110
NOTES AND QUERIES. [9* s. x. A. 9, 1902.
HERALDRY BEFORE THE CONQUEST.
(9 th S. ix. 124, 290.)
I AM sure that I am not the only reader of ' N. & Q.' who would appreciate further quotations from that singular document dis- covered by CHEVRON and set forth at the second reference.
Doubtless it was the hilarity of the occasion which induced Henry I. of Germany to date this precious record "938," being just two years after his death. The same motive, no doubt, induced him to, for the moment, adopt officially his nickname, " the Fowler." Docu- ments might be produced in which " Charles the Fat "or "Louis the Debonnaire," "John Lackland" or "Edward Longshanks," &c., appear as the official title or style of royalty. Such may be rare, but not more so than that CHEVRON is the happy possessor of. Then, again, how did Henry I. happen to make that singular error in his title? He was never crowned JSmperor ; the title was in abeyance from the death of the Emperor Arnoulf, 899, to the crowning of Otto I. by Pope John XII., 2 February, 962.
I am in the woods, and have only some slight notes to refer to, so all this is subject to correction ; but I would humbly suggest to CHEVRON three points which might be worth looking up :
1. Was the title " Imperatoris Augusti " used at the time in question, even by emperors ?
2. To make sure of the antiquity of Gottingen.
3. The extremely early occurrence of the tournaments mentioned. I laboured under the impression shared in, I think, by Wood- ward and others that the first tournament of which we have a definite record was held at Nuremberg, 1127, under Lothaire II.
Might I also make so bold as to suggest that before accusing poor America presum- ing CHEVRON means the United States of heraldic thefts, it might be well for him to glance over some of the articles in the Satur- day Review of a few years ago, in which Mr. Fox-Davies, an authority dangerous to con- tradict, sets forth how peers, prelates, and commoners, who certainly could not plead ignorance, stole similar articles with a bare- faced coolness never before equalled 1
CHEVRON asks, "What can the upholders of the bald statement have to say after this dated document 1 "
The (mis)dated document will not, I greatly fear, influence very markedly the prevailing
belief regarding the beginnings of heraldry ;
especially will it not influence those who have
the misfortune to be obliged to study similar
documents.
It seems to me that a better argument would be to produce an example, even a solitary one, of a fairly well-authenticated armorial bearing on a contemporaneous seal, carving, shield, illumination, &c., earlier than 1150. Personally I know of no genuine one prior to 1164, always excepting the very curious marks and figures on the pennons, and those on the shields (which latter are different from those on the pennons), depicted in that undated document, the so-called " Bayeux tapestry," which marks, Wace assures us, enabled one Norman to know another.
I take this opportunity to offer a suggestion which seems to me possibly of some slight weight, in case I happen to be in the right. I have examined, as no doubt many others have, numerous series of family seals, prin- cipally French. Previous to, say, 1160-1180 the knightly bearer of the shield never, or most rarely, shows the front of his shield. After the epoch mentioned the front of the shield is always shown, and it always bears a true heraldic device, which device is, with the rarest exception, the present known bearing of the rider's descendants.
C. E. D.
Dublin, N.H.
There is a slight question of chronology here which does somewhat affect the argument. We are referred to a document temp. " Hen- rici I. Aucupis," dated DCCCCXXXVIII., at Got- tingen, in Saxony ; but Henry the Fowler died in 936, two years previously, and Got- tingen town is first named by Otho I., son of Henry. If, therefore, Gottingen was till then unknown, there could have been no tourna- ment there under Henry. Two years is a small discrepancy, but what other evidence is there of the tournament and the date of the laws ? while " insignia " means banners in form and shape, not coats of armour. ABSENS.
REFERENCES WANTED (9 th S. x. 67). 1. A
wily abbot. It is, of course, difficult to say
whether the author had any particular abbot
in his mind or not ; but probably the follow-
ing story of Pope Sixtus V. is the origin of
the reference. It rests upon the authority
of Gregorio Leti, the historian, but has been
discredited. When cardinal he suddenly led
a retired life, and seemed (although in his
)rime) to succumb to the weight and in-
irmities of age, always used a crutch, &c.
