The Lord Arms in the Literature

Having now become more familiar with the nature of arms and crests, we can turn to our survey of the coat of arms of "Lord" as described in the historical literature.

We have seen the "Lord" arms and crest as presented by Bishop [1892] and duplicated in the painted plaque in possession of our family. Of immediate interest, and the first object of our survey into variations on this theme, is an untitled plate [above] at the end of his work. The arms [remember, this is only the shield design] in this version are identical to Bishop's "Lord" arms except that the "hind" on the "fesse" [the band that divides the shield] is missing. The motto is also different, but in general we will not depend on mottos, which are usually not described, to signify anything of importance. The most dramatic difference between these presentations is in the crest, which on Bishop's "Lord" depiction is a "demi-bird."

It may be of interest to consider this crest further. The "maunch," or flowing sleeve, appears frequently in armorial illustrations. It is usually given, as here, in a fairly realistic style, representing the ample sleeves of medieval clothing, often women's clothing. It was also reduced to an abstract symbol [left] and sometimes doubled to produce a letter-like effect.

A fuller discussion of this particular coat of arms appears in a pamphlet by Martin and Allardyce (1910) published eighteen years after Bishop.

The primary arms described by Martin and Allardyce correspond closely to those illustrated by Bishop as "Lord":

One should note that Bishop (1892) referred to the "cinquefoils" as "roses," an acceptable translation as we will see later. He called the "hind" a "stag," and the "pheons" he termed "arrows," again, both acceptable alternative terms. However, he describes the deer [be it "hind" or "stag"] on the "fesse" [dividing bar] as "trippant," whereas Martin and Allardyce (1910) indicate it is "passant." The difference between these may be insignificant. "Trippant" specifically refers to a walking stag or deer, while "passant" is a more general term describing a walking figure with one foreleg raised in stepping.

The "demi-bird" crest presented verbally by Martin and Allardice is not illustrated, so we cannot compare it with that illustrated by Bishop as a "demi-bird." His suggestion that it may represent a "phoenix" may be inappropriate, as early illustrations of the "phoenix" [see right] in crests is somewhat different. In fact, a survey of early heraldic art shows little difference between the "demi-bird" as illustrated by Bishop and the "eagle" as used in early arms. But, for all practical purposes, we can consider the arms and crest described by Bishop (1892) and the first arms and crest described by Martin and Allardyce (1910) to be essentially the same.

A second set of arms described in this pamphlet as "Lord of England" is similar to the first [above], but exhibits significant differences.

2. The second coat is recorded in Burke's "General Armory" as "Lord of London."
Arms - Argent, on a fesse between three cinquefoils azure, two pheons of the field.
The shield is silver, the fesse and cinquefoils blue and the two pheons are silver. This is the design shown on the shield of the accompanying illustration.

Martin and Allardyce, 1910

One notes that the hind positioned between the two pheons on the arms above, and in Bishop, is absent from the fesse. But here the coloring is different. The "field" [background shield] is again silver , but the "fesse" is blue, like the cinquefoils, not red. Instead of gold, the two pheons are silver. No crest is given here for comparison.

This set of arms [shield] is exactly that included within the illustration for a third "Lord" arms in the 1910 pamphlet [see plate below].

3. The third coat is recorded as "Lord of England" and is exactly as reproduced for this pamphlet.
Arms - Argent, on a fesse between three cinquefoils azure, two pheons of the field.
Crest - A dexter arm, hand clenched proper in a maunch azure cuffed or.
Motto - AEquam servare mentem. (To preserve an equal mind.)
The shield is as in No. 2. The hand is natural color, the sleeve, which is large and flowing, blue, and the cuff gold.

Martin and Allardyce, 1910

In this last case, we see arms identical to the second case ["Lord of London"], which, with the crest, represents a complete assemblage identical to that shown at the end of Bishop's 1890 booklet. In fact, the plate shown in Martin and Allardyce (below) was taken directly from Bishop.