Heraldry for Craftsmen & Designers

by Sir W. H. St. John Hope

The Lennox and Pecksall shields are likewise indicative of another characteristic change, the desire to illustrate ancient descent by the multiplication of quarterings. The disastrous consequences of this practice, even in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, have already been pointed out, but in the reign of Elizabeth it was carved to such an excess as to produce at times a mere patchwork of carved or painted quarters, in which the beauty of the heraldry was entirely lost. In the great hall of Fawsley House, Northants, there hangs a coloured achievement of the Knightley family containing actually 334 quarterings, which have been rightly described by Mr. J. A. Gotch as '330 too many for decorative effect.'

The heraldry of the seventeenth century is in general but a duller version of that of the later sixteenth century, with a tendency to become more commonplace as time goes on.

Under the Commonwealth every vestige of regality was ordered to be put down and done away; a very large number of representations of the royal arms were defaced and destroyed; and the leopards of England were for a time 'driven into the wilderness' along with the lion of Scotland. It was nevertheless thought desirable that the United Kingdom should still have arms, and on THE GREAT SEALE OF ENGLAND/ IN THE FIRST YEARE OF FREEDOM BY GOD'S BLESSING RESTORED, that is, 1648, the cross of St. George appears for England, and a harp for Ireland. The royal crown was at the same time superseded, on all maces and other symbols of kingly power, by another which curiously reproduces all its elements. It had a circlet inscribed THE FREEDOM OF ENGLAND BY GOD'S BLESSING RESTORED, with the date, and for the cresting of crosses and fleurs-de-lis there was substituted an intertwined cable enclosing small cartouches with the cross of St. George and the Irish harp. The new crown was also arched over, with four graceful incurved members like ostrich feathers, but wrought with oak leaves and acorns. These supported a pyramidal group of four handsome cartouches with the cross and harp surrounded by an acorn, instead of the orb and cross.[29] Perfect examples of this singular republican crown still surmount the two maces of the town of Weymouth.

On the obverse of the new great seal of the Commonwealth, designed and engraved by Simon and first used in 1655, the field is filled with an heraldic achievement of some interest (fig. [196]). This includes a shield with the cross of St. George in the first and fourth quarters, St. Andrew's cross in the second quarter, and the Irish harp in the third quarter, with the lion of Cromwell on a scutcheon of pretence. This shield of the State's arms is supported by a lion with a royal crown on his head, and by a dragon, standing upon the edge of a ribbon with the motto PAX QVÆRITVR BELLO, and is surmounted by a front-faced helm with much flourished mantling, with a royal crown and the crowned leopard crest above, set athwart the helm.

Fig. 196. Obverse of the Great Seal of the Republic of England, Scotland, and Ireland, 1655.

The seal furnishes an excellent illustration of the heraldic art of the period, but it is singular that under a Nonconformist domination the arms selected for England and Scotland should consist of the crosses of their patron saints. It is also interesting to note that the expunged arms of England and Scotland had evidently been regarded rightly as personal to the murdered King. A further curious point is the reappearance on the seal of the royal crown of England above the helm and on the leopard crest and the lion supporter.

On the reverse of the seal just noted the State's new arms are repeated on a cartouche behind the equestrian figure of the Protector.

Of the heraldry of the Restoration and later it is hardly necessary to make mention, so lifeless and dull is the generality of it. A good specimen c. 1670 with the arms of the Trinity House (fig. [197]), and a later one (fig. [198]) with the arms, etc. of the Trevor family, are to be seen in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Reference is due, too, to one other notable example. This is the beautiful panelled ceiling set up over the chapel (formerly the great hall) of Auckland castle, by doctor John Cosin bishop of Durham (fig. [199]). It was in making from 1662 to 1664, by a local carpenter, and consists for the most part of a series of square panels containing alternately the cross and four lions that form the arms of the bishopric of Durham, and the fret forming the arms of Cosin. In the middle bay the bishop's arms are given in an oval, and flanked by similar ovals with the eagle of St. John in allusion to his name. No earlier wooden ceiling could be finer in conception, and the effect of the whole was originally enhanced by colour and gilding, but this was most unhappily removed by order of bishop Barrington (1791-1826).