| No. 399.— In the Abbey Church of St. Alban. | No. 400.— In Exeter Cathedral. |
The Ostrich Feathers were borne, as a Badge with his Shield of Arms, upon one Seal of Edward III. himself: they were used, as an heraldic device, about the year 1370, by Philippa, his Queen: they appear on some, but not on all, the Seals of the Black Prince, and they are omitted from some of his Seals after the battle of Cressi (A.D. 1346): and they were also borne, generally with some slight difference, marking Cadency, in all probability by all the other sons of Edward III.—certainly by John of Ghent, Duke of Lancaster, and by Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester. They were adopted by Richard II., and placed on either side of his crested Helm in the heraldic sculpture of Westminster Hall, as appears in two of these beautiful examples, Nos. [199] and [384]: by this Prince the Ostrich Feathers were placed on his first Royal Seal, and they were habitually used for decoration and heraldic display; and they also were formally granted by him, as a mark of especial favour, to be borne as an Augmentation of the highest honour, to his cousin Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk. The Ostrich Feathers were borne, in like manner, by the succeeding Princes, both Lancastrian and Yorkist: by at least two of the Beauforts: by the Princes of the House of Tudor: and by their successors the Stuarts. Thus, it is certain that the Ostrich Feathers were held to be a Royal Badge, from the time of their first appearance in the Heraldry of England about the middle of the fourteenth century; and that in that character they were adopted and borne by the successive Sovereigns, and by the Princes, sometimes also by the Princesses (as in the instance of a Seal of Margaret Beaufort, the mother of Henry VII.), of the Royal Houses, without any other distinction than some slight mark of Cadency, and without the slightest trace of any peculiar association with any one member of the Royal Family. From the time of the accession of the House of Stuart to the Crown of the United Kingdom, however, the coroneted plume of three Ostrich Feathers appears to have been regarded, as it is at this present day, as the special Badge of the Heir to the Throne.
In accordance with the express provision of his will, two armorial Shields are displayed upon the monument of the Black Prince in Canterbury Cathedral, which Shields the Prince himself distinguishes as his Shields “for War” and “for Peace”; the former charged with his quartered arms of France and England differenced with his silver Label, [No. 337]; and the latter, sable, charged with three Ostrich Feathers argent, their quills passing through scrolls bearing the Motto, “Ich Diene” No. 401. The same motto is placed over each of the Shields that are charged with the Feathers, as in No. 401: and over each Shield charged with the quartered arms (there are on each side of the tomb six Shields, three of the Arms, and three of the Feathers, alternately) is the other motto of the Prince, “Houmout.” In his will, the Black Prince also desired that a “black Pennon with Ostrich Feathers” should be displayed at his Funeral; and he further appointed that his Chapel in Canterbury Cathedral should be adorned in various places with his Arms, and “likewise with our Badge of Ostrich Feathers—noz bages dez plumes d’ostruce.”
No. 401.— Shield “for Peace” of the Black Prince.
The will of the Black Prince proves the Feathers to have been a Badge, and not either a Crest or the ensign of a Shield of Arms, since twice he expressly calls them “our Badge”: and it also is directly opposed to the traditional warlike origin and military character of the Feathers, as a Badge of the Black Prince, for it particularly specifies the peaceful significance of this Badge, and distinguishes it from the insignia that were worn and displayed by the Prince when he was equipped for war. The Mottoes “Ich Diene” and “Houmout” are old German, and they signify, “I serve,” and “magnanimous.” It has been suggested by Mr. Planché, that “Houmout” is Flemish, and that the three words really form a single Motto, signifying, “Magnanimous, I serve,” that is, “I obey the dictates of magnanimity” (Archæologia, xxxii. 69).
| No. 402.— From the Seal of King Henry IV. | No. 403.— From the Seal of Thomas, Duke of Gloucester. | No. 404.— From the Garter-Plate of John Beaufort, K.G. |
Upon a very remarkable Seal, used by Henry IV. a short time before his accession, the shield with helm and crest are placed between two tall Feathers, about each of which is entwined a Garter charged with his favourite and significant Motto—the word SOVEREYGNE, as in No. 402. His father, Prince John of Ghent, placed a chain upon the quills of his Feathers, as in the very curious boss in the cloisters at Canterbury. The uncle of Henry IV., Thomas, Duke of Gloucester, on one of his Seals, differenced his two Feathers with Garters (probably of the Order) displayed along their quills, as in No. 403. And, about A.D. 1440, John Beaufort, K.G., Duke of Somerset, on his Garter-plate placed two Ostrich Feathers erect, their quills componée argent and azure, and fixed in golden escrolls; No. 404. In the Harleian MS. 304, f. 12, it is stated that the Ostrich Feather of silver, the pen thus componée argent and azure, “is the Duke of Somerset’s”: also that the “Feather silver, with the pen gold, is the King’s: the Ostrich Feather, pen and all silver, is the Prince’s: and the Ostrich Feather gold, the pen ermine, is the Duke of Lancaster’s.”
The Shield charged with three Ostrich Feathers, [No. 401], was borne by Prince John of Ghent; and it appears on the splendid Great Seal of Henry IV., between the Shields of the Duchy of Cornwall and the Earldom of Chester. Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, is also recorded to have borne this same Feather Shield.