the extinction of the family in the last century.

Williams, of Penrhyn, co. Caernarvon, Bart., bore, among other charges, _three human heads_, in commemoration of the exploit of Edwyfed Vychan, the great ancestor of his house, who in an engagement with the followers of Ranulph, earl of Chester, came off victorious, having killed three of their chief commanders. This happened in the thirteenth century.[204]

The Vescis, Chetwodes, Knowleses, Tyntes, Villierses, and various other families, bear crosses in their arms, traditionally derived from the period of the Crusades.

Sir Ancel Gornay attended Richard I on his crusade, and was present at the capture of Ascalon, where he took a Moorish king prisoner. From this circ.u.mstance he adopted as his crest, 'A king of the Moors habited in a robe, and crowned, kneeling, and surrendering with his dexter hand, his sword, all proper.' This crest was continued by the Newtons, of Barr's Court, co. Gloucester, one of whom married the heiress of the Gornays.

Among several other armorial ensigns dated from this same battle of Ascalon is the crest of Darrell, which may be briefly described as, 'Out of a ducal coronet a Saracen's head appropriately vested,' and which was a.s.sumed by Sir Marmaduke Darrell, in commemoration of his having killed the infidel King of Cyprus; also the arms and crest of Minshull, of Ches.h.i.+re, 'Azure, an estoile issuant out of a crescent, in base argent.'

_Crest_, 'An Eastern warrior, kneeling on one knee, habited gules, legs and arms in mail proper; at his side a scymitar sable, hilted or; on his head a turban with a crescent and feather argent, presenting, with his sinister hand, a crescent of the last.' These bearings were a.s.signed to Michael de Minshull for his valour on that occasion, but the particular nature of his exploits is not recorded.

The Bouchiers, earls of Ess.e.x, bore 'Argent, a cross engrailed gules, between four water-bowgets sable. _Crest._ The bust of a Saracen king, with a long cap and coronet, all proper.' All these bearings are emblematical of the crusades; and the water-bowgets are a play upon the name. "In the hall of the manor-house of Newton, in the parish of Little Dunmowe, in Ess.e.x," says Weever,[205] "remaineth, in old painting, two postures (figures;) the one for an ancestor of the Bouchiers, combatant with another, being a Pagan king, for the truth of Christ, whom the said Englishman overcame; and in memory thereof his descendants have ever since borne the head of the said infidel, as also used the _surname of Bouchier_," in conformity with an antient practice, by which, as Saintfoix informs us, great heroes were honoured with the "_glorious surname_" of BUTCHER![206]

The arms of Willoughby, Lords Willoughby of Eresby, were 'Sable, a cross engrailed or,' and their _Crest_, 'A Saracen's head crowned fronte, all proper.' The only account I have seen of the origin of these ensigns is contained in the following lines, occurring in Dugdale's Baronage. A Willoughby _loquitur_.