Thursday, June 20, 2024

The Heraldic Glass in the Chapter House of York Minster: Part 5 of 7 (the Southeast Window)


Next up on our look at the seven windows in the Chapter House of York Minster, we come to the southeast window:


In the rose window at the center top, we have the arms of England, Gules three lions passant guardant in pale or. Immediately below England, we have again the arms of Edmund, Earl of Lancaster, Gules three lions passant guardant in pale or a label of five tags azure each tag charged with three fleurs-de-lis or.

Below that, in the rose window on the left, we have once again the arms of England, immediately beneath which we see the arms of Peter de Montfort, Gules a lion rampant queue-forchy argent.

In the rose windwo on the right, we see another shield of the arms of England. Immediately beneath that shield, we have the arms of John of Eltham, Earl of Cornwall, England within a bordure azure semy-de-lis or.

Browne, in his A Description of the Representations and Arms on the Glass in the Windows of York Minster, says this shield is that of Philippa of Hainault, King Edward III's Queen: England within a bordure azure semy-de-lys or. But Philippa of Hainault's arms as consort are generally given as Quarterly: 1 and 4, England (Quarterly England and France ancient); 2 and 3, Hainault (Quarterly: 1 and 4, Or a lion rampant sable; 2 and 3, Or a lion rampant gules. So I pretty much have to go along with the identification of these arms by Weir in his A Guide to the Heraldry in York Minster as those of John of Eltham.*

In the two smaller rose windows below, on the left we have the arms of Robert de Ros (d. 1285), Gules three water bougets argent, and on the right the arms of William de Ros (d. 1316), also Gules three water bougets argent.




* These "battling identifications" from two different experts helps to demonstrate the need for the heraldic researcher to double-check every identification found and not simply accept the statement of an expert. Because, as I have found on several different occasions, the experts, and even such a luminary as Sir Anthony Wagner, quondam Garter King of Arms, as I found by doing my own research on one occasion, may be incorrect in something they say about an heraldic matter.

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