“The device of Margaret of Anjou, Queen of Henry VI, was a daisy, in allusion to her name:
‘The daise a floure white and rede,
In French called la belle Margarete.’
Chaucer.”
The extensive use of badges by the retainers of princes is shown by the order of Richard III for the making of thirteen thousand boars “wrought upon fustian,” to be used at his coronation.
The rose and portcullis are amongst the most familiar of royal badges. These were used by the Tudors. The Tudor rose was a blending of the white and red roses of the two factions, united in this line of sovereigns. The portcullis came originally from the family of Beaufort. James I combined the dexter half of the Tudor rose with the sinister moiety of the Scottish thistle, ensigned with a crown. At present, when the badges of the three kingdoms are represented with the royal arms, little attention is paid to heraldric propriety. The rose, shamrock, and thistle are figured, not secundum artem, but according to the fancy of the painter.
Henry VIIIth’s regard to heraldric matters is shown by his giving to pieces of ordnance names corresponding with the titles borne by the officers of arms.[188] This is further exemplified by the names he gave the ships composing his fleet, as Hart, Antelope, Tegar, and Dragon. The smaller vessels were mostly distinguished by the names of the royal badges, such as the Fawcon and Fetterlock, Portquilice, Hynde, Double-Rose, Hawthorn,[189] &c.[190] Some of these badges are still retained as signs of inns, particularly the Swan and White-Hart, both of which should be ducally gorged and chained, though these appendages, from the ignorance of sign-painters, are frequently omitted.
(Abbot Islip’s Rebus, vide p. [125])
