42 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2'>4S. N<>29.,Jult19.'56. 



not stated. So again, in 1298, (27 Edw. I.,) the 

 same doubt exists as to George Townshend (see 

 Heylin above), who quartered France and Eng- 

 land. In 1328, J. Holland, E. of Huntington 

 (afterwards created D. of Exeter by Richard II.), 

 whose mother was Joan, widow of the Black 

 Prince, and who married Elizabeth, eldest 

 daughter to John of Gaunt, D. of Lancaster, 

 brother to the Black Prince, bore a border of 

 France, 13 Fs.-d.-L. 



Of the great dignity attached, upon all occa- 

 sions, to the royal charge of the F.-d.-L., frequent 

 proofs may be supplied from the preceding notes. 

 In many eminent instances of the grant being 

 conferred at the hands of the sovereign, a single 

 F.-d.-L., or two, are the only concession made ; 

 so as, in all appearance, to avoid a trespass upon 

 privileges strictly royal. Thus, under Richard I., 

 the grant to Plowden extended only to 2 Fs.-d.-L. : 

 that to the family of Leycester, under Richard II., 

 whose descendant, in 1544, a general officer, re- 

 ceived the honour of knighthood, was 2 Fs.-d.-L. 

 Under Edward IV., that to Kellett was a single 

 F.-d.-L. Under Henry VIIL, that to Gierke was 

 two ; that to Thomas Manners, E. of Rutland, 

 though of royal descent from Edward IV., was 

 limited to two. We have seen that Charles II. 

 restricted the bearing of the F.-d.-L. in their 

 coronets to the royal dukes. His grant to Stephen 

 Fox admitted only a single F.-d.-L. Queen 

 Anne's grant to Shovel was of 2 Fs.-d.-L. Wol- 

 cott (of Knowle), of Norman extraction, received 

 as an augmentation of honour, 1 F.-d.-L., " for 

 good service unto the king (quere, which ?) in 

 his wars," though the honourable augmentation 

 to the D. of Marlborough consisted of three. 

 Neverthess, in looking at the lists of the Landed 

 Gentry, we find, in many instances, that the grant 

 extended to 3 Fs.-d-L. ; though the ground of 

 such peculiar extension is not published. Thus, 

 the family of Disney beaAhree. Their ancestors, 

 from D'Isigny, D'Isneux, D'Eisney, near Bayeux, 

 Normandy, were a knightly race of the first sta- 

 tion and influence, who came in at the Conquest. 

 The family of Leathes also bear three. They, too, 

 came in at the Conquest, and are descended from 

 Mussenden (Missenden), who was Grand Admiral 

 of England under Henry I. 



The family of Lenigan, which dates from before 

 Hen. II., bear three. That of Hawkins, de- 

 scended from the ancient Norman family of Ny- 

 col, temp. Hen. II. and Edw. III., bear 5 Fs.-d- 

 L. The family of Halford, of great antiquity, and 

 dating from Hen. III., hut whose documents were 

 lost at the Revolution, bear 3 Fs.-d-L. That of 

 Birch (of whom more hereafter), under Edw. III., 

 bear three. Gilbert of Cantley received a grant 

 of three under Q. Elizabeth. The same of Hill, 

 1560, and of Hutton, 1584. 



Under George JII., Curtis, Admiral of Red, 



created a baronet, in 1794, for heroic achieve- 

 ments under Lord Howe, who had also been 

 knighted, in 1782, for the same at the siege of 

 Gibraltar, received as an augmentation of honour 

 in chief the Rock of Gibraltar, and in base 3 

 Fs-d.-L. 



These are the only, or the principal names, to 

 which the honourable distinction is assigned of a 

 privilege to bear this charge, in the authorities to 

 which my labours have extended. I have before 

 hinted that it would be of great historical interest 

 to learn from the numerous bearers of the F.-d.-L. 

 the grounds on which such charge was originally 

 adopted. By favour of the Rev. Joseph Birch, 

 M.A., of Brighouse, Yorkshire, I have been sup- 

 plied with a copy of the honourable grant made 

 to his ancestor (above named) by Edward III., for 

 services under the Black Prince, and it has a 

 peculiar interest, as the only instance of the con- 

 cession of the charge by the first monarch who 

 assumed the royal arms of France : 



"Lieutenant General Field Marshall John Birch, Ge- 

 neral in Chief of the armies of his late Majesty Edward 

 III. of glorious memory, who, in his glorious campaign in 

 the Kingdom of France, took three Kings of France 

 prisoners, in consideration whereof his said Majesty 

 granted unto his said gallant commander, and his heirs 

 lineal, and in default of these heirs collateral, in his 

 right as King of France, the privilege of wearing their 

 Fleurs-de-Lis, in token of the bravery of the one, and 

 the generosity' of the other. In Testimonium Veritalis, 

 §-c. §-c." 



The words which follow are — 



("Li. Li. 1 



ILy. Ly./ ; 



and remain a mystery. 



Here, then, I conclude a series which has de- 

 veloped itself to a much greater length and im- 

 portance than I could have expected when, in 

 Paris, last year, I originated the inquiry as to the 

 descent and bearings of the Hillier family (2""^ S. 

 i. 53.), in both of which questions I am personally 

 interested. 



An inquiry conducted upon the same plan in 

 regard to the various crosses, and especially the 

 cross crosslet fitchy, would be an instructive 

 sequel to this on the F.-d.-L. Crosses were al- 

 ways considered among the honourable ordinaries, 

 and their first use, as an heraldic bearing, is said 

 to have been in the expeditions to the Holy Land 

 in the year 1096. They are now common in 

 British shields, and are borne, it must be pre- 

 sumed, by those whose ancestors were engaged in 

 one or other of those wars which disturbed Europe 

 for 178 years, from 1095 to 1273. C. H. P. 



Brighton. 



