Official Insignia sometimes become Marks of Cadency. Thus, John de Grandison, Bishop of Exeter (A.D. 1327-1369), on the bend in his paternal arms, [No. 89], substitutes a golden mitre for the central eaglet, as in No. 350. William Courtenay, Archbishop of Canterbury (A.D. 1381-1396), adopts a different course, and charges three golden mitres upon each point of the Label of Courtenay—Or, three torteaux, over all a label of three points az. charged on each point with as many mitres gold. And again, Henry le Despencer, Bishop of Norwich (A.D. 1370-1406), places about his paternal shield an azure bordure charged with eight golden mitres (see the largest shield in No. 351). On his official seal the canopied effigy of the Bishop stands between this, his personal Shield, and the Shield of his see—az., three mitres or: but his Secretum, or private seal, is much more interesting, as an heraldic image of the man himself. Haughty, fierce, cruel, and pugnacious, his career not less inglorious as a military commander than as a churchman, this Henry le Despencer, a grandson of the unhappy favourite of the no less hapless Edward II., was one of the war-loving prelates who occasionally appear sustaining a strange, and yet as it would seem a characteristic, part in the romantic drama of mediæval history. His Secretum, No. 351, displays his Shield of Despencer, differenced with his bordure of mitres, couché from a large mantled helm, surmounted by a mitre, in place of a crest-coronet, which supports the Despencer crest, a silver griffin’s head of ample size; on either side are the Shields of the see of Norwich, and of Ferrers (the Bishop’s mother was Anne, daughter of William Lord Ferrers of Groby)—Or, seven mascles, three three and one, gu.; the legend is, S . HENRICI . DESPENCER . NORWICENSIS . EPISCOPI.
| No. 350.— Bishop Grandison. | No. 351.— Secretum of Bishop le Despencer. |
No. 352.— Sir Fulk
Fitz Warin.
At an early period, Cadency was marked by adding a single small charge to the blazon of a Shield, or by charging some secondary device or figure upon any accessory of a Shield of arms. Such a Mark of Cadency as this, obtained from some allied Shield, and charged upon an ordinary or principal bearing, or occupying a conspicuous position in the general composition, was in high favour with the Heralds of both the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. From the early examples, which exist in great numbers and in as great variety, it will be sufficient for me to adduce only a few specimens—a single example, indeed, illustrates the system. The Shield of Ufford, in the Seal of Matilda of Lancaster, which I have already described ([No. 320]), is thus differenced with a single fleur de lys in the first quarter. Precisely in the same manner Sir Fulk Fitz Warin differences the Shield of the head of his house, [No. 17], by charging a mullet sable upon the first quarter, as in No. 352.
| No. 354. | No. 353.— Thomas le Scrope. | No. 355. |
Thomas le Scrope, on the other hand, for Cadency marks the golden bend upon his azure Shield, [No. 111], with an annulet sable, as in No. 353. Two members of the family of Beauchamp charge their golden fesse (see Nos. [346]-[349]), the one with a crescent sable, and the other with a pierced mullet of the same tincture: Nos. 354, 355. In like manner, in addition to various labels, the Nevilles charge no less than eight different small figures upon their silver saltire, [No. 121], to distinguish different members and branches of their powerful race: I give one of these Shields in No. 356, which was borne by George Neville, Lord Latimer, from the monument to Earl Richard de Beauchamp at Warwick—Gu., on a saltire arg. a gimmel-ring az.: another differenced shield of Neville, No. 357, has a cinquefoil charged on the saltire: a third example from this group I have already given, [No. 122], differenced with a rose: this shield, [No. 122], is now borne by the Earl of Abergavenny. Once more: Sir William de Brewys (E. 2) bears—Az., crusilée and a lion rampt. or, No. 358, which coat another Sir William de Brewys differences, to distinguish himself from his kinsman, while at the same time declaring their near relationship, by simply charging a red fleur de lys upon his lion’s shoulder.
| No. 356.— Lord Latimer. | No. 358.— Sir William de Brewys. | No. 357.— Neville. |
Differences of Illegitimacy, which rightly and indeed necessarily are included under the general head of “Cadency,” do not appear at any time to have assumed a definite or decided character, and yet they bring before the student of Heraldry much curious matter for inquiry and investigation. Early in the true heraldic era illegitimate sons are found to have differenced their paternal arms, as other sons lawfully born might have done: and it does not appear that any peculiar methods of differencing were adopted, palpably for the purpose of denoting illegitimacy of birth, before the fourteenth century had drawn near to its close. And even then, if any express heraldic rule on this point ever was framed, which is very doubtful, it certainly was never observed with any care or regularity.