O'Keefe and Matheson.
The Crown Vallary or Vallary Coronet (Fig.
660) and the Palisado Coronet (Fig. 66 1) were
FIG. 660. Crown undoubtedly originally the same, but now the two
forms in which it has been depicted are considered
to be different coronets. Each has the rim, but
the vallary coronet is now heightened only by pieces
of the shape of vair, whilst the palisado coronet
is formed by high " palisadoes " affixed to the rim.
These two are the only forms of coronet granted
FIG. 661. Palisado { o ordinary and undistinguished applicants in
England.
The circlet from the crown of a king of arms has once at least
been granted as a crest coronet, this being in the case of Rogers
Harrison.
In a recent grant of arms to Gee, the crest has no wreath, but
issues from "a circlet or, charged with a fleur-de-lis gules." The
circlet is emblazoned as a plain gold band.
THE CHAPEAU
Some number of crests will be found to have been granted to be
borne upon a " chapeau " in lieu of wreath or coronet. Other names
for the chapeau, under which it is equally well know r n, are the " cap of
maintenance " or " cap of dignity."
There can be very little doubt that the heraldic chapeau combines
two distinct origins or earlier prototypes. The one is the real cap of
dignity, and the other is the hat or " capelot " which covered the top
of the helm before the mantling was introduced, but from which the
CREST CORONETS AND CHAPEAUX 379
lambrequin developed. The curious evolution of the chapeau from
the " capelot," which is so marked and usual in Germany, is the tall
conical hat, often surmounted by a tuft or larger plume of feathers,
and usually employed in German heraldry as an opportunity for the
repetition of the livery colours, or a part of, and often the whole
design of, the arms. But it should at the same time be noticed that
this tall, conical hat is much more closely allied to the real cap of
maintenance than our present crest " chapeau."
Exactly what purpose the real cap of maintenance served, or of
what it was a symbol, remains to a certain extent a matter of mystery.
The " Cap of Maintenance " a part of the regalia borne before the sove-
reign at the State opening of Parliament (but not at a coronation) by
the Marquesses of Winchester, the hereditary bearers of the cap of
maintenance bears, in its shape, no relation to the heraldic chapeau.
The only similarity is its crimson
colour and its lining of ermine. It
is a tall, conical cap, and is carried
on a short staff.
Whilst crest coronets in early
days appear to have had little or no
relation to titular rank, there is no
doubt whatever that caps of dignity
had. Long before, a coronet was
assigned to the rank of baron in the
reign of Charles II. ; all barons had
their caps of dignity, of scarlet lined
with white fur ; and in the old pedi-
grees a scarlet cap with a gold tuft
or tassel on top and a lining of fur
will be found painted above the arms _.
5ZT; - ., , ., FIG. 662. The Crown of King Charles IT.
of a baron. This fact, the fact that
until after Stuart days the chapeau does not appear to have been
allowed or granted to others than peers, the fact that it is now
reserved for the crests granted to peers, the fact that the velvet
cap is a later addition both to the sovereign's crown and to the
coronet of a peer, and finally the fact that the. cap of maintenance is
borne before the sovereign only in the precincts of Parliament, would
seem to indubitably indicate that the cap of maintenance was insepar-
ably connected with the lordship and overlordship of Parliament vested
in peers and in the sovereign. In the crumpled and tasselled top of
the velvet cap, and in the ermine border visible below the rim, the
high conical form of the cap of maintenance proper can be still traced
in the cap of a peer's coronet, and that the velvet cap contained in
380 A COMPLETE GUIDE TO HERALDRY
the crown of the sovereign and in the coronet of a peer is the survival
of the old cap of dignity there can be no doubt. This is perhaps
even more apparent in Fig. 662, which shows the crown of King
Charles II., than in the representations of the Royal crown which we
are more accustomed to see. The present form of a peer's coronet is
undoubtedly the conjoining of two separate emblems of his rank.
The cap of maintenance or dignity, however, as represented above the
arms of a baron, as above referred to, was not of this high, conical
shape. It was much flatter.
The high, conical, original shape is, however, preserved in many
of the early heraldic representations of the chapeau, as will be noticed
from an examination of the ancient Garter plates or from a reference
to Fig. 271, which shows the helmet with its chapeau-borne crest of
Edward the Black Prince.
Of the chapeaux upon which crests are represented in the early
Garter plates the following facts may be observed. They are twenty
in number of the eighty-six plates reproduced in Mr. St. John Hope's
book. It should be noticed that until the end of the reign of Henry
VIII. the Royal crest of the sovereign was always depicted upon a
chapeau gules, lined with ermine. Of the twenty instances in which
the chapeau appears, no less than twelve are
representations of the Royal crest, borne by
closely allied relatives of the sovereign, so
that we have only eight examples from which
to draw deductions. But of the twenty it
FIG. 663. The Chapeau. , ,, , . , , ,,
should be pointed out that nineteen are peers,
and the only remaining instance (Sir John Grey, K.G.) is that of the
eldest son and heir apparent of a peer, both shield and crest being in
this case boldly marked with the " label " of an eldest son. Conse-
quently it is a safe deduction that whatever may have been the regula-
tions and customs concerning the use of coronets, there can be no doubt
that down to the end of the fifteenth century the use of a chapeau
marked a crest as that of a peer. Of the eight non-Royal examples
one has been repainted, and is valueless as a contemporary record. Of
the remaining seven, four are of the conventional gules and ermine.
One only has not the ermine lining, that being the crest of Lord Fanhope.
It is plainly the Royal crest differenced " (he being of Royal but
illegitimate descent), and probably the argent in lieu of ermine lining
is one of the intentional marks of distinction. The chapeau of Lord
Beaumont is azure, sem-de-lis, lined ermine, and that of the Earl of
Douglas is azure lined ermine, this being in each case in conformity
With the mantling. Whilst the Beaumont family still use this curiously
coloured chapeau with their crest, the Douglas crest is now borne (by
It:?
CREST CORONETS AND CHAPEAUX 381
the Duke of Hamilton) upon one of ordinary tinctures. Chapeaux,
other than of gules lined ermine, are but rarely met with, and unless
specifically blazoned to the contrary a cap of maintenance is always
presumed to be gules and ermine.
About the Stuart period the granting of crests upon chapeaux to
others than peers became far from unusual, and the practice appears to
have been frequently adopted prior to the beginning of the nineteenth
century. Some of these crest chapeaux, however, were not of gules. An
instance of this kind will be found in the grant in 1667 to Sir Thomas
Davies, then one of the sheriffs of the City of London, but afterwards
(in 1677) Lord Mayor. The crest granted was : " On a chapeau sable,
turned up or, a demi-lion rampant of the last." The reason for the
grant at that date of such a simple crest and the even more astonishingly
simple coat of arms [" Or, a chevron between three mullets pierced
sable "] has always been a mystery to me.
The arms of Lord Lurgan (granted or confirmed 1840) afford
another instance of a chapeau of unusual colour, his crest being :
tl Upon a chapeau azure turned up ermine, a greyhound statant gules,
collared or."
There are some number of cases in which peers whose ancestors
originally bore their crests upon a wreath have subsequently placed
them upon a chapeau. The Stanleys, Earls of Derby, are a case in
point, as are also the Marquesses of Exeter. The latter case is curious,
because although they have for long enough so depicted their crest,
they only comparatively recently (within the last few years) obtained
the necessary authorisation by the Crown.
At the present time the official form of the chapeau is as in Fig.
663, with the turn up split at the back into two tails. No such form
can be found in any early representation, and most heraldic artists
have now reverted to an earlier type.
Before leaving the subject of the cap of maintenance, reference
should be made to another instance of a curious heraldic headgear
often, but quite incorrectly, styled a " cap of maintenance." This is the
fur cap invariably used over the shields of the cities of London,
Dublin, and Norwich. There is no English official authority whatever
for such an addition to the arms, but there does appear to be some
little official recognition of it in Ulster's Office in the case of the city
of Dublin. The late Ulster King of Arms, however, informed me
that he would, in the case of Dublin, have no hesitation what-
ever in certifying the right of the city arms to be so displayed
(Plate VII.).
In the utter absence of anything in the nature of a precedent, it is
quite unlikely that the practice will be sanctioned in England. The
382 A COMPLETE GUIDE TO HERALDRY
hat used is a flat-topped, brown fur hat of the shape depicted with the
arms of the City of Dublin. It is merely (in London) a part of the
official uniform or livery of the City sword-bearer. It does not even
appear to have been a part of the costume of the Lord Mayor, and it
must always remain a mystery why it was ever adopted for heraldic
use. But then the chain of the Lord Mayor of London is generally
called a Collar of SS. Besides this the City of London uses a Peer's
helmet, a bogus modern crest, and even more modern bogus sup-
porters, so a few other eccentricities need not in that particular instance
cause surprise.
CHAPTER XXIV
THE MANTLING OR LAMBREQUIN
THE mantling is the ornamental design which in a representa-
tion of an armorial achievement depends from the helmet,
falling away on either side of the escutcheon. Many authori-
ties have considered it to have been no more than a fantastic series of
flourishes, devised by artistic minds for the purpose of assisting orna-
mentation and affording an artistic opportunity of filling up unoccupied
spaces in a heraldic design. There is no doubt that its readily apparent
advantages in that character have greatly led to the importance now
attached to the mantling in heraldic art. But equally is it certain that
its real origin is to be traced elsewhere.
The development of the heraldry of to-day was in the East during
the period of the Crusades, and the burning heat of the Eastern sun
upon the metal helmet led to the introduction and adoption of a textile
covering, which would act in some way as a barrier between the two.
It was simply in fact and effect a primeval prototype of the " puggaree "
of Margate and Hindustan. It is plain from all early representations
that originally it was short, simply hanging from the apex of the
helmet to the level of the shoulders, overlapping the textile tunic or
" coat of arms," but probably enveloping a greater part of the helmet,
neck, and shoulders than we are at present (judging from pictorial
representations) inclined to believe.
Adopted first as a protection against the heat, and perhaps also the
rust which would follow damp, the lambrequin soon made evident
another of its advantages, an advantage to which we doubtless owe its
perpetuation outside Eastern warfare in the more temperate climates
of Northern Europe and England. Textile fabrics are peculiarly and
remarkably deadening to a sword-cut, to which fact must be added the
facility with which such a weapon would become entangled in the
hanging folds of cloth. The hacking and hewing of battle would show
itself plainly upon the lambrequin of one accustomed to a prominent
position in the forefront of a fight, and the honourable record implied
by a ragged and slashed lambrequin accounts for the fact that we find
at an early period after their introduction into heraldic art, that mantlings
383
384 A COMPLETE GUIDE TO HERALDRY
are depicted cut and " torn to ribbons." This opportunity was quickly
seized by the heraldic artist, who has always, from those very earliest
times of absolute armorial freedom down to the point of greatest and
most regularised control, been allowed an entire and absolute discretion
in the design to be adopted for the mantling. Hence it is that we
find so much importance is given to it by heraldic artists, for it is in
the design of the mantling, and almost entirely in that opportunity,
that the personal character and abilities of the artist have their greatest
scope. Some authorities have, however, derived the mantling from the
robe of estate, and there certainly has been a period in British armory
when most lambrequins found in heraldic art are represented by an
unmutilated cloth, suspended from and displayed behind the armorial
bearings and tied at the upper corners. In all probability the robes of
estate of the higher nobility, no less than the then existing and peremp-
torily enforced sumptuary laws, may have led to the desire and to the
attempt, at a period when the actual lambrequin was fast disappearing
from general knowledge, to display arms upon something which should
represent either the parliamentary robes of estate of a peer, or the
garments of rich fabric which the sumptuary laws forbade to those
of humble degree. To this period undoubtedly belongs the term
" mantling," which is so much more frequently employed than the
word lambrequin, which is really from the armorial point of view
the older term.
The heraldic mantling was, of course, originally the representation
of the actual " capeline " or textile covering worn upon the helmet,
but many early heraldic representations are of mantlings which are of
skin, fur, or feathers, being in such cases invariably a continuation of
the crest drawn out and represented as the lambrequin. When the
crest was a part of the human figure, the habit in which that figure
was arrayed is almost invariably found to have been so employed.
The Garter plate of Sir Ralph Bassett, one of the Founder Knights,
shows the crest as a black boar's head, the skin being continued as
the sable mantling.
Some Sclavonic families have mantlings of fur only, that of the
Hungarian family of Chorinski is a bear skin, and countless other in-
stances can be found of the use by German families of a continuation
of the crest for a mantling. This practice affords instances of many
curious mantlings, this in one case in the Zurich Wappenrolk being
the scaly skin of a salmon. The mane of the lion, the crest of Mertz,
and the hair and beard of the crests of Bonn and Landschaden, are
similarly continued to do duty for the mantling. This practice has
never found great favour in England, the cases amongst the early
Garter plates where it has been followed standing almost alone. In a
PLATE VII.
THE ARMS OF SOUTHAMPTON.
THE ARMS OF DUBLIN.
THE MANTLING OR LAMBREQUIN 385
manuscript (M. 3, 676) of the reign of Henry VII., now in the College
of Arms, probably dating from about 1506, an instance of this character
can be found, however. It is a representation of the crest of Stourton
(Fig. 664) as it was borne at that date, and was a black Benedictine
demi-monk proper holding erect in his dexter hand a scourge. Here
the proper black Benedictine habit (it has of later years been corrupted
into the russet habit of a friar) is continued to form the mantling.
By what rules the colours of the mantlings were decided in early
times it is impossible to say. No rules have been handed down to us
the old heraldic
books are silent on
the point and it
seems equally hope-
less to attempt to
deduce any from
ancient armorial ex-
amples. The one
fact that can be stated
with certainty is that
the rules of early days,
if there were any,
are not the rules
presently observed.
Some hold that the
colours of the mant-
ling were decided by
the colours of the
actual livery in use
as distinct from the
"livery colours'' of the arms. It is difficult to check this rule,
because our knowledge of the liveries in use in early days is so
meagre and limited ; but in the few instances of which we now have
knowledge we look in vain for a repetition of the colours worn by the
retainers as liveries in the mantlings used. The fact that the livery
colours are represented in the background of some of the early
Garter plates, and that in such instances in no single case do they
agree with the colours of the mantling, must certainly dissipate once
and for all any such supposition as far as it relates to that period.
A careful study and analysis of early heraldic emblazonment, how-
ever, reveals one point as a dominating characteristic. That is, that
where the crest, by its nature, lent itself to a continuation into the
mantling it generally was so continued. This practice, which was
almost universal upon the Continent, and is particularly to be met with
2 B
FIG. 664. The Crest of Stourton.
386 A COMPLETE GUIDE TO HERALDRY
in German heraldry, though seldom adopted in England, certainly had
some weight in English heraldry. In the recently published repro-
ductions, of the Plantagenet Garter plates eighty-seven armorial achieve-
ments are included. Of these, in ten instances the mantlings are plainly
continuations of the crests, being " feathered " or in unison. Fifteen
of the mantlings have both the outside and the inside of the principal
colour and of the principal metal of the arms they accompany, though
in a few cases, contrary to the present practice, the metal is outside,
the lining being of the colour. Nineteen more of the mantlings are
of the principal colour of the arms, the majority (eighteen) of these
being lined with ermine. No less than forty-nine are of some colour
lined with ermine, but thirty-four of these are of gules lined ermine,
and in the large majority of cases in these thirty-four instances neither
the gules nor the ermine are in conformity with the principal colour
and metal (what we now term the " livery colours") of the arms. In
some cases the colours of the mantling agree with the colours of the
crest, a rule which will usually be found to hold good in German
heraldry. The constant occurrence of gules and ermine incline one
much to believe that the colours of the mantling were not decided by
haphazard fancy, but that there was some law possibly in some way
connected with the sumptuary laws of the period which governed the
matter, or, at any rate, which greatly limited the range of selection.
Of the eighty-seven mantlings, excluding those which are gules lined
ermine, there are four only the colours of which apparently bear no
relation whatever to the colours of the arms or the crests appearing
upon the same Stall plate. In some number of the plates the colours
certainly are taken from a quartering other than the first one, and in
one at least of the four exceptions the mantling (one of the most curious
examples) is plainly derived from a quartering inherited by the knight
in question though not shown upon the Stall plate. Probably a closer
examination of the remaining three instances would reveal a similar
reason in each case. That any law concerning the colours of their
mantlings was enforced upon those concerned would be an unwarrant-
able deduction not justified by the instances under examination, but
one is clearly justified in drawing from these cases some deductions as
to the practice pursued. It is evident that unless one was authorised
by the rule or reason governing the matter whatever such rule or reason
may have been in using a mantling of gules and ermine, the dominat-
ing colour (not as a rule the metal) of the coat of arms (or of one of
the quarterings), or sometimes of the crest if the tinctures of arms and
crest were not in unison, decided the colour of the mantling. That
there was some meaning behind the mantlings of gules lined with
ermine there can be little doubt, for it is noticeable that in a case in
THE MANTLING OR LAMBREQUIN 387
which the colours of the arms themselves are gules and ermine, the
mantling is of gules and argent, as by the way in this particular case
is the chapeau upon which the crest is placed. But probably the
reason which governed these mantlings of gules lined with ermine, as
also the ermine linings of other mantlings, must be sought outside the
strict limits of armory. That the colours of mantlings are repeated in
different generations, and in the plates of members of the same family,
clearly demonstrates that selection was not haphazard.
Certain of these early Garter plates exhibit interesting curiosities in
the mantlings :
1. Sir William Latimer, Lord Latimer, K.G., c. 1361-1381. Arms:
gules a cross patonce or. Crest : a plume of feathers sable, the tips
or. Mantling gules with silver vertical stripes, lined with ermine.
2. Sir Bermond Arnaud de Presac, Soudan de la Tran, K.G.,
1380- post 1384. Arms: or, a lion rampant double-queued gules.
Crest: a Midas' head argent. Mantling sable, lined gules, the latter
veined or.
3. Sir Simon Felbrigge, K.G., 1397-1442. Arms: or, a lion
rampant gules. Crest: out of a coronet gules, a plume of feathers
ermine. Mantling ermine, lined gules (evidently a continuation of the
crest).
4. Sir Reginald Cobham, Lord Cobham, K.G., 1352-1361. Arms:
gules, on a chevron or, three estoiles sable. Crest : a soldan's head
sable, the brow encircled by a torse or. Mantling sable (evidently a
continuation of the crest), lined gules.
5. Sir Edward Cherleton, Lord Cherleton of Powis, K.G., 1406-7
to 1420-1. Arms: or, a lion rampant gules. Crest: on a wreath
gules and sable, two lions' gambs also gules, each adorned on the
exterior side with three demi-fleurs-de-lis issuing argent, the centres
thereof or. Mantling : on the dexter side, sable ; on the sinister side,
gules ; both lined ermine.
6. Sir Hertong von Clux, K.G., 1421-1445 or 6. Arms: argent,
a vine branch couped at either end in bend sable. Crest : out of a
coronet or, a plume of feathers sable and argent. Mantling : on the
dexter side, azure ; on the sinister, gules ; both lined ermine.
7. Sir Miles Stapleton, K.G. (Founder Knight, died 1364). Arms:
argent, a lion rampant sable. Crest : a soldan's head sable, around
the temples a torse azure, tied in a knot, the ends flowing. Mantling
sable (probably a continuation of the crest), lined gules.
8. Sir Walter Hungerford, Lord Hungerford and Heytesbury,
K.G., 14211449. Arms: sable, two bars argent, and in chief three
plates. Crest : out of a coronet azure a garb or, enclosed by two
sickles argent. Mantling (within and without) : dexter, barry of six
388 A COMPLETE GUIDE TO HERALDRY
ermine and gules ; sinister, barry of six gules and ermine. (The
reason of this is plain. The mother of Lord Hungerford was a
daughter and coheir of Hussey. The arms of Hussey are variously
given : " Barry of six ermine and gules," or " Ermine, three bars
gules.")
9. Sir Humphrey Stafford, Earl of Stafford, 1429-1460. Arms:
or, a chevron gules. Crest : out of a coronet gules, a swan's head
and neck proper, beaked gules, between two wings also proper.
Mantling : the dexter side, sable ; the sinister side, gules ; both lined
ermine. Black and gules, it may be noted, were the livery colours of
Buckingham, an earldom which had devolved upon the Earls of
Stafford.
10. Sir John Grey of Ruthin, K.G., 14361439. Arms : quarterly,
i and 4, barry of six argent and azure, in chief three torteaux ; 2 and
3, quarterly i. and iiii., or, a maunch gules ; ii. and iii., barry of eight
argent and azure, an orle of ten martlets gules ; over all a label of
three points argent. Crest : on a chapeau gules, turned up ermine,
a wyvern or, gorged with a label argent. Mantling or, lined
ermine.
11. Sir Richard Nevill, Earl of Salisbury, K.G., 1436-1460.
Arms : quarterly, i and 4, quarterly i. and iiii., argent, three lozenges
conjoined in fess gules ; ii. and iii., or, an eagle displayed vert ; 2 and 3,
gules, a saltire argent, a label of three points compony argent and azure.
Crest : on a coronet, a griffin sejant, with wings displayed or. Mant-
ling : dexter side, gules ; the sinister, sable ; both lined ermine.
12. Sir Gaston de Foix, Count de Longueville, &c., K.G., 1438-