Cyril Davenport

“ On the other hand cups made of rhinoceros horn are credited with the same magical powers as that of the unicorn. The chain attached to a princely coronet on the neck of the unicorn is not easy to explain; it is said that it alludes to an early king of Scotland, who, as a young man, accidentally killed his father, and bore the chain ever afterwards on his supporters as a sign of grief.
The lion and the unicorn have remained ever since the time of James I. as the supporters of the English Royal coat-of-arms, without any change whatever. ”

“ By the help of coronets it is possible to fix the exact rank of the owner, and this alone, together with the date of the book, ought to make the identification easy, by help of a Peerage of the same date.
The decorations which surround a shield are often of great use; the coat-of-arms and coronet of an Earl, for instance, may be easily identified, but there may nevertheless be three or four persons who succeeded each other rapidly, and bore the same coat, to whom the book may have belonged. ”

“ Badges and charges on coats-of-arms have often developed into Supporters. Henry VIII., in 1528, borrowed one of the lions of England from his coat-of-arms and adopted him as a Dexter Supporter, a dignity he has retained ever since.
At Tournaments, before the combatants entered the Lists their banners and shields were displayed and held by retainers or pages. These serving-men were dressed in their Lord's livery or in some fancy dress. So that a Knight's shield would be recognised not only by the devices upon it, but also by the colours and appearance of its Supporter. ”

“ In England they are not mentioned in grants of arms, and very rarely in visitation books. Mottoes are not hereditary, but can be changed at the will of any armigerous person. Officers of arms will record mottoes by request, provided they do not infringe any existing rights.
In Scotland, however, mottoes are recognised officially; they are subject to grant, and their position with regard to the coat-of-arms or crest to which they belong is specified. Heraldic mottoes appear to have been used in England in the sixteenth century; they show on some of the Garter Plates at Windsor. ”

“ If a shield is divided by an angular line in a gable form, the two lowest lines of a division per Saltire, it is called per Chevron, and if this line is thickened so as to become a charge, it is called a Chevron.
When a third part of the top of a shield is marked off by a horizontal line it forms what is called a Chief, and when the top left-hand corner is marked off as a small square, measuring about a third of the chief, it is called a Canton, and is often an honourable augmentation to a coat-of-arms, granted for some distinguished service. ”

“ Through all his many political troubles, Harley continued the collection of manuscripts, which was his dearest hobby. He brought together many of the most famous collections, among them those of Sir Thomas Smith, Sir Symonds D'Ewes, and the Earl of Stamford. In the Harleian Library were about six thousand volumes of manuscripts, as well as about fifteen thousand separate rolls and charters, and this collection was largely added to by the second Earl. The entire collection was purchased by Parliament in 1753, and is now in the British Museum. ”

“ Prince Henry (born 28th June 1491, died 28th January 1547) was the second son of Henry VII., and in 1509 succeeded his father on the throne of England. Henry VIII. always lived in much luxury and loved finery and splendour, and to a certain extent this feeling shows in the many beautiful bindings which were made for him. The King was certainly fond of his books, and he had several of them beautifully bound in velvet and embroidered with pearls and inlays of coloured silks and satins, finished with gold thread. Others are of gold, richly worked and enamelled. ”

“ A Viscount is a Vicecomes, or deputy for a Count or Earl. The Earls have retained their Saxon name, but the Viscount has kept the Norman equivalent of their rank as Sheriffs. Both the Earl and his Viscount were originally county officials. Since 1441 the title has been one of hereditary rank. The first English Viscount was John, Viscount Beaumont, so created by Henry VI. The first English Viscount to wear a coronet was Robert, Lord Cecil of Effingdon, who was created [Pg 19] Viscount Cranbourn by James I. in 1605, and his coronet was essentially the same as is now used. ”

“ When a man quarters the coat-of-arms of an ancestral heiress, he has also the right to use the crest belonging to it. The right of bearing a crest, although not allowed to ladies, seems to be latent in them, as it can be inherited through them, if heiresses, by their male descendants. ”

“ But in ordinary English usage it is usual [Pg 9] only to use one crest, except in the case of an assumption by Royal Licence of an additional surname, coat-of-arms, and crest. In German heraldry such quartered coats are usually accompanied by all their respective crests, which are placed along the top of the coat in an arched line, each on its proper helmet, and all facing inwards.
Distinctive personal marks on English shields are few; the commonest is the Ulster hand which is used as an augmentation by Baronets. The rank of Baronet, which is hereditary, was instituted by James I. in 1611. ”

“ But round such a coat perhaps there is the Garter, or the collar of the Bath, or the insignia of some other order, and this will very likely decide which Earl was the actual owner.
The date of the printing of a book is of some use, if everything else fails, but it must be understood that as a rule it only means that the binding belonged to somebody at a later date. Even that is not quite certain, because [Pg 4] old stamped bindings have too often been transferred to newer books. ”

“ The feathers in the Prince of Wales's plume are always impressed in silver, which has now oxidised black. Prince Henry's library came to the British Museum with the rest of the Old Royal Library of England in 1757. ”

“ In the same way a red scarf tied from top to bottom of an iron shield would become heraldically "sa., a pale gu." and so on. There are now proper proportions for all these charges, but in practice they are not strictly adhered to.
A large number of coats are not divided up at all, but are simply charged with bearings that may be easily identified if the colours are known; such coats have frequently animal forms upon them, a Lion rampant or an Eagle displayed, or more than one animal arranged in a certain order. ”

“ The heraldic lines, dots, and furs should be learnt, as they must be understood and are continually met with in heraldic works of late date. The tincture lines do not show on English Royal book-stamps until the time of George II., and on earlier book-stamps the want of any indication of colour is a great element of doubt in the attribution of coats-of-arms to particular persons, in the absence of assistance from marks outside the shields, coronets, helmets, crests, and the like. ”

“ Thomas Smythe (born c. 1599, died 30th June 1635) was the son of Sir John Smythe of Ostenhanger and Ashford, High Sheriff of Kent in 1600. Thomas Smythe inherited a considerable fortune from his father, who was a son of Thomas Smythe, Farmer of the Customs to Queen Elizabeth, his mother being Alice Judd, daughter of Sir Andrew Judd, Lord Mayor of London and founder of Tunbridge School. In 1625, at the coronation of Charles I., Thomas Smythe was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath, and three years later he was created Viscount of Strangford. ”

“ Queen Mary was very intellectual and a notable linguist. Many of her books are bound in black and have black edges. This is supposed to have been intended as a mark of mourning for her first husband. Mary's only son, James VI., succeeded to the throne of England on the death of Queen Elizabeth in 1603, his title in England being James I.
The present official coat-of-arms of Scotland is, quarterly:
1st and 4th, Scotland. ”

“ At the coronation of Edward VII., the official description of a Viscount's coronet is "of silver gilt and on the circle sixteen silver balls." Pictorially nine of these silver balls are shown.
The Barons are probably the modern representatives of the ancient Saxon Thanes. It is an old Norman name for the Thane, and it is found often enough in ancient documents. Guillim says that citizens of London were called "Barons Londonni," and in Domesday there is mention of Barons of Warwick. There were Barons of the Exchequer, and there are still the Barons of the Cinque Ports. ”

“ He was educated at Eton and Cambridge, and as a young man studied law. For a time Mr. Walpole served in the office of the Exchequer, and represented Callington, Castle Rising, and King's Lynn in Parliament, where the chief thing he did seems to have been that he exerted himself to save the life of Admiral Byng.
In 1792 Mr. Walpole succeeded his nephew George in the Earldom, but never took his seat in the House of Lords. On his death without heirs most of his titles became extinct, but the Barony of Walpole devolved on his cousin Horatio. ”

“ Supporters were regularly used by persons of high rank from early in the fifteenth century; they carry on them any marks of cadency which may be on the shield to which they belong. The right to use Supporters depends upon the wording of the grant of Arms concerned. ”

“ A Basilisk is a cockatrice with its tail ending in a dragon's head.
A Lion shows one eye, one ear, and stands upon one foot, rampant. He has a mane, and his tail has a tuft at the end, and he shows no spots. If a lion is otherwise depicted it must be mentioned in the blazon. ”

“ The rules, however, for such marshalling are well known and logical. A very good summary of this important part of a herald's duty can be found in Mr. A. C. Fox Davies's Art of Heraldry, in the chapter on Marshalling. A coat-of-arms is, however, sometimes found with many quarterings which only show the successive alliances, but in such a case the facts should always be stated. In default of such explanation the existence of the proper heraldic heiress rights must always be presumed. ”

“ On the tomb, at Windsor, of Charles Somerset, Earl of Worcester, who died about the middle of the sixteenth [Pg 18] century, is a coronet with nine trefoils, or leaves, of equal size, and his son Henry, Earl of Worcester (d. 1549) , on his tomb in the Parish Church at Chepstow, shows a coronet of leaves and pearls, all on short pyramidal stems, rising from the circlet. ”

“ The old coat, France and England quarterly, which had practically been in use ever since the time of Edward III., now became only a quartering, and was shown in the first and fourth quarters, then in the second quarter James put the ancient coat-of-arms of Scotland, or, a lion rampant, within a double tressure flory counterflory gu.
The lion appears for the first time on the shield of Alexander II., and it is supposed to have been derived from the ancestors of the Scottish kings, the Earls of Northumberland and of Huntingdon, whose device it was. ”

“ On the Great Seal of Richard I., on the equestrian side, a cocks [Pg 26] comb crest shows on the King's helmet, with a lion of England on the flat base of it. The whole coat-of-arms sometimes shows on the Fan crest, as it does in the crest of the City of London. The original Fan, however, in this instance, has become curiously modified into the shape of a dragon's wing.
Crests are carried on some sort of support; those usually found are one or other of the following:—
On a crest-chapeau, the old cap of maintenance, dignity, or of estate. ”

“ Clayton Cracherode was educated at Westminster and Christchurch, Oxford, and was a Fellow of the Royal Society, and of the Society of Antiquaries, and a Trustee of the British Museum. He was ordained shortly after leaving Oxford. On the death of his father, Mr. Cracherode became [Pg 135] a rich man, and spent his fortune freely in collecting choice books, bindings, drawings, prints, coins, and gems, always getting the finest examples procurable. ”

“ In Scotland ancient usage is allowed to be a good cause for using Supporters.
Supporters have at present no defined status, they indicate no rank; but the tendency now is to restrict their use, and it is quite probable that some day they will become actual evidences of Peerage rank, as they probably originally were. No list of English Heraldic Supporters has yet been published. ”

“ A Prince of Wales's triple ostrich plume, commonly used as a corner stamp, all impressed in silver.
[Alunno. Della Fabrica del Mondo. Venetia, 1575.]
A Prince of Wales's triple ostrich plume; the coronet, ribs of feathers, and motto generally impressed in gold, the feathers in silver. Used mostly as a centre stamp.
[Lipsius. Admiranda. Antverpiae, 1599.]
[Pg 226]
A Badge of a lion rampant guardant, with princely coronet, always impressed entirely in gold. ”