| No. 390.— Secretum of Robert Bruce, Earl of Carrick; A.D. 1296. | No. 391.— Seal of Sir Walter de Hungerford, K.G., A.D. 1425. |
Examples of Badges, such as are distinctive, and consequently of the class that I have first described. The Badges of Percy are a silver crescent and a double manacle: of Howard, a white lion: Pelham, a buckle: Douglas, a red heart: Scrope, a Cornish chough: Clinton, a golden mullet: Talbot, a hound: Bohun, a white swan: Hungerford, a sickle: Peverel, a garb: Stourton, a golden “drag” or sledge. The various “Knots,” described and illustrated in [Chapter X.], Nos. [219], [235], [263], [270], [274], [304], [and 313], are Badges. The bear and ragged staff of the Beauchamps, and, after them, of the Nevilles and Dudleys, I have already noticed. Seals frequently have Badges introduced upon them, in very early times, by themselves, the Badge in each case constituting the device of the Seal (see [p. 193]). The Secretum or private Seal of Robert Bruce, Earl of Carrick, the father of the King, appended to the homage-deed extorted by Edward I. from the Scottish nobles, is a good example, No. 390: this is another of Mr. Laing’s beautiful woodcuts. Badges also constantly appear upon Seals in association with Shields of arms. Thus, a Seal of one of the Berkeleys, A.D. 1430, has a mermaid on each side of an armorial shield. Two other examples of this kind I have already given: No. 318, the Seal of Joan de Barre, which is charged with the castle and lion of Castile and Leon, as Badges: and [No. 321], the Seal of Oliver de Bohun, charged, about the Shield, with the Bohun Swan. On his Seal, No. 391, Sir Walter de Hungerford, K.G., Lord of Heytesbury and Homet (the latter a Norman barony), displays his own Badge, the sickle, in happy alliance with the garb of Peverel (borne by him in right of his wife, Catherine, daughter and co-heir of Thomas Peverel), to form his Crest. The Crest, it will be observed, in No. 391, is a garb between two sickles. The Shield of Hungerford only—sa. two bars arg., and in chief three plates, is also placed between two sickles. Two banners, denoting important alliances, complete the Heraldry of this remarkable composition: the banner to the dexter, for Heytesbury, bears—per pale indented gu. and vert., a chevron or; and that to the sinister, for Hussy—barry of six erm. and gu. Lord Hungerford died in 1449, and was succeeded by his eldest surviving son, Sir Robert de Hungerford. The Seal of this Sir Robert, used by him during the lifetime of his father, precisely the same in its heraldic composition as his father’s Seal, is remarkable from having each of its four sickles differenced with an ermine-spot upon the blade, to mark Cadency; and also, with the same motive, it shows that a label of three points was charged upon the Shield, and upon each of the two banners; No. 392.
No. 392.— Seal of Sir Robert de Hungerford: before A.D. 1449.
Through an alliance with the Hungerfords, sickles were borne, as one of their Badges, by the great family of Courtenay. They appear, with a dolphin, a tau cross, and this same tau-cross having a bell attached to it, as in No. 393, sculptured on the fine heraldic chimney-piece, the work of Bishop Peter de Courtenay (died in 1492), now in the hall of the Episcopal Palace at Exeter.
No. 393.
A Courtenay Badge,
at Exeter.
The Badges of our early Heraldry are comparatively but little understood. They invite the particular attention of students, both from their own special interest, and the light they are qualified to throw upon the personal history of the English people, and also from their peculiar applicability for use by ourselves at the present day. Indeed, at this time, when the revival of true Heraldry is in the act of being accomplished with complete success, it appears to be peculiarly desirable that Badges should be brought into general use. It is not enough for us to revive our old English Heraldry as once in the olden time it flourished in England, and to rest content with such a revival: but we must go on to adapt our revived Heraldry, in its own spirit and in full sympathy with its genuine feeling, to conditions of our age and of the state of things now in existence. And very much may be done to effect this by the adoption of Badges, as our favourite and most expressive heraldic insignia, both in connection with Coat-Armour and for independent display. Unlike Crests, which must necessarily be associated with helms and the wearers of helms, and consequently have both a military and a mediæval character, Badges are equally appropriate for use by Ladies, as well as by men of every profession, and they belong alike to every age and period. This has been recognised officially, to the extent that the officers of arms have now reverted to the ancient practice of granting and confirming badges and Standards.