No. 366.— Earl
of Chester.
Upon his Seal, Ranulph de Blondeville, Earl of Chester (died in 1232) bears three garbs or wheat-sheaves; and Rolls of Arms of the time of Henry III. blazon the Shield of the Earl of Chester as—Az., three garbs or, No. 366. This Shield has been assigned to the Earls of Chester to this day: and, in token of feudal alliance, from the middle of the thirteenth century, “one or more garbs,” in the words of Mr. Planché, “are seen in the majority of Coats belonging to the nobility and gentry of the County Palatine of Chester.” Thus, since the year 1390, the arms of Grosvenor have been—Az., a garb or.
A cinquefoil, said to have been borne by him on a red Shield, was the device of Robert Fitz-Pernel, Earl of Leicester, who died in 1204. Accordingly, the cinquefoil, derived from him, as early as the thirteenth century, appears in token of feudal connection on the Shields of many families of Leicestershire. As I have already shown, ([page 183]) a Berkeley, who was of Leicestershire, substituted ten cinquefoils for the ten crosses patée of the Berkeley Shield; and thus he combined feudal Differencing with Cadency.
No. 367.— Fitz Ralph.
Many a red chevron or chevronel, with other devices, charged upon a golden field, or a gold chevron on a red field, is a sign of feudal alliance with the great house of De Clare, whose Shield was—Or, three chevronels gu., [No. 124]. For example, the Fitz-Ralphs, near neighbours of the De Clares at Clare in Suffolk, differenced the Shield of the Earls by charging silver fleurs de lys on each chevronel, as in No. 367 (E. 2); and, for secondary difference, they sometimes added a bordure azure, as in the fine early Brass at Pebmarsh, near Clare. Again: by a change of tinctures, without affecting the charges of the Shield, the Arms of L’Ercedeckne (now Archdeacon) are—Arg., three chevronels sa.
At Carlaverock, Edmund de Hastings, brother of the Earl, bore—Or, a maunche gu., with a label of five points sa., the Earl himself bearing simply—Or, a maunche gu., [No. 276]. And, close by the side of Edmond de Hastings was his friend and companion, the feudal ally, without doubt, of his house, John Paignel, a very proper comrade, as the chronicler testifies—
“Un bacheler jolif et comté,”
who differenced Hastings by change of tinctures, and bore—Vert, a maunche or.