There is another species of supporter, the use of which seems to have been almost restricted to the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and which is seldom noticed in our books of heraldry. The arms are represented upon a banner, the staff of which is supported by an animal in a rampant, or, more usually, in a sejant, posture. The arms of Sir Roger Fynes, Treasurer of the Household to Henry VI, are thus represented over the great gate of Hurstmonceux castle, built by him. The supporter is the alaunt, or wolf-dog,[178] and the scroll round the pole seems to have contained a motto, which is now illegible.

Some very singular supporters occur in French heraldry. Under the ancien régime the arms of most of the great officers of state were supported by ensigns emblematical of their various duties; for example—

Officers. Supporters.
The Admiral of France bore Two anchors.
Vice-Admiral, One anchor in pale behind the
shield.
Great Huntsman, Two bugles at the dext. and sin.
bases of the shield.
Grand Master of Artillery, Two mounted cannons at ditto.
Grand Marshal, At the base of the shield a cloud,
from the dexter side of which
proceeds a hand holding a
sword in pale, and from the
sinister, another hand holding
a baton of office.
Grand Louvetier,
(Wolf-hunter,)		 Two wolves’ heads at the base
corners of the shield.
Grand Esquire, Two swords in pale with sashes.
Grand Butler, Two bottles ornamented with the
royal arms.

The most singular supporters, perhaps, in the whole circle of heraldry are those of the noble French family of Albret. Two lions couchant, wearing helmets, support the lower part of the shield, and, above, are two eagles, each standing with one foot upon the head of the lion, while with the other he holds the upper part of the escocheon. The French armorists make a distinction between supports and tenans: in this instance the lions are known by the former term, and the eagles by the latter.

Mottoes will form the subject of a short separate chapter: it therefore only remains, in this brief view of extra-scutal insignia, to notice Badges.

Some families, as has already been observed, have no crests; a still greater number have no mottoes; and supporters belong to an exclusive few. Badges are still more unusual, and in modern times it would perhaps be a matter of difficulty to enumerate twenty families who use them.

Badge, in its ordinary acceptation, signifies the mark or token of any thing; thus we are accustomed to call fetters the badge of slavery, and a plain gold ring the badge of matrimony; and thus in a figurative, or moral sense, Shakspeare says,

“Sweet mercy is nobility’s true badge.”