Teach Yourself Heraldry Module 2
Differencing Coats of Arms
Feudal Differencing
Under the feudal system all land was owned by the king. He granted estates to his main barons who were termed tenants in chief. Each estate was assessed to decide how many knights it could support and then a parcel of land would be described as being a certain number of knights’ fees. Whenever the king required it, usually in times of national conflict, the baron had to supply the appropriate knights’ service according to his overall land holding.
Most tenants-in-chief held huge estates across England, so they, in their turn, would grant land to sub-tenants who then became themselves responsible for supplying a number of their lord’s knights service. These sub-tenants might themselves grant part of their holding to others, and so on.
Families linked together in the feudal hierarchy often shared similar aims and concerns and would form a close affinity. With the arrival of heraldry, it is not surprising that a tenant closely linked to his lord would choose a coat of arms which emphasises that connection or, perhaps, have one chosen for him. The image opposite shows how five families dependent on the Luttrells differenced the Luttrell arms. Despite the colour changes and the addition of some extra charges, the arms of the tenants are closely reminiscent of the Luttrell coat of arms, indicating that they are ‘in the same team’.
The Mortimers of Wigmore also had tenants who based their arms on those of their overlord. In the 13th century Richard de Boys (d1302) held land of the Mortimers at La Seete (now The Sheet) just outside Ludlow, and their coat of arms is recorded in contemporary heraldic rolls. As you can see, they just substituted sable for the azure in the Mortimer arms. It is thought that Anglo-Norman families called de Boys, de Bois or de Bosco, may be some of the ancestors of the modern Woods, and it‘s interesting that the word bosky means wooded.
Another family that held lands of the Mortimers were the Burleys of Birley, Herefordshire, five miles south-west of Leominster. Though of fairly humble origins, three members of the family rose to eminence in the 14th century and were made Knights of the Garter, Sir Simon de Burley being executed by the Lords Appellants for his continued support for Richard II. The Burley coat of arms has lost the triangular gyrons in the top corners of the Mortimer shield, but otherwise it bears a strong resemblance.
Mortimer
Boys
Burley
Differencing for Cadency
Only the head of a family is allowed to use the family arms undifferenced. All of his brothers, uncles, sons and grandsons must alter the family arms in some way. Women were allowed to use their father’s arms undifferenced. In medieval times, before heraldry became more standardised, there seem to have been no rules about how such differences should be assigned. The arms of various members of the Grandison family are shown here. Originally their arms were just paly argent and azure but a bend gules was added for difference. Later members of that family added various distinguishing charges to this bend.
It was common for the eldest son to add a label to the family arms, and he would remove it when he became the head of the family in his turn.
In the diagram nearby are the cadency differences used by the sons of Roger Mortimer (d1282). We don’t know of differences used by his eldest son Ralph who died before his father, or Edmund who became the lord of Wigmore on his father’s death. Roger Mortimer of Chirk (d1326) replaced the escutcheon argent with an escutcheon ermine. Geoffrey placed overall a saltire gules and William used overall a bend gules.
Here are some other examples of Mortimer cadency marks.
Many of the cadency marks were not in existence for very long and, as there was no agreed system for allocating them, it is often impossible to connect a particular difference to a specific person. Within the Mortimer family, the exception is the difference used by Roger of Chirk (d1326).
Mortimer of Chirk over 250 years
Seal of Roger Mortimer of Chirk (d1326) attached to the Barons’ Letter to the Pope dated 1301.
A 14thC horse trapping.
A 14thC floor tile from Bredon church, Worcestershire.
Arms of Hugh Mortimer (d1460), great-great-great-grandson of Roger of Chirk (d1326) in a window at Ockwells Manor in Berkshire.
Mortimer of Chirk quartering in the arms of Thomas West (d1554) 9th baron de la Warr, grandson of Hugh Mortimer (d1460) on the ceiling of Boxgrove Priory.
Mortimer of Chirk quartering in the arms of Robert Dudley (d1588) earl of Leicester in the Burrell Collection, Glasgow.
Modern Cadency Marks
In the 16th century the use of cadency marks was standardised in England. The eldest son added a label, which was removed when he became head of the family. The second son added a crescent, the third a mullet, the fourth a martlet and so on. This mark is commonly placed centrally in chief (ie at the top). If it is being placed on a quartered shield, however, it is placed at the centre. It may be of any colour.
The use of differences to indicate cadency largely went out of use in England some time ago.
Examples of Modern Cadency Marks
Arms of the earl of Bedford with no cadency mark.
The 1st earl Russell was the third son of the 6th earl of Bedford.
The arms of William Gerard (d1581) are shown here with a mullet for a 3rd son.
Rev. Alfred Phillipps (d1910) was a 5th son.
Edmund Walter (d1592) was a 2nd son.
Charles Fox (d1590) was a 2nd son.
What about Grandsons?
One occasionally comes across examples of one cadency mark being superimposed on another, for the 3rd son of a second son, for instance. This is clearly unwieldy if taken to further generations, and the practice has understandably died out.
The Uncle and Nephew Problem – see opposite
Superimposing cadency marks on top of each other proved impractical, but single marks were commonly used to distinguish between the members of the same generation. But even this was fraught with ambiguity: the second son in one generation, for instance, would naturally have the same cadency mark as the second son in the next generation, and so on. So a crescent added to a coat of arms indicates a second son, but gives no clue as to which generation the second son might belong.
Cadency Differencing in Scotland
The rules associated with differencing for cadency are significantly different from those in England. An unmarried son who is still part of his father’s household may display his father’s arms differenced as in England. But the cadency mark of his youth cannot be passed down to future generations, as happened with Roger Mortimer of Chirk. On marrying, he must apply to the Lord Lyon for a personal grant of arms which will commonly involve adding a border of some sort to his father’s arms. Whereas differencing for cadency has now largely disappeared in England, it is still strictly controlled and enforced in Scotland.
Marshalling of Arms
The grouping of two or more separate coats of arms on a single shield is called marshalling. As with many aspects of heraldry, the ways of marshalling arms gradually became more standardised.
Dimidiation
This early method of grouping two coats of arms on a single shield was used to show the joint arms of a husband and wife. The coat of arms of each of them was cut vertically down the middle and the dexter half of the husband’s shield was joined to the sinister half of the wife’s arms.
Above their joint tomb in St Mary’s, Warwick are the dimidiated arms of Thomas Beauchamp (d1369) 11th earl of Warwick and his wife Katherine Mortimer (d1369) daughter of Roger Mortimer 1st earl of March.
Beauchamp
Mortimer
Their dimidiated arms
As a method of combining coats of arms, dimidiation was problematic. Even when both coats of arms were symmetrical, the resulting shield was often quite unsatisfactory artistically. Things got worse if one of the coats was unsymmetrical, and it was sometimes difficult to identify a coat from just a half of it. So dimidiation was soon replaced by impalement as a method of combining two coats of arms.
Occasionally dimidiation produced a new design which was interesting in its own right, and was retained, like the arms of the Cinque Ports.
Cinque Ports
Impalement
In impalement, two coats of arms are placed side-by-side on the same shield, separated by a central vertical line. The whole of each coat of arms is squeezed into half the shield, the only exception being that borders are normally omitted from the central dividing line.
The most common use of impalement displays the joint arms of a husband and wife. The husband’s arms are placed on the dexter side.
Roger Mortimer (d1330) 1st earl of March and his wife Joan de Geneville.
Robert de Vere (d1331) 6th earl of Oxford and Margaret Mortimer.
Hoskins impaling Giffard. Note how the border on the Giffard arms is discontinued along the central dividing line.
Impalement is also used to display the arms of holders of some important offices. The most commonly found examples are the arms of bishops on their tombs in cathedrals. The arms of the office are placed to the dexter and the individual holder’s arms to the sinister.
Arms of Archbishop Justin Welby with the arms of the See of Canterbury impaling Welby.
John Alcock (d1500), bishop of Ely, with the arms of the See of Ely impaling Alcock.
Arms of Jesus College, Cambridge, founded in 1496 by John Alcock (left). Note how the arms of the college include elements from both Ely and Alcock.
Quartering
Another way of combining coats of arms on a single shield is by splitting the shield into four quarters. This has the immediate advantage that up to four different coats of arms can easily be displayed together. Rather than being numbered cyclically, the quarters are labelled row by row from dexter to sinister. Quarter 1 is usually reserved for the paternal arms, so for Joe Bloggs, say, the Bloggs arms will be in quarter 1. When just two coats are displayed, the most important or significant arms are placed in quarters 1 & 4.
The earliest example of quartering in England is the arms of Edward I’s queen Eleanor of Castile (d1290). She bore Quarterly Castile and Leon.
When Aymer de Valence, earl of Pembroke, died in 1324 the earldom became extinct. It was recreated in 1339 for Laurence Hastings, who was a great-grandson of Aymer’s father, William de Valence, 1st earl of Pembroke. To emphasise the family continuity Laurence quartered the Hastings arms with those of Valence.
The arms of Roger Mortimer (d1398) 4th earl of March combine the Mortimer arms with those of his mother Philippa’s de Burgh arms associated with her status as countess of Ulster.
Quarterly Castile & Leon – notice that both of these are canting arms.
Quarterly Hastings and Valence.
Quarterly Mortimer and de Burgh.
Occasionally the two coats of arms are switched over so that the normally less-significant arms are placed in quarters 1 & 4. In the example opposite, the Mortimer arms have been relegated to quarters 2 & 3. Unless it is just an error, this has been done to stress that, in that particular context, it is the female, or de Burgh, ancestry that is more significant.
If a quartered shield is displaying three coats of arms, the paternal coat in quarter 1 is repeated in quarter 4.
When the arms of a husband and wife are impaled together, either or both of the individual coats may themselves be quartered.
Quarterly de Burgh and Mortimer – compare with the Mortimer arms on the previous line.
Quarterly 1 & 4 Watties, 2 Graunts, 3 Button.
Quarterly Clive and Windsor, impaling Trefusis.
Grand Quarters
Sometimes quarters are themselves further subdivided into quarters. A quarter which is divided in that way is called a grand quarter.
Strictly speaking, the royal arms opposite would be described as – quarterly 1 & 4 grand quarters quarterly France and England; 2 Scotland; 3 Ireland but, as it sounds much simpler and there is no ambiguity in omitting the words grand quarters, they have been left out.
The Royal Stuart arms – quarterly 1 & 4 quarterly France and England; 2 Scotland; 3 Ireland.
Roger Mortimer, 4th earl of March was married to Eleanor Holland but it is the wife’s side that is being emphasised here – quarterly 1 & 4 Holland; 2 & 3 quarterly Mortimer and de Burgh.
Arms of Warwick the Kingmaker – quarterly 1 Beauchamp quartering Newburgh; 2 Montague quartering Monthermer; 3 Neville; 4 Clare quartering Despenser.
More Quarterings
The method by which more quarterings are added to an existing shield will be explained in detail in the next module. They usually occur by inheritance through heiresses, so sometimes there is a need to display more than four coats of arms. In this case the shield is partitioned by a grid of vertical and horizontal lines to achieve the necessary number of compartments. Strangely these are still called quarters, and a shield might be described as quarterly of twelve or whatever. The numbering system remains unchanged, with the quarters on the top row being numbered 1 to 4, say, counting from dexter to sinister, then each subsequent row being numbered in succession. Should there be a blank space at the end of the last row, the paternal coat in quarter 1 is repeated there.
Things can get rather complicated if two quartered shields are impaled together. In the Sidney shield opposite, one might be forgiven for initially thinking that it is ‘quarterly of 16’ whereas it’s actually one ‘quarterly of 8’ impaling another.
Quarterly of 15. Note that the Singleton coat in quarter 1 is repeated in quarter 15.
‘Quarterly of 6’ impaling ‘quarterly’.
Sir Henry Sidney and Mary Dudley – ‘quarterly of 8’ impaling ‘quarterly of 8’.
Investigation
Here is a window from the church in Hopesay, Shropshire. It shows the very-faded arms of an earl of Arundel and his wife.
1) What makes this coat of arms unusual?
And if you fancy a bit of detective work, have a go at these questions – they can be solved just using Google.
2) Which earl of Arundel is it?
3) What is the origin of each of the arms he quarters?
Answers ☛☛
Answers to Investigation
The husband’s and wife’s arms are neither dimidiated nor impaled. The sinister side is cut in half as in dimidiation, but the quartered dexter side is complete.
The couple are Richard Fitzalan (d1397) 4th/9th earl of Arundel and Philippa Mortimer (d1400) daughter of Edmund, 3rd earl of March.
See the Fitzalan arms which are Quarterly Fitzalan and Warenne. The original earls of Arundel were called d’Aubigny. When the 5th earl, Hugh d’Aubigny died in 1243 without direct male heirs, his estates passed to his nephew John Fitzalan who adopted the d’Aubigny arms. He was posthumously recognised as the 6th earl of Arundel.
Edmund Fitzalan (d1326) 2nd earl of Arundel (of the second creation) married the heiress Alice de Warenne (d1338) and the Warenne arms were subsequently quartered with those of Fitzalan/d’Aubigny.
Hopesay
Fitzalan & Warenne