The Heritage of Dress: Being Notes on the History and Evolution of ClothesWebb, Wilfred Mark
History
The Heritage of Dress: Being Notes on the History and Evolution of Clothes
Webb, Wilfred Mark
Clothing and dress; Clothing and dress -- History
Armorial bearings are still used to a considerable extent in
architecture, but otherwise they are chiefly confined to notepaper,
carriage panels, and harness. Occasionally hatchments, or more properly
achievements, are put upon the fronts of the houses of important people
on the death of a member of the family, and afterwards transferred to
the church in which the body is buried. The hatchment consists of the
arms of the deceased person, painted on a lozenge-shaped field, which is
surrounded by a black frame, and if it indicates the death of a husband,
the right half of the field is sable (black), the left, argent (silver).
If it is a wife that is dead, the colours on the field are reversed.
When a widower, widow, or unmarried person dies, the whole of the field
is made black.
In olden times the actual helmet, surcoat, and shield were carried at
the funeral, and in some instances these were deposited over the tomb of
the deceased. Examples survive to the present day, and one of the most
interesting cases is to be found in Canterbury Cathedral, where the
shield, helmet, and surcoat of Edward the Black Prince are still to
be seen. (See Figures 86, 87, and 88.) The Black Prince left most
careful instructions in his will with regard to his funeral, and the
accoutrements which we are able to figure through the kindness of the
Society of Antiquaries, were the "arms of war," as he called them, that
were to be carried at the ceremony. His "arms of peace" consisted of his
ostrich feather badge, of which we shall again speak. There are traces
on the crest and surcoat of a label to distinguish them, but this is
absent from the shield, though it occurs on the arms many times repeated
on the tomb, alternately with the feather badge already mentioned.
[Illustration: FIG. 86.--The helmet and crest of the Black Prince. From
"Vetusta Monumenta" (after St. John Hope).]
[Illustration: FIG. 87.--The shield of the Black Prince. From "Vetusta
Monumenta" (after St. John Hope).]
[Illustration: FIG. 88.--The surcoat or jupon of the Black Prince. From
"Vetusta Monumenta" (after St. John Hope).]
With the exception of the signet rings and the ceremonial dress, which
were alluded to at the beginning of the chapter, there are now but
few cases where armorial bearings are worn on the person. School and
college arms are embroidered on the breast pockets of blazers and on the
fronts of caps, while perhaps the most common instances are the devices
which we see on the buttons of servants. Whole coats of arms may appear,
but usually it is the crest of the master, which has now taken the place
of the household badge which the retainers wore in olden times.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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