inherited right) in token of allegiance or service, actual, quasi-actual,
464 A COMPLETE GUIDE TO HERALDRY
or sentimental, by the cadets of the house and their servants ; for
whilst the use of the cockade is a survival of the right to be waited
on and served by a soldier servant, the use of a badge by a cadet may
be a survival and reminder of the day when (until they married
heiresses and continued or founded other families) the cadets of a
house owed and gave military service to the head of their own family,
and in return were supported by him.
From the wording of the recent grants of badges I believe the
intention, however, is that the badge is to descend of right to all of
those people on whom a right to it would devolve if it were a
quartering.
The use of badges having been so limited, the absence of rule and
regulation leaves it very much a matter of personal taste how badges,
where they exist, shall be heraldically depicted, and perhaps it is better
to leave their manner of display to artistic requirements. The most
usual place, when depicted in conjunction with an achievement, is on
either side of the crest, and they may well be placed in that position.
Where they exist, however, they ought undoubtedly to be continued
in use upon the liveries of the servants, and the present practice is
for them to be placed on the livery buttons, and embroidered upon
the epaulettes or on the sleeves of state liveries. Undoubtedly the
former practice of placing the badge upon the servants' livery is the
precursor of the present vogue of placing crests upon livery buttons,
and many heraldic writers complain of the impropriety of placing the
crest in such a position. I am not sure that I myself may not have
been guilty in this way ; but when one bears in mind the number of
cases in which the badge and the crest are identical, and when, as in
the above instance, devices which are undoubtedly crests are exempli-
fied as and termed badges, even as such being represented upon wreaths,
and even in that form granted upon standards, whilst in other cases
the action has been the reverse, it leaves one under the necessity of
being careful in making definite assertions.
Having dealt with the laws (if there ever were any) and the practice
concerning the use and display of badges in former days, it will be of
interest to notice some of those which were anciently in use.
I have already referred to the badge of the ostrich feathers, now
borne exclusively by the heir-apparent to the throne. The old
legend that the Black Prince won the badge at the battle of Crecy by
the capture of John, King of Bohemia, together with the motto " Ich
dien," has been long since exploded. Sir Harris Nicolas brought to
notice the fact that among certain pieces of plate belonging to Queen
Philippa of Hainault was a large silver-gilt dish enamelled with a black
escutcheon with ostrich feathers, " vuo scuch nigro cum pennis de
BADGES 465
ostrich/' and upon the strength of that, suggested that the ostrich
feather was probably originally a badge of the Counts of Hainault
derived from the County of Ostrevaus, a title which was held by their
eldpst sons. The suggestion in itself seems probable enough and may
be correct, but it would not account for the use of the ostrich feathers
by the Mowbray family, who did not descend from the marriage of
Edward III. and Philippa of Hainault. Contemporary proof of the use
of badges is often
difficult to find. The
Mowbrays had many
badges, and certainly
do not appear to
have made any very
extensive use of the
ostrich feathers. But
there seems to be
very definite autho-
rity for the existence
of the badge. There
is in one of the re-
cords of the College
of Arms (R. 22, 67),
which is itself a copy
of another record,
the following state-
ment :
"The discent of
Mowbray written at
length in lattin from
the Abby booke of
newborOUgh wherein FIG. 675. The arms granted by King Richard II. to Thomas
"PinVi o n^^^^^ fr ^ e Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk, and showing the ostrich feather
badges.
Thomas Duke of
norff. & Erie Marshall the armes of Saint Edward Confessor in theis
words :
" Et dedit eidem Thome ad pertandum in sigillo et vexillo quo
arma S li Edwardi. Idcirco arma bipartata portavit scil' 't Sci Edwardi
et domini marcialis angliae cum duabus pennis strutionis erectis et super
crestam leonem et duo parva scuta cum leonibus et utraq' parto pre-
dictorum armorum."
Accompanying this is a rough-tricked sketch of the arms upon
which the illustration (Fig. 675) has been based. Below this extract
in the College Records is written in another hand : " I find this then
2 G
466 A COMPLETE GUIDE TO HERALDRY
in ye chancell window of Effingham by Bungay in the top of the cot
window with Mowbraye & Segrave on the side in glass there."
Who the writer was I am unaware. He appends a further sketch
to his note, which slightly differs. No helmet or crest is shown, and
the central shield has only the arms of Brotherton. The feathers
which flank it are both enfiled below the shield by one coronet.
Of the smaller shields at the side, the dexter bears the arms of
Mowbray and the sinister those of Segrave. Possibly the Mowbrays,
as recognised members of the Royal Family, bore the badge by
subsequent grant and authorisation and not on the simple basis of
inheritance.
An ostrich feather piercing a scroll was certainly the favourite badge
of the Black Prince and so appears on several of his seals, and tripli-
cated it occurs on his " shield of peace " (Fig. 478), which, set up under
the instructions in his will, still remains on his monument in Canterbury
Cathedral. The arms of Sir Roger de Clarendon, the illegitimate son
of the Black Prince, were derived from this " shield for peace," which I
take it was not really a coat of arms at all, but merely the badge of the
Prince depicted upon his livery colour, and which might equally have
been displayed upon a roundle. In the form of a shield bearing three
feathers the badge occurs on the obverse of the second seal of Henry IV.
in 141 1. A single ostrich feather with the motto " Ich dien " upon the
scroll is to be seen on the seal of Edward, Duke of York, who was killed
at the battle of Agincourt in 1415. Henry IV. as Duke of Lancaster
placed on either side of his escutcheon an ostrich feather with a garter
or belt carrying the motto " Sovereygne " twined around the feather,
John of Gaunt used the badge with a chain laid along the quill, and
Thomas, Duke of Gloucester, used it with a garter and buckle instead
of the chain ; whilst John Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, placed an
ostrich feather on each side of his shield, the quills in his case being
compony argent and azure, like the bordure round his arms.
There is a note in Harl. MS. 304, folio 12, which, if it be strictly
accurate, is of some importance. It is to the effect that the " feather
silver with the pen gold is the King's, the ostrich feather pen and all
silver is the Prince's (i.e. the Prince of Wales), and the ostrich feather
gold the pen ermine is the Duke of Lancaster's." That statement
evidently relates to a time when the three were in existence contempo-
raneously, i.e. before the accession of Henry IV. In the reign of
Richard II. there was no Prince of Wales. During the reign of
Edward III. from 1376 onwards, Richard, afterwards Richard II., was
Prince of Wales, and John of Gaunt was Duke of Lancaster (so cr.
1362). But John of Gaunt used the feather in the form above stated,
and to find a Duke of Lancaster before John of Gaunt we must go
FIG. 676. Seal of King James II. for the Duchy of Lancaster.
BADGES 467
back to before 1360, when we have Edward III. as King, the Black
Prince as Prince, and Henry of Lancaster (father-in-law of John of
Gaunt) as Duke of Lancaster. He derived from Henry III., and like
the Mowbrays had no blood descent from Philippa of Hainault. A
curious confirmation of my suggestion that black was the livery colour
of the Black Prince is found in the fact that there was in a window in
St. Dunstan's Church, London, within a wreath of roses a roundle per
pale sanguine and azure (these being unquestionably livery colours), a
plume of ostrich feathers argent, quilled or, enfiled by a scroll bearing
the words " Ich dien." Above was the Prince's coronet and the letters
E. & P., one on each side of the plume. This was intended for
Edward VI., doubtless being erected in the reign of Henry VIII. The
badge in the form in which we know it, i.e. enfiled by the princely
coronet, dates from about the beginning of the Stuart dynasty, since
when it appears to have been exclusively reserved for the eldest son and
heir-apparent to the throne. At the same time the right to the display
of the badge would appear to have been reserved by the Sovereign, and
Woodward remarks :
" On the Privy Seals of our Sovereigns the ostrich feather is still
employed as a badge. The shield of arms is usually placed between
two lions sejant guardant addorsed, each holding the feather. On the
Privy Seal of Henry VIII. the feathers are used without the lions, and
this was the case on the majority of the seals of the Duchy of Lancaster.
On the reverse of the present seal of the Duchy the feathers appear to
be ermine."
Fig. 676 shows the seal of James II. for the Duchy of Lancaster.
The seal of the Lancashire County Council shows a shield supported
by two talbots sejant addorsed, each supporting in the exterior paw an
ostrich feather sem-de-lis. It is possible that the talbots may be
intended for lions and the fleurs-de-lis for ermine spots. The silver
swan, one of the badges of King Henry V., was used also by Henry IV.
It was derived from the De Bohuns, Mary de Bohun being the wife
of Henry IV. From the De Bohuns it has been traced to the Mande-
villes, Earls- of Essex, who may have adopted it to typify their descent
from Adam Fitz Swanne, temp. Conquest. Fig. 33 on the same plate is
the white hart of Richard II. Although some have traced this badge
from the white hind used as a badge by Joan, the Fair Maid of Kent,
the mother of Richard II., it is probably a device punning upon his
name, " Rich-hart." Richard II. was not the heir of his mother. The
heir was his half-brother, Thomas Holand, Earl of Kent, who did use
the badge of the hind, and perhaps the real truth is that the Earl of
Kent having the better claim to the hind, Richard was under the
necessity of making an alteration which the obvious pun upon his
FIG. 677. Badge of
King Henry II.
FIG. 678. Badge of
Edward IV.
"Peascod" Street in
468 A COMPLETE GUIDE TO HERALDRY
name suggested. There is no doubt that the crest of Ireland originated
therefrom. The stag in this case was undoubtedly " lodged " in the
earliest versions, and I have been much interested in tracing the steps
by which the springing attitude
has developed owing to the copy-
ing of badly drawn examples.
Amongst the many Royal
and other badges in this country
there are some of considerable
interest. Fig. 677 represents
the famous badge of the "broom-
cod " or "planta genista/' from
which the name of the dynasty
was derived. It appears to have
been first used by King Henry II., though it figures in the decora-
tion of the tomb of Geoffrey, Count of Anjou
Windsor of course derives its name therefrom.
The well-known badges of the white and red
roses of York and Lancaster have been already
referred to, and Fig. 678, the well-known device
of the " rose-en-soliel " used by King Edward
IV., was really a combination of two distinct
badges, viz. " the blazing sun of York " and
the " white rose of York." The rose again
appears in 679, here dimidiated with the
pomegranate of Catharine of Aragon. This
is taken from the famous Tournament Roll
(now in the College of Arms), which relates to
the Tournament, I3th and I4th of February
11 . i-.ii < T- TT
1510, to celebrate the birth of Prince Henry.
Richard I., John, and Henry III. are all said to have used the
device of the crescent and
star (Fig. 680). Henry VII.
is best known by his two
badges of the crowned port-
cullis and the " sun-burst "
(Fig. 681). The suggested
origin of the former, that it
FIG. 681. Two badges of Henry was ^ pun Oil the name
VII. viz. the ''sun-burst" Tudor (i.e. two-door) is con-
and the crowned portcullis.
of Aragon. (From the West-
minster Tournament Roll.)
FIG. 680. Badge of
Richard I.
firmed by the motto " Altera
securitas " which was used with it, but at the same time is rather
vitiated by the fact that it was also used by the Beauforts, who had
BADGES 469
no Tudor descent. Save a very tentative remark hazarded by Wood-
ward, no explanation has as yet been suggested for the sun-burst.
My own strong conviction, based on the fact that this particular
badge was principally used by Henry VII., who was
always known as Henry of Windsor, is that it is
nothing more than an attempt to pictorially represent
the name " Windsor " by depicting " winds " of " or."
The badge is also attributed to Edward III., and he,
like Henry VII., made his principal residence at Windsor.
Edward IV. also used the white lion of March (whence
is derived the shield of Ludlow : " Azure, a lion
couchant guardant, between three roses argent," Lud- FIG 6g2
low being one of the fortified towns in the Welsh ofthe'Dukeof
Marches), and the black bull which, though often Suffolk '
termed "of Clarence," is generally associated with the Duchy of
Cornwall. Richard III., as Duke of Gloucester, used a white boar.
The Earl of Northumberland used a silver crescent ; the Earl of
Douglas, a red hart ; the Earl of Pembroke, a golden
pack-horse with collar and traces ; Lord Hastings
bore as badge a black bull's head erased, gorged
with a coronet ; Lord Stanley, a golden griffin's leg,
erased ; Lord Howard, a white lion charged on the
shoulder with a blue crescent ; Sir Richard Dun-
FIG. 683. Badge of stable adopted a white cock as a badge ; Sir John
DukeTf N^rfoik rd ' Sava g e > a silver unicorn's head erased ; Sir Simon
Montford, a golden lily ; Sir William Gresham, a
green grasshopper.
Two curious badges are to be seen in Figs. 682 and 683. The
former is an ape's clog argent, chained or, and was used by William
de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk (d. 1450).
Fig. 683, a salet silver" (MS. Coll. of
Arms, 2nd M. 16), is the badge of
Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk (d.
1524). Various families used knots of FIG. 684. Stafford FIG. 68 5 .-Wake
. . - ^' , Knot. or Ormonde Knot.
different design, of which the best
known is the Stafford knot (Fig. 684).
The wholesale and improper appro-
priation of this badge with a territorial
application has unfortunately caused it FIG 686, Bour- FIG. 687 -Hene-
J chier Knot. age Knot.
to be very generally referred to as a
" Staffordshire " knot, and that it was the personal badge of the Lords
Stafford is too often overlooked. Other badge knots are the Wake
or Ormonde knot (Fig. 685), the Bourchier knot (Fig. 686), and the
Heneage knot (Fig. 687).
470 A COMPLETE GUIDE TO HERALDRY
The personal badges of the members of the Royal Family continued
in use until the reign of Queen Anne, but from that time forward the
Royal badges obtained a territorial character ; the rose of England,
the thistle of Scotland, and the shamrock of Ireland. To these popular
consent has added the lotus-flower for India, the maple for Canada,
and in a lesser degree the wattle or mimosa for Australia ; but at
present these lack any official confirmation. The two first named,
nevertheless, figured on the Coronation Invitation Cards.
CHAPTER XXX
HERALDIC FLAGS, BANNERS, AND STANDARDS
WHEN it comes to the display of flags, the British-born
individual usually makes a hash of the whole business, and
flies either the Sovereign's personal coat of arms, which
really should only be made use of over a residence of the Sovereign
when the Sovereign is actually there, or flown at sea when the Sovereign
is on board ; or else he uses the national flag, colloquially termed the
" Union Jack," which, strictly speaking, and as a matter of law, ought
never to be made use of on land except over the residence of the
Sovereign in his absence, or on a fortress or other Government
building. But recently an official answer has been given in Parlia-
ment, declaring what is presumably the pleasure of His Majesty to
the effect that the Union Jack is the National Flag, and may be
flown as such on land by any British subject. If this is the intention
of the Crown, it is a pity that this permission has not been embodied
in a Royal warrant.
The banner of St. George, which is a white flag with a plain red
cross of St. George throughout, is now appropriated to the Order of
the Garter, of which St. George is the patron saint, though I am by
no means inclined to assert that it would be incorrect to make use
of it upon a church which happened to be specifically placed under
the patronage of St. George.
The white ensign, which is a white flag bearing the cross of
St. George and in the upper quarter next to the staff a reproduction
of the Union device, belongs to the Royal Navy, and certain privileged
individuals to whom the right has been given by a specific warrant.
The blue ensign, which is a plain blue flag with the Union device on
a canton in the upper corner next the staff, belongs to the Royal Naval
Reserve ; and the red ensign, which is the same as the former, except
that a red flag is substituted for the blue one, belongs to the ships of
the merchant service. These three flags have been specifically called
into being by specific warrants for certain purposes which are stated
in these warrants, and these purposes being wholly connected with the
sea, neither the blue, the red, nor the white ensign ought to be hoisted
on land by anybody. Of course there is no penalty for doing so on
471
472 A COMPLETE GUIDE TO HERALDRY
land, though very drastic penalties can be enforced for misuse of these
ensigns on the water, a step which is taken frequently enough. For
a private person to use any one of these three flags on land for a
private purpose, the only analogy which I can suggest to bring home
to people the absurdity of such action would be to instance a private
person for his own private pleasure adopting the exact uniform of
some regiment whenever he might feel inclined to go bathing in the
sea. If he were to do so, he would find under the recent Act that he
had incurred the penalty, which would be promptly enforced, for
bringing His Majesty's uniform into disrepute. It is much to be
wished that the penalties exacted for the wrongful display of these
flags at sea should be extended to their abuse on shore.
The development of the Union Jack and the warrants relating to
it are dealt with herein by the Rev. ]. R. Crawford, M.A., in a subse-
quent chapter, and I do not propose to further deal with the point,
except to draw attention to a proposal, which is very often mooted,
that some change or addition to the Union Jack should be made to
typify the inclusion of the colonies.
But to begin with, what is the Union Jack ? Probably most
would be inclined to answer, " The flag of the Empire." It is nothing
of the kind. It is in a way stretching the definition to describe it as
the King's flag. Certainly the design of interlaced crosses is a badge
of the King's, but that badge is of a later origin than the flag.
The flag itself is the fighting emblem of the Sovereign, which the
Sovereign has declared shall be used by his soldiers or sailors for
fighting purposes under certain specified circumstances. That it is
used, even officially, in all sorts of circumstances with which the King's
warrants are not concerned is beside the matter, for it is to the Royal
Warrants that one must refer for the theory of the thing.
Now let us go further back, and trace the " argent, a cross gules," the
part which is England's contribution to the Union Jack, which itself is a
combination of the " crosses " of St. George, St. Andrew, and St. Patrick.
The theory of one is the theory of the three, separately or conjoined.
" Argent, a cross gules " was never the coat of arms of England
(except under the Commonwealth, when its use for armorial purposes
may certainly be disregarded), and the reason it came to be regarded
as the flag of England is simply and solely because fighting w r as always
done under the supposed patronage of some saint, and England fought,
not under the arms of England, but under the flag of St. George, the
patron saint of England and of the Order of the Garter. The battle-
cry " St. George for Merrie England ! " is too well known to need
more than the passing mention. Scotland fought under St. Andrew ;
Ireland, by a similar analogy, had for its patron saint St. Patrick (if
HERALDIC FLAGS, BANNERS, STANDARDS 473
indeed there was a Cross of St. Patrick before one was needed for the
Union flag, which is a very doubtful point), and the Union Jack was
not the combination of three territorial flags, but the combination of
the recognised emblems of the three recognised saints, and though
England claimed the sovereignty of France, and for that reason
quartered the arms of France, no Englishman bothered about the
patronage of St. Denis, and the emblem of St. Denis was never flown
in this country. The fact that no change was ever made in the flag
to typify Hanover, whilst Hanover duly had its place upon the arms,
proves that the flag was recognised to be, and allowed to remain, the
emblem of the three patron saints under whose patronage the British
fought, and not the badge of any sovereignty or territorial area. If
the colonies had already any saint of their own under whose patronage
they had fought in bygone days, or in whose name they wished to
fight in the future, there might be reason for including the emblem of that
saint upon the fighting flag of the Empire ; but they have no recognised
saintly patrons, and they may just as well fight for our saints as choose
others for themselves at so late a day ; but having a flag which is a
combination of the emblems of three saints, and which contains nothing
that is not a part of those emblems, to make any addition heraldic
or otherwise to it now would, in my opinion, be best expressed by the
following illustration. Imagine three soldiers in full and complete
uniform, one English, one Scottish, and one Irish, it being desired to
evolve a uniform that should be taken from all three for use by a Union
regiment. A tunic from one, trousers from another, and a helmet
from a third, might be blended into a very effective and harmonious
composite uniform. Following the analogy of putting a bordure,
which is not the emblem of a saint, round the recognised emblems of
the three recognised saints, and considering it to be in keeping because
the bordure was heraldic and the emblems heraldic, one might argue,
that because a uniform was clothing as was also a ballet-dancer's skirt,
therefore a ballet-dancer's skirt outside the whole would be in keeping
with the rest of the uniform. For myself I should dislike any addition
to the Union device, as much as we should deride the donning of tulle
skirts outside their tunics and trousers by the brigade of Guards.
The flag which should float from a church tower should have no
more on it than the recognised ecclesiastical emblems of the saint to
whom it is dedicated : the keys of St. Peter, the wheel of St. Catherine,
the sword of St. Paul, the cross and martlets of St. Edmund, the lily of
St. Mary, the emblem of the Holy Trinity, or whatever the emblem may
be of the saint in question. (The alternative for a church is the banner
of St. George, the patron saint of the realm.) The flags upon public
buildings should bear the arms of the corporate bodies to whom those
474 A COMPLETE GUIDE TO HERALDRY
buildings belong. The flag to be flown by a private person, as the law
now stands, should bear that person's private arms, if he has any, and
if he has not he should be content to forego the pleasures arising from
the use of bunting. A private flag should be double its height in
length. The entire surface should be occupied by the coat of arms.
These flags of arms are banners, and it is quite a misnomer to term
the banner of the Royal Arms the Royal Standard. The flags of
arms hung over the stalls of the Knights of the Garter, St. Patrick,
and the former Knights of the Bath are properly, and are always
termed banners. The term standard properly refers to the long taper-
ing flag used in battle, and under which an overlord mustered his