Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Lant, Thomas
LANT, THOMAS (1556?–1600), herald and draughtsman, born in or about 1556, was originally a servant to Sir Philip Sidney. He entered the College of Arms as Portcullis pursuivant in 1588, and was created Windsor herald 22 Oct. 1597, though his patent was not issued till 19 Nov. 1600. According to Noble he died in the latter year.
His works are:
- 'Sequitur celebritas & pompa funeris [of Sir Philip Sidney], quemadmodū a Clarencio Armorum et Insignium rege instituta est, una cum varietate vestimentorum, quibus pro loco et gradu cujusq; epullatis singuli utebantur. Delineatū … hoc opus … est a T. Lant, insculptum deinde in ære a D. T. De'bri j. Here followeth the manner of the whole proceeding of his funerall,' &c., London, 1587, oblong folio. It is dated at the end 1588. The work, which is of extreme rarity, consists of thirty-four engraved copperplates, forming a long roll, with a description in Latin and English. Among the portraits is one of Lant himself, which has been republished. A copy of the work, which was purchased at Richard Gough's sale for 39l. 18s. by Sir Joseph Banks, is now in the British Museum.
- 'The Armory of Nobility, &c., first gathered and collected by Robert Cooke, alias Clarenceux, and afterwards corrected and amended by Robert Glover, alias Somerset, and lastly copyed and augmented by T. Lant, alias Portcullis,' 1589, Sloane MS. 4959.
- 'A Catalogue of all the Officers of Arms, shewing how they have risen by degrees, &c., which order hath been observed long before the time of King Edward IV unto this year 1595,' Lansdowne MS. 80.
- 'Lant's Roll,' manuscript in the College of Arms. It has been continued by some other herald to the accession of Charles II.
One Thomas Lant, probably the same, published 'Daily Exercise of a Christian; gathered out of the Scripture, against the Temptations of the Deuil,' London, 1590, 16mo; 1623, 12mo.
[Dallaway's Heraldry, p. 259; Granger's Biog. Hist. of England, 5th edit. i. 331; Richardson's Portraits, pt. iii.; Noble's College of Arms, pp. 176, 186; Ames's Typogr. Antiq. (Herbert), pp. 962, 1680; Bromley's Cat. of Engr. Portraits, p. 42; Lowndes's Bibl. Man. (Bohn), p. 1310; Watt's Bibl. Brit.; Gough's Brit. Topogr. i. 613; Moule's Bibl. Herald. p. 34.]