| No. 325.— Shield of Mayor of Winchelsea. | No. 326.— De Valence, dimidiating Claremont Nesle. |
To denote and record Alliance by Marriage, two distinct Coats were first marshalled upon a single Shield by Dimidiation. This process is accomplished in the following manner. The Shield to be charged with the two Coats in union is divided per pale, as in [No. 28]: on the dexter half the corresponding half, or generally somewhat more than that half, of the arms of the husband is marshalled: then, in like manner, the sinister half is charged with the corresponding portion of the arms of the wife. In the Shield, [No. 250], from another Seal of Queen Margaret, England dimidiates France ancient, Nos. [187] and [247]. This Dimidiation in most cases produces a singular effect; as in No. 325, a Shield from the Seal of the Mayor of Winchelsea, one of the famous Sussex Cinque Ports, which bears England dimidiating azure, three hulls of ships, in pale, or: here the dimidiated lions and ships appear to unite for the purpose of forming the most extravagant of compound monsters. The Seal of the Borough of Great Yarmouth substitutes three herrings, in allusion to the staple fishery of the port, for the ships, and dimidiates them with the national lions. In the central Shield of the Seal, [No. 319], I have shown De Valence dimidiating De Chastillon. In No. 326, from the monument of William de Valence, De Valence appears dimidiating the French Coat of Claremont Nesle—gu., semée of trefoils, two barbels haurient addorsed or: the Dimidiation here cuts off and removes one-half of the De Valence martlets and also one of the two barbels of Claremont.
No. 327.— Camoys,
impaling Mortimer.
The characteristic features of one or of both of the united Coats, as I have just shown, being commonly rendered indistinct and uncertain by Dimidiation, that form of marshalling was generally superseded by Impalement in the course of the third quarter of the fourteenth century. This process, at once simple and effectual, marshals the whole of the husband’s arms on the dexter half of a Shield divided per pale, as [No. 28]; and the whole of the arms of the wife on the sinister half of it. Such an impaled Shield is borne by a husband and wife during their conjoint lives; and should the wife become a widow, by her the impaled arms are borne during her widowhood charged upon a lozenge. The dexter half only—the husband’s arms—of an impaled Shield is hereditary. Fine examples of Shields that are both impaled and quartered, are preserved in the monuments of Edward III. and his Queen Philippa, in the Brass to Alianore de Bohun, and in the monument to Margaret Beaufort, all in Westminster Abbey. Other fine examples occur on the monument of Earl Richard Beauchamp, at Warwick. No. 327, from the Brass to Thomas, Lord Camoys, K.G., and his wife, Elizabeth Mortimer (the widow of Henry Hotspur), at Trotton, in Sussex, A.D. 1410, marshals Camoys—arg., on a chief gu. three plates, impaling Mortimer, [No. 131]. Again, at Warwick, the Brass to Earl Thomas de Beauchamp and his Countess, Margaret Ferrers of Groby, A.D. 1406, has a Shield of Beauchamp—gu., a fesse between six crosslets or, impaling Ferrers—gu., seven mascles, three three and one, or.
No. 328.— D’Aubigny, impaling Scotland.
It is to be observed that Bordures and Tressures, which are not affected by Quartering, are dimidiated by Impalement,—that is, that side of both a Bordure and a Tressure which adjoins the line of Impalement is generally removed: thus, one of the small Shields sculptured upon the canopy of the monument of Queen Mary Stuart, at Westminster, is charged with D’Aubigny impaling Scotland,—that is, az., three fleurs de lys or, within a bordure gu. charged with eight buckles gold, impaling [No. 138]. This Shield, represented in No. 328, has both the bordure on its dexter half, and the tressure on its sinister half, dimidiated by the impalement. There are other excellent examples of this partial dimidiating in the monuments of Margaret Tudor and Margaret Beaufort, in the same chapel of Westminster Abbey.