To return to the thread of our history: at the death of Richard III,[259] all his public acts were declared null and void, as those of an usurper, and the heraldic body, in common with others, fell under the censure of Henry. Driven from their stately mansion of Cold-Harbour, they betook themselves to the conventual house of Rounceval, near Charing Cross, which had been a cell to the priory of Rouncevaulx, in Navarre, and suppressed with the rest of the alien priories by the jealous policy of Henry V. Here they remained for many years, though only by sufferance, for Edward VI granted the site to Sir Thomas Cawarden. It must not be imagined that the heralds were created merely for the purpose of acting as puppets in the pageantry of the court and the camp: they had other and more useful functions to perform. The genealogies of noble and gentle families were intrusted to their keeping, and thus titular honours and territorial possessions were safely conveyed to lawful heirs, when, in the absence of proper officers, and a recognized depository for documents, much confusion might have been produced by disputed claims. The ecclesiastics had formerly been the chief conservators of genealogical facts, but at the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII, the documents containing them were scattered to the winds. Hence it became necessary to adopt some more general and better regulated means of collecting and transmitting to posterity the materials of genealogy, and out of this necessity sprang those 'progresses' of the kings of arms and heralds through the various counties, called VISITATIONS. Some faint traces of these visitations occur, it is true, before the Reformation, and even before the incorporation of the heralds, namely, as early as 1412; but it was not until 1528 that they were systematically attended to.[260] After the latter date they were continued about once in every generation, or at intervals varying between twenty-five and forty years. The officers, under the warrant of the earl-marshal, were bound to make inquisitions respecting the pedigree of every family claiming the honour of gentry, and to enter the names, titles, places of abode, &c. in a book. Many such books, between the date just referred to and the year 1687, are now existing in the College of Arms, while many copies of them, and a few of the originals, are in the British Museum and in private collections. To most of the pedigrees thus entered were attached the family arms, which received the confirmation of the 'kings' when satisfactory evidence of the bearer's right to them could be adduced.[261] When a family from any circumstance did not bear arms, a coat was readily granted by the kings, who received fees proportioned to the rank of the parties; for example: A bishop paid £10. A dean £6 13_s._ 4_d._ A gentleman of 100 marks per annum, in land, £6 13_s._ 4_d._ A gentleman of inferior revenue £6.