“Brian Fitz-Alan succeeded his father Brian before the 5th Edward I., and on the 6th April, 10th Edward I. 1282, and 14th June 1287, was summoned to serve with horse and arms in Wales. In the 19th Edward I., he obtained permission to make a castle of his house at Kilwardeby in Yorkshire; and in the following year, being one of King Edward’s vicegerents in Scotland, he, with others, received that monarch’s precept to give John de Balliol possession of the kingdom. He was a witness to that personage’s surrender of his crown on the 10th July 1296, about which time he was constituted the King’s Lieutenant in Scotland. Fitz-Alan was present at the siege of Carlaverock in June 1300; and in the ensuing February, was a party to the Letter from the Barons to Pope Boniface, in which he is styled, “Lord of Bedale.” His seal affixed to that document has been the subject of remark, for instead of containing his arms, it presents a whimsical assemblage of animals, apparently consisting of two birds, a rabbit, a stag, and a pig or boar, all of which are looking to the dexter excepting the latter, which is regarding the chief, and is inscribed with this curious legend, TOT.CAPITA.TOT.SENTENCIE. “The inference to be drawn from this singular seal tends to establish, that its owner was eccentric or satirical; for it must either have been used from unmeaning caprice, or with the intention of ridiculing the devices in the signets of his contemporaries. The allusion in the poem (The siege of Carleverock) to the arms of Fitz-Alan, is too important to be allowed to pass unnoticed. It not only informs us of an event in his life, by proving that he had been involved in a dispute with Hugh Poyntz, but shows that it was always one of the fundamental laws of arms, that no two persons should bear the same ensigns, and that there was then sufficient pride felt on the point to resent its infringement.