The Curiosities of Heraldry Part 29

6. The same arms are borne as the ensigns of the borough of Grampound.

Boroughs usually took the arms of their over-lords.

7. Walter de Cornwall, knight of the shire in 1311, an illegitimate descendant of one of the earls of Cornwall, bore the same arms.[334]

8. Sir Geoffrey Cornwall having taken prisoner the duke of Brittany, received in reward that n.o.bleman's arms, viz. Ermine, which he made the field of his own, retaining the lion gules, &c.[335]

The descendants of the b.a.s.t.a.r.d offshoot of the earls of Cornwall became widely scattered, and, according to the practice of antient times, varied their arms in every house. For example:

9. De Cornewall, and Cornwall of Oxfordshire, bore the =red lion= of Poictou, debruised by a bend =sable=, charged with three =bezants=.

10. Cornwall of Devon omitted all traces of Poictou, but retained the characteristics of Cornwall, viz., On a cross patee =sable= five =bezants=.

11. Cornwall of Ess.e.x bore the =red lion= of Poictou, the ermine of Burgundy, and the =sable bordure bezantee= of Cornwall.

12. Cornwall of Salop bore the same, except that he made his lion reguardant. His descent from the princely stock of Cornwall is hinted at in his crest, which is a _Cornish Chough_.

In Glover's 'Ordinary' are these two:

13. Cornwayle, Argent, on a fesse =sable=, three =bezants=.

14. Cornwall, Argent, on a cross-patonce =sable=, five =bezants=.

Many other coats borne by this name are given in various works of reference. Nearly the whole of them retain one or other of the charges and tinctures of the coat from which they were primarily borrowed. Similar arms are also borne by other names connected with the county.

15. Chamberlayne, M.P. for Liskeard, temp. Edw. III, bore, Argent on a bend =sable=, five =bezants=. It seems exceedingly probable that this gentleman, or one of his ancestors, held the office (unde nomen) of Chamberlain to the earls of Cornwall, who paid him for his services with a few of their bezants.

16. Killegrew of Cornwall bore, Argent, an =eagle= displayed with two heads =sable=, within a =bordure sable bezantee=. _Crest._ A demi-=lyon= rampant, =gules=, charged on the flank with two =bezants=. I cannot trace any connexion between this family (which was of great antiquity) and the earls of Cornwall; but the similarity between these bearings and those of the king of the Romans is too striking to admit a doubt of some connexion.

17. Cole of Cornwall bears, inter alia, a =bordure sable=, charged alternately with =bezants= and annulets.

18. Carlyon of Cornwall bore =sable=, between three towers ... a =bezant=.

Query. Did the founder of this family hold the office of castellan to the earls of Cornwall?

Many Cornish families bear double-headed =eagles=, and the number bearing =bezants= is really astonishing. In the foregoing enumeration I have confined myself to such of the latter as are borne upon sable.

It is probable that if the arms of other districts were examined they would produce a similar result; and I doubt not that, carrying out a large series of such investigations, the majority of our armorial bearings might be traced to a comparatively small number of antient baronial coats.

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Appendix C.

ABATEMENTS.

An Abatement of Honour is defined as a mark introduced into the paternal coat to indicate some base or ungentlemanlike behaviour on the part of the bearer. The number of these figures is, as usual, _nine_, and they are all tinctured of the _stainant_ or disgraceful colours, tenne and sanguine.

The first is the delf tenne, a.s.signed to him who revokes his challenge. 2.

The escocheon reversed sanguine, occupying the middle point of the arms, is the sign of disgrace proper to him who offends the chast.i.ty of virgin, wife, or widow, or flies from his sovereign's banner. 3. The point-dexter parted tenne is for him who boasts of valiant actions he never performed.

4. The point-in-point sanguine is the badge of a coward. 5. The point champaine tenne attaches to him who breaks the laws of chivalry by slaying a prisoner after he has demanded quarter. 6. The liar should bear the plain-point sanguine. 7. The gore sinister tenne is the punishment of the soldier who acts in a cowardly manner towards his enemy. 8. The gusset sanguine, if on the right side, denotes adultery, and if on the left, drunkenness. 9. The last and greatest 'abatement of honour' is the reversing or turning upside down of the whole shield: this belongs to the traitor. From these abatements originates the expression--"He has a _blot_ in his scutcheon."

It is scarcely necessary to state that 'abatements of honour' exist only in theory. Who ever did or would voluntarily bear a badge of disgrace?

Every one deserving either of them would sooner relinquish all claim to the bearing of arms than continue it with such a stigma.

Leigh, Guillim, and other old writers are sufficiently prolix on this subject, which would seem to belong exclusively to English heraldry; for Menestrier calls them _English fooleries_ ('Sottises Anglaises,') and Montagu thinks "we shall seek in vain for a more appropriate designation."

A singular mistake prevails among the vulgar respecting the "b.l.o.o.d.y hand,"

borne in the arms of Baronets. I have been very seriously and _confidentially_ told, that murders had been committed by the ancestors of such and such families, and that the descendants were compelled to bear this dreadful emblem in consequence. According to the same sapient authorities, it can only be got rid of by the bearer's submitting, either in his own person or by proxy, _to pa.s.s seven years in a cave, without either speaking or cutting his nails and beard for that length of time_!

The intelligent reader needs not be informed that this supposed badge of infamy is really a mark of honour, derived from the arms of the province of Ulster in Ireland, the defence and colonization of which was the specious plea upon which the order of Baronets was created by James I.

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Appendix D.

GRANT OF ARMS.

(_Referred to at p. 35, note._)

A touts pnts et advenir qui ces pnts lettres verront ou orront Thomais Trowte autrement dit Norrey roy d'armes du norst de cestuy royalme d'Angleterre salut et dilection avec humble recomendacion: Equitie veult et raison ordonne que les homes vertueulx et de n.o.ble courage soient per leurs merites par renommee remunerez et non par seulment leurs personnes en ceste vie mortelle tant breife & transitoire mes apres euls ceulx qui de leurs corpes ystront et serront procreez soient en touts placs degraund honneur perpetuellem{t} devant autres luisans par certaines ensignes et de monstrances d'honneur et gentillesse. C'est ascavoir de blason heaillme & tymbre a fine que a leur example autres plus sefforcent de pseverement user leurs joures en faitz d'armes et ouvres verteuces pour acquirer la renowme d'auncienne gentillesse en leurs lignes & posterite: Et pource Je Norrey roy d'armes desusdit que non pas seulm{t} par commune renoume mais aussi par le report et testemoigne d'autres n.o.bles homes dignes de fois suy pour vray adverty et enforme que Alan Trowte natef de la counte de Norff. a longem{t}. poursuey les faicts de vertues et tant en ce quen autres ces affayres s'est porte vertuesment et honnor ablement gouverne tellement q'ill a bien deservy et est bien digne que doresnavannt perpetuellement lui et sa posterite soyent en touts placs honurables admits, renomeez, countez, nombrez, et receivez en nombre et en la campaigne dez autreiz auncients gentils et n.o.bleis hommes: et pour la remembrance du celle sagentilesse par sa vertue del authorite et povoir annexes et attribues a men dit office de roy d'armes Jay devise, ordonne et a.s.signee au dit Alan Trowte par luy et sa dite posterite le blason, heaulme et tymbre, en la maniere qui sensuit c'est ascavoir ung escu d'or ung cheveron de purpure troys testes moriens de sable crounes de troyes trovels d'argent: le timbre sur le heaulme ung teste morien a.s.sis dedans ung torse entre deux eliez pale du Champ et du cheveron & emant elle de sables sommees de cinq foyles doublee d'or si come le picture en le merge cy devant le demonstre: A voyir et tenir par luy et sa dit posterite et eux on revestir a tous jourmais. En testemoiging de ce Je Norrey roy d'armes desus nomee ay signe de ma main et selle de mon seale ces p'senteis fait et donne a Londrez le viij jour de novebre l'an de nre seig{n} Jesus Christ mccclxxvj et l'an de nre seig{n} roy Edwarde le Tierce apres le conquest xvj.

This Patent was examined with the Record in the College of Arms by Charles Townley, York Herald, 29. Apr. 1745.

N. B. There is a mistake in the date, either in the year of Our Lord, or of the King.

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Appendix E.

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That the curious relic of bra.s.s found at Lewes (alluded to at p. 39[336]), was the sword-pommel of Prince Richard, King of the Romans, was an easy and natural inference from its rounded form, so similar to that observed on ancient swords, and from its being found where that Prince is known to have been engaged in the great battle of 1264. Further examination, however, proves this supposition to be erroneous, and by reference to page 589, in vol. xxv of 'Archaeologia,' it will be seen so closely to resemble, in form, material, workmanship, and heraldic bearings, the two ancient steelyard weights found in Norfolk, and there represented, that its ident.i.ty with their former use must be at once recognized. The Lewes relic is smaller than the two other weights, and is deficient in the upper part, through which the suspending hook was pa.s.sed, but, as it now weighs 18-1/2 oz., it was probably, when perfect, a 2 lbs. weight. It is remarkable that all these weights, thus found at distant localities, and all evidently of the same era, the thirteenth century, should bear the arms of the King of the Romans,[337] though in each instance intentionally varied, in order, probably, to signify more readily to the eye the intended amount of each weight when in use. Sandford (Geneal. Hist., p.

95) says that the King of the Romans did not bear the arms of his father, King John, but on the larger Norfolk specimen the three royal lions are exhibited pa.s.sant, sinisterwise, a remarkable difference, of which only one other similar example is known, on the ancient stamped tiles of Horsted-Keynes Church, co. Suss.e.x, where the Prince's arms, as earl of Cornwall, are also extant. This Prince had a grant of the stanneries and mines of Cornwall, held by service of five knights' fees, (vide Dugdale's Baronage,) and Sandford says that "he got much money by farming the mint,"

but he would not appear to derive from these sources any peculiar right to stamp with his own arms all the weights of the kingdom. He is also mentioned (Madox, Hist. Exch.) as sitting with others of the king's council in the Court of Exchequer in 14{o} and 54{o} of Henry III: there was an ancient officer of that court, called a Pesour, Ponderator, or Weigher, but the family of Windesore held this office for four generations by hereditary serjeantry, during the reigns of kings John and Henry III.

It would seem more probable, therefore, that these weights were stamped with his arms,[338] by the king of the Romans, in the ordinary exercise of his baronial rights, for the common use of his own officers in his widely extended domains, and especially for those of his own personal household, in order efficiently to check the entries and deliveries of the stores of food and forage necessary for the supply of his numerous retinue. The contemporary accounts of his sister, the Princess Eleanor, wife of the great Simon, earl of Leicester, in 1265 (recently published by the Roxburghe Club), show with what minute detail and accuracy such expenses in a large household were regulated, and superintended by the steward of a great personage. The steward of the king of the Romans may have been thus busily employed at Lewes in measuring out with this identical weight their scanty rations to his Cornish troops, until surprised by the hurry of the fatal battle, in which--for human bones were found with the weight near the Castle gateway--he may have continued to clutch it faithfully, even in death. Prince Richard embarked at Yarmouth in 1253, on his way to his coronation as king, at Aix-la-Chapelle, and he went to Cologne in 1267, to marry his German bride, Beatrice. On one of these occasions, when he would have been accompanied by a large suite, or on some other pa.s.sage through Norfolk, which was a customary route to Germany, the two interesting weights found there may have been accidentally dropped.

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C. AND J. ADLARD, PRINTERS, BARTHOLOMEW CLOSE.