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Subject: Re: Heraldry and Kinship
Date: Wed, 26 Oct 2005 03:18:26 EDT
Georges Duby tells a tale of William Marshal performing so well in his second
tournament that Barnabé de Rougé enquired who he was. The reply was "Son écu
est de Tancarville."
Duby interprets this as meaning that the young knight carried on using his
patron's arms "as a label of quality".
Can we rule out the possibility of a geographical cluster of similar blazons
being the result of several young knights continuing to use their patron's
"label" ? We have a possible case in Brittany where various comparatively minor
families such as Vauruffier and St Pern used variants of the Beaumanoir "azur,
billeté d'argent". It is of course difficult to prove that they were not in
any way related since even the main line of Beaumanoir is vague in parts.
Incidentally, Corpus Chisti Ms 16, f.88b, shows William (the) Marshal's
second son (Richard, lord of Dinan and earl of Pembroke, d.1234) with a coat of
arms, shield and helm all charged with the marshal's hammer and, on the same
page, the familiar rampant lion. So, one shield for family get-togethers and
another for more formal occasions ?
HTH
Peter Meazey (Dinan, Brittany)
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