Two Lions rampant, when face to face, are Counter rampant, or Combatant: when back to back, they are Addorsed: when passant or salient in contrary directions, they are Counter passant or Counter salient.
Lions, whatever their tincture, except it be red, or they are charged on a field of that tincture, are armed and langued gules; but azure in the case of either of these exceptions, unless the contrary be specified in the blazon. When several Lions appear in one composition, or when they are drawn to a comparatively very small scale, they are sometimes blazoned as “Lioncels.” This term “Lioncel,” it must be added, when used alone, denotes a small Lion rampant.
| No. 183.— Lion’s Head. | No. 184.— Lion’s Face. | No. 185.— Lion’s Jambe. |
A Lion’s head is a Charge: it may be erased, as in No. 183; or cut off smooth, when it is couped. A Lion’s face also is a Charge, No. 184; so is his jambe or paw, No. 185. A demi-lion rampant is the upper half of his body and the extremity of his tufted tail, as in No. 186.
| No. 186.— Demi-Lion Rampant. | No. 187.— England. |
The Lions of England are golden Lions leopardé, three in number, placed one above the other on a red Shield. They are blazoned—Gu., three Lions pass. guard., in pale, or, No. 187.
A Lion in this attitude, of this tincture, and on a field gules, may be blazoned as a “Lion of England.” These three Lions first appear upon the second Great Seal of Richard I., A.D. 1194, on the Shield of the King, No. 188. An earlier Seal, used by Prince John before his brother’s accession, has a Shield charged with two Lions only, and they are passant, No. 189. The first Great Seal of the lion-hearted King has a Shield, bowed in its contour, and charged with a single Lion rampant facing to the sinister, or counter-rampant, No. 190; and it has been conjectured that, were the whole face of this Shield visible, a second Lion rampant facing to the dexter would appear, thus charging the Shield with two Lions combattant; this, however, is a conjecture which is not supported by the authority of many Shields of the same form. A red Shield charged with two golden Lions passant guardant in pale ([No. 22]), and therefore closely resembling No. 189, as I have already shown, has been assigned to William I., and his two sons and his grandson, William II., Henry I., and Stephen. The Shield bearing the three Lions, No. 187, has been assigned to Henry II., but it first makes its appearance on the Great Seal of his son. The probability is that up to this period the device was simply a lion, indeterminate in position or numbers. This same Shield has continued, from the time of Richard I., to display the Royal Arms of the Realm of England: how, in the course of ages, these Arms become grouped with other insignia, I shall presently have to show.
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No. 188. Richard I.— 2nd Gt. Seal. |
No. 189. Prince John.— Seal. |
No. 190. Richard I.— 1st Gt. Seal. |
The Lion passant is carefully distinguished in the earliest Rolls as a different Charge from the Lion passant guardant. Thus (H. 3), for Hamon le Strange—Gu., two Lions passant arg., No. 191; and for John Giffard—Gu., three Lions pass. arg., No. 192: for Sir Nicholas Carew (E. 2),—Or, three Lions pass. sa.
| No. 191.— Le Strange. | No. 192.— Giffard. | No. 193.— Mowbray. |