with the reprefentation of fome animal, a part of fome military wea. pon or engine, or with fome fymbolical device: and this induced the great landed barons, and others who brought any confiderable number of fighting men into the field, to fufpend or exhibit on the top of a lance or pike, elevated fo as to be visible at a distance, fome enfign, or piece of filk, or other ftuff, whereon was reprefented a figure fimilar to that which he himself bore, either on his fhield or on his helmet: and thofe enfigns or military figures, being known to their respective followers, were by them looked for and reforted unto upon every emergency; fo that a continuance by each chief, of the ufe of the fame military figure which he had been accustomed to carry, grew in a manner abfolutely requifite, left by any alteration, or the total change of it, his vaffals, tenants, and others whofe duty it was to adhere thereto, might, especially in time of action, be deceived, thrown into diforder, or drawn into danger. For the like reafons, the fons retained the fame military enfigns as their father had affumed; their pofterity adopted the example; and at length those enfigns being by general content confidered as folely appertinent to the particular family of him who had originally used them, they became bereditary armories of fuch family, and were efteemed as the certain and approved teferee of anceftrial honour and diftinction. The reputation thus ftampt on armorial bearings introduced fuch a regard for their prefervatioo, and fo great a propenfity to their refinement and improvement, that fundry princes, and more particularly the Emperor Charlemagne, did not fcruple to apply themselves with affiduity to the regulation of the use and blazon of armories, which were then confeffedly known to be not only the honourable teftimonies of landed property and diguity, but the acknowledged badges and memorials of perfonal valour and extraordinary fervices performed in the wars.' Thus much in general: in a fubfequent paffage the Author explains the introduction of family diftinctions into England. From what has been before obferved, there is the greatest reafon to conclude, that bereditary family arms are of German production and feudal origin; but the time in which they were firft ufed in EngJand is not equally certain. An enquiry into that fact, touching which there has been a greater divertity of opinions than about the origin of the inflitution itself, is highly interesting, and well worthy of our refearches. Our Saxon monarchs have been confidered as the introducers of gentiliul arms into this island, whilft, on the other hand, fome writers have maintained, that arms were ufed by the Britons at the very time that the Chriftian faith was first propagated here*, and that Lucius, a pro-regulus in Britain in the 48th year of the Chriftian æra, took for his arms Ar. a crofs gules. Canute and his Danes have, in their turns, been honoured with the reputation of having first taught our ancestors the use of arms. The learned and judicious antiquary Mr. Arthur Agarde conjectures that arms came to us firft from the Normans, being brought in by Edward the Con * Sir James Ley, who was afterwards Earl of Marlborough, in his Treatise on the Antiquity of Arms in England.-Antiquary Difcourfes, vol. i. p. 112. ibid. 163. 6 Mr. Tate, feffor, feffor, and afterwards more plentifully practifed here by William the Conqueror and the nobles who came over with him. Mr. Waterhoufe, upon what grounds is uncertain, fuppofes that gentilial armo-. ries were known here before that time; and that the first users of them were those few of the British and Saxon nobility, who kept their honours, fortunes, and feats on the change of government made by Duke William, and who, not having appeared in oppofition to him or his fons, held their stations in the country, although the Normans enjoyed both the places and preferments in court and camp; and as they grew more habituated to his government, and he abated of his rigour, and by peaceable ruling became more calm, they ventured to fhow themselves more openly, and with greater freedom avowed their rights, by bearing thofe marks of honourable diftinction *. The great Mr. Camden, who is followed by Peter Pitheu and others, thinks them of more recent date with us, and fays, that "fhortly after the Conqueft the eftimation of arms began in the expeditions to the Holy Land, and afterwards by little and little became hereditary, "when it was accounted an efpecial honour to pofterity to retain "thofe arms which had been difplayed in the Holy Land in that holy "fervice against the profeffed enemies of Chriftianity; and that we "received, at that time, the hereditary ufe of them; but that the "fame was not fully established until the reign of King Henry the "Third; for that, in the inftances of the last Earls of Chester, the two Quincies Earls of Winchester, and the two Lacies Earls of "Lincoln, the arms of the father ftill varied from thofe of the fon t.” Sir Henry Spelman is of opinion, that they are of ftill more modern growth in this kingdom; for, fpeaking of the antiquity generally allowed to the ufage of arms in England, he obferves, that "this na"tion being for fome hundreds of years haraffed with wars, in the "ftorm of foreign affaults, and civil commotions, there is little "reason to be over confident in matters of pedigree and arms much "beyond four hundred years;" and expreffes his doubts whether they are even entitled to that antiquity, by adding, "Nefcio an "ea prorfus antiquitate ." Upon what authority the advocates for the ufe of gentilial arms being known and practifed in Britain during the Saxon government, ground fuch affertion, doth not appear, as all the hiftorians of those times are filent as to that matter. The Horfe of Hengist and Horfa, -the devices by which the several kingdoms were distinguished from each other during the Heptarchy-the Golden Dragon of Uter, furnamed Pendragon-the three different bearings attributed to his fon Arthur; to wit, firft, Two dragons, endorsed, or; fecondly, Three crowns; and, thirdly, Vert, a cross argent, with the Holy Virgin holding the infant Jefus in her arms, on the first quarter §-the Tunf borne by Edwin King of Northumberland -the Banner-roll of gold and purple hung over the tomb of King Ofwald at Bardney (')—the *Defence of Arms and Armories, p. 60. + Camden's Remains. Camden on the Antiquity of Arms in England,-in Cole lection of Antiquary Difcourfes, vol. i. p. 170. In Gloffario, ad verbum Arma. Gelf, Monum, lib. ix. c. 4. Math, Weftm. f. 186. (*) Ibid. Dragon's Dragon, or, depicted on the banner of Cuthred King of Weffex (†) at the battle of Bureford (1)—the Saxon blazon, being Azure, a cross formée, or flowery, or (§), and that of the Danes, being Or, femée of bearts, three leopards gules (||)--upon all which firefs hath been laid for proving the prevalency of the ufe of arms in this kingdom in thofe early times-were no other than the military and imperial en figns of the feveral monarchs who bore them, and were never confidered by them in any other light. * Hereditary gentilial arms were the fruits of the feudal law; and, as we have not any good reafon to imagine that either fuch law, or any of the customs to which it gave birth, had gained a footing in England previous to the invafion of William the Norman, we cannot justly expect to meet with any family arms ufed in this kingdom antecedent to that remarkable event. Notwithstanding this, fome writers have fuggefted that our English King Edward, commonly ftyled the Confeffor, who frequently vifited the court of his uncle the Duke of Normandy, and was fond of the fashions and cultoms there obferved, introduced many of them into England; and, among others, that of the ufe of family arms: in confirmation whereof, they affert that Edward, by way of fetting an example to his fubjects for affuming fuch marks of diftin&ion, took for his own private arms- - Az. a cross formée or, between five martlets of the last †, as we find them depicted in many places in this kingdom. Now, had this really been the cafe, it cannot reasonably be fuppofed that a fashion adopted and introduced by a prince fo much beloved by his people as Edward confeffedly was, thould not be followed at all, or at least by the major part of the principal men in his kingdom, more efpecially as it was defigned for their honour and diftinction; and confequently that, if the use of family arms had then prevailed among the nobility and- gentry of England, fome memoranda or traces of fuch practice muft have been handed down to us: whereas nothing of that fort appears. The general histories of thofe times do not take the least notice of it; and Abbas Rievalenfis, Edward's profeffed hiftorian, who is extremely circumftantial even in the minuteft occurrences which he thought redounded to his matter's character, is totally filent as to this matter; fo that no credit can be given to thofe modern writers, who would perfuade us that the practice of bearing family arms was first brought into England by the Confeffor. Further, there is not only great reafon to doubt the truth of the affertion, that Edward the Confeffor was the perfon who firft affumed the arms above defcribed; but to think that they were the imperial enfigns of his elder brother Edmund Ironfide, and actually borne by him at the battle of Ashdon: for Margaret, who married Malcolm Canmore (1) Sax. Chron. (†) Hoveden. (6) Speed, Guillim, York, Gerard, Leigh, Morgan, &c. () Imhoff Blazonia Regum Pariumque Magne Britanniæ. raldicum. Spencer's Opus He *They are commonly called Martlets by the heraldic writers; but on the efcutcheon of Edward the Confeffor's arms, carved on the wall of his abbey-church at Weflminfter, they are reprefented with beaks, legs, and claws; whereas the heraldic martlet hath neither beaks nor legs. † Coutumier de Normandie-Ord, Vitalis, King of Scotland, and was fifter to Edgar Atheling, and daughter of Edward the elder fon of King Edmund Ironfide, ufed thofe very arms after the death of her brother, and fifter Chriftian, in teftimony of her right to the crown of England, as being the only heiress of the Saxon race, and actually had them engraved and fet up on the monaftery of Dumtermling, of which he was the foundrefs, where they ftill remain. The cross formée or, in a field azure, was the Saxon enfign; and therefore there is the greater likelihood, not only that Edward the Confeffor, on his afcending the throne, took the imperial enfign of his late brother, rather than that he brought them as newinvented family arms from the Norman court; but alfo that Margaret of Scotland, in fupport of her claim to the English crown, would wear the imperial enfigns ufed by her grandfather, who had been King of England, and not fuch arms as had been firft affumed by her great-uncle Edward the Confeffor, who had mounted the English throne, in prejudice to the right of her father, and confequently to that of her brother, and of herself. The Normans were indeed fo well acquainted with the feudal fyftem, that they planned and established the form of their government upon that fyitem, at the time of their first fettlement in France; in evidence of which, we find that moft part of the lands in Normandy were held of the Duke by military tenure, and that the ufe of hereditary arms, as well as other feudal customs, were obferved by the nobility and chief land-holders of that duchy *. Hence there cannot be the leaft fhadow of doubt, that the commanders of thofe different corps, which compofed William's army when he invaded this kingdom, made ufe of the fame marks or tokens of diftinction. That fuch were here ufed by them, we have a very notable inftance. The inhabitants of the fenny parts of Cambridge and Lincoln fhires refused to fubject them felves to the Norman ycke, and manfully refifted the troops fent by William to force them to obedience; in which oppofition they were greatly encouraged and affifted by the monks of Ely; but being at length overpowered by the Normans, the revengeful and imperious monarch had no fooner made himself matter of that part of the country, than, in order to keep all things quiet there, and to punish as well as awe the Ely monks, he not only quartered one of his captains upon each of them at bed and board, but required every monk, upon peril of his life, to be answerable for the good maintenance and perfonal safety of that individual Norman who was fo placed under his immediate care and protection. A picture, reprefenting the portrait of each of thefe Norman chiefs, as alfo that of the monk on whom he was particularly quartered, together with the name and coat of arms of Juch Norman, in proper blazon, placed beneath his portrait, was hung up in the refectory of the monaftery, and was afterwards removed into the cathedral church at Ely, where it remained till lately. Most of thofe chiefs obtained lands, and fettled in England t, where their defcendants continued for many years, and ufed for their family arms the fame figures and devices as are reprefented in the abovementioned picture, under the portrait of their refpective ancestor, *Coutumier de Normandie.-Ord. Vitalis, The The fidelity of the picture, fo far as regards the coats of arms repre fented therein, cannot therefore be justly queftioned; and if fuch picture was really genuine, and painted at the time in which the feveral perfons whofe portraits are therein exhibited were living; it is a proof that hereditary gentilial arms were used by the Normans at the time of their invafion of this kingdom. In short, when the whole of the feveral arguments that have been offered in support of the different opinions broached, in refpect to the time in which armorial bearings were firft brought into England, are maturely confidered, it will appear manifeft that arms, together with the feudal fyftem, from whence they originated, were first introduced into this kingdom by the Normans at the time of the Conqueft; and that Duke William having foon after beftowed on his followers thofe lands and honours, of which he had violently diffeifed the natives, to hold of him by military or knight's fervice; thofe few of the British nobility and Saxon line, who had been lucky enough to avoid the frowns of the Conqueror, and to keep their honours, fortunes, and eftates, affumed to themfelves and families certain marks or tokens of diftinction fimilar to those then used by the new intruders. Thefe British, Saxon, and new Norman Lords, from whom most of our now ancient gentry are defcended, being, by the tenure of their lands, obliged, in their perfons, and with their dependents, tenants, and fervants, to attend their fovereign in his wars, in compliance with the feudal custom, granted out parts of their respective tenures to perfons who were allied to them by marriage, or affection, upon fuch terms as either they themselves held them of the firft grantor, or on fuch other conditions as they thought most expedient for their own private emolument; at the fame time affigning to fome of them certain coats of armour, which they usually compofed of part of their own arms, with fuch differences and additions as they thought proper. Others of thefe principal tenants, to whom arms had not been thus granted, and who, from the nature of their tenures, were bound not only to give perfonal attendance on their lord in times of war, but to fupply him with a certain number of men completely armed, towards making up the whole complement of foldiers, which he was obliged to bring with him into the field when called on for that purpose by the fovereign, affumed to themfelves arms, in great measure resembling those borne by their chief, but yet in fome refpects varied from them, either in the difference of the charges, or in the diverfification of their tinctures. The continuance of this practice greatly increased the number of armories, which, as before obferved, received a confiderable augmentation from the splitting and fubdividing of landed property, and were ftill further multiplied by thofe ufed in tilts and tournaments, but most especially by the various arms affumed by that amazing crowd of adventurers who engaged in the Croifades, and, until thofe times, had never prefumed to difference themselves by any peculiar badges or tokens of diftinction. After the return of King Richard the First from Palestine, he fhewed a particular fondness for difplaying, on every occafion, thofe armorial enfigns under which he had gained fo much glory in his expedition against the infidels: thofe who had ferved with him in that warfare, likewife prided themselves in bearing fuch diftinguishing emblems and devices as they had ufed on |