PLATE XXVIII.—Examples of banners of arms.
- A William lord FitzHugh (1429) and of Marmion.
- B Margaret lady Hungerford and Botreaux, 1462.
Banners also figure prominently on the charming seal of Margaret lady of Hungerford and Botreaux (1462) (pl. [XXVIII] B). She was the daughter of William lord Botreaux and Margaret Beaumont, and wife of Sir Robert Hungerford, who died in 1459. The seal shows the lady in her widow's dress 'sitting upon her knees' in a garden, and reading from a book some words which are inscribed on a scroll about her head. Overshadowing her are two large banners of impaled arms: one of Hungerford and Botreaux, upheld by a lion; the other of Botreaux and Beaumont, upheld by a griffin.
On many late thirteenth and early fourteenth century seals it was not uncommon to represent ladies holding up shields of arms. A delightful example that may be cited is that of Emmeline FitzGerald, and wife of Stephen Longespee, who is upholding her father's shield in her right and her husband's in her left hand. Below each shield is a leopard of England to show her husband's close relationship to the royal house, and on each side of her is a long sword. She died in 1331 (pl. [XXIX] B).
A few cases occur where a man himself acts as the supporter of his arms. One of the shields of Henry Percy earl of Northumberland (1377) shows him in armour, standing behind a large shield of Percy which he supports with his left hand. His right is upon the hilt of a sword with the belt wrapped about it, and against his left shoulder rests a banner with the Percy lion. The earl appears in similar fashion in another of his seals as lord of Cockermouth (1393). In this the shield is quarterly of Percy and Lucy, and is grasped as before by his left hand, while the right holds up a pennon charged with his badge of a crescent (pl. [XXIX] A).
It must suffice to quote one last piece of playfulness, a seal of Richard duke of York and earl of March and Ulster (ob. 1460) as justice-in-eyre of the forests. This has his shield of arms suspended about the neck of a York falcon, and enclosed by the horns of a buck's head in base, in reference to his office. Upon the buck's horns are fixed two small hands for the duke's earldom of Ulster (pl. [XXIX] C).