Various methods for thus marking Cadency were adopted, and accepted as satisfactory, in the early days of Heraldry. Of these I now shall describe and illustrate such as are most emphatic in themselves, and in their character most decidedly heraldic,—such also as most advantageously may be retained in use in our own Heraldry of the present time. It will be seen that the “Differences” which mark Cadency necessarily resolve themselves into two groups or classes: one, in which the “Difference” is temporary only in its significance and use,—as, when an eldest son, on the death of his father, succeeds to the position in the family which his father had held, he removes his Mark of Cadency as eldest son from his Shield, assumes the unmarked Shield as his father had borne it before him, and transfers to his own son the mark that previously had distinguished his Shield from that of his father. In the other group, the Marks of Cadency are more permanent, and consequently may become integral elements of the heraldic composition in which they appear: thus, the mark of Cadency which distinguishes any particular branch of a family, is borne alike by all the members of that branch, and in that branch it is transmitted from generation to generation.
More than one Mark of Cadency may be introduced into the same Coat of Arms; and, for the purpose of some form of secondary distinction, it is quite correct Heraldry to mark Marks of Cadency—to charge one variety of mark, that is, upon another.
| No. 336.— Eldest Sons of Edward I. and II. | No. 337.— Black Prince. |
The Label, Nos. [271], [272], is blazoned as a Mark of Cadency in the earliest Rolls of Arms, and it appears discharging this duty in the earliest examples. The Label is generally borne with three points, as in [No. 271]; frequently with five, as in [No. 272]; and occasionally with four or with more than five points. It is quite certain that no significance was formerly attached to the number of the points, the object in all cases being to make the Label distinctly visible, and to adjust the points to the general composition of the Shield. Labels are of various tinctures. Edward I., Edward II., and Edward III., each one during the lifetime of his father, bore the Shield of England, [No. 187], differenced with an azure label, sometimes of three points, as in No. 336, and sometimes having five points. Edward the Black Prince marked the Royal Shield of Edward III. with a label argent, as in No. 337; and a plain silver label has since been the Mark of Cadency of every succeeding heir-apparent to the English throne. The Label has been used in this manner by personages of all ranks who have borne arms, from the time of Henry III.; and examples abound in all the early Rolls of Arms, in Monuments, and upon Seals.
The Label, borne as a Mark of Cadency, was sometimes, particularly in the cases of junior members of the Royal Family, charged with other figures and devices, as differences of a secondary rank. Or, when it is thus charged, the charges upon a Label may be considered to be elements of the Label itself, in its capacity of a Mark of Cadency. Edmond, the first Earl of Lancaster, as I have already shown, [No. 249], differenced his father’s Arms of England with a Label of France, No. 338—an azure label, that is, charged with golden fleurs de lys, to denote his French alliance; and thus by the same process he was Marshalling and Marking Cadency. John of Ghent, Duke of Lancaster, differenced with an ermine Label, No. 339, derived from the ermine shield of Brittany ([No. 15]): and the Plantagenet Dukes of York charged each point of their silver Label with three torteaux, No. 340, which may be considered to have been derived from the shield of Wake ([No. 82]). In order to show them on a larger scale, the Labels in Nos. 338-343 are represented without the Shields on which they were charged. All these Shields would be repetitions of the same blazonry of France and England quarterly: Nos. [252] and [253].
| No. 338.— Lancaster. | No. 339.— Brittany. | No. 340.— York. |
The Label, with various Differences, has generally been the Royal Mark of Cadency; and now differenced silver Labels are borne, to mark Cadency, by every member of our Royal Family.
| No. 341. | No. 342. | No. 343. |
Like the points of Labels, the Charges blazoned on those points had no fixed or determinate numbers. That both the Labels and their Charges should be distinct and conspicuous, was the special object with which they were blazoned. Accordingly, in different examples of the same Label the number of the repetitions of the Charges sometimes is found to differ. At the same time, in the earliest examples of charged Labels, the repetitions of the Charges, while devoid of any special differencing aim or meaning, may be considered to have been suggested by the sources from which the Charges themselves were derived. For example: the Label of Lancaster, No. 338, of Earl Edmond, derived directly from the Shield of France ancient, [No. 247], with its field semée de lys, has three fleurs de lys upon each point, so that this Label has the appearance of being also semée de lys. Had it been derived from the Shield of France modern, [No. 248], charged with three fleurs de lys only, a single fleur de lys in all probability would have been blazoned on each of the three points of this same Label. Upon this principle the Label of Prince Lionel, Duke of Clarence, second son of Edward III., which is differenced with cantons gules, has a single canton on each point, as in No. 341, evidently because only a single canton can be blazoned on a Shield. The figures and devices that are charged for secondary difference upon Labels vary widely in their character; but, however difficult it now may be in very many instances to trace these differencing charges to their sources, and so to determine the motive which led to their adoption, there can be no doubt that originally they were chosen and adopted for the express purpose of denoting and recording some alliance or dependency. Some early Labels are of a compound character; that is, they are charged with two distinct groups of devices, which are at once divided and conjoined by impalement. Such a Label was borne by Prince Henry, son of John of Ghent, between the time of his father’s death and his own accession as Henry IV. (Feb. 3 to Sept. 30, 1399): it was a Label of five points per pale of Brittany and Lancaster, No. 342, being his father’s Label impaling that of his mother’s father. The second son of this Prince, Thomas Duke of Clarence, instead of adopting impalement, charged a red canton upon each point of an ermine Label, as in No. 343: while his brother, John Duke of Bedford, bore their father’s Label, No. 342.