JANUARY 31 



thirteenth century knights bore no device upon their 

 peaked helmets or flat-topped steel caps. If we may 

 believe Barbour, crested helmets and cannon made 

 their first appearance in the same campaign — that of 

 Weardale — when Douglas and Moray invaded England 

 in 1327 : 



' Twa novelryis that day tha saw, 

 That forsuth Scotland had been nane ; 

 Tymbris for helmis was the tane. 

 That tham thocht than of gret beaute, 

 And alsua wondir for to se ; 

 The tothir crakis war of wer, 

 That tha befor herd nevir er. 

 Of thir tua thingis tha had ferly.' ' 



Which, in modern language, reads : 



' Two novelties they saw that day, 

 Which hitherto had not been in Scotland ; 

 Timbres [crests] for helmets was the one. 

 Which they thought of great beauty, 

 And also wonderful to behold ; 

 The other was cracks of war [cannonry] 

 Which they had never heard before. 

 At these two things they marvelled.' 



Barbour's statement is corroborated by the fact that 

 Edward iii., who began to reign in that year and 

 received his baptism of fire at Weardale, was the first 

 King of England to display a crest over his arms on 

 the Great Seal. It was the lion passant, guardant and 

 crowned, which has remained ever since over the royal 

 arms of England, except that the lion is now statant 

 instead of passant. 



There is a grievous misuse of crests in vogue, for 

 which modern heralds are to blame: I mean the 



1 The Brus, cxli. 170-77. 



