26

ENGLISH COLLEGE OF ARMS.

is intrusted, among other duties, the regulation of the Armorial Bearings of the Nobility and Knights of the Bath. The two others "Clarenceux" (formerly "Surroy" or South King) and "Norroy" (or North King)— are called Provincial Kings, because their jurisdiction divides England into two Provinces; and it is their office to arrange and register the Arms of all under the rank of Nobility. The Province of Clarenceux-a name derived by some from the Duke of Clarence, younger son of Edward III.-comprehends all to the South, and that of Norroy all to the North of the river Trent. Subordinate to the Kings-of-Arms are six Heralds, four Pursuivants, and a Registrar (who is one of the Heralds). The names of the Heralds are Windsor, Chester, Lancaster, York, Richmond, and Somerset; while the Pursuivants are denominated Rougecroix, Blue-mantle, Rouge-Dragon, and Portcullis-names probably derived from the badge or cognizance of the Sovereign during whose reign they were appointed. A fourth King-ofArms, bearing the name of "Bath," was created in the year 1725 for the service of that Order, and although not a member of the College of Heralds, he takes precedence next after "Garter." He was the same year constituted "Gloucester" King-of-Arms and "principal Herald of the parts of Wales ;" and is empowered (either alone or jointly with Garter) to grant Armorial Bearings to persons residing within that Principality.1

1 The ordinary occupations of the officers of the College of Heralds naturally leads to antiquarian re

search, in which field, as well as in general literature, many of them have been greatly distinguished. The

HERALDS OF SCOTLAND.

27

The head of the Office of Arms in Ireland is "Ulster' King-of-Arms--the title being derived from the Province of the same name-who acts under the direction of the Lord Lieutenant, and has the same connexion with the Order of St. Patrick as the principal English King-of-Arms has with the Order of the Garter. A King-of-Arms called "Ireland" appears to have existed as early as the reign of Richard II. After remaining uninterrupted for about a century, the succession is supposed to have become extinct, and "Ulster" was created to supply the vacancy, by Edward VI., in 1552. The other officers in the Irish College are two Heralds styled Cork and Dublin, and four Pursuivants--Athlone and three others called Pursuivants of St. Patrick-besides a Registrar (who is one of the Pursuivants) and a Serjeant-at-Arms.

Many persons suppose that the Heralds of Scotland are of greater antiquity than those of the sister Kingdom, and it is generally considered that "Norroy," the most ancient of the English Kings-of-Arms, had his origin in the border wars. In Scotland, as in Ireland, there is only one principal Herald or King-of-Arms, styled Lord Lyon, who derives his name and badge from the national escutcheon, to which circumstance allusion is made in the following lines of Sir Walter Scott:

"So bright the King's armorial coat,
That scarce the dazzled eye could note,
In living colours, blazoned brave,
The Lion, which his title gave.' "1

names of Camden, Dugdale, and Ashmole, may be mentioned, as reflecting peculiar lustre on the

ancient institution to which they belonged.

1 Marmion, Canto iv.

28

LYON KING-OF-ARMS.

Although the precise date of its institution is believed to be unknown, there can be no doubt that this office is of great antiquity. Chalmers remarks that there is no trace of the Lyon King or his Heralds at the memorable. coronation of Alexander 11. in 1249, of which Fordun gives a very minute account; nor was the same Sovereign attended by any such officers when he met Edward I. at Westminster in the year 1278. As early, however, as the coronation of Robert II. at Holyrood Abbey, on the 23d of May 1371, we find the Lyon King-of-Arms occupying a very prominent position. After the Monarch's formal acceptance of the crown and the benediction of the Bishops, "the Lyone King-of-Armes wes called one by the Lord Marishall, quho attendit one be the Herauldes, came in ther Coates,--the Lyon satt doune at the Kinges feete, and the Herauldes went to ther stage prepared for them, and ther the Marishall, by the mouthe of the Bishope of St. Andrewes, did sueire the Lyon, quho being suorne, then did he put one hes croune, ordained him to weare for that solemnity."3

It appears from Rymer's Fadera, that the signature of the Lyon King in 1474 was "Lyon R. Armorum," and eleven years later, Lyon Kyng-of-Armes." In

1 Caledonia, i. 762, note.

2 See also Nisbet's System of Heraldry, vol. ii. part iv. p. 106.

3 Heraldic and Antiquarian Tracts, by Sir James Balfour, Lyon King-atArms, p. 37. Unfortunately, modern researches have proved that Sir James Balfour's authority is not altogether unimpeachable.

For a description of the ceremony, in 1630, at the coronation of Sir James Balfour, Lyon King-of-Arms, by George Viscount Dupplin (afterwards Earl of Kinnoull), Chancellor of Scotland, as Commissioner for King Charles I., see "Account of the Office of Heraulds," folio Ms. Adv. Lib. 34. 3. 22.

DIGNITY OF THE OFFICE.

29

Bishop Leslie's History of Scotland, he is termed " Leo fecialis" in 1513; while Buchanan describes him, in 1559, as "princeps fecialis, vulgo Rex Armorum."

"1

That the Lyon King-of-Arms was at one time subordinate to the Marshal and Constable of Scotland, although not proved by any direct evidence, is now generally admitted; but his dependence on these great officers ceased at an early period, and the superiority of his rank to that of the English Kings-of-Arms arises from the circumstance of his holding office immediately from the Sovereign, by commission under the Great Seal; whereas his brethren in the South are deputies to the Earl Marshal, under whose authority they act. So sacred was the Office of the Lyon formerly regarded, that in the year 1515 Lord Drummond was declared guilty of treason, and forfeited in Parliament, eo quod Leonem Armorum Regem, pugno violasset, dum eum de ineptiis suis admoneret;" and he was only restored, upon his humble submission, at the earnest solicitation of the King-at-Arms. Before the Revolution, in accordance with the custom already noticed, the Lyon King was solemnly crowned, on his admission into office, by the Sovereign or his Commissioner, in presence of the Nobility, Officers of State, and other distinguished personages, after an appropriate Sermon in the Chapel Royal; and his diadem was of the same form as the imperial crown of the Kingdom, not set with stones, but

1 Lib. xvi. cap. xliii.

2 See Decree by Sir David Lindsay of the Mount, Lyon King-at-Arms,

in 1554, quoted in the Report on the Office and Court of the Lord Lyon (1822), p. 5.

30

PRECEDENCY OF THE LYON.

only enamelled. At the coronation of Charles 1. at Edinburgh, in 1633, the Lyon King "having a crown upon his head, carried in his hand the vessel containing the sacred oil: two Heralds walked on either side of him; the trumpets sounded, and so they marched." In virtue of his office and by Royal bounty, the Lyon was freed from all kinds of taxation-an immunity, however, which, in common with certain other privileges, he has long ceased to enjoy.

According to Nisbet, the Lord Lyon has precedency of all Knights and Gentlemen within the Kingdom, not being Officers of State or Senators of the College of Justice. Sir George Mackenzie informs us that "the Lyon and the Usher of the Parliament (Ostiarius) do debate who shall go next to the King or his Commissioner, in Parliaments and Conventions, the Usher pretending that if he behoved to go after the Lyon, he behoved to go before the Heralds, and so he behoved to walk between the Lyon and his Brethren, which were not decent (though both in England and with us I find that several degrees of persons do, in all processions, walk between the Garter or Lyon and his Brethren Heralds): Likeas it is implied in the nature of the Usher's Office, that he should immediately usher him to whom he is Usher; but in England I find that at the cavalcade, when his Majesty entered London, anno 1660, and at his Coronation, Garter King-of-Arms did walk in the midst, having the Mayor of London on his left hand,

1 Harl. Mss., No. 4707, British Museum.

2 System of Heraldry, vol. ii. part iv. p. 166.