No. 316.— Seal of Margaret, Queen of Edward I.
The obverse of the Seal of Margaret, daughter of Philip the Hardy, King of France, the second Queen of our Edward I., illustrates this usage in the instance of ladies: No. 316. Upon her tunic the Queen has emblazoned the three lions of her royal husband; on her right side is a shield of France, the arms of her royal father; and on the left side a corresponding shield is charged with a lion rampant. I have already shown the reverse of this fine Seal ([No. 251]), which in the original is one inch more in depth than it appears in these woodcuts.[5] Other characteristic examples are the Seals of Agnes de Percy, whose effigy, having the arms of Louvaine upon the tunic, holds two armorial shields, one in each hand: and of Margaret, Countess of Lincoln and Pembroke (about 1241), who blazons the old arms of De Laci—quarterly or and gu., a bend sa., over all a label vert—upon the tunic of her effigy, and has the same arms on a Shield to the dexter, while another Shield to the sinister is charged with the lion rampant, borne by the De Lacies as Earls of Lincoln. The effigies of illustrious Ladies, which appear on Seals with allied Shields of arms, are not always represented in heraldic costume: good examples are the Seals of Isabelle of France, Queen of Edward II., and of Elizabeth, daughter of Edward I., who was Countess, first of Holland, and afterwards of Hereford: both are engraved in Sandford’s “Genealogical History of England,” page 121.
No. 317.— Seal of Margaret,
Lady de Ros. (Laing.)
The Seal of Margaret Bruce, of Skelton, Lady de Ros, attached to a deed, dated 1820, has the effigy of the noble lady, wearing her ermine mantle, and supporting two Shields of arms—the Shield of De Ros, gu., three water-bougets arg., to the dexter, and a Shield of Bruce, a lion rampant: No. 317. I am indebted, for the use of the excellent woodcut of this very interesting seal, to Mr. Laing of Edinburgh, the talented author of the two noble volumes on the Early Seals of Scotland, which occupy a foremost position amongst the most valuable as well as the most beautiful heraldic works that have ever been published in Great Britain. (See [page 11].) In the Monumental Brasses and also in the Sculptured Monumental Effigies of Ladies of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, heraldic costume is frequently represented, and the figures are constantly associated with groups of Shields of arms. As most characteristic examples I may specify the effigy of a Lady, about A.D. 1325, at Selby in Yorkshire; and the Brass in Westminster Abbey, A.D. 1399, to Alianore de Bohun, Duchess of Gloucester.
No. 318.— Seal of Joan, Countess of Surrey.