Diſſertation on the armorial Enſigns of the County of Middleſex, and of the Abbey and City of Weſtminſter, by Sir John Hawkins.
[1]IT has lately been agitated, as a queſtion involving in it ſome circum⯑ſtances reſpecting the hiſtory and antiquities of this kingdom, whether there are any armorial enſigns, or heraldical device, appropriated to the county of Middleſex: A queſtion of ſomewhat the more importance, as the determination thereof will either juſtify or condemn the aſſumption of three ſabres or falchions, for ſo I muſt at preſent term them, as the im⯑preſs, or cognizance of that county, and the conſequent diſplaying them on the colours of the weſtern regiment of the military corps, maintained by the ſame.
And here it is firſt to be obſerved, that, in the great weſt window of Weſtminſter Abbey, there are five compartments, the firſt whereof, viz. that on the ſouth ſide contains the device above-mentioned, under a regal crown, or rather a circle with points. This, though by ſome miſtaken for the arms of King Alfred, it may be preſumed refers to Sebert, king of the Eaſt Saxons, for this reaſon, that he was the founder of the church and convent; and that in the time of the heptarchy the ſame was the armorial enſign of the kingdom of the Eaſt Saxons, as may be ſeen, together with the arms of the other kingdoms, in Speed's Chronicle, and alſo in Hey⯑lin's Help to Engliſh Hiſtory, edit. 1773, page 7, with the addition of the terms of blazonry.
It may perhaps be thought, that the three ſabres were the family arms of Sebert; and the family of Seber, who now bear them, attempt to juſtify their claim by this ſuppoſition: but the fact is otherwiſe, it being pretty evi⯑dent, that till of very late times the arms borne by our princes were not their own, if they had any, but thoſe of the kingdom for the time being: even the croſs and martlets, which are reputed to be Edward the Confeſſor's arms, were not peculiar to him or his family. Egbert, the firſt monarch of England, took the croſs as the arms of the kingdom; Alfred added thereto four martlets, and Edward the Confeſſor made them five, by the addition of one at the baſe point; and as to the arms in queſtion, it ſeems that they were borne by Erkenwyne, the firſt of the Eaſt Saxon kings, and his ſuc⯑ceſſors.
[2] The arms of France and England in a quarterly bearing, the device of Edward III. who imitated therein the quartering of the arms of Caſtile and Leon, was alſo the bearing of his ſucceſſors, as kings of England, and were Semée F [...]eur de Lys; that is to ſay, the field ſown or powdered with fleurs de lys *, until Charles VI. of France reduced them to three, when our Henry V. did the like: Camden's Remains, 293. and ſo they continued.
It is now time to enquire after the true appellation of thoſe warlike weapons that compoſe the Eaſt Saxon device; and upon conſulting the au⯑thors undermentioned, I find that that curved weapon, which I have called a ſabre or falchion, was anciently termed a Sach, and there can be little doubt, but that from the conſtant uſe of it in battle the Saxons at large derived their name.
The following are the ſentiments of ſundry learned etymologiſts on the ſubject:
Camden, among other opinions touching the denomination, mentions that of its derivation from the word Saxa, which he ſays gave occaſion to the following rhyme of Engelhuſius.
Biſhop Gibſon, the editor of Camden, ſeems to prefer this etymology to the others adduced by his author; and eſpecially to reject that opinion of Michael Neander, that the Saxons came from the Sacae or Saſſones of Aſia, in oppoſition whereto he cites a paſſage from Biſhop Stillingfleet's Origines Brit. p. 305, 306, in theſe words:
[3] "However, this original of the Saxons from the Sacae of Aſia may be thought too far fetched, unleſs there were ſome fair hiſtorical account how the Saxons came to be propagated by thoſe Sacae; and no ſuch account being given, it may ſeem to be little more than a poſſibility. Nor may that other original from the ſhort ſwords, called Sachs, ſeem altogether vain, when it is conſidered that the Quirites had their name from Quiris, a ſhort ſpear; and the Scythians from Scytten, to ſhoot with a bow. Tacitus alſo, ſpeaking of ſome of the northern Germans, ſaith, that the common badges they wear are round ſhields and ſhort ſwords; and the arms of Saxony to this day, as Pontanus obſerves, are two ſhort ſwords acroſs."
Junius, in his Etymologicon Anglicanum, Voce Sachs, is more expreſs to the purpoſe, making it to ſignify Cultrum, a knife; Pugio, a dagger, or poniard; and Gladius, a ſword: More particularly he aſſerts, that the SAKS was a kind of ſword, the blade and hilt whereof were nearly of equal length, that it had only one ſharp edge, and was not un⯑like a knife for cutting meat; and adds, that in his time the Danes uſed the word Saſs for a pair of ſhears. He denies, that the nation of the Saxons derived its name from the Latin, Saxum, as being a hardy, ſtony race, as he ſays has been aſſerted by ſome upon the authority of Iſidore, Lib. IX. Orig. c. 2. On the contrary, he maintains, that it came from thoſe knives which the Germans call Sachs. It farther appears from this author, in loc. cit. that the word Sachs has ſometimes been rendered by the Latin appellative Sica, a ſhort ſword or poniard, and he conjectures that the French Scie, a ſaw, may be derived therefrom.
Sir Henry Spelman, in his Gloſſary, Voce Saxones, cites two lines from Roſwitha de Geſt. Odonum, which ſeem to favor the derivation of Saxones from Saxum. Nevertheleſs, he concurs with Junius; and to add weight to his conjecture, in the next article, viz. Saxo, renders the term by Brevis Gladius, and gives from Gothofredus Viterbienſis the following verſes:
[4] Verſtegan, though a writer of ſomewhat leſs authority than any of thoſe above cited, is nevertheleſs worth conſulting on the ſubject; and the rather, as he elucidates it by the relation of ſundry curious parti⯑culars, which he ſums up in a poſitive aſſertion, that the Saxons had their name from this crooked, or ſcythe-like kind of ſword, adding, that he was confirmed in this his opinion by a converſation he once had with Juſtus Lipſi [...]s on the ſubject, who concurred with him therein. Reſtitution of Decayed Intelligence, p. 23.
In modern heraldical language, it ſeems, that the weapon above deſcribed is termed a Seax. Vide Blount's Gloſſographia, in Vocibus Saxons et Seax. Phillips's Dict. in Articulo. Verſtegan, p. 21. et ſeq 142. Farther, Hey⯑lin thus blazons the arms of the Eaſt Saxons, Gules. three ſeaxes Argent, pommels, Or; adding, that this was a weapon of the Saxons which they wore under their coats, when they ſlew the Britons on Saliſbury Plain. Help to Engliſh Hiſtory, page 11. *
[5] It ſeems that this kind of weapon was in uſe alſo with the Spartans, for Plutarch relates, that one of that nation being jeſted with for wearing a ſword ſo ſhort, readily anſwered, that it was ſufficiently long to reach the heart of an enemy.
It muſt be confeſſed that the foregoing teſtimonies of the Etymologiſts, do in ſtrictneſs prove no more than that the device of the three Seaxes was a proper and appoſite deſignation of the Saxon people in general, as pointing to a particular circumſtance in their martial oeconomy; and, ſeeing that each of the other ſix kingdoms that made up the heptarchy, had as good a claim to this bearing as the latter, it may be a matter of wonder that the propriety of it did not recommend it to thoſe who had the firſt election.
To this it may be anſwered, that the queſtion now under diſcuſſion is not, to whom the device now ſpoken of moſt properly belonged, but who were the people that firſt adopted it. This is an enquiry touching a fact, which beſides that it is above aſcertained, may thus be accounted for. The kingdom of Kent was the firſt founded, and the principal of the Heptarchy, and for the cognizance thereof, Hengiſt, who led the Saxons into Britain, diſplayed on his banner a white horſe, in Saxon, Hengſt, in alluſion to his name, and which is even now the bearing of the houſe of Saxony. Ella, the firſt king of the South Saxons, had taken ſix martlets, Cuthred of the Weſt Saxons, a griffin. The Eaſt Saxon king⯑dom was next in the order of erection; and for that Erkenwyne made choice of the device of three Seaxes * than which as being a generical, etymological ſymbol, including in the very name thereof that of the nation which aſſumed it, a more appoſite one could hardly have been ſuggeſted.
[6] It is preſumed, that the authorities here cited are abundantly ſufficient to prove, that the three Seaxes blazoned in the colours above deſcribed, were the proper armorial device of the kingdom of the Eaſt Saxons; and when it is conſidered, that the ſame conſiſted of the counties of Eſſex and Middle⯑ſex, and part of Hertfordſhire, and that Weſtminſter, ſituated in Middle⯑ſex, was the ſeat of its kings, one of whom was the founder of the abbey there; and farther, that this county, from the diſſolution of the heptarchy down to this time, has been the principal reſidence of the Engliſh mo⯑narchs, and the fountain both of juſtice and legiſlature; when theſe cir⯑cumſtances, I ſay, are conſidered, the propriety of aſſuming, as the martial deſignation of the county of Middleſex, the device of that territory of which it made ſo great and reſpectable a part, will hardly admit of a queſtion.
Of the A [...]ms of the A [...]bey and City of Weſtminſter.
THE arms of Edward the Confeſſor are in general appropriated to the abbey of Weſtminſter, and are thus blazoned, Azure, a Croſs fleuré, or as ſome term it, pat [...]nce, between five Mart [...]ets Or. Carved over the north entrance into the abbey they have the appearance of No. X. in the annexed Plate. Upon which it may be obſerved, that they are preciſely the ſame with thoſe of Sebert, king of the Eaſt Saxons, in Norden's Speculum Bri⯑tanniae, page 32. Nevertheleſs the arms of the abbey, as they appear on the tomb of Abbot Flaccet, or Faſcet, in the chapel of St. Eraſmus, and alſo among the arms of the mitred abbies in Biſhop Tanner's Notitia Monaſtica are, Azure, a croſier or paſtoral ſtaff and a mitre in chief, and ſo are they repreſented in the plate of Weſtminſter Abbey in Newcourt's Repertorium, and in a rude manner in Leland's Collectanea, vol. I. page 100. Vide No. XI.
The college arms on the wall over the great table in the college hall, and thoſe in a ſhield near it, containing the college arms party per pale, with the arms of the dean, biſhop Wilcocks, and alſo in another like the lat⯑ter in the great weſt window of the church, are the croſs and martlets, and [7] above them, or in chief, thoſe of France and England quarterly between two roſes, gules, agreeing with the deſcription thereof by Sir George Buck, who, in his Treatiſe of the Foundations of all the Colleges, &c. in and about London, printed at the end of Stow's Chronicle, chap. 5. ſays, That the ancient arms of the abbey of Weſtminſter were, partie per feſſe endente Or and Azure, a croſier erect and a miter in chief; but that the new arms of the college are partly the arms of Edward the Confeſſor, and partly thoſe of England in a chief Or, between two red roſes. Vide No. XII.
The roſes, as they are red, clearly allude to that badge or cognizance of the houſe of Lancaſter, which with another, viz the Portcullis, is to be ſeen on the gates, and almoſt in every corner both within and without, of the chapel of Henry VII. Fuller aſſerts, that the addition of the chief above given, was an augmentation of the ancient conventual ſeal, plainly relating to the enlargement of the church by the erection of Henry the Seventh's chapel, Church Hiſt. Book VI. Page 322, and accordingly they are repreſented on the rods of the vergers, the covers of the common prayer and muſical ſervice-books; and ſuch at this time are the arms of the college as they appear at the ſeet of Saint Peter on the reverſe of the common ſeal of the Dean and Chapter affixed to their leaſes and other corporate inſtruments.
The arms of the city of Weſtminſter differ from thoſe of the college, and are variouſly repreſented. In the great weſt window of the Abbey, in the extreme compartment toward the north, and alſo in a window on the ſouth ſide of the Broadway chapel, Weſtminſter, they appear as in No. XIII.
But in the compartment over the ſeat of the chairman in the Guildhall, Weſtminſter, the arms of Edward the Confeſſor take the place in the chief of the arms of England, the roſes occupying the extremities, as is ſeen in No. XIV.
The Portcullis ſeems to have been a favourite device of Henry VII. as importing his deſcent from the houſe of Lancaſter *; the original aſſump⯑tion whereof is thus to be accounted for: John of Gaunt, duke of Lan⯑caſter, had a concubine named Catherine Swinford; and being entitled by deſcent to the caſtle of Beaufort in the province of Anjou, and reſid⯑ing there at certain times, Catherine, within the walls of it, was delivered of a ſon named John, who together with others of his children by her was legitimated by a ſtatute of 20th Richard II. 1396, and ſur⯑named [8] named d [...] Beaufort, ſoon after which the ſaid John was created earl of Somerſet. In reference to the place and circumſtances of their birth, theſe children aſſumed for their badge or cognizance a Portcullis, a fre⯑quent ſymbol with the heralds, of a caſtle or fortreſs, and the ſame is at this day the creſt of the duke of Beaufort †, who claims a deſcent from the above John de Beaufort. See Sir Richard Baker's Chron. 136, and Collins's Peerage, in Somerſet duke of Beaufort.
Henry VII. as appears by his pedigree in Rapin, was deſcended from the above ſon of John of Gaunt; wherefore and becauſe that ſon had [...]oſen the Portcullis for his device, and his immediate deſcendants had adopted it, it ſeems that the augmentation of the arms would have been more explicit and correſpondent with his own intention, had the chief contained a Portcullis between the Roſes as it does in the ſhield over the monument of biſhop Wilcocks, in which the arms of the Biſhop as Dean are impaled with his own paternal arms ‡, but whether with any ſufficient warrant we are to ſeek.
As touching the arms in the great weſt window it is to be noted, that there are five compartments, containing as follows, viz. I. Arms of king Sebert, the founder of the abbey. II. Arms of England and France, temp. Elizabeth, the foundreſs of the college. III. Arms of Great-Bri⯑tain and France, temp. George II. in whoſe reign the towers were built. IV. The c [...]l [...]e [...]e arms impaled with thoſe of biſhop Wilcocks, who, being dean of Weſtminſter, was very active in procuring grants of public money for the repair of the fabric, and the erection of the towers, as may be collected from the inſcription and the baſs relief on his monument. V. The arms of the city of Weſtminſter.