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Page 50
Nor was heraldic ornament confined to architecture. It formed the
grand embellishment of the interior of the palaces and baronial
castles,
"The gorgeous halls which were on every side,
With rich array and costly arras dight."
The canopies of state, the furniture and plate, were all emblazoned
with the arms of the royal and noble owners. And even at the present
day, heraldry is far more effective for interior decoration than the
unmeaning Italian scroll-work that is substituted for it. Some idea of
the value of both may be formed by glancing at the interior decoration
of the new Royal Exchange; and it is to be regretted that the shields
containing the arms of the different countries should not have
occupied the walls, as an indication of the spot where the natives
of those countries might be found; and that the compartments of the
ceiling, if such ornament should be found in a building of this
kind at all, should not be filled with the Italian floral scroll
decoration.
In a preceding chapter of this Manual, the reader has been informed
that the arms of a knight were emblazoned on the surcoat or outer
garment that was worn over his armour, which was the origin of the
term Coat of Arms. Heraldic emblazonment was plentifully strewed over
the mantles of the nobility when they assembled on state solemnities.
Nor was this ornament confined to the garments of males. Ladies
delighted to appear in the cognizances of their lords, or in their own
paternal bearings. Armourists that have amused themselves by treating
on the curious and obsolete terms of heraldry, have supposed that the
flanch and flasque represent that part of female attire which covered
the body from the lower part of the neck to the waist, and that
this part of the ladies' dress contained the heraldic bearing. Our
contracted space will not allow our indulging in fanciful research,
nor would it benefit our readers if we did so. Suffice it that we have
ample proof that heraldry formed the decoration of female attire.
Numerous instances may be found, either in stained glass, monumental
brasses, or illuminated genealogies, of female figures bearing
heraldic devices on their apparel. A married lady or widow had her
paternal arms emblazoned upon the fore part of her vest, which by
ancient writers is called the kirtle, and the arms of the husband on
the mantle, being the outer and the most costly garment, and therefore
deemed the most honourable. This is called bearing arms kirtle and
mantle.
Our frontispiece contains two figures kneeling, taken from _Dallaway's
Heraldry_. They are to be found in an illuminated pedigree of the
Weston family. The male figure is that of Sir John de Weston, of
Weston-Lizars, in Staffordshire, and Isabel his wife, whose paternal
name was Bromley. In three quarterfoils beneath the figures are
shields: the first contains the arms of Weston, sable, an eagle
displayed or, with a lable argent, fretty gules; the centre shield
is argent, fretty gules; that under the lady is her paternal arms,
quarterly per fess dancette, or and gules. The figure of the knight
is represented in chain armour, over which is a surcoat, on which his
arms are emblazoned. The vest or kirtle of the lady is formed
entirely of the colours of her arms disposed quarterly, and parted
horizontally, or fessways, by the line dancette. As both the knight
and his lady appear together, each bears their own arms; but if either
had been drawn separately, the arms of both would have appeared on one
person; if on the male, they would have been empaled baron and femme
upon the surcoat; if on the female, they would have appeared on kirtle
and mantle. This lady is drawn with a kirtle only.
In some of the later monumental brasses, the arms on female figures
are arranged differently; the arms of the baron appearing on the
outside of the mantle, hanging over the dexter shoulder, the paternal
arms of the femme on the lining of the mantle turned outwards on the
sinister side of the figure.
The reader will find, by referring to the word TOURNAMENT in the
Dictionary, that Heraldry formed the great embellishment of that
animated and costly amusement: and that the attainment of heraldic
honours was the only means of gaining permission to join in it, and
by this means only was a passport obtained to high society. These
honours, which cost some trouble in gaining, could be lost by
misconduct. Arms were forfeited for uncourteous demeanour, disregard
of authority, falsehood, oppression, and ungentlemanly conduct; and
there can be little doubt but, in a semi-barbarous age, when prowess
in the field of battle was considered the highest acomplishment, that
the dread of a blot on the escutcheon, or a reversal of the shield of
arms, restrained many a proud baron in his tyrannical proceedings
to those beneath him, and tended to keep down the insolence of the
upstart favourites of royalty. Heraldry tended to soften and polish
the manners, and, by the introduction of the manufacture of silken
housings tapestry, and carpeting, to increase the comforts and
pleasures of society, and compelled those who were anxious to exhibit
the insignia of gentility, to seek distinction by other means than
rapine and violence.
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