Home › CHAPTER VII › CHAPTER VII

CHAPTER VII

MEANING OF "COAT-OF-ARMS" - STORIES CONNECTED WITH FLAGS - STANDARDS AND ENSIGNS.

HERE at last we reach a point where we ought to know what the meaning of a "coat-of-arms" is. I have no doubt, children, that those of you who have been in London, and who had never heard that there was such a building as a Herald's College, knew quite enough about the Tower of London to clamor so loudly with your parents that a visit to it was the first of all pilgrimages to the many "sights" that London contains. If these boys and girls did make such a visit, I think they understand what "armor "armor" is, as well as they know what a rifle or a cannon is. All varieties of armor are to be found in this solemn old repository of the remains of England's past glory, as well as of her shame; linked armor, and its gradual transition into plate armor, its gradual decrease into greaves here, plates there, until it entirely vanishes into the present uniform of the British soldier. The linked armor is worth more than a tired glance, such as a pair of fagged-out legs are apt to suggest to the upstairs members of the body to bestow upon it. Every tiny link so fine, and yet so nearly sabre-proof, was fashioned one by one, and fastened with infinite patience and deftness to its fellow by the slow fingers of the armorer. So highly were these artisans esteemed in olden times that when one such artificer proved himself truly a master of his craft, he was often treated as an officer of high rank. Besides having the first place in military precedency, he was protected from harm by very unusual penalties, as in the case of a certain Highland armorer, who, for some act of more than common iniquity, was entitled to suffer the severest of punishments. He was, however, so able a mechanic, could so nicely fit the joints of helmets and gauntlets, so successfully weld and fashion the pliable and impenetrable coats-of-mail, that the enraged chief, finding no other means of satisfying justice, hung two weavers in his place! The father of the scholarly Melanchthon, Luther's learned self, was such a workman; and his coat-of-arms, on which was painted a lion sitting upon a shield and helmet, holding tongs and hammer in his arms, was the gift of his beloved Emperor, Maximilian, given in return for a suit of armor made by him for the royal personage. These much-prized shirts of steel were liable to become useless through the riddling effects of iron rust, induced by exposure to the drenching storms and nightly dews; they were very hot, also, when worn under the blazing rays of a midday's summer sun. Therefore a "surcoat" of woollen or silk was worn above it, which bore the brunt of the storm, and warded off the extremest heat of the sun. This made the coat, but where were the arms? Those originated, without much doubt, in the device that was blazoned upon the standard of the great chieftains or commanders. On the standard, such insignia served to rally many a forlorn hope, and could often bring victory at the very moment when defeat was crushing its victim under its iron heel. A crest waving from the helmet of a knight served to identify him, to a certain extent, from other nobles; but an accident might deprive him of it, and why would it not be well to take the device that MEANING OF "COAT-OF-ARMS." fluttered in the hands of his standard-bearer, and with it decorate the highly polished surface of his shield? Then, if this were adorned, why not ornament his silken surcoat with the same device? Even the trappings of his horse, if enriched in a similar manner, would add to the brilliancy of his appearance. Thus "coats-ofarms" - surcoats with the insignia of the wearer embroidered upon them - came to be as much a part of the equipment of a knight as his armor itself. The saddles were often most exquisitely decorated. - Richard I. bestrode one that "glittered with red and gold spangles, and had on the hinder part two small lions of gold turned towards each other, with their mouths open and each stretching out one of its forelegs as if to attack and devour the other." This wearing of coats-of-arms became at last so universal a custom, that it was almost a necessity. The unfortunate Earl of Gloucester, who had accompanied his grandfather, King Edward I., in his wars in Scotland, lost his life through negligence in this respect. A sudden awakening by a breathless messenger during the twilight hour of early morning, the sound of the screams and shouts of an army startled from their slumbers by an unexpected onslaught of the enemy, and all the hubbub and uproar incident to such an alarm, bewildered the young prince. He hurried from his tent to his horse in such haste that he failed to throw the surcoat over his steel corselet. Then with a courage that knew not fear he fought his way to where the ranks of half-clad soldiery were striving to repel the shouting assailants. His presence was unrecognized, and in the struggle he was himself cut down. His captors afterwards acknowledged that, owing to the gnawing poverty of the struggling Scottish clans, they would, for the sake of the heavy ransom, have gladly spared the prince's life. "But," they said, "he had left his armorial bearings behind him."

Very few of these perishable old relics still exist, but the surcoat of Edward the Black Prince still hangs, faded and tattered, in the old Cathedral at Canterbury.

These surcoats, thus gorgeously ornamented, intended simply to identify the wearer, were, as the days of heraldry grew more palmy, at last introduced into the festivities of court life. The knights were not content with simply displaying their grandeur upon the battlefield. They proceeded to have their court mantles covered with their embroidered devices; and such splendor did these decorations add to their appearance that their wives and their daughters became envious, not to say jealous, and it was not long before they too graced the balls and high festival occasions of a courtly life in like apparel. Upon her dress the fashionable dame displayed the arms borne by her father, and upon her mantle, if she were married, she embroidered those of her husband. Even so grave and dignified a personage as old John of Gaunt, - so illustrious in war and astute in council, - did not think it beneath him to appear decked out in a costume the entire right half of which, from head to toe, was blue, while the remaining half was white - these being the colors of the House of Lancaster. What would you say, dear children, if you should see your revered parents thus arrayed, departing for some grand ball or dinner - with the family lions or leopards crawling over their backs, and crosses, shells, ladders, or axes garnishing the fronts of their dignified persons? Such, however, was then the fashion, and I dare say the bustles and "swallow-tails" in which these same heads of households now adorn themselves would be r MEANING OF "COAT-OF-ARMS." quite as fit subjects of laughter to the dressy old heroes and heroines of the Middle Ages.

These heraldic emblems often appeared on the hangings of the walls, upon beds, on covers of books, in stained-glass windows, on stone façades of houses, and even, as in the case of the vain old Marquis of Bute, on the very leaden water-pipes of the castle. So we have learned why the word "Heraldry" was selected to indicate this old spur to manly effort; and we have also learned what is meant by "coats-of-arms," - and now I am sure you would like to know when such devices were assumed - when the knights began to ornament the faces of their shields, and to embroider with all sorts of beasts and birds their surcoats and the trappings of their horses. A knight was a very imposing looking personage, when, in the full panoply of war, mounted upon his gayly bedecked horse, and followed by his long retinue of vassals, all wearing the badge of his house, he sallied forth to join his sovereign in his distant wars. Now, when did it first become a settled custom for chivalric Europe to so array itself in this fantastic dress? I think we had better agree with a very learned gentleman of Europe, who loves the science of heraldry so much better than do either you or I that he has given a long life to the study of it. This person assures us that about the time of the second Crusade, during the twelfth century, the symbols or devices that the various knights had assumed began to pass from father to son. Before this time either the animals used for such decoration failed to appear in the approved heraldic grotesquery of position, or else they were laid aside by the "Young America" spirit of even those ancient days; the sons preferring to assume a different device and bring glory to it rather than appear shadowed by a predecessor's glory.

But before we look very sharply at these coats-of-arms, as we see them in Polly's treasure-box, let us remember that we ought to pay a little attention to the mother of all these manifold forms by which heraldic devices can be displayed. The flag, as we have already seen, was the beginning of all heraldic vagaries, and is the healthiest member of the emaciated "science" to-day. That, at least, flourishes as well in republican soil as it does in the hottest of monarchical hot-beds. The flag of William the Conqueror, on which it is said two of the English lions seemed, as the wind blew the fold this way and that, to tear and rend each other, was the forerunner of civilization for the English nation. It was accompanied by various other banners, and his loving wife Matilda, with her ladies, embroidered the effigies of many on that famous piece of work which I fear no Decorative Art Society of the present day will ever succeed in rivalling, the Bayeux Tapestry.