Heraldry as art: An account of its development and practice, chiefly in EnglandEve, G. W. (George William)
History
Heraldry as art: An account of its development and practice, chiefly in England
Eve, G. W. (George William)
Heraldry -- Great Britain
About this time also instances occur of fleur-de-lis of the simpler
form but with decorated surfaces, as in that from a fifteenth
century book of the hours that is one of the illustrations to the
Comte de Laborde’s treatise on “Les Fleurs-de-lis Heraldiques et
les Fleurs-de-lis Naturelles,” _Revue Archaelogique_, in which the
conventional fleur-de-lis (Fig. 132) is decorated with natural lilies.
Like other decorative details the fleur-de-lis rapidly deteriorated
in the general artistic decadence that followed the Tudor period, and
during and after the latter half of the sixteenth century the beautiful
and characteristic grace of line was lost, and the form became blobby
and heavy, as in the eighteenth century French example (Fig. 133),
while the coarse and ugly shapes that are commonly seen in ordinary
modern work make it difficult to believe that they could have been
derived, even remotely, from so beautiful a source.
ROSES.--As a Royal badge a golden rose was used by Edward I, and was
depicted with a stalk and leaves similar to the badge of the Malatesta
in Italy in later times. In such cases it must be blazoned “leaved and
slipped,” otherwise it would be rendered as the conventionalized flower
alone, the only leaves shown in the latter being those of the calyx,
which appear between the petals and are heraldically called _barbs_.
These are frequently mentioned on the blazon, e.g. a rose gules barbed
and seeded ppr., the seeds being the centre. Of the conflicting roses
that brought such ruin on the gentry of England the red rose of
Lancaster had been the badge of Henry IV, as the white rose irradiated
was that of Edward IV, the latter badge resulting from a combination
of the rose with the sun, which was another Yorkist emblem. Henry VII
united the red and white rose badges, as he had united the great rival
houses that they symbolized. Sometimes a single rose was made per pale
gu. and ar., or else quarterly of those tinctures (in the former case
the white half retained the rays that usually surrounded the white rose
of York), but the method which has come down in general use is that
of a double rose, the white within the red, or vice versa. In this
form Henry VII made it part of the collar of the Order of the Garter,
and thus it appears sculptured on the walls of St. George’s Chapel at
Windsor. In many instances the York rose retained its rays and the rose
of Lancaster was placed within it, as in Fig. 134, which is sculptured
on the exterior walls of the choir. In many of these the ends of the
petals do not turn over as is most usual, but the modelling indicates a
somewhat similar form. An interesting example of the Tudor rose as used
by Queen Elizabeth is that which was found deeply incised in the wood
of her coffin in Westminster Abbey (Fig. 135). This Queen signified
the union of the Roses in yet another way in the badge that had been
her mother’s, in which the tree-stock which supports the white falcon
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account