A Complete Guide to HeraldryFox-Davies, Arthur Charles
History
A Complete Guide to Heraldry
Fox-Davies, Arthur Charles
Heraldry -- Great Britain
The title of King of Arms, or, as it was more anciently written, King of
Heralds, was no doubt originally given to the chief or principal officer,
who presided over the heralds of a kingdom, or some principal province,
which heraldic writers formerly termed _marches_; or else the title was
conferred upon the officer of arms attendant upon some particular order of
knighthood. Garter King of Arms, who is immediately attached to that
illustrious order, is likewise Principal King of Arms, and these, although
separate and distinct offices, are and have been always united in one
person. Upon the revival and new modelling of the Order of the Bath, in the
reign of George the First, a King of Arms was created and attached to it,
by the title of Bath King of Arms; and King George III., upon the
institution of the Hanoverian Guelphic Order of Knighthood, annexed to that
order a King of Arms, by the appellation of Hanover. At the time of the
creation of his office, Bath King of Arms was given Wales as his province,
the intention being that he should rank with the others, granting arms in
his own province, but he was not, nor was Hanover, nor is the King of Arms
of the Order of St. Michael and St. George, a member (as such) of the
corporation of the College of Arms. The members of that corporation
considered that the gift of the province of Wales, the jurisdiction over
which they had previously possessed, to Bath King was an infringement of
their chartered privileges. The dispute was referred to the law officers of
the Crown, whose opinion was in favour of the corporate body.
Berry in his _Encyclopædia Heraldica_ further remarks: "The Kings of Arms
of the provincial territories have the titles of _Clarenceux_ and _Norroy_,
the jurisdiction of the former extending over the south, east, and west
parts of England, from the river Trent southwards; and that of the latter,
the remaining part of the kingdom northward of that river. Kings of Arms
have been likewise assigned other provinces over different kingdoms and
dominions, and besides Ulster King of Arms for Ireland, and Lyon King of
Arms for Scotland, others were nominated for particular provinces abroad,
when united to the Crown of England, such as _Aquitaine_, _Anjou_, and
_Guyenne_, who were perhaps at their first creation intended only for the
services of the places whose titles they bore, when the same should be
entirely subdued to allegiance to the Crown of England, and who, till that
time, might have had other provinces allotted to them, either provisionally
or temporarily, within the realm of England.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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