Fig. 52. Seal of Robert FitzPain, with arms in an oval.
One of the earliest examples of arms on a lozenge is on a seal of Thomas Furnival, who died in 1279, and another but little later is furnished by the seal of William de Braose, appended to a deed of either 1282 or 1314 at Magdalen College, Oxford (pl. [IX] B).
PLATE IX.—Use of lozenges and roundels of arms.
- A William Paynel, in 1301.
- B William Braose, ? 1282.
- C Parnell Bensted, in 1359.
- D E Elizabeth of Clare.
That of William Paynel, appended to the Barons' Letter, also has his arms on a lozenge (pl. [IX] A).
The first seal of a lady in which lozenges of arms occur is probably that of Joan, daughter of Henry count of Barre and Eleanor daughter of King Edward I, who married, in 1306, John de Warenne earl of Surrey (fig. [53]). This has five lozenges arranged in cross: that in the middle has her husband's checkers, those on each side her father's barbels, etc. and those above and below the three leopards of England. The lady's descent from King Edward is further shown by the castles and lions of his consort Eleanor of Castile.