Supporter (heraldry)

“ Many foreign shields, and ancient English ones also, show only one Supporter, and it is likely enough that when pictorial heraldry began generally to show Supporters, a second Supporter was often added for the sake of uniformity alone. ”

“ In the best period of French heraldry, supporters were less frequently found than in British heraldry, and it was a rule, or a tradition, that, as marking the divine right of kings, only members of the royal family of France should carry angels as supporters. They were, however, assumed by the illegitimate descendants of the kings, who carried the royal arms with the usual differences. ”

“ At first and for a considerable time the proportion of supporters to the arms was very satisfactory, being bold without over emphasis, but during the sixteenth and following centuries, a tendency to increase their size was felt, and it is in this respect that modern sculptured heraldry is lacking in balance, for to over-accentuate the supporters is necessarily to minimize the arms, and so divert interest from the central motive. ”

“ The world-wide existence and remote antiquity of heraldic insignia—before heraldry emerged from its infancy, and developed into a science—is an established fact. To enter exhaustively into this branch of my subject, its historic and artistic interest, and valuable practical uses; its institution by Divine ordinance; together with its various accessories—comprising war-cries, badges, mottoes, seals, and devices—would demand far more space than could be allocated in a weekly magazine. ”

“ SUPPORTERS are figures standing on the scroll, placed on each side of the shield as if to support it. Supporters in English Heraldry are granted only to persons included in the rank of nobility or to knights banneret by favour of the sovereign. ”

“ Arms and supporters, a dragon and a greyhound, of King Henry VII in King's college chapel at Cambridge.
Besides the more or less regular use of supporters just described, there are a number of curious and irregular ways of supporting shields. These deserve special attention, not only from their value in showing how delightfully heraldry used to be played with, but as precedents for similar variety of treatment at the present day, when supporters so-called often do not support anything. ”

“ A crest is never used with a mitre or ecclesiastical hat. Many writers deny the right of any ecclesiastic to a crest. Some deny the right also to use a motto, but this restriction has no general acceptance.
Therefore ecclesiastical heraldry in Britain is summed up in (1) its recognition of the cardinal's hat, (2) the official coat of arms for ecclesiastical purposes, (3) the ensigns of ecclesiastical rank above alluded to, viz. mitre, cross, and crosier. ”

“ In the stately ceremonial of the tournament, helm and crest played no less distinguished a part than the shield, for those military sports which took so firm a hold on the vigorous tastes of mediaeval chivalry were accompanied by brilliant ceremonial, in which heraldry found its widest field of display in all kinds of sumptuous application to the dress and decoration of the scene. ”

“ Nothing is more fascinating in the study of heraldry than the cunning fashion in which it tells the history either of a single individual or of a family, of an institution, [pg 9] or of a city—sometimes even of an empire—all within the space of one small shield, by using the signs which compose its language. It is astounding how much information can be conveyed by the skilful arrangement of these signs to those who can interpret them.
For armorial bearings were not originally adopted for ornament, but to give real information, about those who bore them. ”

“ Too great freedom of natural treatment is not desirable, for it is out of harmony with the especial decorative quality of heraldry, so that one objects to the natural animal supporters that characterized the illustrations of the eighteenth century, prowling from behind the shields, not as heraldic error, but as wanting in dignity as decorative design. ”

“ They had a sort of heraldry; that is, decorative art used for symbolic and social purposes; each sailing the Nile under its own ensign representing some bird or animal. Heraldry involves two things of enormous importance to normal humanity; the combination of the two making that noble thing called co-operation; on which rest all peasantries and peoples that are free. The art of heraldry means independence; an image chosen by the imagination to express the individuality. The science of heraldry means interdependence ”

“ Whether that style and type can be considered when judged by the canons of art to be good or bad, there can be no doubt that each style in its turn has approximated to, and has been in keeping with, the concurrent decorative art outside and beyond heraldry, though it has always exhibited a tendency to rather lag behind. When all has been said and done that can be, heraldry, in spite of its symbolism and its many other meanings, remains but a form of decorative art ”

“ The subject of the origin of supporters has been very ably dealt with in "A Treatise on Heraldry" by Woodward and Burnett, and with all due acknowledgment I take from that work the subjoined extract:—
"Supporters are figures of living creatures placed at the side or sides of an armorial shield, and appearing to support it. French writers make a distinction, giving the name of Supports to animals, real or imaginary, thus employed; while human figures or angels similarly used are called Tenants. ”

“ In one instance, at least, the arms of Her late Majesty Queen Victoria were drawn on a lozenge, in spite of the undoubted fact that “the Royal state is masculine.” It is also for this reason that a Crest is borne by the Sovereign even when a lady occupies that exalted position.
The immense scope that is afforded by the variety of shield shapes is extremely valuable in adapting heraldry to general design, in fitting a shield to its space, in adapting it to its bearings, and in bringing its lines into proper relation to those of accompanying figures or ornament. ”

“ But the heraldry of mankind is a boundless theme, and we might by simple beat of drum heraldic collect almost a countless host of crests, badges, and quarterings truly emblematical, and adopted and intended to point out peculiarities or remarkable events and fancies in the histories of the coat-armour families of the world. ”

“ In {427}my opinion the common-sense rule is that the chief armorial dignities should follow the more substantial rights and dignities of the family. If the heir male succeed to the title and estates, I think it reasonable that he should also succeed to the armorial bearings of the head of the house. I would think it a very difficult proposition to establish that the heir of line, when denuded of everything else, was still entitled to retain the barren honours of heraldry. ”

“ The ignobiles were not permitted to use any image, and therefore stood upon an equality with modern plebeians, who bear no arms but the two assigned them by the heraldry of nature.
The patricians of our day to a certain extent carry out the jus imaginum of antiquity, only substituting painted canvas for sculptured marble or modelled wax; and there is no sight [Pg 14] better calculated to inspire respect for dignity of station than the gallery of some antient hall hung with a long series of family portraits ”

“ There is nothing to distinguish the supporters of a peer from those of a Knight Grand Cross. Baronets of England, Ireland, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom as such are not entitled to claim grants of supporters, but there are some number of cases in which, by special favour of the sovereign, specific Royal Warrants have been issued—either as marks of favour or as augmentations of honour—conveying the pleasure of the sovereign to the kings of arms, and directing the latter to grant supporters—to descend with the baronetcy. ”

“ That is a reference to the fact that arms and crests ceased to be painted upon shields or erected upon helmets that enjoyed actual use in battle and tournament. Those who are so ready to decry modern heraldry forget that from its very earliest existence heraldry has always had the same significance as a symbol of rank and social position which it now enjoys and which remains undiminished in extent, though doubtless less potent in effect. ”

“ Dallaway describes it as “a continued dialogue, alternately supported by six interlocutors, who discuss the original principles of nobility 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 classic in heraldry will not be denied. ”

“ No one who has had occasion to examine any series of old wills and inventories, especially those of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, can fail to have noticed what a large part was played by heraldry in the household effects of our forefathers. ”

“ Victorian heraldic artists, ignorant alike of the actual and the ceremonial, reduced the size even further, and until the recent revulsion in heraldic art, with its reversion to older types, and its copying of older examples, the helmets of heraldry had reached the uttermost limits of absurdity. ”

“ Heraldic emblazonment was plentifully strewed over the mantles of the nobility when they assembled on state solemnities. Nor was this ornament confined to the garments of males. Ladies delighted to appear in the cognizances of their lords, or in their own paternal bearings. Armourists that have amused themselves by treating on the curious and obsolete terms of heraldry, have supposed that the flanch and flasque represent that part of female attire which covered the body from the lower part of the neck to the waist, and that this part of the ladies' dress contained the heraldic bearing. ”

“ Crested supporters have sometimes been misunderstood, and quoted as instances of double supporters—for instance, by Lower, "Curiosities of Heraldry," who gives (p. 144) a cut from the achievement of the French D'Albrets as "the most singular supporters, perhaps, in the whole circle of heraldry." These supporters are two lions couchant (or) , each helmed, and crested with an eagle au vol leve. These eagles certainly assist in holding the shield, but the lions are its true supporters ”

“ The romantic associations that embroidered heraldry call to mind, of fair fingers working the devices on battle flags and on knightly surcoats, render it a subject of the utmost fascination, and although its adequate treatment would demand more space than can be devoted to it here, it will still be possible to refer in some measure to an art that, like the heraldry it embodied, touched in one way or another all the life of the Middle Ages and has transmitted no little of its beauty and charm to the work of our own time. ”

“ Without even suggesting now to our Ladies any revival of heraldic costume, properly so called—such as dresses, mantles, or shawls emblazoned with the bearings of armorial shields—I certainly do desire to see Heraldry exercising a powerful influence in all designs for personal ornaments, the works of the goldsmith and the jeweller more especially. ”

“ In heraldic representations it is usual to ignore the specified number of links in the collar. A Knight of the Garter as such is entitled to claim the privilege of a grant of supporters, but as nowadays the order is reserved for those of the rank of earl and upwards, supporters will always have a prior existence in connection with the peerage.
Knights of the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle are entitled to surround their arms with a plain circle of green edged with gold and bearing the motto in gold letters, "Nemo me impune lacessit." ”

“ The older writers were striving, consciously or unconsciously, to reconcile the disgrace of illegitimacy, which they knew, with heraldic facts which they also knew, and to reconcile in certain prominent families undoubted illegitimacy with unmarked arms, the probability being that their sense of justice and regard for heraldry prompted them to the remark that some other mark of distinction ought to be added, whilst all the time they knew it never was. ”

“ The real spirit of heraldry consisted, therefore, and must always consist, in distinguishing one person from another, and in expressing his individual sentiments; and as the adoption of some device is both an elegant exercise of the fancy, and acts as a kind of memento to the conscience, tending to keep us to what we profess, people who have no certain arms of their own, or who do not care for them if they have, might not ungracefully or even uselessly entertain themselves with doing, in their own persons, what the old assumers of arms did in theirs ”

“ In royal bindings at all times heraldry has played an important part, but from the middle of the sixteenth century onwards it plays an equally important part on bindings made for ordinary armigerous people. ”

“ Another fruitful origin of the use of unauthorised supporters at the present day lies in the fact that grants of supporters personal to the grantee for his life only have been made to Knights Grand Cross or to life peers in cases where a hereditary title has been subsequently conferred. The limitations of the grant of supporters having never been extended, the grant has naturally expired with the death of the life honour to which the supporters were attached. ”