By the Rev. E. E Dor ling. 



345 



gules, thereon eight plates, 3, Neville 1 — Gules, a saltire argent and a 

 label of three points or, 4, De Toeni — Argent, a maunch gules. Over 

 I. and II. a label of Neville of Salisbury. 



In many respects this coat is by far the most remarkable of the 

 series which has been enumerated. The fact that Franoe and 

 England occupy only the first and second quarters of the main 

 shield respectively, so that these important armorials only appear 

 once each, is most unusual. This is one of the very rare instances 

 of a personage of the blood royal not bearing all four quarters of 

 the Eoyal Arms. 



And this shield of Edward Plantagenet's appears to be the only 

 case in which a person of Beauchamp descent displayed, as has 

 been remarked above, the ensigns of the heiresses with whom his 

 ancestry were allied. 



Again the order in which the quarterings of the inescutcheon 

 are arranged is quite unexpected. Since here they clearly refer to 

 persons and not to lordships, the order which one would have 

 expected is that of the matches, viz., 1, Newburgh Ancient ; 2 

 Fitz- John ; 3, De Toeni ; 4, Neville. 



It will be noticed that all Prince Edward's quarterings in this 

 interesting composition refer to Beauchamp alliances, and it is not 

 unlikely that it was used on some ceremonial occasion after his 

 succession to the earldom of Warwick in 1493. 



1 Doyle {Official Baronage, vol. ill. , p. 586,) quoting the " Beauchamp Roll" 

 (? Eous) and MS. Lansd. 858, states that tbe King Maker differenced Neville 

 with a label or " as Earl of Warwick." 



A very learned heraldic correspondent of the writer offers the following 

 suggestion with regard to the Neville coat in the inescutcheon : — " Assuming 

 that Richard Neville, the first Earl of Salisbury, bore the label gobony of the 

 Beaufort (his mother's) colours, argent and azure, how did his son during the 

 father's lifetime difference his coat ? The father was Earl of Salisbury from 

 1442 to 1460. The son became Earl of Warwick in 1449 and died 1471. If 

 the son, between 1449 and 1460, used the golden label (I know no authority 

 for such usage) it would perhaps explain the insertion of this coat in the 

 inescutcheon, as it might be meant to show that the Beauchamp quarterings 

 came in, not through the first Richard Neville (the Earl of Salisbury) but 

 through the second (the Earl of Warwick). I cannot say that this suggestion 

 satisfies me, but it is the only one that occurs to me at present." The sug- 

 gestion is extremely ingenious and happy, and is evidently correct. 



