Fig. 40. Quartered shield of Queen Eleanor of Castile, from her tomb at Westminster, 1291.
Fig. 41. Arms of King Edward III, from his tomb at Westminster.
The origin and growth of these combinations, which actually are perfectly lawful and proper, and yet often quite accidental, can easily be illustrated by a few typical examples.
In 1382 King Richard II, who used the same arms as his grandfather, a quarterly shield of Old France and England, married Anne of Bohemia, daughter of the Emperor Charles IV. As her shield was also a quartered one, the combined arms of the king and his queen, as shown upon her seal, formed a shield of eight quarters (pl. [VII] A). This was further complicated through the later assumption by King Richard of the arms assigned to St. Edward (fig. [43]), a cross between five birds; and the eight-quartered shield with this clumsy addition at one side may be seen on the Felbrigge brass.