MEN-AT-ARMS SERIES 99

MEDIEVAL HERALDRYamIDMILITARY

TERE:\CE 'VISE RICH~\RD HOOK \VILLL\l\1 'V~\LKER

Introduction

It i not the aim of this book to describe in precisedetail the rules of heraldry, but rather to intro­duce the reader to the role of heraldry and toprovide examples of how it was used in the 14thand 15th centuries. Therefore, it is recommendedthat any reader lacking knowledge of the basicshould have at hand an introductory book on the

subject, such as the Observer Book of Heraldry,publi hed by Warne.

It is anticipated that most readers of this bookwill b military enthusiasts, moddlers and war­gamer, and therefore I have concentrated on thepurely military aspect of medieval heraldry.Thi i appropriate, as we arc concerned herewith a period of history during which heraldryretained one of its original functions -the identi­fication of individuals and their followers on thefield of battle. Matters such as mottoes, supporters,a hievements, the arms of unmarried ladies,hatchment, and civil, ecclesiastical and corpor­ate oats of arms have been omitted. Readerswi hing to learn about these facets of the subjectare referred to the Observer title, and to an in­tere ting booklet en ti tled Civic Heraldry, publishedby hire Publications. In place of these subjectsreader. will find more information on militarymatter, such as liveries, badges, crests, surcoatsand horse trappers, than is normally found inbook on heraldry.

Mo t books written by English authors almosttotally ignore continental heraldry, and thereforean attempt has been made to include at leastorne European examples. However, almostinevitably the emphasis will be found to be onEngli h heraldry, mainly because the varioussources are more readily available to an Englishauthor, but also because drastic political changesin many European countries have caused the

Medieval Heraldry

abolition of the Colleges of Heralds and thescattering or loss of their records. (The records ofPolish medieval heraldry, for example, weredestroyed during the Second World War.) Itshould also be remembered that most publicationson European heraldry have not been translatedinto English, rendering much information in­accessible, for although many people can readFrench or German, and perhaps some Italian orSpanish, few can read Dutch, Polish, the Scan­dinavian languages, or medieval Latin.

English writers also usually overlook the factthat, once coats of arms had been adopted by thenobility, the lower orders in some Europeancountries also began to assume coats of arms, andcontinued to do so until heraldry no longer had a

The effigy ofJohn Eltham, Earl of Cornwall, in WestminsterAbbey, circa 1334. He was the son of Edward II and bears thearms of England differenced by a bordure of fleurs-de-Iys,his mother being Isabel of France. His shield is heater type.

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Another form of shield which remained in continuous usethroughout the medieval period was the pavise, which couldbe propped up to provide cover for an archer or crossbow­man. It was normal to paint these shields, and this examplebears the arms of the town of Zwickau: St George bearing ashield on which are painted three swans. It is dated circa 1480.

purely military role. French sources quote manyexamples of bourgeois bearing arms in the 13thcentury, and by the cnd of that century thispractice was widespread. From the bourgeois ofthe towns the bearing ofarms spread to the peasantsof the country ide, and the earliest known exampleof such arms in France occurs in 1369 (the armsofJacquier lc Brebiet the shepherd: three sheepheld by a girl).

nlike the class system of England, in France

the nobility and bourgeoisie were not rigidly separ­ated, but it should be remembered that the bearingof arms did not convert a bourgeois into a noble.Some 'nobles' were indeed bourgeoisie, but theyhad to be sure to state their origins. One definiteform of distinction was that neither bourgeoisie norpeasantry were entitled to wear hclmet crests.

Portugal and Germany were two other countriesin which burghers and peasants were allowed tobear arms: in the latter even the Jews were per­mitted coats of arms, an unusually liberal practicein those days of rabid bigotry. Members of thelower classes in Portugal were forbidden the useofsilver.ot gold in their arms, and in 1512 KingManuel I forbade the use of arms by all those notclassed as nobles.

On Heraldry andHeraldsIt is as well to begin by defining precisely what ismeant by the word heraldry. Dictionaries usuallyrefer to it as the art of the herald or, more helpfully,the art or science of armorial bearings, armourybeing the medieval term for heraldry (OldFrench armoirie); but heraldry is perhaps bestdescribed as a system for identifying individualsby means of distinctive hereditary insignia, this Isystem originating in western Europe during theMiddle Ages. From archaeological sources weknow that insignia have been used on the shields ofwarriors to identifY individuals in battle sinceclassical times-as early as circa 800 B.C. thePhrygians were using geometric and stylizedfloral designs on their shields -so what is it thatmakes medieval heraldry unique? The phrase'distinctive hereditary insignia' contains the key,for all true heraldry is hereditary, that is the in­signia are inherited without alteration by theheirs of the former bearers.

As far as can be ascertained, heraldry first ap- I

peared about the middle of the 12th century andflourished during the 13th and 14th centuries.The shapes of the shields used during these cen­turies made it necessary for the heralds andpainters to adapt the natural forms used as in-Tsignia to fit irregular spaces, and the insignia ~'Itherefore assumed a symbolic rather than natur- E

Coats of arms were at first used only by kings andprinces, then by their great nobles. By the mid­13th century arms were being used extensivelyby the lesser nobility, knights and those who latercame to be styled gentlemen, and, as mentionedabove, in some countries the use of arms spread tomerchants and townspeople, and even to thepeasantry. Anyone who wished to have a coat ofarms just invented one, though often it would bebased on the arms of his overlord.

All these arms were assumptive arms, i.e.assumed without reference to any higher authorityby the bearer in order to distinguish his personand property. This practice inevitably led to acertain amount of duplication of armorial bear­ings, and as more and more men assumed armsso matters became more confused.

Heralds had existed since possibly as early as1132, but their duties in the beginning had con­sisted only of extolling the deeds of knights attournaments. They were soon responsible for

alistic appearance. Any study of heraldry soonreveals a considerable difference between thesimple forms used in the early days and the moreperfect and intricate forms of the later days. Thealmost ascetic style of the early years identifiesthe true medieval heraldry.

As more and more knights, and their sons, weregranted the right to bear arms, so the insigniabecame by necessity more complex. However,by circa 1500 the original purposes for whichheraldry had been introd uced (on shields, sur­coats, horse trappers and banners, to distinguishcombatants in war and in tournaments, and onseals as marks of identity instead of signatures)were becoming obsolete. After the turn of thecentury the insignia began to be more and morecomplex, assuming naturalistic forms rather thanthe traditional symbolic ones. When this oc­curred, by about 1550, the era oftrue heraldry hadended and thereafter the science declined: sealswere no longer so important because ofthe spreadof literacy, and identification was now achievedon the battlefield by the use of flags, and in thetournament by the use of crests.

The effigy of a member of the Bowes family in the church ofDalton.le.Dale, Co. Durham, showing the tight-waistedjupon. The arms are another example of canting arms:Ermine, three bows bent and stringed, paleways in fess gules.

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proclaiming and orgamzlOg these tournaments,so popular in the 12th century, and consequentlybecame heraldry experts whose job it was toidentify the contestants by the insignia painted ontheir hields and banners. These heralds weremore akin to minstrels at this date, wanderingfrom country to country in pursuit of the tourna­ment , and so getting to know everyone of im­portance throughout Europe. From this famili­arity with the great men of their time sprang theirusefulness to military commanders, and medievalmanu ripts mention heralds being present atthe battles of Drincourt (1173) and Las avas deTolosa (1212), though there is no mention ofheralds in royal service until the end of the 13thcentury.

The military value of men who could identifythe contingents ofan opposing army by the shieldsand banners of their lords speaks for itself, andalmost every knight was soon employing a herald,no maller how small the force he commanded.The duty of these heralds was to be near their lordconstantly (on campaign they lodged in theirlord's tent) so as to be on hand to answer at onceany qu ryon the identity of a knight, and by thebeginning of the 14th century this had causedtheir elevation from wandering minstrels to ap­pointcd officials and confidants of the nobles'households; by the middle of the century heraldsin Francc and England had acquired a settledtatus. However, in Germany heralds were slow

to acquire any om ial recognition and as late as atleast 1338 no clear division existed betweenminstrels and ht'ralds; a ward robe account of thatyear records payments to the King of Heraldsof Gt'rmany and ten other minstrels of Germanyfor making minstrelsy before the king at Christmas.

By the mid- 14th century heralds were beingcontinuously employed by the kings and princesof Europe, both in peacetime and in time of war.In fact their dual role as herald and envoy withdiplomatic immunity was to become incompatibleby the end of the century. A letter written circa1400 by tht' Anjou King of Arms highlights theproblem, for it deplores the way in which pur­suivants (literally the rank below herald) abusedtheir immunity to spy out the military plans oftheir master's enemies.

To mark their office heralds wore on their livery

An inn sign (the Tabard Inn in Gloucester) illustrating thefonn and decoration of the tabard of an English herald. Suchexatnples ofheraldry tnay be found all around us even today.

the arms,of the lord they served. Later they werealso to become responsible for organizing themarriages and funerals of the nobility, as well asother ceremonies and pageants. Nevertheless,despite their status and undoubted importancein all matters related to heraldry, until the late14.th cen tu ry the English heralds at least had nocontrol over the design of arms or who bore them,being responsible only for recording and identify­ings the various coals of arms.

By the first quarter of the 14th century twotrains of thought appear to have emerged con­cerning the use of armorial bearings: firstly, thatsuch arms might be assumed by any man; andsecondly, that the bearing of such arms must bethe excl u ive righ t of the nobility ifheraldry was tofunction. The first known reference to a challengeover the right to bear particular arms occurs in aGerman document of 1286. In England the firstsuch dispu te was in 1348, before a Court of Law.This dispute was between Nicholas, Lord Burnell,and Robert, Lord Morley, and was tried by theLord High Constable and Earl Marshal of Eng-land during the siege of Calais. I

A more famous and prolonged case occurredbetween the years 1385 and 1390 when the Gro .venor, Scrope and Carminow families all claimedthe ancient right to bear Azure, a bend or. Nomention is made of heralds being involved in theallocation of these arms, or being involved in thedispute over them; the case was tried by the Courl 1of Chivalry, a pre-heraldic court presided ovel f

b the onstable and Marshal, whose originalral had been to deal with military matters anddi put affi ting dignity and honour. Grosvenorwon and arminow conceded defeat, but Scropeappeal d to the sovereign, Richard II.

Ithough heralds were not involved in thisca e w know that from at least the 14th centurythe Engli h Kings of Heralds (later called Kingsof Arms) and their heralds were making surveysor ollections of the existing arms wi thin thei rprovinces, and the a e of Scrope v. Grosvenorrna well have arisen from such a survey, whichwould have revealed the duplication of arms andcall d for a settlement. The English Kings of\rms at thi time were Clarenceux, responsiblefor all England south of the Trent, and Torrey,re pon ibl for all England north of the Trent.The anonymous Rolls of Arms which have beenhanded down to us were probably compiled by theearly herald and Kings of Arms when they wereatt rnpting to regularize English heraldry.

B th 15th century the Kings of Arms werer quired to take an oath on assuming office to theeffect that they would do their utmost 'to haveknowl dg of all the noble gentlemen withintheir marches and them with their issue trulyregi t r such arms as they bear'.

The disl ute mentioned above, and no doubtman olhers or shorter duration, made it neces­ary that some authority should be set up which

could relieve the. overeign of the task of regulating

The Tudor badges of rose, portcullis, pomegranate andneur-de-Iys on the Houses of Parliament.

the bearing of arms, assigning arms when ap­plications were considered worthy, and prevent­ing the unlawful assumption of those arms byothers.

In France a College of Heralds was created inParis by Charles VI in 1407, the head of thisorganization being known as Montjoie, King of

A pavise of circa 1490 bearing the arms of Ravensburg inWiirttemberg: Argent, a castle sable.

The rising sun badge of Edward III, still in use today as aninn sign.

Arms, with ten heralds and pursuivants underhim. We know Ja ques de Heilly held the post ofMontjoie at Agincourt nine years later, and worethe arms ofFrance on his herald's coat. A Marechald' Armes des Franfais was appointed by Charles VIIIin 1489. However, the French heralds were alwaystrictly controlled by the king, who was the only

person allowed to grant a coat of arms, whileParliament decided ca es of heraldic disputes,thus relegating the heralds to the role of technicaladvisers. By the beginning of the 17th century theCollege had become totally ineffective and wasabolished in 1792 owing to the Revolution, as wasthe science of heraldry itself. This has led to theanomaly ofFrance, whose language is the languageofheraldry, having no regulated system ofheraldrytoday.

In 1417 Henry V of England sent LettersPatent to sheri ITs of three coun ties declaring that'whereas in recent expeditions abroad manypersons had taken to themselves Arms and tunicsof rms called "Cotearmures" which neitherthey nor their ancestors had used in time past, noman of whatever rank should henceforth takearm unless he possessed them by ancestral rightor by the grant of some per. on having authoritysufficient thereunto'. That same year Henrycreated a new heraldic officer, Garter Principal

King of Arms of Englishmen, whose provincewas the whole of England and Wales and who wasresponsible for issuing Patents of Arms for peers.

Shortly after these steps, Thomas, Duke ofClarence and brother to Henry V, appears tohave issued ordinances which granted to the Kingsof Arms the right to assign arms to persons withintheir provinces. The oldest known Patent issuedby a King of Arms is dated ro March 1439, andwas issued by Sir William Bruges, first GarterKing of Arms, to the Drapers' Company ofLondon.

In 1484 Richard III by Royal Charter in­corporated the College of Arms, or Heralds'College, which controls the use of armorial bear­ings in England (and Wales officially) to this day.The College of Arms is presided over by the EarlMarshal and apart from the three Kings of Armsit has six heralds-Somerset, Chester, Windsor,Richmond, Lancaster and York; and four pur­suivants-Rouge Croix, Rouge Dragon, Port­cullis and Bluemantle. The Court of Lord Lyon(King of Arms) in Scotland is in fact pre-heraldic.It has three heralds-Albany, Marchmont andRothesay; and three pursuivants-Carrick, Uni­corn and Kintyre. The office of Ulster King ofArms was insti tu ted in 1553 and existed until1940, when it was amalgamated with orreyKing of Arms. The office oflreland King of Armsexisted for a short period only prior to 1553.

In Portugal heralds were introduced duringthe reign of James I (1385 1433). 1\ completerecord of the arms of the nobility was drawn up in1509 by the King ofArms, and Portuguese heraldrycontinued to be regulated by the heralds until19 ro, when the monarchy was replaced by arepublic.

German heralds were active and effective inthe medieval period but had become extinct bythe 1700s. It is significant that there was no wordin the German language for herald until theRenaissance, the term Knappen von der Wappen(esquires of arms) being used instead. The Ger- 1man'Knappen' only broke from their wanderinglife by taking employment with the Tourney 1Societies, and in many German states the heraldsnever attained a position at court, the regulation (of heraldry being handled by clerks under the scourt chancellor. r

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The pani h heralds, like the French, seem tohave been relegated to a secondary role by thekings of the various ki ngdoms, arms being gran tedby the kings and cases of duplication of arms beingettled by the kings, the heralds playing only a

con ultant rOk. This was also the case inDenmark, where there was no official body ofherald, and arms were assu med or gran ted bythe king by Letters of Patent.

The ShieldB cau e the shape and con truction of the shieldso clearly played an im portant part in the develop­ment of heraldic de igns, it is necessary to take abrief look at the types of shields used in Europeduring the period 1150-1550. The kite-shapedhield always associated with the Normans re-

mained in use throughout the 12th century, when

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heraldry was evolving, but soon after the middleof the century the curved top was replaced by astraight one. Infantry continued to use this typeof shield in Italy until as late as the 15th century.The kite shield was not Rat, as it appears in bookson heraldry, butsemi-cylindrical, 'so as to embracethe person of the wearer'. This meant that notmuch more than half the shield could be seen fromanyone anglc, and this greatly influenced theway in which insignia were placed upon theshield, since a man might need to be identified inbattle or at the tourney by only half of h is coat ofarms.

At the beginning of the 13th century the kiteshield was shortened to form what is now caIfedthe heater shield, so named in the 19th centurybecause it resembled the base of the flat iron orheater then in general use. This shield, Fig I,

13th century, and Fig 2, 14th century, also curvedround the body for greater effectiveness. Theheater was the commonest type of shield in most

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parts of Europe during the 13th and 14th cen­turies, but was unknown in Spain and Portugal.In these two countries shields were more rec­tangular, with a curved base, Fig 3, and this soinAuenced the number and placing of insigniain m dieval times that the arms used in thesecountries orten had their charges arranged in acompletely different manner to other parts ofEurope.

Shields had begun to diminish in size in the13th century, as plate armour was introduced toprotect arms and legs, and in the following centurythey were employed less frequently by mountedmen as the use of plate armour increased. Thusthe all-enveloping plate armour of the 15thcentury made shiclds obsolete for knights at least,and in thc 1360-1400 period the shield graduallywent out of usc by knights in battle. By the 15thcentury knights rarely used the shield except fordisplay purposes in parades and at tournaments.As a con equence the shields of the 15th centuryhad more fanciful shapes, as shown by Figs 4 and 5.Fig 4 show a typical 15th-century tournamentshield, called abouche, the notch on the right side

being for the lance. Fig 5 shows a purely decorativeshield of the same century. Late 15th- and early16th-century shields were of a similar design butoften had a central ridge or a number of Autingsat top and bottom. These more decorative shieldsbecame popular for ornamental purposes, par·ticularly in architecture; but the simple lines of the13th- and 14th-century shields remained popularfor the display of heraldic art, and are still used inheraldry to this day.

In heraldry the face of the shield, on which thearms are painted, is known as the field or ground.In order to determine exactly whereabou ts on thefield the various colours and devices should beplaced, and to be able to blazon a coat of arm~

correctly (that is to describe it verbally) the fieldis divided into a num bel' of points. It is necessaryhere to know only that the top part of the field iscalled the chief, the central area the fesse, and thebottom the base. Because the shield is alwaysviewed as seen from the position of the bearer, thedexter (righ t) side of the shield is that whichcoincides with the right side of the bearer, and thesinister (left) side is that which coincides with the

left ide of th bearer..\lthough I have already stated that it is not the

intention of thi book to describe the rules ofheraldry it is important that the reader be able todi tingui h between those rules and practiceswhich weI' particularly applicable in medievaltime, and tho e which were not in use at this earlytage. Th ne t headings therefore provide briefummari of the basics of heraldry as used in theI.j.th and 15th centuries.

TincturesThe fi Id of the hiekl and all devices painted uponit are oloured, and the di fTerent colours employedin heraldry are referred to as tinctures. I n themedieval period the designs on shields wereimple and the eolours employed were bold, the

aim being to create arms which were clearlyvi iblc and identifiable at a distance. The prin­cipal tinctures used are divided into metals

ilver and gold), colours (red, blue and black),anclfurs, ermine (Fig 6) and vail' (Fig 7). Both thefurs were based on furs in usc at the time, erminebeing the white winter coat of the stoat, with theblack tip of the tails sewn on, and vail' (from theLatin varus, variou. or varied) being the namegiven to quirrels' fur, much used for the lining ofcloak which was bluish-grey on the back andwhite on the belly. As the coats of western Euro­pean toats do not normally turn white in winter,the e kin had to be imported from as far away astllu covy, at great expense, and were conseq uentlyu ed only by the great nobles, such as the Dukes ofBrittany, whose coat was ermine.

Th following table shows the colours, theirheraldic name, and the abbreviation normallyfound on drawings of arms:

Tincture Heraldic name AbbreviationGold or yellow or 0ilver or white argent Arg or Ar*

Blu azure AzRed gules Gu or G*Black sable Sa or S*Greent vert Yt or y*

Purplet purpurc Purp or p*

*The e contractions arc normally used for trick:ing: see under Blazon.

tTher was an an ti pathy towards green un til well

into the 15th century and although it occurs inarms as early as the 13th century, it was not incommon use until the late 15th century. So faras purple is eoneerned, there was no distinctionmade between it and red in early medieval timesand therefore we are not really concerned wi thit here.

As heraldry became established, more coats ofarms were recorded and it beeame necessary toincrease the tinctures in order to avoid duplica­tion of arms. Thus by the 15th century tenne(orange) and murrey (a mulberry or reddish­purple colour) had been added to the colours.These new colours were mainly confined to con­tinental heraldry, though they do occasionallyappear on English flags or liveries; for examplethe livery colours of the House of York weremurrey and azure, while the pages of the Earlof Nottingham wore tenne edged with sableduring the reign ofJames I. The colour russet isalso found on rare occasions in continental heral­dry from the 15th century on, and appears inEnglish heraldry on the flags and livery of thegreat Percy family.

The number of furs was also increased in the15th and 16th centuries by depicting ermine andvail' in different colours: ermines, white tails onblack; erminois, black tails on gold; pean, goldtails on black. Yair was termed vairie if coloursother than argent and azure were used: for ex­ample, vairie of or and gules.

Divisions of the ShieldIn addition to the tinctures there are also several

Another example of ancient heraldry still being used-thewhite hart badge of Richard II as an inn sign.

methods of dividing the field by a single line inorder to increase the number of coats of armspossible without duplication. A field thus dividedis de cribed as 'parted' or 'party', although theword party is orten omitted in blazon. There areeight main divisions of this nature: per pale, fess,bend (dexter and sinister), chevron, saltire,quarterly, and gyronny. These divisions havebeen ill ustrated for clarity and appear in the orderIi ted: Figs 8-15. In the early days of heraldry'party' meant simply the division of the field perpale, and other division lines had to be named infull.

Continental, and particularly German heral­dry contains many other field divisions unknownin England. One of the divisions most commonlyu ed, e pecially in Italy and Germany, is a tri­partite division of the field by two lines runninghorizontally, vertically, diagonally from top left,or diagonally from top right, across the shield.These are referred to as tierced in fess, pale, bendand bend sinister respectively. Fig 16 illustratestierced in fess, the arms of the Venetian family ofFranchi; and Fig 17, tierced in bend, the arms ofthe Amici family, also Italian. Another variant ofthis style i tierced in pairlc, best described by theillustration of the arms of the Saxon family of vonBriesen, Fig 18. Another curious partition, uniqueto Germany, i that oftierced in gyron gyronnant,known in German heraldry a Sclzneckenweise. Thisi illu trated by the arms of the von Megenzerfamily, Fig 19.

The divisions known in Engli h heraldry areal 0 occasionally employed in a different form onthe Continent. Quarterly, for example, sometimesappears a a most curious arrangement, bestdescribed by Figs 20 and 2/, the arms of the Bruns­wick family of von Tule and the Lowensteinfamily respectively. Party per fess in Germanheraldry sometimes has a left or right 'step',known as mit linker stuJe. This is illustrated bythe arms of the Aurberg family of Bavaria, Fig 22.

Other continental partition lines are difficult toblazon in English, nor can they really be cate­gorized. Examples of these unusual divisions areshown in Figs 23-27, the arms of Lang vonLangenau, Stauffeneck, Marshalek von Stunts­berg, Kirmreitter, and i\ltorf.

Varied fields are made by further divisions

which always consist of an even number of pieces,for example, barry, bendy, paly, per pale andbarry, paly wavy, chequey, lozengy, and fusily,illustrated in that order by Figs 28-35.

Partition LinesSo far it has been assumed that all the lines dividingthe field are straight, but in fact irregular parti­tion lines were soon introduced to provide scopefor more coats of arms. In the very earliest Rolls ofArms only three such variations are listed: En­grailed, Indented or Dancetty, and Undy orWavy, and of these Engrailed was by far themost common. Fig 36 illustrates the use of an en­grailed line: Or, a cross engrailed sable, the armsofJohn de Bohun, temp. Edward 1. Fig 37 is Or,a chief indented azure, the arms of John Butler,Earl of Ormond, killed at Tewkesbury in 147 I.

Nebuly and Embattled (or Crenelle) were addedlater, wi thin the period which concerns us here:Fig 38, Barry nebuly ofS, or and sable, the arms ofSir Humphrey Blount, 1422-77; and Fig 39,per fess embattled or and azure, the Barons vonPreysing.

ChargesCharges are the devices used upon shields. In the14th century by far the commonest types ofcharges were those listed in all books on heraldryas Ordinaries and Subordinaries. The Ordinariesare known as the Chief, Fess, Pale, Chevron,Bend, Saltire, Cross, Pile, and Quarter or Canton.The Chiefis rare in Spanish and Portuguese arms.Each of these Ordinaries is illustrated here by acoat of arms: Fig 40 (Chief) the arms borne byWilliam de Fortz of Vivonne in France. Fig 4/(Fess) the arms of Walter de Colville. Fig 42(Pale) the arms of Hugh de Grentmesnil, Lord ofHinckley, High Steward of England in the time ofHenry 1. Fig 43 (Chevron) the arms of the Frenchfamily of Gorrevod, Ducs de Pont de Vaux and

(16) Franchi: chief vert, fess argent, base gules. (17) ARlici:sinister chief or, bend gules, dexter base azure. (18) VonBriesen: dexter or, sinister gules. (19) Von Megenzer: theupper part ofthe shield is gules, the lower is or. (20) Von Tule:upper dexter and lower sinister divisions are gules. (21)Lowenstein: sable and or. (22) Aurberg: argent and sable.(23) Lang von Langenau: a 'chief' or, lozengy argent andgules. (24) StrauJfeneck: a 'chief' argent, barry argent andgules. (25) Marshalck von Stuntsburg: gules, a 'chevron'argent. (26) KirRlreitter: sable and or. (27) Altorf: sable and\arl?;ent.

princes of the Holy Roman Empire. Fig 44 (Bend)the arms borne by the French knight Guillaumede Trie. fig 45 (Saltire) the arms of the great houseof eville. Fig 46 (Cross) the arms of the Portu­guese family of Teixeira, also the Spanish familyofOluja. Fig 47 (Pile) the arms of Sir John Chan­dos, Knight of the Garter, died 1370. Fig 48(Canton) the arms of Bertram de Criol!. Of theseOrdinaries the most popular in the early periodwas the Fess and its diminutives, namely the Bar,Closet and Barrulet, which were almost alwaysused in series; i.e. Fig 49 Barry of 6, argent andazure, the arms of Henry de Grey of Cod nor, whofought at Falkirk (1298) and at the siege of Cae1'­

laverock in J 300. A Seigneur de Grey also borethese arms at the siege of Rouen in J418.

In modern heraldry the Chief, Fess, Pile,Chevron, Bend and Pile all occupy one-third ofthe area of the field, but during the period withwhich we arc dealing they were somewhat smaller,unless they bore a charge, and the Fess of ancientheraldry would now probably be termed a Bar.The Canton occupies a third of the Chief, alwayson the dexter side, except in Spanish heraldry,where it appears on either the dexter or sinisterside.

The ubordinaries include the bordure, 111-

The reverse ofthe sixth Great Seal ofEdward III, used between1340 and 1372, showing shield, surcoat and trapper bearingthe quartered arms of England and France, and the lion crestof the kings of England.

escutcheon, orle, tressure, flanches, gyron, lozenge,fusil, mascle, rustre, fret, billet, annulet androundcls: these may be found illustrated in anybook on heraldry.

ext in popularity after the Ordinaries andSubordinaries came what are known as theanimate charges, the various animals, with thelion rampant well ahead ofall others, followed at aconsiderable distance by the lion passant. Lesspopular still in our period was the eagle, whichwas the most common charge in the bird category,and was followed by a relatively few examples ofmartlets, popinjays, crows, swans and herons.

The inanimate charges were mostly everydayobjects from medieval life in Europe, such asstaves, water buckets, arrows, axes, horseshoes,spurs, hammers, various flowers, stars and cres­cents, etc. Tt was not until around 1500 that thehuman body, monsters and fabulous beasts,birds and reptiles became common in heraldry,and by then the science had already begun itsdecline into ostentatious ornamentation.

BlazonWhen a knight entered the lists at a tournament,he was announced by the sounding of a trumpetand the calling out of his coat of arms. This wasknown as blazoning. Thus the principal terms andorder of description employed in blazon havebeen in existence since the early 13th century,by which date heralds were finding it necessaryto describe a coat of arms in such a way that therecould be no shadow of doubt as to what and whoseit was, and they are readily understood through­out western Europe. The language of the earlyblazons was French or Latin, but this was laterreplaced by the language of each nation, and inEnglish heraldry the language of blazon hasbecome anglicized except for a few technicalterms.

Some attention to fine detail has been appliedin the following description of blazon, as it isessential that the reader be able to interpretblazon if he is to be able to study more complexbooks on heraldry, where the arms arc frequentlydescribed in this manner. However, it should beremembered that blazon was invented in order

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to d .nibe arms precisely, clearly and brieny,and is therefore n'asonal Iy easy to understand.

To write or read a blazon it is necessary toknow the order in which the description is set out.Thi. oreler is therefore listed fully here.The Field1 De cribe the tincture of the field.2 If the field is divided into two or more tinc­

ture, de cribe the line or lines which divide it,followed by the tincture : Quarterly, or and gules,the arms of Sir Geoffrey de Say (baron 13 I 3)and his son Geoffrey at the siege of Calais in 1348.(3) If the parti tion lines are not straigh t, describethem: Per pale indented, argent and gules, thebanner of Simon de Montfort.4 If the field is seme with small charges this

mu t al 0 be mentioned: Azure billety, a fessdancetty or, the arms of Sir John D'Eyncourt.The Principal Charge1 Describe the principal charge on the field and

its tincture.(2) Ifthe charge is an Ordinary and it has irregular

lines, describe the lines engrailed, nebuly, etc.(3) If'the charge is placed in the centre of the fieldand faces the dexter, no further description isnecessary, otherwise the position (in chief, in fess,in base) and whether afTrontc (showing full face)or contournc (facing sinister) must be stated.Other ChargesIf there arc any secondary charges these must bementioned in order of importance, stating posi­tion on the shield and the tinctures used: Or, across gules between sixteen eaglets azure, thearms of the lords of Montmorency.Charges upon ChargesDescribe any charges placed upon an Ordinary,upon a principal charge, or upon a secondarycharge.DifferencesDescribe any charges used for differencing orcadency, such as the bordure, label, canton,crescent, mullet, etc.Overall ChargesWhen an Ordinary is placed across a coat of arms

it i preceded by the word surtout or overall, i.e.overall a bend azure.QuarteringIf a shield is quartered this fact is stated before allthe above categories, and mention is made at theend of this Ii t only because quartering, exceptfor royal alliances, was comparatively rare in theperiod with which we are concerned. Quartersare numbered I to 4 thus: top left, top right, bottomleft, bottom righ t, as viewed. If the 4th quarter is arepeat of the l. t, and the 3rd a repeat of the 2nd,as in th arms of England circa 1400-1603, this isblazon d as Quarterly 1st and 4th France modern ;2nd and 3rd England.

The normal reading and writing rules ofworking from left to right and top to bottom applyin heraldry, so that per pale gules and or meansthe left ide i red, and per fess argent and azuremean the top halfis argent. Gyronny commenceswith the top left-hand segment and the number ofgyron i tated: Gyronny of 8, or and sable, thearms of the Campbcll family.

Ifa tincture i used more than once in a coat it isusual not to repeat its name but refer to it as 'of thefir t' or 'of the second', depending when it firstoccurred in the blazon. For example, in theLuterell arms the colour of martlets and bend isonly mentioned once: Azure, a bend between6 martlet or. This could equally be blazoned

zure, a bend or between 6 martlets of the second.When a charge is rcpcatcd the number of such

charges mu t be stated and their arrangementon the shield described. Thus nine roundels,3, 3, 3· It i not necessary to blazon six roundcls3,2, I, as this is the standard arrangement for sucha number of charges.

Correct punctuation is not vital and manyauthorities disagree over the way blazon shouldbe punctuated, but it helps to remember thatthere should always be a comma after each tinc­ture except where alternate colours are used, asin Barry of6, argent and azure (de Grey).

The natural colouring of animals, birds, plants,etc., is always referred to as 'proper', but if theyvary from their natural colours then the tincturesmu t be named. Birds and beasts having claws,beaks and teeth in a different tincture to that oftheir bodies arc blazoned Armed. If their tonguesprotrude they arc Langued. Animals such as the

bull and unicorn, which also have horns andhooves, are blazoned Armed and Hoofed, bu tstags and deer are Attired, not Armed. Birdswithout claws are blazoned Beaked and member­ed. There are many more such complications, butthe majority arose after the period with which wearc dealing, when arms had become complex andheraldry was mainly decorative.

TrickingThere is another method of describing a coat ofarms, found in Rolls of Arms dating back as far asthe mid-13th century. In this method the oat isdrawn in outline in ink and the various tincturesindicated by words or abbreviations of those words.Such a coat, known as tricked, is illustrated toindicate the simplicity of this method: Fig 50, thearms of Sir John Fortescue, circa 1394-1476.Neatness and accuracy are, of course, vital withthis method to prevent confusion.

SurcoatsAt the beginning of the 14th cen tury it was com­mon practice for knights to wear a surcoat overtheir armou~. On the front and back of this coatwould often be displayed their arms, thoughother heraldic devices might also be used: forexample, Edward II of England (13°7-27) worefour lions on his surcoat, while at Poi tiers SirJohn Chandos had the figure of Our Lady,dressed in blue, within a golden mandorla, em­broidered on his surcoat. Lord Jean de Clermont,one of the French marshals at the battle, bore thesame device on his surcoat.

At this date the surcoat was full length, reachingalmo t to the ankles, but sleeveless, and was splitat front and back almost to the waist to allow thematerial to hang freely when the wearer was in thesaddle. These gowns, typical examples of whichare illustrated by Figs 5f and 52, were gathered atthe waist by a belt 01' cord.

This full-length surcoat remained popularuntil about 1320-3°, when the front skirts werecut off at mid-thigh level, as in Fig 53. This edgewas sometimes straight, sometimes scalloped orembattled. Prior to this change, introduced forpractical reasons, the ends of the front skirts hadfrequently been tucked through the belt to loopthem up and so allow greater freedom of move-

ment when on foot. Some examples of sureoats atabout this date appear to have had the skirts cutback at an angle, as in Fig 54. The rear skirts werecutofTin about 1340-5°, reducing the length heretolevcl with the back of the knees. This shortenedrer ion is referred to as the eyclas coat, and anexample occurs on the effigy of Henry, Duke ofLancaster, dated 1347, on the Hastings brass atEI yng in Norfolk: Fig 55.

orne time between 1350 and 1360 the shortenedurcoat or eyclas began to be replaced by the

jupon, another hip-length garment but muchmore close-fitting and often of leather, or ofpadded or qui Ited fabric, to provide extra protec­tion for the wearer in battle or tournament. Itslower edge was usually scalloped or fringed. Thejupon was also sleeveless, laced up at the sides, andin England almost invariably bore the arms of thewearer on front and back. In Europe the wearer'sarms did not normally appear on the jupon. Anumber of jupons are illustrated in the colourplate.

That the long form of sureoat had continued tobe worn alongside the cyclas and jupon is illus­trated by the fact that as late as 1370 the now

elderly Sir John Chandos, whilst attempting todismount to fight on foot, caught his spur in theskirts of his surcoat and was slain whilst thusrendered helpless. This event, and perhaps otherslike it, did more to end the wearing of the longsurcoat than the fashion for the jupon. From thisdate no more examples of the surcoat appear inthe sources consu Ited.

The jupon was in turn discarded about 1425,although isolated examples continue to occur aslate as the end of that century, and for some con­siderable time armour was as a general rule un­covered. Some knights had their heraldic devicesengraved and gilded on their plate armour, butthis was a comparatively rare occurrence, govern­ed by the cost of producing such armour.

The tabard, a short, loose-fitting garment,open at the sides and with broad, short sleeves,had been worn in isolated examples from about1425, and coat" of arms continued to be em­broidered on these and on cloaks, but both thesegarments were more for parades and tournamentsthan warfare. The tabard became more popularat the end of the century and remained in generalusc until the middle of the 16th century, when itwent out offashion. The tabard has survived in theform of the herald's coat, embroidered withheraldic devices on front, back and sleeves.Examples of the tabard occur in the colour plates.

AilettesAilettes (little wings) were small pieces of leatheror sometimes parchment, usually rectangular orsquare but occasionally round. diamond- or evencross-shaped, which were laced to the point ofeach shoulder so as to stand upright above theshoulders. Some sources state that they weredesigned to prevent a sword cut to the side of theneck, but many of the examples studied weremuch too flimsy for this, and they are more likelyto have been purely heraldic or ornamental,serving as extra identification 'panels' to identifythe wearer from the sides. As such they weresuperfluous, since the curved shield and the crestalready fulfilled this role, and the ailette wasprobably more of an affected fashion than any­thing else.

Ailettes first appear about 1270, and it is knownthat leather ailettes were used at a tournamen t

(40) WilliaDl de Fortz: argent, a chief gules. (41) Walter deColville: or, a fess gules. (42) Hugh de Grentmesnil: gules, apale or. (43) Gorrevod: azure, a chevron or. (44) Guillaume deTrie: or, a bend azure. (45) Neville, Earls ofWarwick, also ofthe Van Eyck, Van Jutphaas, Borgharts, Oultre and otherLow Country families: gules, a saltire argent. (46) Teixeiraand Oluja: azure, a cross argent. (47) Sir John Chandos:argent, a pile gules. (48) BertraDl de CrioU: or, a canton andtwo chevrons gules. (49) Henry de Grey: barry of six, argentand azure.

held in Windsor Park in 1'278. This surely indicatestheir true role. During the first quarter of the 14thcentury ailettes appear to have reached the peakof their popularity and many examples of thembeing worn may be seen on monuments and indocuments. However, by about 1340 they seemto have declined in popularity and they do notappear much after 1350.

Ifa man's shield bore, say, six cinquefoils, thenone cinquefoil might be painted on each ailette,but this was not always the case and in the LuterellPsalter (circa 1340) Sir Geoffrey Luterell is por­trayed bearing his full coat of arms on his ailettes :see photograph elsewhere in this book.

The LiveryflndMaintenance System

At the end of the Hundred Years War with France(1337-1453) large numbers of professional sol­diers returned to England. Many of these menwere organized into private armies by the greatbaron, and to these armies flocked many of theyeomen and lesser gentry who needed the protec­tion of the barons against the injustices commonat that time of unrest. These yeomen and gentryentered into a contract known as Livery andMaintenance, whereby they undertook to wear

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the baron's livery, i.e. a tunic in his livery coloursand bearing his badge, and fight for him in timeof need, while in return they would receive hisprotection whenever they needed it.

By 1453 the administration ofjustice had largelycollapsed and the barons were settling theirquarrels by direct action-private wars-againsteach other, while the rivalry between the HousesofYork and Lancaster led to the Wars of the Roses(1455-85). The armies of these wars were formedmostly from the private armies of the great barons,the Livery and Maintenance men, and contracttroops, that is troop~ raised for the Crown bycontract with the king's nobles, usually a setnumber of men for a year's service and at anagreed wage.

BadgesThe fashion for badges rose to its zenith with theselarge private armies of the 15th century, butbadges had been used to a lesser degree in theprevious century, and by royalty and a few greatlords since the earliest days of heraldry. However,the badge may be said to have come into generaluse in the reign of Edward III, risen to its greatest

The seal of the great BeauchalYlp family, Earls of Warwick,showing shield, surcoat and trapper all bearing the falYlilyarms (Gules, a fess between six cross crosslets or) and thedistinctive swan's head crest.

importance in the 15th century, and gone out ofuse in the reign of Henry VIII.

These badges were never of any fixed form, norwas there any fixed manner of usage, as withcoats of arms. Also, unlike arms, they were neverworn by the owner; rather they were his mark ofownership, and were therefore stamped on hisbelongings and worn as a sign of allegiance by hisservant, dependants and retainers, who had noarms of their own and no righ t to bear the arms oftheir lord. Ifa lord was powerful enough to lead aparty in the State, then adherents of his partymight also wear his badge, and colours. (This isthe origin of modern political party colours.)

uch badges were generally but not always dif­ferent to the charges borne on the lord's coat ofarms.

Badges were originall y gran ted by the sovereignonly to those heads of great families who couldfield a large force of men. Such great lords nor­mally had the right to bear a standard granted bythe king at the same time, for the badge was usedon the livery colours to form a standard. At thebattle of Bannockburn in 1314, for example,Thomas, Lor I Berkeley, had 200 retai ners and wasentitled to usc a badge to distinguish them.Anthony Bek, Bishop of Durham, raised 80 menfor the siege of Cacrlaverock castle in 1300 and

his banner is blazoned on the Caerlaverock Roll.Lord Talbot raised 1,800 men from the Shrop­shire hills for the expedition against Harfleur andthe battle of Agincourt; and Edward, Duke ofYork and Aumerle, cousi n to Henry V, raisedno less than 4,000 men for the same expeditionfrom the great Yorkist holdings ofthe Plan tagenets.

However, by the 15th century the badge hadrisen to such popularity and was so necessary forthe identification of troops in battle, that all com­manders, no matter how small their following,began to adopt badges. Thus in the late 15thcentury Sir John Ferrers, who had a retinue ofonly two lances (one of whom was himself) andfifteen archers, had his own badge.

Because these badges were widely displayed onproperty, flags and liveries, they were far morewidely known amongst the common peoplethan the coats of arms of the lords, which wereonly displayed on a lord's person, his lance pennonand banner. In battle a lord's retainers andfollowers wore his badge on thei r clothes andrallied round a standard beari ng that same badge,and consequently, unlike heraldry, the badgewas a method of identification which was rec­ognized and understood by the masses.

The badge is variously described as being wornon the sleeve or shoulder, but by the time of theWars of the Roses it was more frequently wornon the breast.

After the Wars of the Roses a new class ofnoblesrose from the lower ranks to replace the greatnumber of nobles killed in the wars. At the sametime heraldry appears to have begun its decline,and almost all badges were transformed intocrests. By the time of Henry VIII the crest and thebadge had come to be regarded as synonymous.The decline in importance of the badge is, ofcourse, directly linked to the creation of the stand­ing army, which was begun in the reign of HenryVIII, for with the creation of this army the prin­cipal use of the badge on the livery of retainersas a distinguishing mark of allegiance came toan end.

Possibly the oldest badge is that of Geoffrey ofAnjou, father of Henry II, who used the broom­plant or planta genista the origin of the namePlantagenet. The rose came to English royalheraldry via Eleanor of Provence, queen of

Henry Ill, and was chosen as a badge by theirheir, Edward I, who used a golden rose. Hisbrother Edmund Crouch back, Earl of Lancaster,had a red rose and this became the badge of theEarl and Dukes of Lancaster, and of the threekings of that house Henry IV, Henry V andHenry VI. It was also the badge of the Beaufortfamily, descendants of the illegitimate son ofJohn ofCaunt, Duke ofLancaster. When Richard,Duke of York, claimed the throne in 1460 hechose a white rose as his badge, and this becamethe badge of his son, Ed ward IV, and of theYorkist forces. Edward IV in fact placed thewhite rose on a sun, another Yorkist badge, and itwas the confusion between this badge and thesilver star of de Vere, Earl of Oxford, which costthe Lancastrians the baltle of Barnet in 1471, anexample of the importance of distinctive badgesat that ti me.

Edward TTl had as a badge a sun bursting

through clouds, Fig 56, and Richard II used boththe planta genista and the sun burst, and added apersonal badge ofa white hart, Fig 57. Edward IIIalso used an ostrich feather as a badge, Fig 58,which was probably derived from the arms ofhis wife, Philippa of Hainault. One or moreostrich feathers were used as badges by all ofEdward's son, but notably by the Black Prince,who had three white feathers; and it was probablythe use of this badge on a black shield and ofa blacksureoat to match which gave rise to the nameBlack Prince. From this sprang the famous Princeof Wales badge of three feathers encircled by acoronet, used by the Heir Apparent since Tudortimes. Henry V used as badges the antelope,

A miniature of Sir Geoffrey Luterell taken from the LuterellPsalter, written around 1340, illustrating the placing ofcharges on the right side of the trapper. Compare trapper,ailette, horse crest, helmet crest and pennon with the shieldand saddle arc;ons, where the martlets all face the dexter andthe bend is not sinister.

Tudor badges on the gates of Henry VII's chapel in West­minster Abbey, including the crowned portcullis ofthe Beau­forts; entwined white and red roses of the Houses of Yorkand Lancaster; crowned marguerites for Henry's mother(Lady Margaret Beaufort); and the falcon and fetterlock ofthe House of York; all interspersed with the 8eurs-de-lys ofFrance and lions of England.

Fi~lt 59, and the swan, Fig 6/, which were derivedfrom his mother's family the Bohuns, apd a cressetor beacon, Fig 60.

Royal badge became numerous under theTudors but rarely occur after that period (1485­1603). Henry Tudor's badges included the redrose of Lancaster and the Beaufort portcullis, Fig62. The Beau forts were excluded from the royalsuccession but, after his victory at Bosworth Field,Henry had the ban lifted by an Act of Parliamentand the portcullis crowncd became one of hisbadges as Henry VII. He also united the red andwhite rose' into the Tudor rose when he marriedElizabeth of York. The Tudor rose is found in twodistinct forms; a rose divided vertically or, morecommonly, a double rose with the outer petalsred and the inner ones white, or vice versa.

No official records of the badges used by theking's subjects were kept until late in the reign ofHenry Vlll, by which time their use was rapidlydeclining, and therefore it is not possible tocompilea complete list. Our only sources for the earlier

badges are therefore standards and guidons, ormonumental work in places such as WestminsterAbbey. The bear and ragged staff of the Earls ofWarwick, and the swan of the Earls and Dukes ofBuckingham, will be familiar to many readers,but it is hoped the illustrations of badges accom­panying this section will provide examples whichare new to some. Figs 62-73 are taken from abroadsheet published in 1449, Figs 74-79 from amanuscript of the reign of Edward IV (1461-83).

Badges occurred in European countries, al­though their use never became so widespread orso important as in England, and therefore a smallselection of the more famous badges ofFrance andItaly has been included; Figs 80-85.

Because they were not bound by the rules ofheraldry, badges were not truly hereditary, al­though there are a number of well-known casesof the same badge being used by generation aftergeneration. In these cases it is believed that marksof cadency were used to distinguish between thebadgesoffather and sons. For example, HumphreyTalbot, son of John Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury(whose badge is shown in Fig 69) had as a badge atalbot or hound with a mullet on its shoulder.DifTerencing by tincture, as with the roses ofEdward I and his brother Edmund, may havebeen another method of denoting cadency. Sonsalso occasionally adopted a slightly differentform of their father's badge. Other examples ofdifferencing by cadency marks and other meansmay be found in the list of liveries and badgesbelow.

LiveriesLiveries werc the forerunners ofmilitary uniforms,and the term livery means those distinguishingmarks on the dress of individuals which markedthem out as servants, retainers or followers ofcertain knights. In addition to this distinctivemark, the tunics of these men were usually of a

(56) Edward III: a golden sun bursting through white (shaded)cloud. (57) Richard II: white hart with gold chain and crown.(58) Edward III: white feather with gold quill and rear facesof scroll. (59) Henry V: white antelope with gold crown andchain. (60) Henry V: beacon with red flames. (61) Henry V:white swan with gold crown and chain. (62) Henry VII: port­cullis. (63) John, Duke of Bedford: golden tree stump. (64)Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester: white duck with gold crownand chains. (65) de la Pole, Dukes of Suffolk: white bollardwith gold strap and ring. (66) Mowbray, Dukes of Norfolk:a lion. (67) Holland, Dukes of Exeter: a beacon on a mound.

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di tinctivc or uniform colour or colours. Some­times these tunics were of the principal tincture ortincture of the arms of the leader, but liverycolour. were not necessarily derived from coats ofarm: retainers of the house of Percy, for example,wore three stripes ofru set, or and tenne with theblue lion rampant of the family arms on theirhoulders a a badge. However, where the arms

did provide the colour, the tincture of the fieldnormally determined the colour of the tunic, andthat of the principal charge on the field deter­min d the colour of the edging and sometimes,on the more elaborate tunics, the lining.

om' modern writers believe that where twotinctures are listed as the colours, then the liverywa divided per pale, half the coat being in eachcolour. There i no contemporary confirmationof this theory: in fact, in contemporary manu­script listing colours, the liveries are frequentlyde cribed as being of one colour and embroideredin the second, or divided into four stripes. Pre­sumably tunic were only per pale, or indeedquartered, if the lord so wished it, and particularlyif the field of his arms was th us divided.

The liveries of the English sovereigns during themedieval period were as follows:The Plan/agene/ kings: Henry 11, Richard I,John,Henry III, Edward I, and Edward 11 whiteand red. Edward III blue and red. RichardII white and green.The Lancas/riall kings: Henry IV, V and VI­white and blue.The Yorkis/ kings: Edward IV and Richard IIT­blue and murrey.The Tudor kings: Henry VIT and Vl11-whiteand green.

A select list of liveries and badge worn byretainers of knights during the '300-1550 periodis gi\'Cn below. Names are listed under title, notfamily name; i.e. Shrewsbury, Earl of, not Talbot.:-'lany of the knights listed had more than onebadge: for space reasons only their first badgehas been given:

Abtrgavenny, Lord of (Geo. Neville): Vt & Arg. A doublestaple interlaced, Arg & or.Arundel, Earl of (Thos. FitzAlan): Az & G. A branch of oakvert, fructed or.Audley, Sir John: Or & guo A moor's head in profile propcr,filleted round the temples, charged with a crcscent for dif­ference.

Bemers, Lord (Bourchier): Or & vt. The Bourchier knot.Brown, Sir We tyn: Gu. A lion's gamb erect and erasedargent, winged sable.Buckingham, Duke of (Edward Stafford): Gu & s. Staffordknot.Carew, Sir William, of Devon: Four stripes s & or. A falconcollared and jesscd gules, bells on neck and legs or.Cholmondeley, Sir Richard: Gu. A helmet per pale or andargent, chargcd with five torteaux.Clifford, Sir Henry: Argent. A wyvern's wings endorsed gules.Constable, Sir Marmaduke, of Everingham, Yorks: Gules.Ancient three-masted ship headed with a dragon's head andsailed furled or, charged with a crescent sable.Conyers, Lord of, Co. Durham: Arg. A lion passant azure.C01'llewall, Sir Thos.: Arg. A lion passant gules, ducallycrowned and seme of bczants.Curzon, Lord (Robcrt): Or & gu. A wolf's head crascd gules.Darcy, Thomas, Lord: Vt. An heraldic tiger argent.Dorset, Marquess of (Thos. Grey): Arg. & pink. A unicornermine, armed, unguled, maned and tufted or.Ferrel'S, Lord: Arg. & guo A grcyhound courant argcnt,ducally gorged or.Ferrel'S, Sir Edward: Vt. A unicorn courant ermine, chargedon the shoulder with a crcscent sable.FitzUryan, Sir Rees ap Thomas: Arg. A raven sable standingon a turf vert.FitzUryan, Sir Griffith ap Rees: Gu & az. A quatrefoil slippedargent, leavcd vert, charged with a raven sable.Foljambe, Sir Godfrey, of Walton, Derby: Four stripes gu. &argo A Chatloupc passant quarterly or and sable, armed or.Grey, Lord, of Cod nor: Az & argo A badger and crown argentand or.Guljord, Sir Henry: Arg & s. A ragged staff inflamed, chargedwith a mullet sable.Guljord, Master: Four stripes wavy az & argo A ragged staffinflamed at top and sides all proper.Hastings, Lord: Purp & az. A bull's head erased sable, ducallygorged and armed.Howth, Lord (The Lord Howth ofIrland): Fourstripes arg &gu. A wolf statant of a dark tawny, with fins along back andbelly and upon hind legs 'of a water colour'.Kent, Earl of (William Neville, Lord Fauconberg): Arg & az.A fish-hook.Kent, Earl of (Geo. Grey): Gu. In /475 a black ragged staff.Kirkham, Sir John, of Blakedon, Devon: Gu. A lion's headerased argent.Lancaster, Duke of (Henry): Arg & az. A red rose crowned.Leicester, Earl of (Robert Dudley): Or & az. A ragged staffargent.Mas~ngberd,Sir Thos. of Gunby, Lincs: Four stripes gu & or.Two arrows in saltire argent.Norfolk, Duke of (John Mowbray): Az & tawny. A white lion.Norfolk, Duke of (Thos. Howard): Arg & gu. A silver sallet.Northumberland, Earl of (Henry Percy): Three stripes russet,or and tawny. A blue lion passant.Northumberland, Duke of (John Dudley): Sable with argentand gules embroidery. A bear argent, muzzled gules, collarand chain or, supporting a ragged staff of the first.Norton, Sir John: Gu. A greyhound's head erased in front oftwo wings erect all or.Paston, Sir William, of Paston, Norfolk: Gu. A circular chainor.Pierpoint, Sir William: Four stripes purp. & argo A lion passantsable grasping in dexter paw a cinquefoil or.

Ray"sforth, Sir John: Four stripes or & guo A greyhound cour­ant ru et, plain collared or.RIchmond & Somerset, Duke of (Henry Fitzroy, natural son ofHenry VIII): Three stripes arg, az & or. A lion passantguardant, ducally gorged and chained.Roos, Lord (Geo. Manners): Az & or. A bull's head erasedgules, armed, ducally gorged and chained or.&rope, The Lord: Arg. A Cornish chough.tymour, Sir John: Gu. A leopard's head or.hrewsbury, Earl ofUohn Talbot): Gu & S. A talbot dog argent.merset, Duke of Uohn Beaufort): Bendy gu, vt & argo Antrich feather erect argent, the quill componi' argent and

azure.omerset, Duke of (Edward Seymour): Or & guo A phoenix.lourton, Lord of, in Wiltshire: Arg & s. A gold sledge.uffolk, Duke of (William de la Pole): Az & or. A bollard

argent with chain or.Tyler, Sir William: Four tripes arg & az. A crescent, andi uant therefrom a cross patel" fitche gules.I'aughan, ir Hugh, of Lytylton: Four stripes or & vt. A fish­head erased and erect or, 'ingullant' of a spear's head argent.Vernon, Sir Henry: Arg & or. A fret sable.Warwick, Earl of Salisbury and (Richard Nevill): Gu (1458).White ragged starr.Willoughby, Lord: Arg & guo A moor's head full faced, thetongue hanging out.Willshire: Earl of (Henry): S & guo A Stafford knot chargedwith a crescen t gu les for d irrerence.

ouche, John, son and heir of Lord Zouche: S & purp. On thebranch of a tree or, sprouting vert, an eagle rising argent,gorged with a label of three points.~ouche,John,of Cod nor: Gu & vt. On the stump ofa tree or,branching vert, a falcon, wings elevated argent, charged onthe breast with a crescent gules. (Also the badger and crownar ent and or of I.ord Grey of Codnor.)

The War or the Roses virtually extinguished theLivery and Maintenance system the greaterpart of the baronage was dead and the wholecountry was sick or war-and under the strongrule or Henry Tudor (14851509) such privatearmies were at last made illegal. Nevertheless they tem orraising an army in time orneed by calling

on nobles to supply men was retained, and sothererore were many or the individual liveries orth se lords. Under this ontract system, nobleswere obliged to supply men by the hundred,depending on their status: gentlemen or ordinaryknights had to supply two men, and a squireone man.

As early as 1345 Parliament had enacted thattroop rai cd for the French wars were to bedressed in a unirorm manner, and cleven yearslater, at the battlc or Poi tiers, the army or theBlack Prince did in ract wear a uniform of /-i;l'('cnand white the livery colours adopted by thenext king (Richard il) and subsequently used byHenry VII and Henry VIII. By the late 14th

century the red cross or St George on a whitebackground, first adopted for the crusades, wasthe recognized badge of the English soldier, wornei ther as a coat or as a disti nctive part ofa coat, andby the time of Agincourt Henry V had ordainedthat 'every man, of what estate or condition, thatbe of our partie, beare a bande of Seinte Georgesufficient large' upon his clothes (on the chest andback). Nobles, bannerets and knights also woretheir jupons bearing the ramily arms, and thereare many references to them putting these on atthe king's or other leaders' commandjust before abattlc was joined, and taking them off im­mediately arter the battle. Some form of'uniform'was obviously desirable in the battles now beingfought.

By 150 I the 300-strong Yeomen of the Guard(archers of the King's Bodyguard, formed in1485 by Henry Tudor) were dressed in the TudorIi very colours of whi te and green in vertical stri pe ,embroidered on chest and back with a red rosewithin a vine wreath. This coat would have beenthe ordinary horseman's coat of the period,probably sleeveless and close fitting but with awide skirt. Under Henry VIII (1509-47) theseYeomen still wore white and green for the 1514campaign in France, but arc shown to have wornat the Field of the Cloth ofGold in 1520 a red tunicwith black bars at the edges and on the arms,with the rose surmounted by a crown in gold onchest and back. Hose and doublets were white.(The Field of the Cloth of Gold painting wasfinished circa 1538 and in fact the Tudor roseremained uncrowned un till 527 or possi bly later.)Red gradually replaced the white and green asdress uniform ror ceremonial occasions, but thewhite and green tunics persisted for everyday uscuntil about 1530.

Similarly the various companies of the Englisharmy of the 16th century and the shire and citylevies (or trained bands) now wore some form of'uniform', basicallystill theirlord's (or captain'soften the same thing) livery colours and badge.Thus in 1554 the men of the Earl of Pembrokewore blue coats with a green dragon badge; themen-at-arms of the Marquess of Winchester hadembroidered coats of red and white in about1570; while those of the Earl ofSuffolk in 1597 had.blue coats faced with sea-green taffeta, with

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feathers of the same colours and 'many chains ofgold'. Even in the early 17th century such liveryuniform persisted: in 1603 the men of the Earl of. orwich wore blue livery coats with white doub­let, hats and feathers, and those of the Earl of\Tottingham in 1605 had cloaks of orange-tawny,edged with silver and blue lace. This earl's trum­peters wore orange damask clothing, with cloaksof the same colour.

In the trained bands some attempt was alsomade to wear a distinguishing dress in battle. In1513 the men of Canterbury wore the chough,from the city's coat of arms, on their chest andback. Tn 152'2 the men of Shrewsbury were issuedwith coats bearing leopards' heads. The soldiersraised by the City of London in 1539 had whitecoats beari ng the arms of the ci ty on fron t andback, and in 154-2 the cavalry raised by Coventryhad an elephant badge on their coats. The men ofNorwich in 154-3 wore a blue coat edged anddecorated with red and, for the first time onrecord, their hose was also regulated: all red forthe right leg, blue with a broad red stripe for theleft leg.

In 154-4- Henry V III is portrayed landi ng inFrance wearing over his armour a tunic of whiteand gold with a red cross in the centre, and ap­parently the traditional red cross ofSt George on awhite background was now usually worn togetherwith the company's badge, either with the badgeet somewhere on a white tunic bearing the red

eros, or the red cross on a white background setonpart of'the company's coat. However, in 1556 themen of Reading were still wearing blue coats withred crosses, their hose being in various colours, sotrue 'national' uniform docs not appear to havebeen adopted at this date. In fact, although allmen of each county now wore one distinctivelivery, the various counties were still dressed indifferent 'uniforms', and some of the countieseven went so far as to vary that 'uniform' fromyear to year.

Red and blue were the predominant colours ofthese county li\"Cries red was also a usual colour

(68) de Vere, Earls ofOxford. (69) Talbot, Earls ofShrewsbury.(70) Neville, Earls ofWarwick. (71) FitzAlan, Earls ofArundel.(72) Courtenay, Earls of Devon. (73) Richard, Duke of York:a golden fetterlock. (74) Scales, Earl Rivers. (75) Earls ofDouglas. (76) Lord Scrope of Bolton. (77) Lord Grey ofCodnor.(78) Sir Ralph Hastings. (79) Sir John Astley.

for English military headgear in the 16th centuryand these two colours remained the most

popular in the latter halfofthe century.All these examples illustrate early attempts to

identify troops in battle by means of uniform dress.However, at this stage only the tunic or livery wasnormally affected; hats and hose of various hueswere worn by men within the same companies,and there was not yet any such thing as a universaluniform or a national colour for coats.

CrestsSome forms ofhelmet crest seem to have come intouse towards the end of the I '2th century and be­ginning of the 13th century, but it is not until thebeginning of the 14th century that heraldic crestsbegan to come into general usc and take on athree-dimensional form. From this date on crestsarc often referred to as 'true' crests, in that they arcfree-standing, three-dimensional constructions.

These 'true' crests were rather splendid, oftenfantastic objects, made of a fairly lightweightmaterial such as moulded leather, parch men t,whalebone, beaten copper sheet, plumes andfeathers, canvas stretched over a wicker frame,thin wood, or papier mache. Leather was probablythe most prevalent, in the form of cuir bouiLLi, thatis leather soaked in hot wax and ben t to shapewhile still hot. This had the advantages of beinglight yet strong, and could be shaped easily. (Cuirbouilli was also used to cover shields, with heraldiccharges embossed upon it, and for making a formof body and horse armour.)

The feathers of cockerels, swans and peacockswere also used extensively. They were usuallyarranged as a panache, particularly in the earliercrests, thatis risingin tiers to a point, asin the crestsof Edmund Mortimer (1372), Fig 86, Sir EdwardThorpe (14-18), Fig 87, and John, Lord Scrope,Fig 88; or as a plume, in which only one or twotiers were employed, as in the crest of the Earl ofHereford in 130 I, Fig 89. The panache sometimesspread ou twards instead of rising to a poi n t, as inthe crest of Sir Simon de Felbrigge, Fig 90, andthat of John, King of Bohemia, Fig 91. On oc­casions kathers were also dis pIayed ina cI uster,as in the brass to Sir Thomas de St Quintin (14.20),

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(80) The ermine of the Dukes of Brittany. (81) The porcupineof the House of Orleans. (82) The winged hart of the House ofBourbon. (83) The salal1lander of the House of Angoulel1le.(8'll The serpent and child of the Dukes of Milan. (85) Theknot of the House of Savoy.

Fig 92. The kathers were occasionally colouredin the principal tinctures of the arms, as in thecrest of the Comtc de amur, Fig 93, (irw 1295,whose arms were Or, a lion rampant sable, armed,crowned and langued gules, overall a bend gules.

Horns were another popular form of crest inGermany and to a lesser extent in England:Figs 94 and 95 show two German examples,Fig 96 the crest of Si r Joh n Plessis ( [3 th cen tury).I n the earlier crests these horns were simplycurved and pointed in their natural form butin the later, more elaborate crests they arc some­times recurved (as Fig 95) and have an openinginto which arc sometimes inserted tufts or plumesofrcathers. The e horns arc usually painted in thetinctures of the shield.

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The human figure is another favourite crest inGerman heraldry, usually shown half-length andsometimes with the arms replaced by horns, as inFig 97, the crest of the Count of Mont beliard. Thehat is ano~her common crest in German heraldry,Fig 98, the crest of the 14th-century knight,Casteln.

The heads of heraldic beasts such as lions,boars, hounds, and of heraldic birds such aseagles, swans and cockerels, accounted for manyof the other crests. In some cases these consisted ofa repetition of a charge in the wearer's arms, butoften the charges in arms did not lend themselvesto usc in crests, and consequently it became

The bronze effigy of Georg Truchsess von Waldburg (died146,) in St Peter's Church, Bad Waldsee in Wurttel1lberg,showing a crest of green peacock's feathers in a panache anda second crest of a fir tree, as well as his banner and shield,bearing his arl1lS, Or, three lions sable. The arl1lS of theprinces zu Waldburg had originally been Azure, three pinecones or, and this is probably the origin of the second crest.

common practice for many knights to use a crestwhich was in no way linked with their arms.

part from Richard I, who is shown wearing afan-shaped cre t on his Great Seal of 1194, noEnglish monarch wore a crest until Edward III,who wore a lion on a chapeau, Fig 99. He also hada 'per onal' crest ofan eagle. The crest ofHenry Vin Westminster bbey is an uncrowned lion on achapeau, Fig 100, the lion being passant: that ofRichard II is an uncrowned lion, passant guard­ant, Fig 101. II other English kings have used acrowned Iion, passan t guardan t, as in Fig 99. InTudor times a crown was substituted for thechapeau, and this has been the English royalcrest ever since. II other members of the royalfamily in England also bore a lion crest, with thesingle exception of Thomas, Earl of Lancaster,who wore a wyvern, Fig 102, circa 1347. This,combined with Edward HI's personal crest, isinteresting in that amongst English chivalry inparticular it is known that the crest was con­sidered a personal rather than a hereditary device,and was therefore subject to change, differentmembers of the same family normally using dif­ferent cre ts.

Crests were worn primarily at the tournament,or other pageants and parades, and by the 14.thcentury were not designed for the battlefield. It isbelieved that by this date the 'true' crest may havebeen a mark of special dignity, possibly onlyawarded to persons of' rank and entitling them totake part in tournaments. Certainly in the 15thcen tury the u. e ofcrests was al most en ti rely linkedto tournaments, and as the armour and equip­ment had by this date become so elaborate andcostly, onl y the weal th y could afford to partici pate.The jousting score-sheets kept by the Englishheralds of the time confirm this, the names oi"thesame men recurring time after ti me. This si tuationhad probably existed since the late 14th century.The elaborate and Oamboyant crests worn byknights for the tournament were thereforeheraldic status symbols which indicated boththat the wearer was of tournament rank and thathe could afTord to I articipate! This explains whyso f'cw of the Ics er gentry in England had crestsbefore 1530, and it i mai nly as crests that the morefabulous and chimerical creatures of heraldryappear.

In Germany and the Low Countries crests wereregarded by the heralds as being of great impor­tance from an early date (certainly by the early13th century) and the crests used in these countriesin the 14th and 15th centuries were also directlylinked to the tournament and were often extremelytall and fanci ful as a resul t. See Figs 95, 103 and104; 103 being the crest of the lord of Baden­weiler in Baden, and 104 of the knight Aeschach.

Crests were seldom used in France, Italy,Spain and Portugal, and in Spain especiallyexamples of crests arc almost unknown evenamongst the greatest families. A rare example ofan Italian crest is given in Fig 105, that ofMastino11 (died (351) of the della Scala family, from thetomb in Verona. Examples of French crests arealso rare, and those which do survive usuallybelong to the highest in the land, for exampleFig 106, crest of the King of France in the 14thcentury; Fig 107, that of the Duc de Bourgognecirca 1295; Fig 108, that of Philip IV, King ofFrance 1285-1314; and Fig 109, the crest ofBertrand du Guesclin. (See also Fig 93, the crestof the Comte de Namur circa 1295.)

In Poland all nobles wore the same type ofcresl,three ostrich feathers, irrespective offamily arms.

The ScarfThe scarf or conloise was a piece of cloth, possiblyoriginating from a lady's favour or in imitationof the turban, which presumably had somepractical purpose, such as protection from theweather, although it is hard to see exactly what itsvalue would have been. Illustrations of the scarfshow it to have been of various lengths (see Figs94 and 102), sometimes reaching only to theneck, other times capable of reaching halfwaydown the back. In some examples it is fastened tothe top of the hel met, in others it emerges frombeneath the edge at the rear of the helmet.

Although the scarfis believed to have originatedduri ng the crusades period, it does not appearfrequently in illustrations until the early 14thcentury, and it was replaced soon after this date bythe wreath and mantli ng descri bed over.

See body of text for identifications; note details: (86) Bluefeathers. (87) Peacock's feathers. (93) A seme ofgold hearts onthe mantling. (96) Peacock's feathers. (97) Gold hair, crownand 'horns', with red gown as mantling.

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A horse armour, known as the Burgundian bard, probablyFlemish, circa 1510. This bard is heavily embossed with theemblems of the Order of the Golden Fleece and reflects the

The WreathThe wreath developed li'om thescarfand appearedby the mid-14th century. Unlike the scarf, whichhad served a u. eful purpose, the wreath waspurely ornamental. It was made of two skeins ofsilk or other material, in the tinctures of the fieldand principal charge of the wearer's arms, twistedtogether to form a ring. The crest was laced orbolted to the helmet and the wreath was attachedto the base of the crest to conceal this joint. Ex­amples of the wreath appear in Figs 107 and 109.

A cap or chapeau, an ancient cap of dignityworn by dukes and made of scarlet fur with p­

turn-up of ermine, was worn instead of a wreathby the high ranking nobles. It is illustrated in thecrests of the ki ngs 01" England, Figs 99, 100 and

extravagant fashion of having coats of arms engraved andgilded on arlDOur after jupons had gone out of fashion.

101. After the reign of Edward III a coronet wasworn by dukes, princes and the king.

In a few examples a wreath is used as a 'crest',or crest-wreath, as Fig 110, that of Lord Wil­loughby d'Eresby, 14.09. See also the cluster offeathers held by a brooch on the helmet of SirThomas de St Quintin, Fig 92.

MantlingThe mantling was merely a larger version of thescarf, originally designed to protect the helmetand its wearer from the elements. It was mainlya form of decoration, however, and was probablyonly used for the tournament. The mantling wasin the principal colour of the wearer's arms, itsunderside the colour of the principal metal or fur.

It was sometimes decorated with charges from thearms, or the wearer's badge. For example, JohnD' ubynge, circa 1345, had a seme of mullets onhis mantling (Fig 111) ; George, Duke of Clarence,a seme of the white roses ofYork ; Henry Bourchier,Earl of Essex (died 1485), billety, with the lininghaving a semc of water budgets. I n some cases thematerial of the crest, especially if that materialwas a textile or feathers, was continued down­wards to form the mantling, as in the crests of theGerman knights Badenweiler (Fig 103), Chur(Fig 112), Hevtler (Fig 113), and in Sir Simon deFelbrigge's ermine panache (Fig 90). The blackboar's head crest of Sir Ralph Basset (Fig I 14)also continues into a sable mantling.

Horse TrappersWhile all horse trappers, or caparisons, are dividedinto two halves which meet at the saddle, theydiffer in the forward half, some completely cover­ing the horse's head, others ending behind itsears, ancl still others end ing a tth e shou Iders to leaveneck and head free. Tn the early examples thetrappers arc of cloth, full and loose, and reachto the fetlocks: some of these have a dagged edge,though this is not common.

By the mid- 15th century the trapper had begunto be inA uenced by the general increase in the useof plate armour, but because the cost and weightof such armour was prohibitive, leather armourwas commonly used for horses. This was paintedwith the rider's arms in the same way as the nowpurely ornamental cloth trapper. The great lordswho did usc plate on their horses for the tourna­ment covered these bards with richly embroideredcloth trappers, secured in place by laces.

The basic colour of a caparison was normallythe principal tincture of the rider's arms, with theprincipal charge or charges repeated on each sideof each half of the trapper. Livery colours wereometimes used instead of the tinctures of the

and green velvet, embroidercd with golden swanshad no connection at all with the rider's armsparticularly in Germany. It is interesting to notein this context that when the Duke of Hereford(later Henry IV), rode to fight a duel (a duelstopped by Richard IT) with the Duke of Norfolk

near Coventry, his horse wore a trapper of blueand green velvet, embroidered with golden swansand antelopes, and that when Henry V's bodywas returned to England after his death in France,the horses conveying the body wore trappers ofblue and green velvet, embroidered with ante­lopes.

The actual designs on trappers needs a littleclarification. A knight bearing, for example,Gules, three water budgets argen t (the arms ofWilliam, Lord Ros, temp. Edward I) wouldprobably have a red trapper with three whitewater budgets on each side of the rear half, andthree more water budgets on each side of the fronthalf. However, he might choose to use only onewater budget on each sideofeach half, or to employhis entire coat of arms on a shield as a device, thatshield being perhaps repeated three times on eachside of each half of the trapper, or as a single de­vice on each side of each half.

There is also the problem ofwhich side is dexter,which sinister, when applied to the two sides of ahorse. From the examples studied it would seemthat the horse's head was regarded as being on thedexter side; and therefore on the left-hand side,or shielded side as we view it, the trapper bore thearms exactly as they appeared on the shield. Onthe other side of the trapper, the charges of thecoat of arms were reversed, so that they still facedtowards the horse's head. A study of the photo­graph of Sir Geoffrey Luterell mounted, onpage 21, should make this point clear, for inthis example the right-hand side of the horse isshown and Sir Geoffrey's trapper, crest andailettes all bear the charges of his arms reversed.

TheP/atesA: German knight (minnesanger), early J 4th centuryThis figure is taken from the famous ManesseCodex at Heidelberg, compiled at the beginningof the 14th century. The minnesanger was theapproximate equivalent of the French troubadourand usually came from the lower nobility. In thisexample he and his horse are decked in the fullpanoply of a medieval knight: horse trapper,surcoat, crest, lance banner, and shield bearing

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hi coat of arm. It wa normal practice for theurcoat, crcst and trapper to be ei ther in the

colours of the arms or to bear the charges shownon those arms, but, as may be seen from this illus­tration, this was by no means a hard and fast rule.The symbol on the surcoat is believed to be astylized letter 'N, for Amor, and in the originalmanuscript this minnesanger is shown receivinghis helm from the lady he i wooing.

BI: Ulrich von Lichenstein, died /2751\s in the preceding plate, this figure is taken fromthe :\1anes codex. Ulrich von Lichenstein was a

tyrian poet who died circa 1275, but the armourand crest he wears arc typical of those worn by thelesser German knights in the first half of the 14thcentury. Hi sureoat is unrelated to his arms, butdocs bear his coat of arms on a shield. His horsetrapper was of the same green material and borethree shields wi th his arms on each side of the frontand rear halves.

Both thi and the figure in Plate A are dressedas iffor the tourney, and von Lichenstein is in factarmed with a tourney lance with three-pointedcoronel) head.

B2: Bohemian knight, second half oJ 14th centuryBy this date the close-fitting jupon had replacedthe surcoat. nlike the surcoat, the jupon rarelybore the wearer's arms (except in England) andin this example the knight is portrayed with only ahidd bearing arms (of the Holy Roman Empire)

and holding a lance with a pennon bearin~ theHungarian colours. The figure is based on an illu­stration in a Bohemian chess book of 1350-1400.

B3: Count Frederick von CiLIi, 1415Based on a contemporary illustration which showsthe count outside the walls of Coutances on 20;\larch 1415, waiting tojoust with Duke FrederickofAustria. Hisjousting shield bears the arms of thevon Cilli family and the crest is the one used byall members of that family. His trapper was of the

See body of text for identifications; note details: (103) Goldhair and chevron, red gown and mantling. (104) White fishwith red gills. (106) Gold fleur-de-Iys and crown, blue mantl­ing. (107) Gold fleur-de-lys, blue mantling edged red, upperwreath blue and yellow, lower wreath red and white. (109)White eagle, yellow beak, red tongue, wreath of black andwhite.

same colour as his helmet mantling, and each halfbore on each side a shield displaying his arms.

CI : Mathieu de Montmorency, /360This illustration of the Chevalier Mathieu deMontmorency is based on the effigy on his tombat Tavergny in France. There is no heraldry onthe jupon and he would have been identified inbattle solely by his shield and lance pennon. IO

helmet is shown on the tomb effigy, but it wouldprobably have been of the general type shown onPlate D3. Note the difference of a three-pointedlabel over the arms, indicating this particularwarrior was a cadet of the great Montmorencyfamily.

C2: Bertrand du Guesclin, died /380One of France's greatest military leaders duringthe Hundred Years War, du Guesclin was madeConstable off ranee in October r370, thus placingeven the royal princes under his command. Inthe contemporary print upon which this illustra­tion is based, du Guesclin carries a shield bearinga lion and with the arms of France (modern) inchief, but we have shown his personal arms. It isworth pointing out that his arms are not repeatedon his jupon, nor docs he wear an elaborate crest.(His tourney crest is shown in Fig /09.) Li ke thefigures shown in B2 and Cr, du Guesclin is dressedfor battle: it was only at the tournament thatelaborate jupons, crests and trappers were used.

C3: Jean de Crequy, circa /44°Jean, Seigneur de Crcquy, was ambassador toSpain and France for the Duke ofBurgundy and isshown here dressed for the tourney with elaboratecrest and tabard. The charge on his arms is astylized wild cherry tree, in French crequier, andhis arms arc therefore of the type known as cantingarms. Jean de Crequy was a knight of the Orderofthe Golden Fleece (instituted in 1429 by Philipthe Good, Duke of Burgundy) and this illustra­tion is based on an original in the 15th-centuryArmoriaL of the Knights oj the GoLden FLeece. Hisfather Jacques de Crcquy was taken prisoner andput to death at the battle of Agineourt.

D I :John Plantagenet, Earl oj CornwaLL, /3/6-36John Plantagenet bears the arms of England dif-

A horse armour made for Otto Heinrich, Count Palatine ofthe Rhine, between 1532-36. The arIns of the Palatinate andBavaria appear on the rear half of the bard and are repeatedon a small shield on the front ofthe chanfron. The lion appearsagain at the side ofthe head, while the tinctures ofthe arms ofthe Palatinate are employed on the border of the bard.

ferenccd with a bordure of France -a combina­tion of the arms of his [ather, Edward II, andmother, Queen Isabel o[ France. He was createdEarl of Cornwall in 1328, was regent for EdwardITT while that king was in France (1329-3I) andcommanded the English army in Scotland. His

arms are repeated on his cyclas. This figure IS

based on the effigy in Westminster Abbey.

D2: iT Oliver D'hzgham, died 1344ir Oliver had a distinguished career in the reigns

of Edward II and Edward III, and was Seneschalof Aquitaine in 1325-26 and 1333-43. He gaineda deci ive victory over the French at Bordeauxin 1340. The early arms of the Ingham familyappear to have had a white field and the partyfield shown here wa probably derived from thearms ofBigod, Earls of orfol k, where th e Inghamlands lay. The illustration is based on the effigy inIngham Church, though the arms on the cyclasarc after Stothard (181 I). The helmet with crestat the head of the monument is now mutilatedbeyond reeognition, but John Weever, writingin 1613, stated that the crest was an owl on athorn bush.

D3: Sir Hugh CalvelC], died /393ir Hugh was one of the most famous captains of

the free eompanies in the Hundred Year War.He erved in Spain with Henry of Trastamare in1366, and later joi ned the army of the BlackPrincc. He was appointed deputy of Calais in1377, and in 1380 took part in the unsuccessful ex­pedition to france led by the Duke of Gloucester.He was governor of the Channel Isles, 1376 88.

He is shown in a jupon bearing his cantingarms and wearing his tourney helm with crestofacaIr's head. The arms are an early example inEngli. h heraldry of the use of two differentlycoloured charges on one field. This illustrationis based on the effigy in Bunbury Church, Che­shire.

EI: Thomas Beal/chamjJ, Earl of Warwick) 1345-

14°1Thomas Beauchamp was a warrior and militarygovernor throughout the reign of Edward III,but in the follo\\'ing reign he joined various plotsagainst the king and was imprisoned in the Tower.He \\'£1. released an I had his honours restored onthe acees.ion of' Henry IV. His jupon bears thearms of the Beauchamps, while the plates at hiselbows, on the sword-belt and scabbard arcdecorated with the ragged stli rrbadge ofWarwick.Other branches of' the (amily used the same

colours but replaced the crosses crosslet withdifferent charges. The figure is based on thebrass at St Mary's Church, Warwick.

£2: Sir John Say, 1420-78

SirJohn was probably a son ofJohn Say ofPoding­ton in Bedfordshire, and possibly a kinsman ofLord Saye and Sele. Although brought up aLancastrian, he became a Yorkist in 1460 and onhis tomb brass wears round his neck a Yorkistcollar of alternate suns and roses. He was a pro­minent figure in Parliament and was knighted in1465. His tabard bears his arms, which arc re­peated on each sleeve. The figure is based on abrass made during his lifetime (in 1473) andwhich is in Broxbourne Church, Hertfordshire.

£3: Sir Edmund de Th01jJe) died 1418 ( ?)Sir Edmund was a prominent soldier in the wars of'Henry V, and is believed to have been killed at thesiege of Louviers in 1418. Hisjupon bears the armsof Thorpe (Azure, three crescents argent) quar­tered with those of his mother, daughter andheire s of Robert Baynard (Sable, a fess betweentwo chevrons or). He is shown wearing his tour­ney helmet with crest, this and other informationshown here being taken from his effigy in Ash­well thorpe Church, Norfolk.

PI: Robert de Mamines, died 1431

Robert de Mamines was a leading Flemishsoldier who followed Jean 'Sans Peur', father ofPhilip Ill. He was killed at Liege in 1431. Heappears here attired for the tourney, in blazonedtabard and highly decorative crested helmet, asill ustrated in the Armorial ofthe Knights ojthe ColdenFleece. He was created a knight of this Order in1430 at the siege of Melun.

F2: Jacopo dei Cavalli, died 1384Based on an effigy in SS Giovanni e Paolo, Venice,this is another example of canting arms. atethe knight's arms do not appear on hisjupon.

F3: !AII'd oj Crulll11yse, first half ~/ 15th centuryThis Flemish knight is thus portrayed in thefamous 15th-century Livre des Tournois. The samemanuscript shows this lord's herald, wearing atabard bearing his lord's arms, and his trumpeter,

whose trumpet has a banner bearing the samearm. The family name is alsospclt Groothuys andGruthu e in contemporary sources, and in theArmorial ojthe Kizights oJthe GoLden Fleece (compiledbetween 1430 and 1440) is listed a Monsieur deGrutusse, who bears these same arms but withthe quarters reversed. Gruthuse served in thearmy of the Duke of Burgundy in 1417.

G1: English herald, first half oj 16th centuryThis figure is taken from a parade of Englishofficers of arms, illustrated in a tourney book ofthe time of Henry VIII. The pursuivants had asimilar tabard but wore it askew, that is with theshort arm panels over chest and back, and thelonger panels over their arms.

G2: Spanish herald, circa 1420The Sicily herald illustrated here served the kingof \rag-on, to whom icily then belonged, around'4'20. He wear the arms of Sicily and Aragon.Thi particular herald, Jean Courteois, wasre ponsible for the most authoritative writtenrecord of the rights and duties of a herald.

A GerOlan sallet for a light horseman, circa 1490, paintedwith heraldic charges. In the early days of heraldry 'crests'were often painted on helmets before the true crest devel­oped: this example suggests 'crests' for the lower nobilitymay have corne full circle by the late 15th century.

(1I0) Lord Willoughby D'Eresby. (Ill) John D'Aubynge.(1I2) 14th-century Gennan knight narned Chur: red jester'scap with gold edge and white balls. (1I3) 14-century Germanknight naOled Hevtler: red edging to mantling, red beak andembattled upper half to spinal crest. (1I4J Sir Ralph Basset,Knight of the Garter 13li8-9o: gold tusks and coronet. (1I5) deMontacute, Earls of Salisbury, 1337-44, 1397-1400: goldgriffm and coronet. (1I6) HUOlphrey, Earl of Stafford, Knightof the Garter, 1429: white swan, red beak, gold coronet. (1I7)The Burgrave of NureIDburg: the IDantiing was probablyblack. (1I8) 14th-century knight frOID Basle named Schaler:white lozengy on red. (119) Nicholas de Borssele, 15th-centuryFrench knight. (120) Charles, Comte de Valois, circa 1295.(121) 14th-century GerIDan knight naIDed Bretsla: greenpeacock's feathers with red eyes on yellow, yellow back.ground to eagle, white crescent, red mantling edged yellow.

G3: Brandenburg pursuivant, 15th centmyGerman pursuivants wore their tabards In thesame fashion as the heralds. The one illustratedhere was pursuivant of the Elector Frederick II ofBrandenburg (1413-71). His official title wasBurggraf, because his master, as a Hohenzollern,was also the burgrave of uremburg.

H: Jean de Dillon, died 1481 or 1482Jean de Dillon was the king of France's rep­resentative in Arras, and this portrait of him isbased on amille-fleur tapestry made there, probablyin 1477. Note that by this late date the knight does

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not wear any heraJdi devices on his person and,a shields were no longer carried in battle, hecould only be identified by his lance pennon orbanner. Thus from circa '450 at the latest thenag became the ole means of identifying in­dividual lords on the ficlcl of battle, and the miJi-

tary role of heraldry had come to an end, to besuperseded by the age of the military Rag, at leastuntil the reintroduction of heraldic symbols inthe form of formation signs in the First WorldWar.

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German knight (minnesanger), early 14th century

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1. lrich von Lichenstein, died 12752. Bohemian knight, second half of 14th century3. Count Frederick von Cilli, 1415

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I. Mathieu de Montmorency, 13602. Bertrund du Guesclin, died 13803. Jean de Crequy, circa 1440

1. John Plantagenet, Earl of Cornwall, 1316-362. Sir Oliver D'Ingham, died 13443. Sir Hugh Calveley, died 1393

1. Thomas Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, 1345-140]2. Sir John Say, 1420-783. Sir Edmund de Thorpe, died 14] 8 (?)

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1. RObert de Mamines, died 14312. Jaeopo dei Cavalli, died 1384

::I. Lord of Gruthnyse, first half of 15th century

1. English herald, first half of 16th century2. Spanish herald, circa 14203. Brandenburg pursuivant, 15th century

.JeRn de Dillon, died HilI or 1482