Differencing within Families and Localities Adapted from an article by Michael Ray In his fine book, The Knight in Medieval England 1000-1400 (Thrupp, 1996), Peter Coss explains, discusses and illustrates the differencing of heraldic arms within families, local loyalties and feudal relationships. I am grateful to Peter for permission to use some of his illustrations in this article. The Earls of Chester The image opposite shows the similarities between arms associated with Chester.  The arms of the earldom of Chester were azure, three garbs or - a [...]

Some Augmentations of Honour awarded by Richard II and Henry VIII Contributed by Brendon Clarke During the present age, whether or not a grant of arms made by the Office of The Lord Lyon in Scotland or the College of Arms in London is an honorific must be debatable.  Unlike an MBE and similar decorations that are distinctions presented for merit or service without being either asked for by the recipient or invoiced, grants of armorials from the Lord Lyon or the Heralds’ College must be applied for by the person [...]

A Mortimer Quartering on an Unusual Royal Shield Contributed by Hugh Wood The rather streaky coat of arms on the right is one of several adorning an impressive gateway at Lumley Castle in County Durham. Originally built in 1389 by Ralph Lumley 1st baron Lumley (d1400), this gateway dates only from the 18th century. The various coats of arms on it form a collection of historical Lumleys with their wives, and this one is of Thomas Lumley (d1502) and his wife Margaret (aka Elizabeth) Plantagenet, a natural daughter of Edward IV. [...]

An Unusual Venetian Shield above an Extraordinary Door. Contributed by Hugh Eveleigh For anyone interested in heraldry Venice is well worth a visit in that Achievements of Arms and heraldic and quasi-heraldic symbols are everywhere apparent. Binoculars help considerably as it is not always possible to get close enough to read them properly.  For all its obvious variety, somehow the majority of examples retain what might be called restraint. Heraldry and its use by Venetian noble families mirrors the myth of Venetian civil restraint which patrician leaders of the republic were [...]

Heiresses and the "Rules" of Quartering Contributed by Hugh Wood The main purpose of this article is to demonstrate that things are often much more complicated than they seem; that some of the apparent  "rules" of heraldry clearly didn’t exist in medieval times, and that even later they were not uncommonly ignored or circumvented. A coat of arms of Henry Radcliffe (d1557) 2nd earl of Sussex, now in the Burrell Collection in Glasgow is an excellent case study - see opposite. There will probably be readers of this article who know much more [...]

The Heraldry of Richard, 3rd duke of YorkContributed by Hugh Wood All the books on heraldry (and our teach-yourself course) explain how a man who marries an heraldic heiress may place her father’s coat of arms on a small inescutcheon in the centre of his own arms. Sometime around 1600, William Scudamore (d1649) of Balligham in Herefordshire married Sarah Kyrle, daughter of Anthony Kyrle of Walford Court, also in Herefordshire. On her father’s death she became the owner of the family coat of arms (jointly with any sisters she may have had) so William [...]