The Curiosities of Heraldry Part 23

"Off armys palit crokyt and sharpe now I will speke.

"Loke and beholde how mony maner of wyse thes palit armys be borne dyuersli, as it is shewyt in thys boke, and theis armys now shewyt here [referring to the exemplification in the margin] be calde palit, crokyt and sharpe, for in theys armys ij coloris paly ar put togethir: oon into another crokytly and sharpe. Therefore it shall be sayd of hi' the wich beris thes armis in thys wyse, first in latyn thus. Portat arma palata tortuosa acuto de nigro et argento. Gallice sic: Il port pale daunsete de sable et dargent. Anglice sic: He berith pale crokyt and sharpe of sable and syluer."

"Off armys the wich ar calde frectis (Frets) here now I will speke:

"A certain n.o.bull baron that is to say the lorde awdeley of the reame of England baar in his armys a frecte, the wich certain frectis in mony armys of dyurse gentillmen ar founde, other while reede other while golde, and other while blac oderwhile simple and oderwhile double otherwhile tripull and other while it is multepliet ou' (over) all the sheld as here it apperith, and ye most vnderstande on gret differans bytwix armys bendit and theis armys the wich be made with the forsayd frettys, wherefore it is to be markyt that in bendyt armys the colouris contenyt equally ar dyuydit. Bot in this frectis the felde alwai abydys hool as here, and this forsayd lorde Audeley beris thus in latyn. Portat arma frectata de auro in campo rubreo. Et gallice sic. Il por de gowles vng frecte dor. Anglice sic. He berith gowles and a frecte of golde."

[Sidenote: 1562]

The next author of any note on the subject of Heraldry is GERARD LEGH, whose 'Accedens of Armorie' became, as Anthony a Wood phrases it, "the pattern or platform of those who came after." This gentleman was son of Henry Legh, of London, an illegitimate scion of a Cheshire family, who, according to the proverb, were "as plenty as fleas." He was educated at Oxford, and died in 1563, the year after the first appearance of his work.

The 'Accedens' obtained a degree of popularity not usual at that period, and reached a fifth edition within half a century. It was the text-book on the science until Guillim's 'Displaie' superseded it. The author, in his preface, acknowledges the aid he had received from a work "on the whole subject," by one Nicholas Warde, concerning whom nothing further is known. He likewise acknowledges his obligations to eight other authors, but somewhat singularly omits to mention the Boke of St. Albans, the method of which he follows, and the very words of which he frequently borrows. After the literary fashion of his times, his work is cast in the form of a dialogue, the speakers being Gerard and Legh, his own christian name and surname. The style is highly pedantic, yet withal sufficiently amusing, and the ill.u.s.trative woodcuts are executed with great spirit.

Specimens of his composition have already been cited.[288]

[Sidenote: 1572]

JOHN BOSSEWELL, gentleman, of whose personal history little or nothing is known, next appears in the field of heraldric literature. His 'Workes of Armorie, devyded into three bookes,' reached a second edition in 1597. His design was an improvement upon the treatise of Legh, in which he partly succeeded; but the admixture of the antient mythology, the moral virtues, the marvellous attributes and fict.i.tious anecdotes of animals, and other foreign topics, with the more immediate subject of his work, renders it, like that of his predecessor, almost unreadable, except to the initiated.

The following short extract will serve as a specimen of Bossewell's lucubrations:

"=The field is of the Saphire, on a chiefe Pearle, a Musion....

Ermines. This beaste is called a Musion, for that he is enimie to Myse and Rattes ... he is slye and wittie and ... seeth so sharpely that he overcommeth darknes of the nighte by the shyninge lyghte of his eyne. In shape of body he is like vnto a Leoparde, and hathe a great mouth. He dothe delighte that he enioyeth his libertie; and in his youthe he is swifte, plyante, and merye. He maketh a rufull noyse and a gastefull when he profereth to fighte with an other. He is a cruell beaste, when he is wilde, and falleth on his owne feete from moste highe places: and vneth is hurte therewith. When he hathe a fayre skinne, he is, as it were, prowde thereof, and then he goeth faste aboute to be seene.="[289]

Need the reader be informed that this beast of the 'rufull noyse,' which falleth from 'highe places on his _owne_ feete,' is the common house CAT?

An anonymous quarto, which reached a fourth edition, made its appearance in 1573, bearing the modest t.i.tle of 'A very proper Treatise, &c.' and it shows the attention paid to heraldrical 'tricking and painting' in the time of queen Elizabeth, when an art which is now limited to herald-painters was deemed a fitting accomplishment for 'gentlemenne.'

Among a host of small works on subjects connected with heraldry which appeared about this time, one may be mentioned as a great curiosity. This is a funeral sermon on the death of Walter, earl of Ess.e.x, to which are prefixed copies of verses on his lordship's pedigree in Latin, _Hebrew_, Welsh, and French! The author of this tract was 'Richard Davis, Bishoppe of Saint Davys.'

[Sidenote: 1586]

SIR JOHN FERNE, Knight, descended from a good family in Leicestershire, and connected, on his mother's side, with the n.o.ble house of Sheffield, is believed to have studied at Oxford, though he never graduated. Great part of his life was spent as a member of the Inner Temple. King James gave him the office of secretary and keeper of the signet for the northern parts, then established at York. He died about 1610. Henry Ferne, his eighth son, was the loyalist bishop of Chester, and a writer of some note.

His 'Blazon of Gentrie,' published in 1586, is divided into two parts, 'The Glorie of Generositie,' and 'Lacie's n.o.bilitie;' the former treating of blazon, and the latter of the genealogy of the family of Lacy, with a view to disprove the claim of affinity to it set up by Albertus a Lasco, Count-Palatine of Syradia, which is very successfully refuted. Of this learned work, which our author tells us is "compiled for the instruction of all gentlemen, bearers of arms, whom and none else it concerneth,"

Peacham speaks as "indeed very rare, and sought after as a jewell."

Dallaway describes it as "a continued dialogue, alternately supported by six interlocutors, who discuss the original principles of n.o.bility and the due gradations of the other ranks in society, adjust military distinctions, describe orders of knighthood, and adduce proofs of certain symbols and devices, concluding with high commendations of heraldic investigation. To Ferne the rank of a cla.s.sic in heraldry will not be denied. His studies were directed to the investigation of the laws of chivalry, and he has transfused into his work the spirit of the voluminous codes now forgotten, which he delighted to consult. It may be considered therefore as the most complete epitome of them now extant. But we must allow that he writes more for the amus.e.m.e.nt of the learned than for the instruction of novices, and that he deals much more in criticism than rudiments."

The interlocutors are 'Paradinus, the herald; Torquatus, a knight; Theologus, a deuine; Bartholus, a lawier; Berosus, an antiquary; and Columell, a plowman,' who converses in the dialect of Somerset. "There is somewhat of a dramatic spirit in this dialogue; the characters are supported by sentiments appropriate to each, particularly the clown, who speaks freely both the language and opinions of the yeomanry at that time; nor are the strong prejudices of the knight and herald described with less force."

As a copy of this "rare jewell" lies before me, I should certainly be to blame if I did not present my reader with a specimen of its brilliancy.

The topic of discourse is the "blasing of armes."

"_Torq._ I pray you _pose_ me once again.

"_Parad._ Goe to then: you shall begin with a coate of easie charge to be discried. Therefore, I pray you begin, and tell your soueraigne, what coat-armour this knight beareth (for I tell you, it is the coate of a knight), that your soueraine might know him by his signes of honour, sith that perchaunce you know not his name.

"_Torq._ Me thinkes hee beareth Sable, a Musion[290] pa.s.saunt gardaunt Or, oppressed with a frett gules, of eight parts, nayles d'argent.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _The cutter hath not done his duety._[291]

_Ignorance bringeth rash judgements of Armes, and signes honourable._]

"_Columel._ Iesa zir: call you this Armes? Now by my vaye, chad thought Armes should not have been of zutche trifling thinges. Why, this is euen the cat in the milke-house window. Full ill will her dayrie thriue, giffe she put zutch a vermine beast in trust to keepe it.

"_Torq._ I am iust of thy minde: for thou hast reasoned as profoundly as might be upon so bad a deuise.

"_Parad._ I perceaue (_Torq._) as clearkly as you seem to be in armory yet are you far to seeke and must still be taught. This payssaunt's glosse is euen comparable with your blazon: for bad is the best.

"_Torq._ I suppose my blazon cannot be amended.

[Sidenote: _The true blazon of the former coat._]

"_Parad._ Yes, it shall be amended, and your errour also corrected. Did you euer see a fret thus formed before (I mean nayled?) To correct your blazon, learne by this: Hee beareth Sable, a Musion, Or, oppressed with a Troillis G. cloue dargent; for this, which you call a fret, is a lattice, a thing well knowne to poore prisoners and distressed captiues, which are forced to receaue their breath from heauen at such holes for want of more pleasant windowes, &c."

[Sidenote: 1590.]

SIR WILLIAM SEGAR is, I believe, the first of our heralds who published on the subject. His 'Book of Honor and Armes,' enlarged and republished in 1602, under the t.i.tle of 'Honor Military and Ciuill,' relates as its designation implies, not to the art of blazon, but to dignities. His zeal for antiquity, like that of his contemporaries, outruns historical truth, as a proof of which it may be mentioned that he deduces the origin of knighthood from the fabulous Round Table of King Arthur. His work possesses, however, great merit, and exhibits much learning and profound research. Many of his unpublished MSS., genealogical and otherwise, are still extant.

Segar, who was of Dutch extraction, was bred a scrivener, and obtained his introduction to the College through the interest of Sir T. Heneage, vice-chamberlain to Queen Elizabeth. Here, at length, his talents raised him to the post of Garter, the _ne plus ultra_ of heraldic ambition. He died in 1633.

[Sidenote: 1592.]

WILLIAM WYRLEY, author of 'The Trve Vse of Armorie,' is the next heraldric author who had any official connexion with the College of Arms, in which establishment he rose, however, no higher than the degree of a pursuivant.

He was a gentleman by birth, a native of Staffordshire, and died in 1618.

He did not confine his attention to heraldry, but studied antiquities at large: his collections he bequeathed to the College. The 'Trve Vse,' his only published work, is a scarce quarto of 162 pages, and is freer from the irrelevant rubbish which blemishes most of the treatises of this century than any one which preceded it, or any one which for a long time subsequently issued from the press. Sir W. Dugdale makes great use of this work in his 'Ancient Usage of bearing Arms,' 1681, and in return somewhat ungratefully, robs Wyrley of the honour of its authorship, ascribing it, upon hearsay evidence, to Sampson Erdeswicke, the historian of Staffordshire.

We now come to a name which has shed more l.u.s.tre upon the office of the herald and the science of heraldry than any other our country has produced--that of the justly-celebrated WILLIAM CAMDEN. Any biographical notice, however brief, of so eminent a personage seems almost uncalled for in these narrow pages. It will be sufficient, for the sake of uniformity, merely to mention a few particulars respecting him. This laborious antiquary and historian was born in London in 1551, and received his education first at Christ's Hospital and St. Paul's School, and afterwards at Oxford. He quitted the University in 1570, and made the tour of England. At the early age of twenty-four he became second master of Westminster School; and while performing the duties of that office devoted his leisure to the study of British antiquities. Here, after ten years'

labour, he matured his great work, the 'Britannia,' which was first published in 1586. Four years previously to its publication he visited many of the eastern and northern counties, for the purpose of making a personal investigation of their antiquities. The 'Britannia' immediately brought him into notice, and he lived to enjoy the proud gratification of seeing it in its sixth edition. It was written in elegant Latin, and in that language pa.s.sed through several of its earlier editions, the first English version having been made, probably with the author's a.s.sistance, by Dr. Philemon Holland, in 1610. This great national performance, which Bishop Nicholson quaintly styles "the common sun whereat our modern writers have all lighted their little torches," has been so highly esteemed in all subsequent times, that it has been many times reprinted.

The last edition is the greatly enlarged one of Gough. In 1589 the bishop of Salisbury presented him with a prebend in his cathedral, which he retained till his death; and in 1597, the office of Clarenceux king of arms becoming vacant, he was advanced to that dignity.

After his establishment in the College he published several emended editions of The 'Britannia,' 'The Annals of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth,'

'An Account of the celebrated Persons interred in Westminster Abbey,' and that very interesting little volume, 'Remaines concerning Britaine,'

which, as he tells us, was composed of the fragments of a projected work of greater extent, which his want of leisure prevented his executing. All these works, except the last, were written in Latin, a language for which he had so great a predilection, that he even compiled pedigrees in it. As an antiquary, Camden deserves the highest praise; as an historian, he is charged with partiality towards the character of the virgin queen; and as a herald, he was confessedly unequal to some of his contemporaries. In the latter capacity he was much indebted to Francis Thynne, or Botteville, Blanch Lion pursuivant, and afterwards Lancaster herald, of whom Anthony a Wood gives a high character. Camden was concerned with that delightful old chronicler, Holinshed, in the production of his famous work. He was mainly instrumental in the formation of the original Society of Antiquaries, whose discourses have been printed by Hearne. He was a great admirer of the father of English poetry, and contributed many additions to Speght's edition of his works. He left many unpublished MSS. amongst which was a 'Discourse of Armes,' addressed to Lord Burghley. The last years of his life were spent in retirement at the village of Chislehurst, co. Kent, where he died in 1623, in the 73d year of his age.

RALPH BROOKE, Rouge Croix pursuivant, and York herald, was contemporary with Camden and his violent adversary. His skill as a herald has rarely been questioned, but his whole career exhibits the character of a petulant, envious, mean, and dishonest person. He pretended to be a descendant of the antient family of Brooke of Cheshire; but it is unfortunate for his pretensions that his father's name was not Brooke, but _Brokesmouth_. He was bred to the trade of a painter-stainer, and became free of that company in 1576. How he obtained his introduction to the College does not appear, though it is certain that it would have been better, both for himself and that body, had he never entered it. n.o.ble characterizes him as "so extremely worthless and perverse that his whole mind seemed bent to malice and wickedness:" unawed by virtue or by station, none were secure from his unmerited attacks. His enmity towards Camden arose out of the circ.u.mstance of the antiquary's having been appointed, on the demise of Richard Lee, to the office of Clarenceux, to which, from a long connexion with the College, and greater professional knowledge, he considered himself ent.i.tled; and it is but justice to admit that he certainly had some ground for complaint, though the mode in which he chose to give vent to his spleen cannot be defended. Camden's great work, the 'Britannia,' had pa.s.sed through several editions unimpeached as to its general accuracy, when Brooke endeavoured to bring its well-deserved popularity into contempt by a work ent.i.tled 'A Discoverie of certaine Errours published in print in the much-commended Britannia,' a production overflowing with personal invective. To this spiteful book Camden replied in Latin, treating his opponent with the scorn he deserved, exposing his illiteracy, and at the same time adroitly waiving such of the charges as were really well founded. Never was reviewer more severely reviewed. 'A second Discoverie of Errours' followed, and, as it remained unanswered, Brooke might in some sort have claimed a triumph, particularly as Camden, recognizing the maxim "Fas est ab hoste doceri," availed himself, in the subsequent editions of the 'Britannia,' of his adversary's corrections.

In 1619 Brooke published a 'Catalogue and Succession of Kings, Princes, and n.o.bilitie since the Norman Conquest,' a work of considerable merit, though it did not escape censure, for Vincent, Rouge Croix, an adherent of Camden, in a 'Discovery of Errors,' printed three years afterwards, controverted many of its statements. Brooke still continued his paltry and litigious proceedings, and was twice suspended from his office; and it was even attempted to expel him from the College.[292] He closed his unenviable life in 1625, and was buried in the twin-towered church of Reculver, co. Kent, where a mural monument informs us that

"quit of worldly miseries, Ralph Brooke, Esq., late York herald, lies.

Fifteenth October he was last alive, One thousand six hundred and twenty-five Seaventy three years bore he fortune's harmes, And forty-five an officer of armes," &c.

ROBERT GLOVER, Somerset, temp. Elizabeth, wrote a treatise ent.i.tled 'n.o.bilitas Politica vel Civilis,' which was posthumously published in 1608, the author having died in 1588. He was a most learned and industrious herald, and his authority in genealogy and heraldry is much relied on by the officers of arms of the present day. His MSS. are in the library of the College.

In 1610 appeared 'The Catalogue of Honour, or Treasury of true n.o.bility peculiar and proper to the Isle of Great Britaine,' by Thomas Milles, esq.

of Davington-hall, co. Kent. This large folio of eleven hundred pages is professedly a compilation from the MSS. of Glover, to whom Mr. Milles was nephew; and although reliance is not to be placed upon all its statements, it const.i.tutes a remarkable monument of the persevering labour and research of that herald.

EDMUND BOLTON, a retainer of Villiers, duke of Buckingham, was author of several works. His princ.i.p.al heraldric composition is a small volume ent.i.tled the 'Elements of Armouries,' to which are prefixed commendatory epistles by Segar and Camden, honourable testimonies of its merit. In his remarks upon the lines of part.i.tion, &c. he displays more geometrical than heraldric knowledge. His religious opinions are discovered by his wish for a new crusade. His style is highly pedantic, and the reader would scarcely thank me for a specimen.

JOHN GUILLIM (Rouge Dragon pursuivant in 1617, in which office he died in 1621,) was of Welsh extraction, and a native of Herefordshire. His 'Display of Heraldrie,' one of the most popular of heraldric treatises, has pa.s.sed through numerous editions. Anthony a Wood a.s.serts that the real author of it was John Barkham, rector of Bocking in Kent, who composed it in the early part of his life, and afterwards thinking it somewhat inconsistent with his profession to publish a work on arms, communicated the ma.n.u.script to Guillim, who gave it to the world with his own name.

What authority Wood had for this a.s.sertion does not appear, but from the erudition displayed in the work, it is evidently not the production of a very young man; and besides this, in the dedication to the king, Guillim himself does not hesitate to claim the merit of originality, for he says "I am the first who brought a method into this heroic art." It is remarkable that three of the most celebrated books on our science, namely those of Dame J. Berners, William Wyrley, and John Guillim, should have been ascribed to other parties than those under whose names they have gone forth to the world. The highly complimentary verses prefixed to this volume by Guillim's seniors in office can hardly be supposed to have been written to sanction a fiction in allowing him the merit of another's labours.[293] The eulogium of one G. Belcher not only commends the work in the highest terms, but, after enumerating the several authors who had written on the same subject, namely Wynkenthewordius,[294] Leghus, Boswell, Fernus, and Wyrleius, adds