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College of Arms

6. The origin and history of the various heraldic offices

Garter King of Arms

Garter King of Arms is the senior of the three English Kings of Arms. The office takes its name from the Order of the Garter. Henry V instituted the office of Garter in 1415 just before sailing for France.

Official arms in use by circa 1520: Argent a Cross Gules on a Chief Azure a crown enclosed in a Garter between a lion passant guardant and a fleur de lis all Or.

Clarenceux King of Arms

Clarenceux's province has always been the southern part of England, and at least from the sixteenth century has included all England from the River Trent southwards. He is the senior of the two provincial kings.

Official Arms in use by circa 1500: Argent a Cross Gules on a chief Gules a lion passant guardant crowned with an open crown Or.

Norroy & Ulster King of Arms

The junior of the two provincial kings. In 1943 the office of Ulster King of Arms (vacant since the death of Sir Neville Wilkinson in 1940) was combined with that of Norroy. Norroy and Ulster has jurisdiction over the six counties of Northern Ireland as well as those of England north of the Trent.

Official arms approved 1980: Quarterly Argent and Or a Cross Gules on a Chief per pale Azure and Gules a lion passant guardant Or crowned with an open crown between a fleur de lis and a harp Or.

Chester Herald Badge Chester Herald

Chester is said to have been instituted by Edward III as herald of the Prince of Wales. The title was in abeyance for a time under Henry VIII, but since 1525 Chester has been one of the heralds in ordinary. In 1911, when the future Edward VIII was created Prince of Wales, Chester was one of his retinue.

Badge: A Garb Or [from the arms of the Earl of Chester] royally crowned.

Chester Herald Badge Lancaster Herald

Originally Lancaster, whether as herald of arms or as a king of arms, was retained by the earls and dukes of Lancaster. The title first appears in 1347 when Lancaster herald made a proclamation at the siege of Calais. On Henry IV's accession he was put on the Crown establishment and made king of the northern province. That arrangement was continued under Henry V and VI, but ceased by 1464. Thereafter Lancaster reverted to the rank of herald. Since the time of Henry VII Lancaster has been one of the six heralds in ordinary.

Badge: The red rose of Lancaster royally crowned.

Chester Herald Badge Richmond Herald

Richmond occurs from 1421 to 1485 as herald of John, Duke of Bedford, George, Duke of Clarence, and Henry, Earl of Richmond, all of whom held the Honour of Richmond. Henry on his accession to the throne as Henry VII in 1485 made Roger Machado, the then Richmond, a king of arms, since whose death in 1510 Richmond has been one of the six heralds in ordinary.

Badge: The red rose of Lancaster and the white rose en soleil of York dimidiated per pale and royally crowned.

Chester Herald Badge Somerset Herald

This title has been successively private, royal, at once private and extraordinary, and again royal. In 1448-9 Somerset was herald of Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, but he must have been a royal officer in 1485, when he was the only herald to receive coronation liveries.

In 1525, when Henry Fitzroy was made Duke of Richmond and Somerset, the then Somerset herald was transferred to the duke's household and as such he must be counted a private officer, although he was appointed by the King and shared the heralds' fees as a herald extraordinary. On Fitzroy's death in 1536 the then incumbent returned to the Crown establishment, and since then Somerset has been one of the heralds in ordinary.

Badge: A portcullis or royally crowned, the Tudor version of the Beaufort badge.

Chester Herald Badge Windsor Herald

The office of Windsor is said to have been instituted by Edward III. Windsor has been one of the six heralds in ordinary since 1419 at least.

Badge: Edward III's (Edward of Windsor) sun-burst, that is golden sun rays shooting upwards from a bank of white cloud, royally crowned.

Chester Herald Badge York Herald

It has been suggested that York herald was originally the officer of Edmund of Langley, created Duke of York in 1385, but the first reliable reference to York is in a patent of 1484 granting to John Water alias Yorke, herald, as fee of his office and for services to Richard III, his predecessors and ancestors, the manor of Bayhall in Pembury, Kent, and £8 6s. 8d. a year from the lordship of Huntingfield, Kent. He is now one of the six heralds in ordinary.

Badge: The Yorkist white rose en soleil royally crowned.

Chester Herald Badge Bluemantle Pursuivant

This officer, now one of the four pursuivants in ordinary, is said to have been instituted by Henry V for the service of the Order of the Garter, from whose blue mantle the title is almost certainly derived.

Badge: A bluemantle lined ermine and with gold cords and tassels.

Chester Herald Badge Portcullis Pursuivant

One of the four pursuivants in ordinary, instituted by Henry VII, probably soon after his accession, in allusion to the well known badge inherited from his mother, Lady Margaret Beaufort.

Badge: A portcullis chained or.

Chester Herald Badge Rouge Croix Pursuivant

Rouge Croix or Red Cross took his name from the red cross of St. George, badge of the Order of the Garter and sometime national flag of England. He is said to be the oldest of the four pursuivants in ordinary, but the earliest known mention of the title is in the sixth year of the reign of Henry V, 1418/19, when Rouge Croix was at Caudebec.

Badge: A red cross, either couped or in a white roundel.

Chester Herald Badge Rouge Dragon Pursuivant

Instituted by Henry VII on 29 October 1485, the eve of his coronation, in reference to the royal badge, the 'red dragon of Cadwallader'. One of the four pursuivants in ordinary.

Badge: A rouge dragon passant on a green mount.


Next chapter: Some past heralds

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