CHAPTER XXVI

SUPPORTERS In this country a somewhat fictitious importance has become attached to supporters, owing to their almost exclusive reservation to the highest rank. The rules which hold at the moment will be recited presently, but there can be no doubt that originally they were in this country little more than mere decorative and artistic appendages, being devised and altered from time to time by different artists according as the artistic necessities of the moment demanded. The subject of the origin of supporters has been very ably dealt with in "A Treatise on Heraldry" by Woodward and Burnett, and with all due acknowledgment I take from that work the subjoined extract:-- "Supporters are figures of living creatures placed at the side or sides of an armorial shield, and appearing to support it. French writers make a distinction, giving the name of _Supports_ to animals, real or imaginary, thus employed; while human figures or angels similarly used are called _Tenants_. Trees, and other inanimate objects which are sometimes used, are called _Soutiens_. "Menêtrier and other old writers trace the origin of supporters to the usages of the tournaments, where the shields of the combatants were exposed for inspection, and guarded by their servants or pages disguised in fanciful attire: 'C'est des Tournois qu'est venu cet usage parce que les chevaliers y faisoient porter leurs lances, et leurs écus, par des pages, et des valets de pied, deguisez en ours, en lions, en mores, et en sauvages' (_Usage des Armoiries_, p. 119). "The old romances give us evidence that this custom prevailed; but I think only after the use of supporters had already arisen from another source. "There is really little doubt now that Anstis was quite correct when, in his _Aspilogia_, he attributed the origin of supporters to the invention of the engraver, who filled up the spaces at the top and sides of the triangular shield upon a circular seal with foliage, or with fanciful animals. Any good collection of mediæval seals will strengthen this conviction. For instance, the two volumes of Laing's 'Scottish Seals' afford numerous examples in which the shields used in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries were placed between two creatures {408} resembling lizards or dragons. (See the seal of ALEXANDER DE BALLIOL, 1295.--LAING, ii. 74.) * * * * * "The seal of John, Duke of Normandy, eldest son of the King of FRANCE, before 1316 bears his arms (FRANCE-ANCIENT, _a bordure gules_) between two lions rampant away from the shield, and an eagle with expanded wings standing above it. The _secretum_ of Isabelle de FLANDRES (_c._ 1308) has her shield placed between three lions, each charged with a bend (Vrée, _Gen. Com. Flanr._, Plates XLIII., XLIV., XCII.). In 1332 AYMON OF SAVOY places his arms (SAVOY, _with a label_) between a winged lion in chief and a lion without wings at either side. Later, on the seal of AMADEUS VI., a lion's head between wings became the crest of SAVOY. In 1332 AMADEUS bears SAVOY on a lozenge between in chief two eagles, in base two lions. (CIBRARIO, Nos. 61, 64; and GUICHENON, tome i. No. 130.) In Scotland the shield of REGINALD CRAWFORD in 1292 is placed between two dogs, and surmounted by a fox; in the same year the paly shield of REGINALD, Earl of ATHOLE, appears between two lions in chief and as many griffins in flanks.--LAING, i. 210, 761. "The seal of HUMBERT II., Dauphin de Viennois in 1349, is an excellent example of the fashion. The shield of DAUPHINY is in the centre of a quatrefoil. Two savages mounted on griffins support its flanks; on the upper edge an armed knight sits on a couchant lion, and the space in base is filled by a human face between two wingless dragons. The spaces are sometimes filled with the Evangelistic symbols, as on the seal of YOLANTE DE FLANDRES, Countess of Bar (_c._ 1340). The seal of JEANNE, Dame de PLASNES, in 1376 bears her arms _en bannière_ a quatrefoil supported by two kneeling angels, a demi-angel in chief, and a lion couchant guardant in base." Corporate and other seals afford countless examples of the interstices in the design being filled with the figures similar to those from which in later days the supporters of a family have been deduced. But I am myself convinced that the argument can be carried further. Fanciful ornamentation or meaningless devices may have first been made use of by seal engravers, but it is very soon found that the badge is in regular use for this purpose, and we find both animate and inanimate badges employed. Then where this is possible the badge, if animate, is made to support the helmet and crest, and, later on, the shield, and there can be no doubt the badge was in fact acting as a supporter long before the science of armory recognised that existence of supporters. Before passing to supporters proper, it may be well to briefly allude to various figures which are to be found in a position analogous to that of supporters. The single human figure entire, or in the form {409} of a demi-figure appearing above the shield, is very frequently to be met with, but the addition of such figures _was and remains purely artistic_, and I know of no single instance in British armory where one figure, animate or inanimate, has ever existed alone in the character of a single supporter, and as an integral part of the heritable armorial achievement. Of course I except those figures upon which the arms of certain families are properly displayed. These will be presently alluded to, but though they are certainly exterior ornaments, I do not think they can be properly classed as supporters unless to this term is given some elasticity, or unless the term has some qualifying remarks of reservation added to it. There are, however, many instances of armorial ensigns depicted, and presumably correctly, in the form of banners supported by a single animal, but it will always be found that the single animal is but one of the pair of duly allocated supporters. Many instances of arms depicted in this manner will be found in "Prince Arthur's Book." The same method of display was adopted in some number of cases, and with some measure of success, in Foster's "Peerage." Single figures are very frequently to be met with in German and Continental heraldry, but on these occasions, as with ourselves, the position they occupy is merely that of an artistic accessory, and bears no inseparable relation to the heraldic achievement. The single exception to the foregoing statement of which I am aware is to be found in the arms of the Swiss Cantons. These thirteen coats are sometimes quartered upon one shield, but when displayed separately each is accompanied by a single supporter. Zurich, Lucerne, Uri, Unter-Walden, Glarus, and Basle all bear the supporter on the dexter side; Bern, Schweig, Zug, Freiburg, and Soluthurn on the sinister. Schafhausen (a ram) and Appenzell (a bear) place their supporters in full aspect behind the shield. On the corbels of Gothic architecture, shields of arms are frequently supported by _Angels_, which, however, cannot generally be regarded as heraldic appendages--being merely supposed to indicate that the owners have contributed to the erection of the fabric. Examples of this practice will be found on various ecclesiastical edifices in Scotland, and among others at Melrose Abbey, St. Giles', Edinburgh, and the church of Seton in East Lothian. An interesting instance of an angel supporting a shield occurs on the beautiful seal of Mary of Gueldres, Queen of James II. (1459); and the Privy Seal of David II., a hundred years earlier, exhibits a pretty design of an escutcheon charged with the ensigns of Scotland, and borne by two arms issuing from clouds above, indicative of Divine support.[24] {410} Of instances of single objects from which shields are found depending or supported the "Treatise on Heraldry" states:-- "Allusion has been made to the usage by which on vesica-shaped shields ladies of high rank are represented as supporting with either hand shields of arms. From this probably arose the use of a single supporter. MARGUERITE DE COURCELLES in 1284, and ALIX DE VERDUN in 1311, bear in one hand a shield of the husband's arms, in the other one of their own. The curious seal of MURIEL, Countess of STRATHERNE, in 1284, may be considered akin to these. In it the shield is supported partly by a falcon, and partly by a human arm issuing from the sinister side of the _vesica_, and holding the falcon by the jesses (LAING, i. 764). The early seal of BOLESLAS III., King of POLAND, in 1255, bears a knight holding a shield charged with the Polish eagle (VOSSBERG, _Die Siegel des Mittelalters_). In 1283 the seal of FLORENT of HAINAULT bears a warrior in chain mail supporting a shield charged with a lion impaling an eagle dimidiated. * * * * * "On the seal of HUMPHREY DE BOHUN in 1322 the _guige_ is held by a swan, the badge of the Earls of HEREFORD; and in 1356 the shield of the first Earl of DOUGLAS is supported by a lion whose head is covered by the crested helm, a fashion of which there are many examples. A helmed lion holds the shield of MAGNUS I., Duke of BRUNSWICK, in 1326. * * * * * "On the seal of JEAN, Duc de BERRI, in 1393 the supporter is a helmed swan (compare the armorial slab of HENRY of LANCASTER, in BOUTELL, Plate LXXIX.). Jean IV., Comte d'ALENÇON (1408), has a helmed lion sejant as supporter. In 1359 a signet of LOUIS VAN MALE, Count of FLANDERS, bears a lion sejant, helmed and crested, and mantled with the arms of FLANDERS between two small escutcheons of NEVERS, or the county of Burgundy ["Azure, billetty, a lion rampant or"], and RETHEL ["Gules, two heads of rakes fesswise in pale or"]. * * * * * "A single lion sejant, helmed and crested, bearing on its breast the quartered arms of BURGUNDY between two or three other escutcheons, was used by the Dukes up to the death of CHARLES THE BOLD in 1475. In LITTA'S splendid work, _Famiglie celebri Italiane_, the BUONAROTTI arms are supported by a brown dog sejant, helmed, and crested with a pair of dragon's wings issuing from a crest-coronet. On the seal of THOMAS HOLLAND, Earl of KENT, in 1380 the shield is buckled round the neck of the white hind lodged, the badge of his half-brother, RICHARD II. Single supporters were very much in favour in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and the examples are numerous. {411} CHARLES, Dauphin de VIENNOIS (_c._ 1355), has his shield held by a single dolphin. In 1294 the seal of the Dauphin JEAN, son of HUMBERT I., bears the arms of DAUPHINÉ pendent from the neck of a griffon. The shields of arms of BERTRAND DE BRICQUEBEC, in 1325; PIERRE DE TOURNEBU, in 1339; of CHARLES, Count of ALENÇON, in 1356; and of OLIVER DE CLISSON in 1397, are supported by a warrior who stands behind the shield. In England the seal of HENRY PERCY, first Earl, in 1346, and another in 1345, have similar representations. "On several of our more ancient seals only one supporter is represented, and probably the earliest example of this arrangement occurs on the curious seal of William, first Earl of Douglas (_c._ 1356), where the shield is supported from behind by a lion 'sejant,' _with his head in the helmet_, which is surmounted by the crest. "On the seal of Archibald, fourth Earl of Douglas (_c._ 1418), the shield is held, along with a club, in the right hand of a savage _erect_, who bears a helmet in his left; while on that of William, eighth Earl (1446), a _kneeling_ savage holds a club in his right hand, and supports a couché shield on his left arm." [Illustration: FIG. 666.--Arms of Sigmund Hagelshaimer.] An example reproduced from Jost Amman's _Wappen und Stammbuch_, published at Frankfurt, 1589, will be found in Fig. 666. In this the figure partakes more of the character of a shield guardian than a shield supporter. The arms are those of "Sigmund Hagelshaimer," otherwise "Helt," living at Nürnberg. The arms are "Sable, on a bend argent, an arrow gules." The crest is the head and neck of a hound sable, continued into a mantling sable, lined argent. The crest is charged with a pale argent, and thereupon an arrow as in the arms, the arrow-head piercing the ear of the hound. Seated figures as supporters are rare, but one occurs in Fig. 667, which shows the arms of the Vöhlin family. They bear: "Argent, on a fesse sable, three 'P's' argent." The wings which form the crest are charged with the same device. This curious charge of the three letters is explained in the following saying:-- "Piper Peperit Pecuniam, Pecunia Peperit Pompam, Pompa Peperit Pauperiem, Pauperies Peperit Pietatem." {412} There are, however, certain exceptions to the British rule that there can be no single supporters, if the objects upon which shields of arms are displayed are accepted as supporters. It was always customary to display the arms of the Lord High Admiral on the sail of the ship. In the person of King William IV., before he succeeded to the throne, the office of Lord High Admiral was vested for a short time, but it had really fallen into desuetude at an earlier date and has not been revived again, so that to all intents and purposes it is now extinct, and this recognised method of depicting arms is consequently also extinct. But there is one other case which forms a unique instance which can be classified with no others. The arms of Campbell of Craignish are always represented in a curious manner, the gyronny coat of Campbell appearing on a shield displayed in front of a lymphad (Plate II.). What the origin of this practice is it would be difficult to say; probably it merely originated in the imaginative ideas of an artist when making a seal for that family, artistic reasons suggesting the display of the gyronny arms of Campbell in front of the lymphad of Lorne. The family, however, seem to have universally adopted this method of using their arms, and in the year 1875, when Campbell of Inverneil matriculated in Lyon Register, the arms were matriculated in that form. I know of no other instance of any such coat of arms, and this branch of the Ducal House of Campbell possesses armorial bearings which, from the official standpoint, are absolutely unique from one end of Europe to the other. In Germany the use of arms depicted in front of the eagle displayed, either single-headed or double-headed, is very far from being unusual. Whatever may have been its meaning originally in that country, there is no doubt that now and for some centuries past it has been accepted as meaning, or as indicative of, princely rank or other honours of the Holy Roman Empire. But I do not think it can always have had that meaning. About the same date the Earl of Menteith placed his shield on the breast of an eagle, as did Alexander, Earl of Ross, in 1338; and in 1394 we find the same ornamentation in the seal of Euphemia, Countess of Ross. The shield of Ross is borne in her case on the breast of an eagle, while the arms of Leslie and Comyn appear on its displayed wings. On several other Scottish seals of the same era, the shield is placed on the breast of a displayed eagle, as on those of Alexander Abernethy and Alexander Cumin of Buchan (1292), and Sir David Lindsay, Lord of Crawford. English heraldry supplies several similar examples, of which we may mention the armorial insignia of Richard, Earl of Cornwall, brother of Henry III., and of the ancient family of Latham, in the fourteenth century. A curious instance of a shield placed on the breast of a _hawk_ is noticed by Hone in his "Table {413} Book," viz. the arms of the Lord of the Manor of Stoke-Lyne, in the county of Oxford. It appears therefrom that when Charles I. held his Parliament at Oxford, the offer of knighthood was gratefully declined by the then Lord of Stoke-Lyne, who merely requested, and obtained, the Royal permission to place the arms of his family upon the breast of a hawk, which has ever since been employed in the capacity of single supporter. What authority exists for this statement it is impossible to ascertain, and one must doubt its accuracy, because in England at any rate no arms, allocated to any particular _territorial estate_, have ever received official recognition. [Illustration: FIG. 667.--Arms of Vöhlin of Augsberg.] In later years, as indicative of rank in the Holy Roman Empire, the eagle has been rightly borne by the first Duke of Marlborough and by Henrietta his daughter, Duchess of Marlborough, but the use of the eagle by the later Dukes of Marlborough would appear to be entirely without authority, inasmuch as the princedom, created in the person of the first duke, became extinct on his death. His daughters, though entitled of right to the courtesy rank of princess and its accompanying privilege of the right to use the eagle displayed behind their arms, could not transmit it to their descendants upon whom the title of Duke of Marlborough was specially entailed by English Act of Parliament. The Earl of Denbigh and several members of the Fielding family have often made use of it with their arms, in token of their supposed descent from the Counts of Hapsburg, which, if correct, would apparently confer the right upon them. This descent, however, has been much questioned, and in late years the claim thereto would seem to have been practically dropped. The late Earl Cowper, the last remaining Prince of the Holy Roman Empire in the British Peerage, was entitled to use the double eagle behind his shield, being the descendant and representative of George Nassau Clavering Cowper, third Earl Cowper, created a Prince of the Holy Roman Empire by the Emperor Joseph II., the patent being dated at Vienna, 31st January 1778, and this being followed by a Royal Licence from King George III. to accept and bear the title in this country. There are some others who have the right by reason of honours of lesser rank of the Holy Roman Empire, and amongst these may be mentioned Lord Methuen, who bears the eagle by Royal Warrant dated 4th April 1775. Sir Thomas Arundel, who served in the Imperial army of Hungary, having in an engagement with the Turks near Strignum taken their standard with his own hands, was by Rodolph II. created Count of the Empire to hold for him and the heirs of his body for ever, dated at Prague 14th December 1595. This patent, of course, means that every one of his descendants in the male {414} line has the rank of a Count of the Empire, and that every daughter of any such male descendant is a Countess, but this does not confer the rank of count or countess upon descendants of the daughters. It was this particular patent of creation that called forth the remark from Queen Elizabeth that she would not have her sheep branded by any foreign shepherd, and we believe that this patent was the origin of the rule translated in later times (_temp._ George IV.) into a definite Royal Warrant, requiring that no English subject shall, without the express Royal Licence of the Sovereign conveyed in writing, accept or wear any foreign title or decoration. No Royal Licence was subsequently obtained by the Arundel family, who therefore, according to British law, are denied the use of the privileged Imperial eagle. Outside those cases in which the double eagle is used in this country to denote rank of the Holy Roman Empire, the usage of the eagle displayed behind the arms or any analogous figure is in British heraldry most limited. One solitary authoritative instance of the use of the displayed eagle is found in the coat of arms of the city of Perth. These arms are recorded in Lyon Register, having been matriculated for that Royal Burgh about the year