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Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2011 with funding from University of Toronto http://www.archive.org/details/heraldryinscotla01stev -3/ -^"AV^^ vS-.. ^,\o -Toronto, 0^:^^;^ HERALDRY IN SCOTLAND . GLASGOW PRINTED AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS BY ROBERT MACLEHOSE &' COMPANY LTD. FOR JAMES MACLEHOSE AND SONS, PUBLISHERS TO THE UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW MACMILLAN AND CO. LTD. LONDON THE MACMILLAN CO. NEW YORK MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA TORONTO SIMPKIN, HAMILTON AND CO. LONDON BOWES AND BOWES CAMBRIDGE DOUGLAS AND FOULIS EDINBURGH MCMXIV The edition of this work for sale is limited to five hundred and forty copies, of which numbers i to 210 are on hand-made paper and have an etched frontis- piece by Mr. D. T. Cameron, of the Royal Arms of Scotland carved on the Abbey Church of Melrose. This copy is number .. .I.9R kfA aWAJTOD8 -qo aM>IA JAYO>^[ HHT .Y .Cl /d gniHyji! sioiiaM lo HjioHJ vaddA arlj io ii^^Jiuri j^om-ja^w 3fij no L3vii;J Cl.JJ ,.A.H.A ..A.?..H.A .noisrnO THE ROYAL ARMS OF SCOTLAND Carved on the west-most buttress of the Abbey Church of Melrose. Etching by D. Y. Cameron, A.R.S.A., A.R.A., LL.I). :nt HERALDRY IN SCOTLAND INCLUDING A RECENSION OF 'THE LAW AND PRACTICE OF HERALDRY IN SCOTLAND ' BY THE LATE GEORGE SETON, ADVOCATE BY H. STEVENSON J. ADVOCATE UNICORN PURSUIVANT VOLUME I GLASGOW JAMES MACLEHOSE AND SONS PUBLISHERS TO THE UNIVERSITY I9I4 ''•^^^'3/ \^^ ^ ,' V* -' LIBRARY Toronto. C\^' MAY 1 4 1976 PREFACE. The Law and Practice of Heraldry in Scotland^ which issued from the facile pen of the late Mr. Seton in 1863, marked an era in the literature of its subject, and in no long time went out of print. Its learned author, how- ever, though naturally gratified by the high estimation which his work had continued to enjoy, decided not to reprint it ; but, in view of the extensive additions to the materials available to the student of the subject, which had been made in the interval which had elapsed since the appearance of the publication of his work, he resolved to issue a new book which should contain all that was still useful in the original work and as much additional matter relative to its subject as was compatible with a general adherence to the style and method which he had already adopted with such acceptance. For the purpose at the same time of leaving his original treatise, capable as it was of being referred to without qualification under its original title, he desired that the new work should be issued under a new name. After con- sideration, he expressed a preference for the title of' Heraldry in Scotland'; and, although Mr. Seton died before coming to any final decision on the subject, that title has been adhered to.^ In the meantime, Mr. Seton had done the present writer the honour of inviting him to take the labouring oar as well as all the responsibilities in connection with the preparation of what was to be in large measure a new work. In anticipation of some such undertaking, Mr. Seton had made a ^ In this matter the objection to the inconvenience of requiring to cite two works with ' * such relations to each other as First Edition ' and Second Edition ' deservedly received its weight ; but the present writer confesses that he has been somewhat reluctant to omit from the title the original words * Law and Practice,' which seems to designate the present work with as much precision as any other. vi PREFACE number of notes. He had also made an analysis in several respects of the contents of Mr. Henry Laing's Supplementary Volume on Seals, which had appeared since The Law and Practice had been printed. He had carefully preserved a large collection of letters dealing with various matters heraldic which he had received, mostly on the occasion of the appearance of his book. All these and the very delicately executed wood-blocks used in that work, which he naturally desired should be used again, he handed over to the writer for the purposes of the new undertaking. It is to be observed that, owing to the scale on which most of these wood-blocks were made, each of the tressures is represented by a single line. The royal tressure consists, as is known, of two very narrow tressures, parallel and close to each other, flory and counter-flory, the field but not the fleur-de-lis being seen between the tressures. That work, the issue of which, from various circumstances relative at one time to Mr. Seton, at another time to the writer, has been long delayed, was sufficiently advanced in Mr. Seton's lifetime to allow him to see and approve of its first and second Chapters. With regard to these it is there- fore unnecessary in a Preface like the present to say more. But with regard to the subsequent chapters it is proper, out of respect to Mr. Seton's memory, as well as for the sake of any authority with which the statements which they contain may claim to have been made, to state, that on most if not all of the few points on which the present and former volumes appear to contradict each other, the writer had the advantage of conversing with Mr. Seton and of finding that, on consideration, they were of the same opinion. No relevant matter written in 1863 (unless it has become obsolete) has been omitted, though some had to be curtailed to make room for more important additions, or because of the exigencies of space. The scope of the original work will be found, therefore, to be in no respect diminished. On the contrary, it is in some parts enlarged. In dealing with the early law and practice of heraldry, we have freely cited several famous causes which have been litigated in England, because at the dates to which these cases belong, the law of both lands in these matters was the same. Mention of these minor differences between the armorial PREFACE vii practice of the two countries, which now appear in their respective estimations and uses of certain heraldic bearings which are common to both, does not come within the scope of this work. And it is hoped that, in dealing with those differences which exist or seem to exist in matters of heraldic right, the law of England has been correctly stated. It is impossible to close this prefatory note without returning thanks for the assistance which we have received, to Sir James Balfour Paul, C.V.O., LL.D., Lyon King of Arms, for the very kind interest he has taken in the work, and specially for reading the proofs of some parts of it which dealt, among other things, with the jurisdiction of his office and other points of the law ; also for communicating a copy of the Report on Lyon Office which con- stitutes Appendix No. III., and for permission to reproduce several armorial emblasonments from the Register of Arms, and photograph several seals in the Lyon Office collection, and the insignia of his office ; to Mr. F. J. Grant, Rothesay Herald and Lyon Clerk, to whom we are indebted for the Lists of the holders of the Offices of Lyon and Lyon Depute, and Lyon Clerk and Lyon Clerk Depute ;^ for very kindly reading some of the parts of the book in which, among other things, the practice of Lyon Office and the duties of its officers is dealt with. We have to acknowledge great obligations to Mr. R. K. Hannay, Curator of the Historical Department of the Register House, for the very great facilities he was good enough to grant for the photography of charter seals, both casts and originals, for use as illustrations ; we have also to thank Mr. C. W. Yule, the Assistant-Curator, for his ever-ready assistance in enabling us to take advantage of the leave thus accorded. The extent of our obligation to the Historical Department may be measured when it is known that almost the whole of the reproductions of armorial seals, which occupy ten of our plates, are taken from the casts and originals there deposited. To Sir Malcolm MacGregor of MacGregor, Baronet, we tender our best ^ The names in the lists of Lyons and Lyon Deputes will be found to be more numerous than those in the Appendix of biographical notes of the holders of these two offices which appeared in the original work, and which, with some regret, we are obliged to omit owing to want of the space requisite to make it sufficiently complete. viii PREFACE thanks for leave to reproduce in photogravure what is perhaps the earliest Scottish plate decorated with armorial shields in enamel, namely, the print or centre-plate of the Bannatyne Mazer, not hitherto reproduced in any book. Mr. W, Moir Bryce we have also to thank for placing at our disposal his photograph of the miniature of Isabella of Scotland, Duchess of Brittany (plate xxvi.), found in her copy of La Somme des Vices et des Verlus^ till now reproduced only in his own erudite work on the Grey Friars of Scotland. The Council of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, and its Secretary, Mr. A. O. Curie, we have to thank for the facilities accorded for illustrating the early chessmen to be seen on plate xxvii. and the matrices of seals to be seen on plate vii. Similarly we have to express our indebtedness to Mr. D. J. Vallance, Curator of the Royal Scottish Museum, and to his Assistants for their great kindness in connection with the photography of the Rubbings of English Brasses which constitute plate xi.

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