Fourteen Armorial Windows of a Single Pattern, Part 3 of 7

Moving along, we come to our next window in York Minster. I've not paired this one with the next one in line, because some of the arms are newer as opposed to the historical ones with arms we have seen elsewhere in the Minster, and so I have included more explanatory information.

Though this window follows the same overall pattern as the others in this series as the others, three of the five coats of arms are much more recent (that is, late 20th century); the only historical arms, which we have seen a number of times elsewhere in the cathedral (and which we will no doubt be seeing again in future posts from the Minster), are those of England and Warrene.

From left to right, these are the arms of:

The North Yorkshire County Council, Argent a bendlet wavy azure and a bendlet sinister wavy vert surmounted by a cross gules charged with five roses argent seeded or. The arms were officially granted on 29th April 1980. The red cross of St. George (which appeared in the arms of the former North Riding County Council and is also in the York City arms) has been charged with five white roses. The blue and green wavy bendlets represent the streams and the hills of the Yorkshire Dales and the Wolds;

Warenne, Earl of Sussex, Checky or and azure;

England, Gules three lions passant guardant in pale or;

The West Yorkshire County Council, Or two piles azure overall a rose argent seeded or. The two main charges (the piles) form the letter W, and the rose is the symbol for Yorkshire, thus creating a kind of canting type of arms. The shield, granted in 1975, is divided into five parts, three gold and two blue, which stand for the five districts of West Yorkshire, as do the five petals of the rose (albeit that as a general convention, roses normally have five petals); and

The Cleveland County Council, Argent a lion rampant azure crowned or and gorged with a collar compony ermine and or breathing flames proper on a chief wavy azure on a pale sable fimbriated between on the dexter a cogwheel and on the sinister a voided hexagon argent an ancient ship sails furled pennons flying or.

Now, to my mind, and this is certainly a personal opinion only and not to be taken as any kind of stricture or scripture, the length and complexity of the blazon is indicative of the complexity of the shield, and is not - again, in my own opinion - a mark of good heraldry. Good heraldry ought to be relatively simple, quickly identifiable, and clear. There are just too many "fiddly bits" in this armory to be that, and the blazon pretty clearly demonstrates that. On the other hand, it's a county council, and the design had to satisfy the many, varied, and often heraldically-uneducated opinions and desires of its members. (I recall the old saw that "A camel is a horse designed by committee.") And I have to admit that it's not as bad as it might be. But then again, "it could be worse" is a pretty low bar to set as a standard for evaluating heraldry.

Still, these arms are now only of historical interest, as Wikipedia informs us: The "Cleveland County Council was the county council of the non-metropolitan county of Cleveland in north east England. It came into its powers on 1 April 1974 and was abolished on 31 March 1996."

And that said, the arms of the West Yorkshire County Council and of the North Yorkshire County Council are also defunct, as each entity was replaced, in 1986 and 2023, respectively, by other instituions which do not use arms, but only modern logos based on the white rose of York.

Sic transit gloria.

Fourteen Armorial Windows of a Single Pattern, Part 2 of 7

Continuing along the wall with these similarly patterned windows, we come to the next pair. First:

With the following coats of arms:

From left to right, we have the arms of:

Beaufort, England and a bordure compony or and azure; John de Mowbray, 2nd Baron Mowbray (1286-1322), Gules a lion rampant argent; England, Gules three lions passant guardant in pale or; Anthony de Bek, bishop of Durham, Gules a cross moline ermine; and Ranulph de Neville (d. 1331), Gules a saltire argent.

For the next, I do not have the photograph of the full window, as I discovered after I got home that it was out of focus. So here is the close-up, which is in focus:

And here, from left to right, we see the arms of:

William le Constable (d. after 1316), Quarterly gules and vair a bend or); Brown/Browne, Sable three lions passant in bend between two double cotices argent; England again, Gules three lions passant guardant in pale or; Ros/Roos, Gules three water bougets argent; and FitzWalter, Or a fess between two chevrons gules.

Yes, I know that at first glance the fess and chevrons in this last coat appear to be black, but if you click on the image above and then zoom in, you can see more of the red. You will also note that the reds in William le Constable's and the Ros/Roos arms also look a lot more black than red. I don't know if it's a buildup of dirt/soot/smoke over the ages, or simply a color shift of the materials used to create the red, but something has caused the red to shift towards black to the eye.

Still, you have to appreciate the work that went into creating these armorial windows!

Fourteen Armorial Windows of a Single Pattern, Part 1 of 7

There are in York Minster fourteen armorial stained glass windows which are all of a single pattern.

Though the specific coats of arms and Bibilical figures, and the outline designs of the clear portions of the glass, are all (mostly) different, all of these windows consist of five lights below a small rose window and tracery containing stained glass, each light has a row of mostly Biblical scenes beneath which is another row of coats of arms, like this:

The coats of arms in this window are as follows:

From left to right, we see the arms of:

John de Mowbray, 2nd Baron Mowbray (1286-1322), Gules a lion rampant argent; Ranulph de Neville (d. 1331) or Robert de Neville (Ranulph’s son), Gules a saltire argent; England, Gules three lions passant guardant in pale or); Warenne, Earl of Sussex, Checky or and azure); and Hugh FitzHenry (d. 1305) or his son, Henry FitzHugh, Azure three chevronels braced and a chief or.

Then we come to the next window, where you can see both the similarities and the differences between this one and the previous window:

Where we find the following coats of arms:

From left to right, these are: Roger Bigod (1209-1270), 4th Earl of Norfolk and Marshal of England, Or a cross gules; Aymer de Valence (1270-1324) or William de Valence (d. 1296), Earl of Pembrok, Barry argent and azure an orle of martlets gules; England, Gules three lions passant guardant in pale or; Percy, Earl of Northumberland, Quarterly: 1 and 4, Or a lion rampant azure (Percy modern); 2 and 3, Gules three lucies haurient in fess argent (Lucy); and finally, Philip de Panton. Argent a canton gules.

Next time, two more windows built on this same pattern.

Not All the Stained Glass Heraldry in York Minster Is Found in Shields

Not all of the stained glass heraldry in the windows of York Minster is placed in shield shapes. Sometimes, it is used simply as a decorative element to frame or set off the events being told in the main panels.

For example:

Here's a three-panel window that has a lot going on, none of which at first glance appears to be heraldic. But if you look a little closer:

And even here, it might assist for you to click on the image above to see a larger photograph with more detail.

If you study the borders of the left and right panels, even going up around the circles at the top of each light, you will quickly note that they consist of alternating rectangles of glass of two coats of arms which we have seen elsewhere in the Minster: those of Mowbray, Gules a lion rampant argent (yes, I know that some of the panes look more sable than gules. Nonetheless, close inspection shows that they are more red than black); and Clare, Or three chevrons gules. 

Turning your attention to the central panel, the borders contain the arms of England, Gules three lions passant guardant in pale or, and what I believe are meant to be the attributed arms of King Arthur, Azure three crowns or.

And there you have it! Coats of arms not on shields in some of the stained glass windows of York Minster.

How about that?

The Syme Window in York Minster

This next armorial window in York Minster, which I seem to be in the definite minority in wanting to call the Syme Window, is especially interesting to me because I do not seem to be able to identify with any confidence the two (or is it three?) coats of arms contained in it.

The lower right panel containing a marshaled shield, states that:

This window, which

disappeared in the year

1657, was reconsstituted

1951 mainly from panels

intruded 1658 into the

Chapter House; & replaced by

John Stuart Syme, Architect,

in memory of his wife

Adelaide Philippa 1872-1951.

It was completed 1960 to

commemorate John Stuart Syme

1872-1958 architect in this

City for 52 years

John Stuart Syme (1872-1958) was a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, a member of the Diocesan Committee of York, of York Civic Trust and of the Royal Archaeological Institute. By the post-war period, he was affectionately referred to as 'Dinky Dime' by some members of his staff. More information about Mr. Syme's career as an architect can be found on-line at: https://www.scottisharchitects.org.uk/architect_full.php?id=203537

However, ,while little enough can be found on-line about Mr. Syme, I have found even less about the marshaled coats of arms in the window, and nothing at all about Mrs. Syme.

Here's what I have:

The husband's arms in this panel are Azure a garb or, but these arms do not belong to Syme that I can find. They are best known as the arms of Grosvenor.

The wife's arms in this panel appear to be Gules a chevron ermine between three round buckles or. They pertain to the Barber family. Without knowing the family surname of Adelaide (or, for that matter, anything else about her), I am unable to confirm that she was a member of the Barbers who bore this coat of arms.

The crest, if that is what it is, floating above the shield, is entirely indeterminable. It looks most like a blue triangle with a red demi-roundel surmounting it from its base, but I cannot tell what it is supposed to be beyond that probablly incorrect guess.

Ah, but then, I mentioned that there may be a third coat of arms in this window, didn't I? Seen five times in this window, we find this lozenge:

My guess at a blazon would be: Argent an estoile within a bordure gules charged with four roses or in cross between eight roses argent. The design is repeated in the clear parts of the window, which is really kind of cool.

But, cool or not, I have been unable to find where this coat of arms comes from, to what family it might belong, or anything else about it.

Is this Mrs. Symes' paternal coat of arms? Then whose coat of arms is that on the wife's side of the marshaled coat?

I'm afraid that this window has left me with many more questions than answers. Of course, with no real answers at all, that's not a high bar to reach. Indeed, it may very well be that Weir, the author, has the same questions, as this window and Syme appear nowhere in A Guide to the Heraldry in York Minster.

Do you know about any of these arms? If you do, please share in the comment section. I would love to know more!

The Mauley Window in York Minster

One of the tricky bits about identifying all of the coats of arms in the stained glass windows in York Minster is the dearth of good sources regarding those windows. The sources that I have to hand are the booklet A Guide to the Heraldry in York Minster by Y.E. Weir, published in 1986, and A Description of the Representations and Arms on the Glass in the Windows of York Minster by John Browne, published in 1859 and reprinted in 1917. The first is a very good general guide, but it leaves out a lot of the windows entirely, and sometimes misidentifies those arms it does include. The latter, of course, was written more than 160 years ago, and much has changed in the Minster during that time: windows have been replaced, shields have been moved around, and new coats of arms have been added. What you have here in the identifications of these coats of arms is a combination of reliance on Browne with frequent reference to Weir, along with additional researches in Papworth’s Ordinary of British Armorials and the four-volume Dictionary of British Arms. Of course, these last two sources also do not help with identifying the newer coats of arms which have been added in more recent years.

With that caveat, we come now the to stained glass window in York Minster known as the Mauley Window. This window is thought to have been donated by Archdeacon Stephen Mauley, perhaps in remembrance of his brothers Peter and Edmund.

The three rows of shields, beginning with the topmost row, and going from left to right, are:

France ancient (Azure semy-de-lys or); England (Gules three lions passant guardant in pale or); and, in what is likely an error for Spain (Quarterly: 1 and 4, Gules a tower triple-towered or (Castile); 2 and 3, Argent a lion rampant gules (sometimes purpure) crowned or (Leon)), Quarterly: 1 and 4, Gules a tower triple-towered or (Castile); 2 and 3, Azure a dolphin argent.

Weir believes that this quarter is Dauphiné, in error for Leon, but Dauphiné is Or a dolphin azure finned gules, so I don't know why he believes that. In any event, the shield is most certainly not Spain, although it certainly may be meant to represent Spain.

In the middle row of shields, we see:

Trehouse, Vair a maunch gules; Anthony de Bek, bishop of Durham, Gules a cross moline ermine; and Piers de Mauley, Or a bend sable.

Finally, in the lowest row of shields, which I am going to separate into individual paragraphs because of the issue of identifying the center shield, we find:

Malbis, Argent a chevron between three roe’s heads erased gules;

Wake (per Browne) or Coleville (per Weir), Or a fess and in chief three roundels gules. Burke’s General Armory does cite “Colvile (Yorkshire). Or a fess gules in chief three torteaux”. The Dictionary of British Arms, Vol. III, cf. “Or a fess and in chief three roundels gules” notes these arms for some Beterle/Butterleys, a bunch of Colevilles, and three Wakes (one of whom is “Lord Wake”). Either Colville or Wake is possible, but given the placement of these arms elsewhere in the Minster immediately next to Wake (Or two bars and in chief three roundels gules), I suspect that Wake may be a little more likely than Coleville; and

William le Vavasour (d. 1311), Lord of Hazelwood, Or a dance sable.

Finally, and this is something I failed to notice at the time, and so failed to take a separate photograph of them, just above the bottom row of shields are three panels, each with two kneeling figures holding up two coats of arms. You can see much of these figures in the photograph of the bottom row of shields, and of course you can click on the image of the full window above to see the full-sized photograph which you can then zoom in on this row of figures.

Weir identifies the kneeling figures, two in each panel, from left to right, as:

Robert Mauley, a younger brother;

Peter Mauley of Mulgrave Castle, the eldest brother, died 1310;

Archdeacon Stephen Mauley, died 1317;

Peter de Trehouse, or Maloleau (Mauley), the great grandfather of the brothers, who married the heuiress to Mulgrave Castle from whom the gold and black Mauley arms were inherited;

Edmund Mauley, killed at Bannockburn, 1314; and

John Mauley, a younger brother.

All of the shields with the exception of Peter de Trehouse, who is holding the Trehouse arms of Vair a maunch gules, are differenced and undifferenced versions of the Mauley arms, Or a bend sable.

We Declared Our Independence! Now What? I Know, a Coat of Arms

Late on the afternoon of July 4, 1776, the same day as the official date of the Declaration of Independence which had been adopted two days before, the Continental Congress of the newly-declared United States of America appointed three members of the committee of five which had drafted the Declaration (Roger Sherman, Robert Livingston, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson), as follows:

"Resolved, That Dr. Franklin, Mr. J. Adams and Mr. Jefferson, be a committee, to prepare a device for a Seal for the United States of America."

Over the course of the next month, these three gentlemen considered several possible designs, and on August 20, 1776, presented to Congress their final design, to wit:

“The great seal should on one side have the arms of the United States of America, which arms should be as follows:

“The shield has six quarters, parti one, coupé two. The 1st Or, a Rose enameled gules and argent for England; the 2nd Argent, a Thistle proper for Scotland; the 3d Vert a Harp Or for Ireland; the 4th Azure a Flower de luce Or for France; the 5th Or the Imperial Eagle Sable for Germany; and the 6th Or the Belgic Lion Gules for Holland, pointing out the countries from which these States have been peopled. The Shield within a border Gules entwined of thirteen Scutcheons Argent linked together by a chain or, each charged with the initial letters Sable, as follows: 1st M.B., 2nd N.H., 3d R.I., 4th C., 5th N.Y., 6th N.J., 7th P., 8th D.C., 9th M., 10th V., 11th N.C., 12th S.C., 13th G., for each of the thirteen independent States of America.”

The initials stood for: Massachusetts Bay, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware Chesapeake, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. With supporters (Liberty and Justice), a crest of the Eye of Providence in a radiant triangle, and the motto, E Pluribus Unum, “Out of many, one.”

Congress’ action on this proposal? The Journal of Congress entry dated August 27th, 1776, notes: “the committee appointed to prepare a device for the Great Seal of the United States, brought in the same with the explanation thereof. Ordered to lie on the table.”

Apparently, rather like us, Congress was not impressed by the submitted design.

Two more committees and nearly six years later, the arms of the United States were approved on June 20, 1782. Here is how they appear on the reverse of the $1 bill today:

The arms on the breast of the eagle are blazoned Paly of thirteen* argent and gules a chief azure.

* Some heraldry enthusiasts get all "up in arms" (pardon the pun) about that blazon, which has come under criticism nearly since its original publication until today.

Much of that criticism is based on English blazon practice, as summarized in James Parker’s A Glossary of Terms Used in Heraldry:

Paly: when the field is divided by perpendicular lines into an even number of equal parts, the first of which is generally a metal, and that last of a colour. An uneven number … would be blazoned as of so many pales.

A difficulty with blazoning the arms of the United States in this manner is that the emblazon might not be reproduced accurately from the blazon. For example, many depictions of Argent six pallets Gules a chief Azure have the red stripes (the charges) significantly narrower than the white ones (the field), but such depictions lose the symbolism of having thirteen equally wide stripes, representing the thirteen original states of the union.

Then, too, as early as September 1786, in the Columbian Magazine, in “Remarks and Explanation” believed to be by William Barton, we find: “It is not consistent with the dignity of an imperial state, that its armorial insignia must necessarily be blazoned according to the general rules of blazonry prescribed by heralds.” Or in other words, “It’s ours, and we can blazon it however we like. So there.” Not the most convincing argument, I believe, but there it is nonetheless.

And finally, as John Gibbon stated in 1682, a full century earlier, in his Introductio ad Latinam Blasoniam:

Foreigners make no matter, neither in Paly, Barry, nor Bendy, whether the pieces be even or odd, provided they be of an equal latitude.

So, naysayers of the Eighteenth – or the Twenty-First – Centuries to the contrary notwithstanding, it seems, to me at least, that Paly of thirteen Argent and Gules a chief Azure is an accurate and acceptable blazon for the arms of the United States, one which will permit a faithful reproduction of the emblazon by any heraldic artist who follows it.

A Stained Glass Armorial Window That Is Truly a Family Affair

Having finished our tour of the Chapter House and its armorial stained glass windows, we find ourselves back out in the main body of York Minster, and looking at this window:

This is the Peter de Dene Window in the cathedral and it's a real family gathering.

We'll start at the top:

In the center of the three lights, at the top just below the roundel, we have in a small shield the attributed arms of St. Peter (not a relative), Gules two keys in saltire wards upwards or.

Then, in the top row of shields, from left to right, the arms of: the Emperor Frederick II (King Edward I’s uncle), Or a double-headed eagle displayed sable; the arms of King Edward I,  being England, Gules three lions passant guardant in pale or); and Margaret of France (King Edward’s second wife), Azure semy-de-lys or (France ancient).

Further below, in the center row of shields, again left to right: the arms of Eleanor of Provence (Edward’s mother), Paly or and gules; Richard of Cornwall, King of Rome (Edward’s uncle), Or an eagle displayed sable beaked and membered gules; and finally, Eleanor of Castile (Edward’s first wife), Quarterly Castile and Leon.

Finally, in the bottom row of shields, we have but two: on the left, the Kingdom of Jerusalem (held for a time by Edward’s uncle Frederick II), Argent a cross potent between seven crosses potent or; and on the right, Joan of Navarre (Edward’s sister-in-law), Gules an escarbuncle of chains or (though there is a lot of white in amongst the gold of the "chains" here).

As I said, a real family affair!

All that said, the particularly eagle-eyed amongst you may have noticed that there are a series of human figures flanking the central column of shields, each of whom is wearing a surcoat of arms. You may click on any of the images above to see a larger, more detailed photograph, which will show these figures and their surcoats more clearly. You may also recognize a number of these arms from having seen them elsewhere in the cathedral.

Starting at the top of this column, in the first detail photograph, flanking the arms of England, we have*: on the left, the Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller; and on the right, the Grand Master of the Knights Templar.

Below those two figures, we find: on the left, the King of France; and on the right, the King of England.

Beneath those, in the second detail photo, we see: on the left, the Queen of France, and on the right, the Queen of England.

Underneath those, we have: on the left, Edmund, Earl of Lancaster, King Edward I's brother; and on the right, the chevrons of Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester.

Below those two figures, we find: on the left, the well-known checky arms of John de Warenne, Earl of Surrey; and on the right, the fess between crosses crosslet of Guy de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick.

Beneath those, in the third detail image, we see: on the left, William, Lord Roos, Gules three water bougets argent; and on the right, John, Lord Mowbray, Gules a lion rampant argent.

And finally, underneath those, we have: on the left, Robert, Lord Clifford, Checky azure and or a fess gules; and on the right, Henry, Lord Percy, Or a lion rampant azure.

Didn't notice them? Please go back and take a closer look!

* The identifications have been taken from Weir's A Guide to the Heraldry in York Minster, but following my own advice from an earlier post, I confirmed them in other sources.

The Heraldic Glass in the Chapter House of York Minster: Part 7 of 7 (the Southwest Window)

Alas, all good things must come to an end, and so it is that with this post, we come the last of the stained glass windows in the Chapter House in York Minster.

In the rose window at the top, instead of the arms of England that we have come to see in this position in so many other of the windows in the Chapter House, here we find the arms of France ancient, Azure semy-de-lys or. Immediately below the arms of France, we see the arms of Tatteshale, Checky gules and or a chief ermine, for Robert de Tatteshale or Tattershall, Lord of Buckenham.

In the rose window on the left, we have another example of France ancient. And immediately below those arms, we see the arms of FitzAlan, Barry or and gules.

In the rose window on the right, we find another shield of France ancient. Below that shield we have the arms of Percy ancient, Azure five fusils conjoined in fess or. (The Percy arms are also somtimes blazoned as Azure a fess fusilly or, or even as Azure a fess indented or.)

There is no coat of arms in the small rose window on the left.

But in the small rose window on the right, we find the arms of Blanchminster or Oswaldston, co. Salop, one of the lordships of Fitz-Alan of Clun, Argent fretty gules, or sometimes Argent a fret gules.

And thus we come to the circumambulation (how often do you get to use that word in a conversation?) of the Chapter House in York Minster, and our review of the heraldry contained in the windows there.

I hope that you have enjoyed this part of our visit to see the heraldry in York Minster. But stay tuned! There is more to come.

The Heraldic Glass in the Chapter House of York Minster: Part 6 of 7 (the South Window)

Moving right along ("footloose and fancy free"*), we come now to the south window in the Chapter House in York Minster.

Again, we start out in the top center rose window with the arms of England, Gules three lions passant guardant in pale or. Immediately below England we have the arms of Charleton, Baron Charleton of Powys, Or a lion rampant gules. A Guide to the Heraldry in York Minster says that this shield is Percy ancient Or a lion rampant azure, which this clearly is not. Browne, in A Description of the Representations and Arms on the Glass in the Windows of York Minster, also identifies this coat as John Cherlton, Lord Powis, Lord Chamberlain to Edward II.

In the large rose window on the left, we again have the arms of  England, and and immediately below England, the arms of Balliol, Gules an orle argent.

In the large rose window on the right, we see yet another shield of the arms of England, and below it the arms of William de Greystoke, Gules three lozenges argent.

In the small rose window on the left, we have the arms of Percy (ancient), Azure five fusils conjoined in fess or, for either Henry de Percy, 1st Baron Percy of Alnwick (1273-1314) or his father, Henry de Percy, 7th Baron of Topcliffe (d. 1272).

In the small rose window on the right, we have a disagreement between our experts regarding this coat of arms, which I would blazon as Per fess or and sable a cross argent. (You can click on the image above to see the full-size photograph to see for yourself.) Weir, in  A Guide to the Heraldry in York Minster, says that these are the arms of William Vesci. Browne, in A Description of the Representations and Arms on the Glass in the Windows of York Minster, says these arms these arms are “unknown, probably the field has been altered.”

Doing my own research, since we don't seem to have an agreement here, I find that most of the Vesci arms in the Dictionary of British Armorials are Or a cross sable. The only “per fess … a cross” in the DOBA is that of Svyluer (typo for Sylvuer perhaps?), Per fess argent flory sable and argent overall a cross sable, and the arms in this window are clearly not that.

Should we split the difference between our two experts and say that these are the arms of Willliam Vesci (per Weir), but that the field has probably been altered (per Browne)? I'm not entirely satisfied by doing that, but without another candidate for the arms as they appear in the south window, I don't know what else we can do.

* For those of you who don't recognize it right away, this is from one of the songs in The Muppet Movie (the first one). It's a sad fact of my life that if I ever hear, see, or even think the words "moving right along," what follows immediately in my head, if I don't end up singing it aloud, is "footloose and fancy free."