Fig. 78. Arms of St. Edmund, from the tomb of Edmund duke of York (ob. 1402) at King's Langley.
PLATE XV. STALL-PLATE (REDUCED) OF HUGH STAFFORD LORD BOURCHIER, C. 1421.
Beyond the fact that the thing was a crown, there was no strict rule as to the design, which varied according to the taste of the artist. Two examples among the early stall-plates at Windsor, those of Hugh Stafford lord Bourchier (fig. [79] and pl. [XVI]) and Richard lord Grey of Codnor (both c. 1421), illustrate this in a pretty way (fig. [80]). In both cases the plate after being finished has been cut up, partly reversed, and in part re-engraved; not because anything was wrong with the heraldry, but to make the crested helms face the other way. These have accordingly been turned over, but in cutting them afresh the engraver has slightly varied the designs of the crests and of the crowns with which each is encircled, without however in any way altering their heraldic character. In the earliest existing plates the crested helms are all drawn turned towards the high altar, consequently those on the north side of the quire face heraldically towards the sinister. The two plates just noted, and at least one other, have been transferred from one side of the quire to the other.
