Fig. 96. The gatehouse of Christ's College, Cambridge.
Fig. 97. Bronze door with badges of York and Beaufort, from the Lady chapel of Westminster abbey church.
The sources of badges were various. As a matter of fact a man's badge was often the same device as his crest, like the Courtenay dolphin, or the boar of the Veres, or the sickle of the Hungerfords. Sometimes the badge was derived from a part of the arms, such as the leopards' heads and the wings of the de la Poles, the water-bougets of the Bourchiers (fig. [98]), the silver molet of the Veres (fig. [99]), and the Phelip eagle (fig. [100]). If by chance a badge could have any punning or allusive meaning it was the more popular, and it then often served as a rebus. The boar (verre) of the Veres (fig. [99]), the crab or scrap of the Scropes, the pike or luce of the Lucys, the long swords of Longespee (pl. [XIX] A), the gray or badger of Richard lord Grey of Codnor (fig. [102]), and the wood-stock or tree stump of Thomas duke of Gloucester, who was born at Woodstock, are all good examples of a practice that should be followed whenever possible, even in these degenerate days.
Fig. 98. Signet with badge and crested helm of Lewis lord Bourchier, 1420.