HER 
la the College of Arms of London, heralds are efquircs 
by creation, if not fo previoufly to their admilfion into, 
this honourable office. They always take precedence 
according to the feniority or dates of their appointments, 
even though a junior one ffiould be knighted, and are 
a body corporate. Sir William Dugdale remarks, that 
“ a younger herald, though a knight, doth not precede 
his fenior in time, though no knight;” inftancing the 
cafes of fir Henry St. George, knight, Richmond herald, 
and fir Thomas St. George, Somerfet herald, all the 
fenior heralds preceding them, as they had done before, 
and continued fo to do, until they were removed to the 
fuperior order of officers at arms, provincial kings. 
The refpedlability and importance of the Heralds’ 
College arife equally from the high offices confided to 
its members, and from the fliareit contributes to public 
advantage and utility. Befides the fervices the Kings 
wf Arms have to perform about the perfons of their 
inajefties, and in various departments of the ftate; the 
prefervation of genealogies, the records of legitimate 
defcent, and of hereditary and acquired armorial bear¬ 
ings, which fall under their cognizance, are, in many 
instances, of great ufe in afcertaining private inheritances, 
and public rights. Lord Chief Juftice Coke admitted 
the books of the Kings of Arms, from their firft infti- 
tution, to be the beft evidence in fettling controverfies 
about pedigrees, titles of honour, dignities, Sec. and 
hence thefe books are not only allowed as evidence at 
common law, in both houfes of parliament', and in 
proceedings in equity, and the ecclefiaftical courts; 
but with regard,to precedency, public ceremonials, 
and coats of arms, their records are conclufive. 
Maitland, and Heitor Boetius, have given an elevated 
and juftlv-drawn Character of this illuftrious inftitution. 
tt The College of Arms, (fays Maitland in his Hiftory 
of London,) has fublilted in this kingdom for five hun¬ 
dred years, with the reputation of furpaffing all foreign 
heralds in knowledge and praitice ; and Heitor Boetius 
adds, that this fuperiority was univerfally admitted ; 
fince there is no College of Arms exifting in Europe 
where the public ceremonial, the.coat-armour and pe¬ 
digrees of families, and all other, matters conneited 
with the fcience of Heraldry, are fo regularly dif- 
pofed, fo correitly recorded, and fo judicioufly dif- 
pofed, as in this.” . 
It was a molt fortunate event, that in the great fire of 
London, anno 1666, not a fingle book or paper was loft. 
Every record was timely removed to a room in the 
palace of Whitehall, and afterwards to an apartment 
in the palace of Weftminfter, formerly called the Queen’s 
Court; and public notice was given that the Heralds’ 
Office would be continued there, until the corporation 
ffiould be reinftated in its former fituation in the bofom 
of the metropolis. 
Our limits will not admit us to ftate the numerous 
inftanCes of the recovery of patrimonial eftates, and 
other inherent rights of individuals and heirs at law, by 
the regiftry of marriages, births, and pedigrees, in this 
college; which therefore ought to be made by all 
perfons polfeffing property, and who have children, in 
order to guard againft the confufions which follow from 
warfare, forgeries, or premature deaths. For the ad- 
jniffion of thefe, and other fimilar entries upon the re¬ 
cords of the Heralds’ College, and to anfwer any queftion 
concerning arms and'pedigrees, attendance is conftantly 
given, (holidays .excepted,) from ten o’clock in the 
morning till four in the afterpoon, by two officers, an 
lierald and a purfuivant, deputed to regifter all Inch 
births and pedigrees as are fent to their office properly, 
authenticated ; and alfo fo make out, emblazon, redlify, 
and regifter, coats of arms, or armorial bearings, for 
fuch perfons as may chufe to make application for thefe 
purpofes,. And it may be expedient to remark, that no 
armorial bearings are legal, unlefs regiitered in the Col¬ 
lege of Arms. 
Vol. IK. No. 595. 
HER 405 
HERAL'DIC, adj. Relating to heraldry.-—From Row¬ 
ley’s pretended parchments he produced feveral heraldic 
delineations. T. Wartcn. 
HER'ALDIST, f. One who profeffes the fcience of 
heraldry. He who paints armorial enfigns, or emblazons 
coats of arms. 
HER'ALDRY, f. [heraulderie , Fr. ] The fcience of 
armorial bearings; or that department of graphic and 
literary knowledge which defines the art of blazonry, 
the laws of rank and precedency, diftindtion of houfes 
and pedigrees, titles of honour, marffiilling of obfequies. 
See. Thefe form a moft interefting fubjedt for ingenious 
inveftigation, which has employed the pens and pencils 
of fome of the ableft literary charadters of the middle 
and modern ages, in almoft every civilized and poliffied 
country. 
Among the firft notices of this fubjedt, we find the MS. 
of Tiiomas Upton, a native of Devon fit ire, canon of Wells, 
and of St. Paul’s, who, in the reign of Henry VI. com¬ 
piled his treatife De Studio Militari, confiding of foil/- 
books: r. Of officers of arms. 2. Of veteransor heralds. 
3. Of colours. 4. Of figures: forming a kind of fyf- 
tematic grammar of heraldry. Other MSS. were thofe 
of Francis de Foveis, in the reign of Richard III. and 
of Haddefworth, in 1458. But foon after the art of 
printing w.as invented, appeared the “ Boke of St. Al¬ 
bans,” fo denominated becaufe printed in that monaf- 
tery, in i486 ; and treats of “ Coot Armuris,” or heral¬ 
dry ; in which the exemplifications of armorial bear¬ 
ings are ftained with inks of various colours, according 
to their blazon. This literary curiofity clearly fets 
forth, in the rude language of thofe remote times, the 
four ways or fources from whence coat-armour was af- 
fumed ; and which, for the value of the information, it 
might not be improper to ftate. 
“ The firft maner of wyfe we beer of owrejnodyr or 
of owre predycefeflbris, the wych be owre owne armis. 
The fecunde maner we have by owre merittys as verey 
playnly it appeareth by that mooft nobull man prynce 
Edward after the takyng of kyng John of Fraunce in the 
batell of Peyters. And on the foame maner of whyfe 
myght a poore archer haue take a prynce or fum nobull 
lorde, alfo tharmys of that pryfoner by hym fo take 
rightwifly lie may put to hym and to hys hayris. On 
the tliride maner of while we hauve armys the wich we 
bere by the grauntyng of a prynce or of fum other lordys. 
The fatirith maner of whife we haue thoos armys the 
wich we take on owre awne p’pur audiorite, as in theys 
days opynly we fe, how many poore men by thayr grace 
fauoure laboure or deferuyng ar mad nobuls. Sum by 
theyr prudens, fum bi ther manhood, fum bi. ther 
ftrength, fum bi ther conig, fum bi od’ u’tys, [other vir¬ 
tues .] Neu’ the lees armys that be fo takyn they may 
lefully and frely beer.” 
We mull not wonder if, in France, where chivalry 
and knighthood, literature and the arts, flouriffied for 
fo many years under the aufpices and protedlion of 
Francis I. Henry IV. and Louis XIV. we lliould find, 
among ingenious writers employed in various depart¬ 
ments of fcience, fome of them engaged in compiling 
books of heraldry ; a fubjedt ever grateful to minds go¬ 
verned by le point d’honneur , and affording an extenfive 
field of elegant invention to an ingenious people. Hence 
we are furniflied with a long lift of French books on ge¬ 
nealogical fubjedts, which are as follow : 
Le Blason des Armories auquel eft monftree la 
Maniere de laquelle les Anciens et Modernes ont ufe en 
icelles, par Hierome De Bara, 4 0 . 1581. This old and 
interefting treatife was concluded in the year 1579, and 
contains moft of the curious and ingenious allufions 
which have been quoted and repeated by nearly all the 
heraldic writers in the following centuries. It is ac¬ 
companied with wood-cuts exquifitely done after the 
drawings of Zucchero as it appears by their ftyle, and is 
now in good prefervation, in the poffeffion of the pre- 
£ I. lent 
