Part 3

Many of these seals are marvels of design and execution. At the very end of the century we notice so much is sought to be represented that the designs in consequence become flat and weak, losing much of their character and boldness, and thus preparing us for the startling change in the following century. Another noticeable circumstance is that such splendid and pretentious seals are not confined to the greatest nobility or people of vast territorial influence. Many untitled families towards the end of the fifteenth century showed seals not quite so large, but fully equal in workmanship and beautiful design to those of the house of Lancaster, the Nevilles, Lords of Abergavenny; the Dukes of Buckingham, and other great titled nobles. Through the kindness of Mr. H. S. Grazebrook I am able to show the seal of Richard Dudley of Clapton, Northants; the arms of Dudley quartering Hotot [see William Salt Society vol. x, p. 54]. This seal was exhibited to the Heralds at their Visitation of Northants, 1618, "antiquum Sigillum argenteum," and is tricked in their original MS. As its date is between 1440 and 1475, I have no doubt it was made for that Richard Dudley of Clapton who "condidit testamentum" 1465.

We must now take up those curiously curved outward shields, alluded to as shown in Harl. MS. 4379, of a date about 1360, see No. 55, and again at Bamberg Cathedral, 1370 [page 24], see No. 55A and No. 55B. We may lay it down as an axiom that every alteration in the shapes of shields at these early dates, and therefore for actual use, arose from some apparent advantage to be gained by it. Hewitt, vol. ii, p. 314, engraves a curved shield, about the end of the fourteenth century, from an ivory chessman. In the _Archæological Journal_, vol. ix, p. 119, there is one, from stained glass, of early in the fifteenth century. This is a square parallelogram with a bouche, and the top and bottom are projected forwards, while the intermediate portion is flat. This shield is of considerable thickness, see No. 56. In the statue of Henry VI. at Westminster, of the date 1422, a similar shield appears without any bouche, but with the top and bottom ends similarly projected and the middle portion flat, see No. 57. This is engraved in Meyrick's _Ancient Armour_, plate 42. A similar shield, from an ancient chest in York Minster, is shown in the same book, vol. ii, at p. 124. In the grant of arms to the Ironmongers' Company, 1455, and in many other instances, a bouched shield, deeply engrailed at top and bottom, has both ends similarly projected, the middle portion being curved, but to a lesser degree. This is engraved in _Herald and Genealogist_, vol. i, p. 37, and the same shield of arms is illuminated in the margin of the charter granted to the Ironmongers in 1483. It seems evident that the intention in thus hollowing out the face of the shield was to receive and to retain the spear point with greater certainty upon that part of the shield; as in combat it was found to slip off above or below, and search out for itself some dangerous resting place on the helmet or other vulnerable part of the armour. This shape could not readily be shown in front view on seals, but such shields curved outwards appear frequently with great clearness in illuminations where a side view is commonly given, see an engraving of men at arms in fourteenth century in Cutts, p. 339. I am also able to show a most interesting illumination of a knight of the fifteenth century bearing a very curious shield. This is from Cutts, p. 398.

Round shields borne by foot soldiers appear curved and bulged out in the same way. I annex the representation of a soldier with a spear and such a round shield from Cotton MS. Claudius, D. ii, fol. 30. This dates from the earlier part of the fourteenth century, and is engraved in Hewitt, vol. ii, p. 114. This formation is apparently meant to give strength, and to ensure a cut or thrust gliding off, rather than resting upon the shield.

The reasons for some other alterations are not so apparent; for instance, in the seal of Ralph Shelton, _circa_ 1460, see No. 58, a curious projecting point is shown in the right hand base [called sinister in heraldry] of the shield, and a similar projection occurs in the beautiful escutcheon of Elizabeth of York, wife of Henry VII., 1485, see No. 59, engraved in Willement's _Regal Heraldry_. A stone carving of a bouche, with a very similar formation and of the same date, and bearing the Tilney arms, is found upon Shelly Hall, Suffolk, and is etched in the Anastatic Drawing Society's volume for 1871. It seems probable this was originally meant to protect some part of the left leg or ankle which was liable to be injured in combat. Another shield here shown gives with great clearness this curious point. It is engraved in Mr. Cutts' book, p. 402, and taken from Harl. MS. 4925, fo. cxxx. This, however, is too small to protect the leg.

Many shields now occur with hollowed-out sides, and engrailed at the top and base, and are classed in our plate under the various forms of Gothic (Nos. 9 to 12). Sometimes the top is straight, while the sides and base are engrailed out, and in instances, perhaps under German influence, the bases are rounded. The endless variety of these beautiful Gothic shields is most fascinating. The wonder is that they lasted for so very short a time, from the middle of this fifteenth century to the first few decades of the sixteenth.

In Cutts' valuable book, p. 454 (see No. 59), two unmounted knights, from an engraving by Hans Burgmaier, are represented in combat, about 1450, carrying two very curious shields, somewhat similar in idea to these Gothic shields. Being divided lengthways into three partitions; both are broader at the top and narrowed at the lower end, and they seem to be about 3 feet 6 inches long. One is convex at the top and engrailed, with a bluntly-pointed base; the other is flat but slightly engrailed, and the rounded base somewhat broken by the three divisions, which evidently suggest that these shields were curved round the body. But the old plain heater continues as by far the most prevalent shape throughout this century. It is usually very square, and in several instances there is an approach to the French base of Mr. Rylands' nomenclature.

As already remarked, foot soldiers of all ages, down to the middle of the eighteenth century, appear with round shields. During this century and the next these are shown with handsome decorations, but never with heraldry on the face: foot soldiers, perhaps, were not considered heraldically armigerous. In an Italian painting of this century, foot soldiers are represented with square and diamond shaped shields, each side shaped out in curves; and in one heraldry is painted; perhaps he was a dismounted knight and the others only retainers. This may be seen engraved in Jacquemart's _History of Furniture_, p. 24 (see No. 60).

In many other shields at the end of this century the heater shape has gradually arrived at what is named square No. 7, and in the charter granted to the waxchandlers, 1484 (see No. 61), and in many other instances, these shields were very long in proportion to their width. The same elongated shape appears in a shield on Christ Church gate, Canterbury, date 1517; engraved _Archæologia_, vol. xvi, p. 194.

MANTLINGS.

The first observed instance of a mantling or lambrequin, as it was then called,--a term still applied to it by the modern French heralds,--occurs in the large seal of Ralph de Monthermer, Earl of Gloucester and Hertford, 1299. This is engraved in Nicholas Upton, _De Usu Militari_ [Bisse edition, 1654, p. 63]. In Planché's _Poursuivant_ the helmet and mantling alone are engraved from this seal. It is represented as a square handkerchief or shawl fastened at one end under the crest, and flying out loose behind. There is no hacking (see No. 62). Ralph de Monthermer was a "plain esquire," but attracted the attention and secured the love of Joan of Acres, daughter of Edward I. and relict of Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester. May we be allowed to fancy we see here the kerchief of the fair lady whose favour led to his advancement, and whose marriage eventually brought him his title? His second wife was also a widow, namely, the relict of John de Hastings and sister of Aymer de Valence, Earl of Pembroke.

In Planché's _Poursuivant_ is engraved another very similar, from the seal of Thomas, Earl of Lancaster (see No. 63). He was beheaded by Edward II. (1321). This seems to be of some thick material and bordered. It is better shown in the full-sized engraving in Sandford's _Genealogical History_, p. 102. Boutell (_Heraldry_, p. 212) describes No. 64 as a "contoise," and says it was used until the middle of the fourteenth century. These seem to have been stiff to stand out, but I have not found representations of any more of them. Mr. Boutell refers to two effigies showing them in Exeter Cathedral, and another in Westminster Abbey. In the seal of John de Tilneye to a deed, 1353 [engraved in the _Visit. Hunts._, p. 29], a voluminous and square folded mantling, without any hacks, is extended out to the inscription on each side, and is fixed under a broad-brimmed hat which stands on the top of the helm, and on this hat is the crest, viz., a tree supported by two lions gambs. There is another instance on the monument at Norton Brize, Oxfordshire, to John Daubygné, 1346, where the mantling is extended out square in folds, without any hacking, and hangs on each side of the helmet, while below is placed the shield. This is engraved in Boutell's _Heraldry_, p. 156 (see No. 65). Another such squarely-folded and unhacked mantle is shown on the seal of Elizabeth de Lucy, 1354, with a man's helmet and crest (!!)--see No. 66--and yet another in that of Sir William de Lucy, 1392. Both of these are engraved in Nicholas Upton, p. 73 (see No. 67). But these must all be taken as rare exceptions. Usually mantlings of so early a date as the fourteenth century are of very small dimensions, hacked and lying close on their helmets, clinging to them, as it were, and so fastened under the crest that they could not hang otherwise. As we see in the seal of Richard, Earl of Arundel, about 1350-70 (illustrated at p. 27), also in the seals of Sir Thomas Bysshe, 1381 [Nicholas Upton, p. 53], see No. 68; and in that of John de Clinton, 1386 [Nicholas Upton, p. 82], see No. 69; but seals of the fourteenth century more commonly show no mantlings: they were only just beginning to be introduced.

At the beginning of the fifteenth century the same small hacked mantlings, hanging closely upon their helmets, still continue, and become the rule; it was the exception to have any mantling at all in the fourteenth. About 1420, however, they begin to spread over the field of the seal, in free and bold curves and waves. In the seal of John, Lord Clinton de Say, 1438 (No. 54), and in that of Humphrey, Earl of Stafford and Perche, 1438, both engraved _Archæologia_, vol. xxxviii, p. 272, they are seen hacked, wandering away from the helm, and half way down the shield. But a noteworthy characteristic of the mantlings of this early date, and one to which I must draw your particular attention, is that, although stretching their arms boldly about the field, and in MSS. where space will allow, they may extend down below the base of the shield, they are not, perhaps never, seen to _hide themselves behind it_! The spirit of those old times when the mantling would probably be the gift of some fair lady, perhaps her kerchief or mantle, and borne with chivalrous fervour through the many adventures in which the knight of those days sought to gain fame and experience--this spirit of honouring the mantlet still remained burning brightly; a fold was therefore too precious to be hidden behind the shield. When we come to consider such decorations in later times, when such sentiment had departed, you will see why [beyond the valuable indication of date supplied] I have drawn your attention particularly to this peculiarity to be noted in the fifteenth century. The seal of Thomas Strange, 1419, shows a curious arrangement of mantling. This is engraved in _Miscell. Genealogica et Heraldica_, 1884, p. 59. In the very curious and interesting seal of Sir John Pelham, 1469, engraved in _Archæological Journal_, vol. vii, p. 323, and already illustrated on p. 32, the field of the seal is filled up with bold contortions of the hacked mantling, while on the helmet appears the most extraordinary crest--a large birdcage which is higher than the helmet itself; it is divided into three tiers of wickerwork, and has a pointed roof, while on the field appear two buckles. Sir John Pelham, at Poictiers in 1356, personally assisted at the capture of the French King, when the honorary distinction of the buckle as a family badge was accorded to him. His descendants sometimes used the birdcage crest, in remembrance of the same exploit and the imprisoned king.

In illuminations of this date, say of the latter half of the fifteenth century, we see the same characters--the mantlings so divided into narrow ribbon-like folds, much hacked and twisted to show the lining, and thrown out into bold arms around the shield and extending some way below it with fine artistic effect. I would refer to the grant of arms to the Fellowship of Ironmongers of London, 1st September, 1455, already illustrated on p. 35, also to the shield of Edward IV., 1460, in Willement's _Regal Heraldry_. There are also two beautiful specimens engraved in Boutell's _Brasses_; one, the stall plate at Windsor of Sir Humphrey Stafford, K.G., 1460, at p. 219 (see No. 70), and at p. 207 the brass of Sir William Say, at Broxbourne, Herts, 1473 (see No. 71): the mantling in the last ends in four tassels; this addition of tassels becomes the ordinary usage in the MS. illuminations and in grants of arms, but not in seals of the sixteenth century.

I refer to No. 72 for the lithograph of that very curious mantling carved in stone at Wyverton, Nottinghamshire (Thoroton's _History_, p. 98), which displays _three_ tassels. This stands with two other helmets, each over its respective shield of heraldry, and on examination I am able to declare their date to be about 1440-50.

Licence of free warren and to make a park here was granted 24 Henry VI. (1445), at which time Thoroton supposes this house was built.

Following our entirely different lines of enquiry, I am able to state, to within twenty or thirty years, the date of these carvings; and I would further say that as to one of the quarterings displayed, the Chaworth family did not inherit the right to bear it until 1422; thus confirming very exactly Thoroton's date.

Perhaps the first appearance of a tassel on a mantling is on a monument to -- Harsyck in Southacre Church, Norfolk, 1384; engraved in Boutell's _Heraldry_, plate I (see No. 73). This is also interesting as being a very early example of the wreath or torse which supports the crest, consisting of a twisted cord of silk of two colours. In a brass to Sir Hugh Hastings, at Elsing, co. Norfolk, 1347, the same is shown. In the effigy of Sir Richard Pembruge, 1375, now in the nave of Hereford Cathedral, the crest and helmet are attached with a wreath of leaves, above which rises a great panache of feathers.

The earliest instance of a _date_ upon the face of a shield is said to occur about the middle of the thirteenth century, but such are very uncommon until the sixteenth century, when they are found both on personal and official seals.

The inscriptions on English seals of this fifteenth century are almost universally in Latin and in Gothic lettering. I have, so far, only noted one seal with Roman letters, and that occurs in 1403.

SIXTEENTH AND FOLLOWING CENTURIES.

Before entering upon our subject during this period, it is necessary to consider the great changes, social and legal, which passed over England from say 1450 to the end of the reign of Henry VIII.

Events for thirty years before the accession of Henry VII. (1485) had been gradually reducing the power of the nobility. Enactments had been passed which facilitated the transfer of lands; and the disastrous wars of the Roses, in which the blood of the nobility flowed like water, brought also the dispersion of a large portion of their estates, and the consequence was that when Henry VII. began his reign, and the conflicts between the rival Houses of York and Lancaster were completely hushed [say 1485], he found himself in possession of the sole power. The great nobles who had hampered the actions of his predecessors had disappeared from the scene. At his first Parliament Henry VII. only summoned twenty-eight peers; and so gradually did this class recover itself that we find at the first Parliament of Henry VIII. only thirty-eight peers were summoned to attend.

We can thus understand how those seals of exceeding size and magnificence, which we found prevailing during the middle and third quarter of the fifteenth century, entirely disappear. The greater nobility, as an assertion of their dignity and importance, had then attached to their charters seals of great pretensions, and gradually increasing in size until, as Sandford [_Genealogical History_, p. 108] remarks of those of the Dukes of Lancaster, they rivalled or even exceeded in size what were used by the crown itself. Had their embarrassed affairs allowed them to enter again into mutual rivalry, the stern government of Henry VII. would have regarded such an assumption of dignity as treason to the throne, and therefore we can fix the date 1485 for the disappearance of such large and splendid seals. Only occasionally do they continue to appear, and within the limit of ten years after this time.

The landed gentry, the descendants in many instances of a much earlier feudal aristocracy, had suffered almost as much from the rivalries and conflicts which had devastated the country. They, too, laboured under the same depression and necessity for retirement; and hence, if we take up a bundle of deeds, say of the third quarter of the fifteenth century, we shall find them loaded with large and beautiful seals, while in a similar parcel, dated early in the sixteenth, small bits of wax only are found, many of them bearing one or more initials, or a crest surrounded by a circle of large dots, and the coats of arms, which do occur, are altogether small and insignificant: in fact, personal seals are now reduced in size to what may be conveniently hung on a watch chain, or worn as a somewhat large signet ring. I annex some heraldic seals just to show what after this time are looked upon as unusually fine. They are a very great contrast to those we have been considering.

But still further reasons have to be considered. The ancient form of drawing charters was gradually disappearing, which after declaring the transaction, ended with the all-important seal, put on in the presence of such responsible witnesses as could be got together, and who were afterwards always to be found to come forward and vouch for the transaction. Writing also now, early in the sixteenth century, was becoming much more common, and the sense of the nation showed that a deed signed and sealed by the parties was much more satisfactory than any number of witnesses, the limit of whose testimony was bounded by that of their lives. I am only putting into few words what is ably pointed out by Williams in his work on _Real Property_, ed. 1882, p. 153, and by Blackstone in his _Commentaries_, ed. 1823, book ii, p. 305. But the curious thing is that this change seems to have gradually taken place without any enactment directing it. The Statute of Frauds and Perjuries, 29 Charles II. (1677-8, cap. 5), is the first instance where it is expressly declared by act of Parliament that all devises of lands or tenements must be in writing and signed by the party and three or four credible witnesses. Such had already been occasionally the practice for at least two hundred years, for I find a deed of gift of Thomas Hoo to the Abbot of the Monastery of Battle is thus established "Sigillum meum, una cum subscriptione propria manu et signo manuali apposito"; the date is 21st September, 1480 [Thorpe's _Battle Abbey Deeds_, 1835, p. 124]. Occasional instances occur of the old system of sealing only before a number of witnesses, but after say 1520 the almost universal method of executing deeds was by sign manual and seal, and two or three attesting witnesses.

The earliest instance I have noticed of executing a deed by sign manual is as above, in 1480. The latest which I have met with, in which the ancient form of execution had been followed, is a charter printed in the Salop Archæological Society's vol. x, p. 222:--"Thomas Scriven, armig., grants a yearly payment of 8/ sterling out of his meadow at Coleham, juta sive prope Ville Salop, hiis testibus &c. &c., dat. Salop 25th Sept., 10 Henry VIII., 1518"; but probably yet later instances may be found.

The further reason, lying at the root of the whole matter, was the wonderful expansion of trade, wealth, and intelligence which broke upon England at this time,--the English renaissance, as it is called, and which culminated in the brilliant company of poets and authors of Elizabeth's reign. Following upon the breaking-up of the old nobility, and the resumption of peace at home, wealth was rapidly accumulated by many self-made men, and by many younger sons of old families, who entered into trade. These purchased lands and became the county gentry. So expansive was this spirit of trade, that ancient towns like York, Chester, Lancaster, Coventry, and Lincoln, where long-established guilds restricted trading to the burghers alone, fell off in population and importance, while new districts without such restrictions, such as Manchester and Birmingham, as rapidly increased. In an act, 33 Henry VIII., c. 15 [1541], it is stated that the people of Manchester were then "well set to work in making of cloths, as well of linen as of woollen, whereby the inhabitants of the said town have gotten and come into riches and wealthy livings: and by reason of great occupying, good order, strict and true dealing of the inhabitants of the said town, many strangers, as well of Ireland as of other places, had resorted thither."