A Complete Guide to HeraldryFox-Davies, Arthur Charles
History
A Complete Guide to Heraldry
Fox-Davies, Arthur Charles
Heraldry -- Great Britain
Heralds and pursuivants formed an important part from very early times not
only of the Royal Household, but also of those of the higher nobility, many
of whom had private heralds. Of these officers there is a very full list
given by Dr. Dickson in the preface to the Lord Treasurer's Accounts. Of
heralds who were or ultimately became part of the King's Household we meet
with Rothesay, Marchmont, Snowdon, Albany, Ross, and Islay; Ireland,
Orkney, and Carrick are also mentioned as heralds, but it is doubtful
whether the first and last were ever more than pursuivants. Of the latter
class of officers the following were in the Royal establishment: Carrick,
Bute, Dingwall, Kintyre, Ormonde, Unicorn; but we also find Aliszai or
Alishay, Dragance, Diligens, Montrose, Falkland, Ireland, Darnaway,
Garioch, Ettrick, Hales, Lindsay, Endure, Douglas, and Angus. Of the latter
Garioch was created by James IV. for his brother John, Earl of Mar; Hailes
in 1488, when Lord Hailes was made Earl of Bothwell; while Lindsay and
Endure were both evidently attached to the Lindsay family, as were Douglas
and Angus to the noblemen whose titles they bore. In 1403 Henry IV. of
England granted a pursuivant under the title of Shrewsbury to George, Earl
of March, for services rendered at the battle of that name, but we do not
find that the office was continued.
In Scotland heralds appear at an early date, though none are mentioned as
attending the coronation of Alexander III. in 1249; nor is there any
account of any such officers accompanying that sovereign when he did homage
to Edward I. at Westminster in 1278. In the next {40} century, however,
armorial bearings were quite well known in Scotland, and there is an entry
in the Exchequer Rolls on 10th October 1337 of a payment of £32, 6s. Scots
for the making of seventeen armorial banners, and in 1364 there is another
to the heralds for services at the tournaments; while William Petilloch,
herald, has a grant from David II. of three husbandlands in Bonjedward, and
Allan Fawside gets a gift of the forfeited estate of one Coupland, a herald
(_temp._ Edward Baliol).[2] The first mention of a herald, under his
official designation, which I have met with in our records occurs in 1365,
when there is a confirmation under the Great Seal by David II. of a charter
by Dugal McDowille to John Trupour or Trumpour "_nunc dicto Carric
heraldo_." Sir James Balfour tells us that the Lyon and his heralds
attended the coronation of Robert II. at Holyrood on 23rd May 1371, but
whether or not this is true--and I have not been able to verify it--it is
certain that a Lyon Herald existed very shortly after that date, as in the
Exchequer Rolls mention is made of the payment of a certain sum to such an
officer in 1377; in 1379 Froissart says that a herald was sent by Robert
II. to London to explain that the truce had been infringed without his will
and against his knowledge, and on 8th April 1381 a warrant was issued in
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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