The whole history of these is in itself of great interest, and the facility with which they lend themselves to artistic heraldic decoration renders badges of peculiar value.
A badge is, properly speaking, any distinctive device, emblem, or figure assumed as the mark or cognisance of an individual or family; and it should be borne alone, without any shield, torse, or other accessory. But a badge may be and often was, like a crest, accompanied by a word, reason, or motto. There is however this important difference between a crest and a badge, that the crest was pre-eminently the personal device of its owner, while his badge might also be used by his servants and retainers. Such a use of the badge still survives in the 'crest' on the buttons of liveried servants.
The most famous and best known badge is that of the three ostrich feathers encircled by a crown or coronet borne by the Prince of Wales. It was probably introduced by Queen Philippa, who is known to have possessed plate ornamented with 'a black scocheon of ostrich feathers,' perhaps allusive of the Comté of Ostrevant, the appanage of the eldest sons of the house of Hainault. A single ostrich feather, alone or stuck in a scroll, occurs after 1343 in several seals of Edward prince of Wales, and on his tomb at Canterbury the shield of his own arms alternates with his mother's black shield with three silver ostrich feathers, each transfixing a scroll with the word ich diene; over the shield is likewise a scroll inscribed with the same words ([fig. 85]). John of Gaunt duke of Lancaster is said to have borne an ostrich feather powdered with ermine tails, and Thomas of Woodstock duke of Gloucester, the youngest of Queen Philippa's sons, bore the feathers with a strap (which some have regarded as a Garter) extended along the quill ([fig. 86]). The Queen's great-grandson, Richard duke of York and earl of March (1436), bore the feather with a chain similarly placed; perhaps Edmund of Langley, his grandfather, had done the same. Henry of Lancaster, the son of John of Gaunt, on his seal as earl of Derby in 1385 (pl. [XXIV] C) and on that as duke of Hereford in 1399, has an ostrich feather stuck in the end of a scroll which is entwined about the feather and inscribed with the significant word souvereyne, and the same word is repeated many times on his tomb as King Henry IV at Canterbury.
Fig. 85. Shield with ostrich-feather badge from the tomb of Edward prince of Wales (ob. 1376) at Canterbury.
Fig. 86. Seal of Thomas of Woodstock duke of Gloucester with ostrich-feather and Bohun swan badges.