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."