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poems and chronicles, cany on the history of arms and 

 armour, till the custom of sculpturing the figures of 

 deceased knights, either on plates of brass or in statues of 

 marble, offer the best means of identifying the changes 

 which the defensive coverings from time to time underwent. 

 The earliest recorded sepulchral brass is that of Jocelin, 

 Bishop of Wells, who died in 1242, and in his life-time 

 caused his tomb to be placed in the choir of that Cathedral. 

 The earliest existing specimen — that of Sir Roger de Trum- 

 pington, companion of Prince Edward in the Holy Wars, 

 who died 1290 — is in the Church of Trumpington, near 

 Cambridge. 



Sepulchral brasses are more common in England than in 

 any other country ; no specimen has yet been discovered 

 in Scotland, only two of a late date in Ireland, and very few 

 in Wales. 



These brasses remained long in fashion, and greatly 

 prevailed at the end of the 14th century. Many of them 

 were beautifully enamelled. Incised slabs, in which a 

 representation of the figure is formed by Hues cut in the 

 marble, are rarely seen in England, but were much more 

 frequent on the Continent. 



The hereditary use of heraldic bearings* was not 

 established till the time of Henry III. Marks of distinc- 

 tion had been adopted much earlier, as in a monumental 

 effigy in the Temple Church of the middle of the 12th 

 century ; but they seem to have been used as individual 

 signs, the symbol of the son differing from that of the 

 father. The first crest is that of Edward Crouchback, 

 Earl of Lancaster, about 1286. It has been generally 

 thought that the first instance of quartering arms is that 

 on the third seal of Edward III. ; but the will of Humphrey 

 de Bohun, Earl of Hereford and Essex, son-in-law of 

 Edward I., lately printed in the Archceological Journal, 

 shows that the practice of bearing arms " quartele" 

 existed in 1322, five years before Edward III. came to the 

 throne. During the reign of Henry II the knight often 

 bore on his shield the portrait of a favourite lady. The 

 surcoat, or silken garment worn over the hauberk of chain- 

 mail, first bore the arms of the wearer in the time of 

 Edward I. 



* In a paper read at tho Congress of the Archaiological Association at 

 Winchester, Mr. Planche endeavours to show that the " ordinaries" in 

 heraldry had their origin in tho various 1 ands with which tho Norman kite- 

 shaped shields were strengthened and adorned. 

 E 



