More Saints and "Just Plain Folks"

In our next two windows in York Minster we find some more saints along with the arms of some regular (if wealthy) people.

In this window, we have an image of the Virgin Mary holding the Christ Child.

Above her, we find the arms of Bryan, Azure three piles or.

And beneath her, we see the arms of Sir Charles Hayward or Heyward, Or on a chief azure a fret debruised by a heart or between two bees volant proper. You can learn a lot more about Sir Charles by way of his entry in Wikipedia at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_William_Hayward

The central figure in our next window is labeled as St. Oswald.

That said, the banner he is holding with his right hand bears the attributed arms associated with St. Edwin. (I would note, too, that Azure three crowns or is also attributed to King Arthur. That's the wonderful thing about attributing coats of arms to figures who lived before heraldry; you can invent just about anything you like for them!)

The arms above the figure of St. Oswald are in memory of Guy Cuthbert Dawnay, a Conservative politician and the fourth son of William Dawnay, 7th Viscount Downe. The arms are blazoned Argent on a bend cotised sable three annulets argent, but lack a martlet, the usual cadency difference for a fourth son. Guy Dawnay, who was killed at the age of 40 by a wounded buffalo in 1889 near Mombassa in East Africa, is also commemorated in the inscription at the bottom right corner of this window. He also has his own Wikipedia entry at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Dawnay_(politician), although that entry does not mention this memorial window in York Minster.

Once again, please take the time to really look at and appreciate the stained glass painter's skill in creating these two windows, in addition to the heraldry contained in them.

Saints and Regular People

The two windows in York Minster that we're going to look at today each have the arms of a saint along with the arms of just a regular person (albeit presumably a rich one).

Here, with the central figure of St. Gabriel who is greeting the Virgin Mary (who is not included in this frame), we have in chief the attributed arms of St. Paul, Gules two swords in saltire points downwards proper.

The arms in the base of the window (above) are a little harder to positively identify. They are blazoned Vairy argent and gules a bordure azure bezanty [or, semy of bezants/roundels or]. John Toy, in A Guide and Index to the Windows of York Minster says these are the arms of A. S. Rymer. But the arms of the only Rymer in Burke's General Armory are given as Gules a tree eradicated or surmounted by a greyhound passant argent collared or. But Burke also cites a Rimmer with the arms shown here. Looking elsewhere, I can also find Delaryver, of Bransby, Yorkshire, and also Nicholas de la Rivere with these same arms.

So I'm at a bit of a loss here. Rimmer is easily seen as a variant spelling of Rymer (and vice versa); can Delaryver and de la Rivere also be variants of Rymer/Rimmer, and thus all part of the same family? I could make the argument in favor of that interpretation, but I could just as easily argue against it.

Fortunately, the next window contains no such similar uncertainty.

Here, above the central figure of St. John the Baptist holding the Agnus Dei, we see the attributed arms of St. William, Or seven mascles conjoined three three and one gules.

And below the central figure, we find the arms of Noel Goddard Terry, a grandson of Sir Joseph Terry (1828-1898). Sir Joseph was a British confectioner, industrialist and Conservative politician who served as Lord Mayor of York on three occasions. Joseph Terry and Sons, Ltd. is a chocolate confectionary company best known for their chocolate oranges. (There is a plethora of information about Terry's Chocolate Oranges on-line at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry%27s_Chocolate_Orange.)

Noel G. Terry's arms are a differenced from Sir Joseph's by the use of the two martlets, each the cadency mark of a fourth son, and are blazoned: Ermine on a cross invected between in chief two martlets gules a fasces between in pale two roses argent and in fess two lions passant or.

Henry V, Act III, Scene 1

Today's window from York Minster immediately reminded me of Shakespeare's Henry V, Act III, Scene 1, which has Henry before the walls of Harfleur giving his "Once more unto the breach, dear friends" speech, which ends with:

"Cry 'God for Harry, England, and Saint George!'"

So here we have the figure of St. George, bearing in his right hand a two-tailed banner of his arms Argent a cross gules, his left hand resting on a shield of the arms of England, Gules three lions passant guardant in pale or.

And in the upper part of the window, a shield with the arms of St. George, Argent a cross gules.

So you can see why my mind was immediately drawn to that line from the play Henry V; the only thing this window is missing is a direct reference to King Henry V to complete it.

Once again, be sure to take in the very high quality work in this window. It is a joy to behold, Shakespearean reference or not!

St. Michael the Archangel, St. Peter, and the Civic Trust

Our next window from York Minster is a less ornately decorated one, but still impressive.

The central figure is that of St. Michael the Archangel slaying the dragon.

You might want to click on the image above to see the full-size photograph; the detailing in the figure of St. Michael is well worth taking the time to really look at.

At the top of the window you can find the arms of St. Peter, Gules two keys in saltire wards upwards or. The arms here were, according to John Toy in A Guide and Index to the Windows of York Minster, originally those of the Dean and Chapter of York, but have had the tiara in chief removed.

And at the base of the window, we find the badge of the York Civic Trust, which we have seen before in our perambulations around the City of York.

As noted before, this badge dimidiates Azure a fleur-de-lys or with Gules a crowned lion's face or (the golden border here is not typically a part of the badge, as you can see by a simple image search on-line for "York Civic Trust"), thus reflecting in simplified form the Plantagenet arms of England, Quarterly: 1 and 4, France ancient (later France modern); and 2 and 3, England.

But really, in addition to the heraldry in this window, please note all of the detail in both the images and the surrounding lozenge-shaped panes of glass.

What a great example of the painter/stainer's art here!

A Row of Saints and Their Attributed Arms

As I continued my perambulation around York Minster looking for heraldry, I came across this row of four windows containing the stained glass images of four saints, along with their attributed arms, plus the arms -- some attributed, some known to have been borne -- of other individuals.

Here's a partially obscured overview of these four windows, and then below we will review each window in turn and identify both coats of arms in each.

So, looking at each window separately, from left to right:

Here we see the figure of St. Peter holding the keys symbolically given to him by Christ, with his attributed arms of Gules two keys in saltire wards to chief or beneath him. Toward the top of the window, we find the arms of Latimer, Gules a cross patonce or, which we have seen previously elsewhere in the cathedral.

The figure here is that of St. Paul bearing his attributes of a sword in his right hand and a book containing his letters to the various churches, and beneath him (one of) his attributed arms, Gules a sword proper. And in the upper part of the window, we see the attributed arms of Edwin, King of Northumbria, Gules three crowns or.

In the third window, we have the figure of St. Lawrence holding a palm branch in his right hand and a gridiron, the method of his martydrom, in his left. Beneath him, we see his attributed arms, Gules a gridiron or. In the upper part of the window, we see the arms of Archbishop Richard Scrope, which we have also seen elsewhere in the Minster, Azure a bend or a label argent all within a bordure gules semy of bishop's mitres or.

Finally, this window, hidden from view by a pillar in the first photograph above, we find the figure of the first Christian martyr, St. Stephen, with his attributed arms, Gules two palm branches or enfiling a crown or chased argent. These charges are emblematic of a martyr. And in the upper part of the window, we see once again the (other) attributed arms of  St. Paul, Gules two swords in saltire blades to base proper.

This is a beautiful set of stained glass windows, and the depictions of both the central figures and the eight coats of arms, both attributed and otherwise, are appealingly rendered here. And the more you lookd at them, the more detail in them you notice. (For example, both of these last two windows have dedications in Latin in their lower right corners.)

I hope that you find some enjoyment in looking at these windows from York Minster.

Heraldry In The News!

It's time for another edition of "Heraldry In The News!", though this time not for the most positive of reasons.

Now, to be honest, I haven't been following the anti-immigration demonstrations (and counter-demonstrations) and far-right riots occurring in England very much, as I am still recovering from surgery to remove the hardware they put into my left ankle nearly ten years ago to repair a spiral fracture but which was now causing what they term "hardware pain", as well as dealing with some scar tissue that had built up and was also beginning to cause some issues there.

But though I'm not getting out on-line quite as much as usual right now, interesting pictures of heraldry still attract my attention, as this one did taken at a demonstration that became a riot in Leeds, England.

My first thought upon seeing it, especially as regards the man in the mask, is that: "Apparently someone has not learned that the primary reason for heraldry is identification of the bearer."

Now, admittedly, the coat of arms on his left shoulder is not his, or his family's, but still ....

The shield is that of the Middlesbrough Football Club,* as can be easily found on their website and any number of other places on the internet, such as Wikipedia, where the image below came from.

As you can see, it's pretty much an exact match for his tattoo.

Anyway, it just seems to me that if you apparently don't want anyone to identify you -- as he seemingly doesn't, given the mask pulled up to obscure most of his face -- then maybe you shouldn't at the same time be clearly and publicly displaying a tattoo of a coat of arms that can be used to easily identify you!

Just sayin'.

* The city of Middlesbrough, where Middlesbrough FC is located, is about 65 miles (105 km) NNE of Leeds. I cannot say why a Middlesbrough fan would be in Leeds for a demonstration/riot, but there could be any of several possible innocuous explanations in addition to the ones that are more sinister.

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

And now we come to the last three windows (an odd number, because one of my earlier posts required enough explanation that it only covered a single of these windows) in the Clerestory Nave in York Minster.

This window contains the arms of England (in the center, as has been usual for these windows), but the remaining arms are all those of different members of the Mauley family, making this window quite the family reunion.

Here we see, from left to right, the arms of: Edmund Mauley, Or on a bend sable three wyverns argent; John Mauley, Or on a bend sable three dolphins argent [these last look like horse’s heads to me, but what do I know?]; England, Gules three lions passant guardant in pale or; Robert Mauley, Or on a bend sable three eagles displayed argent; and Piers (Peter) Mauley, with the base Mauley arms, Or a bend sable.

Next up:

This window contains the arms, all of which we have seen elsewhere in the Minster, of:

From left to right: Vavasour, Or a dance sable; Clare, Or three chevrons gules; England, Gules three lions passant guardant in pale or; Percy (modern), Or a lion rampant azure; and, as in the last window (above), Mauley, Or a bend sable.

And finally,

In this window, we do not have the arms of England in the center, as in so many of the other windows in the Clerestory.

Instead, we have, from left to right: Hastings, Argent a maunch sable; Vavasour, Or a dance sable; Etton of Gilling, Barry of 14 argent and gules on a canton azure a cross flory or; the attributed arms of King Arthur, Azure three crowns or (Weir's A Guide to the Heraldry in York Minster says that this coat is the attributed coat of arms of King Edwin of Northumbria, but those arms are elsewhere given in the Minster as Gules three crowns or, so I am using the more common attribution of these arms in other sources); and finally, Lamplugh, Or a cross flory sable.

I hope that you have enjoyed our little romp through the Clerestory Nave windows in York Minster.

Next time, more heraldry from elsewhere in the cathedral!

Fourteen Armorial Windows of a Single Pattern, Part 6 of 7

In the inimitable words of Kermit the Frog and Fozzie Bear in The Muppet Movie,

        Movin' right along
        Footloose and fancy-free
        Getting there is half the fun, come share it with me
        Moving right along (doog-a-doon doog-a-doon)

We are now "moving right along" to our next pair of windows in the Nave Clerestory of York Minster, we come to:

The arms here, from left to right, are:

Warrenne, Checky azure and or; Wake, Or a fess gules and in chief three torteaux; England, Gules three lions passant guardant in pale or; Wake, Or two bars gules and in chief three torteaux; and Teye, Or on a fess between two chevrons gules three mullets of eight points argent. (It is possible, though, that this is a cadet of FitzWalter.)

And in the next window:

These arms are, from left to right:

Trehouse, Vair a maunch gules; 

Vert six lions rampant three two and one or a label of four points gules. Browne, in A Description of the Representations and Arms on the Glass in the Windows of York Minster, identifies this coat as the son of Ulphus of Deira. For more information about the base coat of arms, see Ulphus of Deira, below; 

England, Gules three lions passant guardant in pale or; 

Browne identifies this coat, Vert six lions rampant three two and one or, as Ulphus of Deira (the name is more commonly given as Ulf) whose attributed arms we have seen before in the great stone shields in the nave). Ulf, Prince of Deira, is said to have donated a large ivory horn to York Minster around the year 1030 (and thus he lived in pre-heraldic times), along with granting the whole of his lands and revenues to God and St. Peter. But I note that the Dictionary of British Arms, Vol. 1, identifies Vert six lions rampant three two and one or as the arms of Nicholas de Langeford, found in the Boroughbgridge Roll, 1322, so there's that to consider, too; and

Redman, Gules three cushions or. The Dictionary of British Arms cites Redman/Redmayne. Burke’s General Armory gives Redman (cos. Chester and York). Unless, of course, this is an error for William de Greystoke, Gules three lozenges argent, whose arms we have seen elsewhere in the Minster. And if these arms are actually meant to be Gules three lozenges or, then they may be Freeman or St. Andrew (a family name, not the Saint), of Leicestershire.

And thus you see the difficulties that can sometimes be an obstacle to the accurate identification of a coat of arms, when the artists depicting the arms are not clear or make mistakes, as sometimes happens.

Fourteen Armorial Windows of a Single Pattern, Part 5 of 7

Continuing our survey of the coats of arms in these fourteen windows in York Minster which are all of a single pattern or type, we come to the following:

In this window, we find the arms, from left to right, of:

Hook or Houke (same name, different spellings!), Azure a fess between three fleurs-de-lis or; 

John FitzHugh, Azure fretty a chief or; 

England (in the center, as with the other windows in this series), Gules three lions passant guardant in pale or

William de Rythre, Azure three crescents or; and

Here, we're going for probabilities. The shield is Argent a lion rampant azure. Is this an error for Percy (modern)? Percy modern is Or a lion rampant azure. Papworth's Dictionary of British Armorials cites 17 different families with Argent a lion rampant azure, the most likely being Fauconberg/Falconbridge, which comports with the identifications in the Dictionary of British Arms which also makes  Fauconberg/Falconbridge the most likely identification for this coat.

Then in the next window,

we find the following coats of arms, also from left to right:

Deyvill, Or on a fess between four fleurs-de-lis gules two fleurs-de-lis or; 

Furnival, Argent a bend between six martlets gules (yes, I know that the bend looks sable here, but that is the same issue we have seen previously in some of the other windows in this series, where the red has blackened over the years); 

England, Gules three lions passant guardant in pale or; 

Meynell, Azure three bars gemel and a chief or. Burke’s General Armory notes: "Meynell or Mennell (co. York). Azure four (another, six) bars gemel and a chief or;" and

Evers, or Eure, Quarterly or and gules on a bend sable three escallops argent.

I really have to admit that all of these windows, taken as a whole, are very impressive, and not just for the heraldry contained in them!