The husband of an _Heiress_ or a _Co-heiress_, instead of impaling the
arms of his wife, marshals them upon his Shield charged as an
_Escutcheon of Pretence_. The son of an heiress, as heir to his maternal
grandfather through his mother, as well as to his own father, _quarters_
on his Shield, and transmits to his descendants, _the arms of both his
parents_, his father’s arms generally being in the first quarter. The
Shield of RICHARD BEAUCHAMP, K.G., Earl of WARWICK (died in 1439), is a
good example of the use of an Escutcheon of Pretence; it is represented
in No. 329, drawn from the garter-plate of the Earl, in St. George’s
Chapel, Windsor. The Earl himself, as his hereditary coat, quarters
_Beauchamp_ with _Newburgh_--_chequée or and az., a chevron erm._: upon
this, for his Countess, ISABELLE, daughter and heiress of THOMAS LE
DESPENCER, Earl of GLOUCESTER, he marshals an Escutcheon of Pretence
charged with _De Clare_, No. 124, quartering _Le Despencer_--_quarterly
arg. and gu., in the second and third quarters a frette or, over all a
bend sa._ In the monument of this great Earl, at Warwick, upon the
Escutcheon of Pretence the arms of Bohun are quartered with those of
Clare and Despencer.
[Illustration: No. 329.--Shield of Earl Richard Beauchamp.]
[Illustration: No. 330.]
[Illustration: No. 331.]
[Illustration: No. 332.]
[Illustration: No. 333.]
[Illustration: No. 334.]
[Illustration: No. 335.]
A few very simple diagrams will clearly elucidate the principle of
Marshalling the arms of Husband and Wife. Suppose B (_Baron_) to
represent the Husband, and F (_Femme_) the Wife: then, No. 330 B may
represent the arms of the Husband, and No. 330 F the arms of the Wife.
If F be _not_ an heiress, the arms of B and F, as husband and wife, are
borne impaled, as in No. 330 B F; and their son bears No. 330 B only. If
F _be an heiress_, the arms of B and F, as husband and wife, are borne
as in No. 331--the arms of the wife on an Escutcheon of Pretence; and,
in this case, the son of B and F quarters the arms of both his parents,
as No. 332. Now, suppose this son, whose arms are No. 332, to marry a
lady, _not_ an heiress, whose arms are No. 330 F F, he would simply
impale the arms of his wife, as in No. 333, and his son would bear No.
332 only, as his father bore that quartered shield before his marriage.
But if the wife of the bearer of No. 332 were to _be an heiress_, he
would charge the arms of his wife in pretence upon his own hereditary
paternal Shield, as in No. 334; and his son, by this heiress, as before,
would quarter the arms of both his parents, as in No. 335. It is obvious
that Marshalling on this system (of which I here give the general
outline) admits of a widely-extended application. Younger sons in all
cases place over all the quarterings of their Shield their own
distinctive Mark of Cadency, until they inherit some different
quartering from those to which the head of their house is entitled, and
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