Stall Plates of the XXIII Chapter of the Order of the Golden Fleece, 1559, Part 4

In our final post of the stall plates of the XXIII Chapter of the Order of the Golden Fleece held in 1559 in St. Bavo's Cathdral, we see the following.

As always, I recommend clicking on an image to see a larger and more detailed photo of these armorial plates.

Anyway, from left to right, we have:

Don Carlos of Spain, eldest son of Phillip II (1545-1568): blank shield.

Alfonso de Aragon y Portugal, Count of Ampurias, 2nd Duke of Segorbe, 3rd Duke Consort of Cardona (1489–1563): blank shield. (His father’s arms were: Paly of three: Dexter, Or four pallets gules (Aragon); Center: Per fess gules and argent a tower or and a lion rampant gules; and Sinister: Per saltire: chief and base, Or four pallets gules; dexter and sinister, Argent an eagle displayed sable (the Two Sicilies).)

Philippe de Stavele, Baron de Chaumont (1508-1562): Ermine a bend gules.

Philippe de Montmorency, Count of Horn (1518-1568): Or a cross gules between sixteen eagles displayed four four four and four sable.

Immediately below those four plates we have:

William I, Prince of Orange, seigneur de Breda (1533-1584): Quarterly: 1, Azure billety a lion rampant or; 2, Or a lion rampant gules crowned sable; 3, Gules a fess argent; 4, Gules two lions passant guardant in pale or; overall an inescutcheon: Quarterly: i and iv, Gules a bend or; ii and iii, Or a hunting horn azure stringed gules, overall an inescutcheon Checky of nine or and azure (or, Or a cross quarter-pierced azure) (Châlon-Arlay as Princes of Orange).

Johan I of East Frisia (1506-1572): Per pale: Sable a frauenadler between four mullets pierced or; Per bend azure and gules, two lions rampant or, on a chief or an eagle displayed issuant sable (or, a chief of the Empire).

Francisco Fernando d'Avalos d'Aquino, 5th Marquis of Pescara (?-1571): Quarterly: 1 and 4, Gules a tower or a bordure compony argent and gules; 2 and 3, Quarterly: i and iv, Or three bendlets gules; ii and iii, Per fess argent and gules a lion rampant counterchanged.

Ascanio Sforza-Sforza, Count of Santa Fiora (1520-1575): Azure a lion rampant or maintaining in its sinister forepaw a rose or slipped and leaved proper.

And last, but certainly not least, we see:

Archduke Ferdinand of Austria, Margrave of Burgau, second son of Emperor Ferdinand I (1529-1595): A very complex coat of arms, as you might expect, and one which I am not going to blazon here. Feel free to make the attempt yourself; I won't try to stop you.

Jean de Lannoy, Seigneur de Molembaix (1509-1560): Quarterly: 1 and 4, Argent three lions rampant azure; 2 and 3, Quarterly: i and iv, Gules a winged arm or maintaining a sword erect proper; ii and iii, Argent a lion rampant sable crowned or; overall, an inescutcheon of Burgundy.

And this ends our look at the stall plates of the 1559 Chapter of the Order of the Golden Fleece, held in St. Bavo's Cathedral in Ghent, Belgium. I hope that you have found this review of the stall plates from both the 1445 and 1559 Chapters on exhibit in the Cathedral to have been of interest.

Now if I could just get my own coat of arms painted on a large board in the manner of these stall plates. (Of course, I have no idea where I would hang it! I can't think of any really good spaces in my house for such a display of armory.)

Stall Plates of the XXIII Chapter of the Order of the Golden Fleece, 1559, Part 2

Continuing our review of the stall plates in St. Bavo's Cathedral in Ghent, Belgium, from the Chapter of the Order of the Golden Fleece held there in 1559, we find the following:

In the top row, from left to right, we have the arms of:

Charles de Brimeu, Comte de Meghem (1524/25-1572): Argent three eagles displayed gules beaked and legged sable. (We have seen these arms among the stall plates from the Chapter held here in 1445.)

Charles, Baron de Berlaymont (1510-1578): Barry of six vair and gules.

Luis Enriquez de Cabrera, 2nd Duke of Medina de Rioseco (?-1572): a blank shield

Gonzalo II Fernández de Córdoba (1520-1578): A horrendously complex shield. Please feel free to click on the image above to see a larger version with more detail of the many and complex quarters in this coat of arms.

And in the bottom row, still left to right:

(hidden) Antonio Doria, Marquis of San Stefano; Per fess or and argent an eagle displayed sable crowned or between in dexter chief a demi-sun issuant from chief or rayed gules and issuant from each flank a flame gules.

Wratislaw von Pernstein (1530-1582): Or a bull’s head cabossed sable ringed or.

Jean de Montmorency, Siegneur de Courrière (?-1563): Or on a cross gules between sixteen eagles displayed four four four and four sable, a mullet of eight points argent.

Jean IV, Marquis de Berghes (1528-1567): Per fess: Per pale sable a lion rampant or and Or three pallets gules; and Vert three mascles two and one argent.

Just two plates in this set (left to right):

Jean de Ligne, Comte d'Arenberg (1525-1568): Quarterly: 1 and 4, Or a bend gules; 2 and 3, Argent three lions rampant gules.

Maximilien de Bourgogne, Marquis de Vere and Lord of Beveren: Very complex quartered arms plus inescutcheon; effectively, it is Burgundy quartered with a variant of Bourbon, with an inescutcheon Sable a fess argent.  Maximilian was a descendant of Antoine, bastard of Burgundy, an illegitimate son of Philip the Good.

And to finish up our review of these stall plates today, we have the armorial achievements of:

Archduke Ferdinand of Austria, King of Bohemia, Hungary, and Croatia, Archduke of Austria (later Holy Roman Emperor) (1503-1564): Or a double-headed eagle sable, on it's breast an escutcheon: Quarterly: 1 and 4: Quarterly: i and iv, Barry argent and gules; ii and iii, Gules a lion rampant argent; 2, Quarterly: i and iv, Gules a tower or; ii and iii, Argent a lion rampant purpure; 3, Burgundy (too complex to spend much time blazoning).

John III, King of Portugal (1502-1557), Charles V's brother-in-law. Argent five escutcheons in cross azure each charged with five plates in saltire all within a bordure gules semy of towers or.

Frederick II, Elector Palatine: Quarterly: 1 and 4, Sable a lion rampant or; 2 and 3, Lozengy bendwise argent and azure; overall an inescutcheon Gules an orb or.

If you would like to know more of the background and history of any of the individuals whose arms appear in these photographs, I recommend a quick search on Wikipedia, which may tell you more than you really wanted to know.