The Belfast Arms

There is a correlation between the armorial bearings of the Chichesters, Earls of Belfast and Marquesses of Donegall, and the coat-of-arms of the City of Belfast.

About four centuries ago, when prominent merchants and others of Belfast determined that a shield of arms should be adopted, it seemed obvious that inspiration should come from Lord Donegall's armorial bearings.

They felt then that they owed so much to the Lord of the Castle, their landlord.

Pro Tanto Quid Retribuamus neatly expressed the attitude of the burgesses towards Lord Donegall.

Donegall Arms, courtesy of European Heraldry

The Chichester coat-of-arms  ~ chequy or and gules a chief vair ~ compare with pile vair on the Belfast arms.

The Bell is included as a play upon the first symbol of the name.

The supporters are a wolf on the dexter side, and a sea-horse on the sinister.

The former seems to be taken from the Donegall arms.

The sea-horse crest, and the ship on the shield, allude to the maritime status and interests of Belfast.

First published in February, 2015.

Cathedral Donors

Inside Armagh's Anglican cathedral, a stained-glass window above the West Door displays the armorial bearings of the ten principal donors during the great 1834 restoration of the building, viz.

• 1st Earl O'Neill KP PC; 
• Sir Thomas Molyneux Bt; 
• Samuel Blacker; 
• Maxwell Close; 
• James Wood; 
• Elias Elsler; 
• Thomas Keers; 
• Roger Hall; 
• R Livingstone; 
• Sir William Verner Bt MP.

Could Lord O'Neill's act of beneficence have been meant as a kind of atonement?

In 1566, Shane O'Neill ‘utterly destroyed the Cathedral by fire, lest the English should again lodge in it’.

In 1641, it again became a target for the O'Neills, when Sir Phelim O'Neill burned it.

Sir Phelim, incidentally, met his timely fate in 1653, when he was caught and executed on the orders of William, 5th Baron Charlemont, for the murder of his brother Toby, the 3rd Baron.

Perhaps a more plausible explanation is that, as a Knight of St Patrick, Lord O'Neill was well acquainted with the Prelate of the Order, Lord John Beresford, Lord Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland.

First published in May, 2013.

The Hamilton Crest

During my perusal of Burke's genealogical and heraldic dictionary of 1834 - I was researching the Hamiltons, Dukes of Hamilton and Brandon - I encountered the legend of the Hamilton crest, viz,

"Out of a ducal coronet, an oak-tree, fructed, and penetrated transversely in the main stem by a frame-saw."

The legend is as follows:

SIR GILBERT HAMILTON,

having expressed himself at the court of EDWARD II in admiration of King ROBERT THE BRUCE, received a blow from John le Despencer, a favourite courtier of the King, which led, the following day, to an encounter, wherein Despencer fell; and Hamilton sought security in Scotland, about 1323.

Being closely pursued, however, in his flight, he and his servant changed clothes with two woodcutters, and taking their saws, were in the act of cutting through an oak-tree when his pursuers passed by.

Perceiving his servant notice them, Sir Gilbert hastily cried out to him, "Through"; which word, with the oak, and saw through it, he took for his crest, in commemoration of his deliverance.

"This detail is, however, liable to many objections", according to the narrative.

First published in November, 2013.

Conjugal Arms

Released today are the conjugal Arms of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, which were approved in February this year by Her Majesty The Queen.

Conjugal Arms are those that show the separate shields of a husband and wife, side by side.

In this case, the two Shields are His Royal Highness's on the left and Her Royal Highness's on the right, with both supported by the Duke of Cambridge's Supporters of the Royal Lion and Unicorn.

Clanbrassil Arms

An old illustration of the armorial bearings of Hamilton, Earl of Clanbrassil.

Erne Arms

A wonderful old illustration of the armorial bearings of the Earl of Erne, drawn ca 1884.

Castle Stewart Arms

The armorial bearings of the Earls Castle Stewart, as interpreted in an old peerage of 1885.

Caledon Arms

ARMORIAL BEARINGS OF THE EARLS OF CALEDON

These arms appear in an old peerage of 1885. 

I found the rather muscular mermaid - who seems to have a "six-pack" stomach -  somewhat amusing; and the elephant gazes across rampantly, as if looking into her mirror.