On many late thirteenth and early fourteenth century seals it was not uncommon to represent ladies holding up shields of arms. A delightful example that may be cited is that of Emmeline FitzGerald, and wife of Stephen Longespee, who is upholding her father's shield in her right and her husband's in her left hand. Below each shield is a leopard of England to show her husband's close relationship to the royal house, and on each side of her is a _long sword_. She died in 1331 (pl. XXIX B).
A few cases occur where a man himself acts as the supporter of his arms. One of the shields of Henry Percy earl of Northumberland (1377) shows him in armour, standing behind a large shield of Percy which he supports with his left hand. His right is upon the hilt of a sword with the belt wrapped about it, and against his left shoulder rests a banner with the Percy lion. The earl appears in similar fashion in another of his seals as lord of Cockermouth (1393). In this the shield is quarterly of Percy and Lucy, and is grasped as before by his left hand, while the right holds up a pennon charged with his badge of a crescent (pl. XXIX A).
It must suffice to quote one last piece of playfulness, a seal of Richard duke of York and earl of March and Ulster (_ob._ 1460) as justice-in-eyre of the forests. This has his shield of arms suspended about the neck of a York falcon, and enclosed by the horns of a buck's head in base, in reference to his office. Upon the buck's horns are fixed two small hands for the duke's earldom of Ulster (pl. XXIX C).
A Henry Percy earl of Northumberland, 1377.
B Emmelin FitzGerald, wife of Stephen Longespee, c. 1250.
C Richard duke of York, as Justice in Eyre of Forests, ob. 1460.
The Royal Banner of Arms; the Banner of the Arms of the City of London; Shapes of Banners; Sizes of certain Banners; Upright _versus_ Long Banners; Advantages of the upright form; Banners with Achievements of Arms; Modern Use of Banners.
Representations of banners constantly occur in medieval pictures (fig. 131); and, as has been shown above, they are not infrequent upon seals.
[Illustration: FIG. 131. Knights with banners, from an illumination in Royal MS. 19 B XV in the British Museum.]
Every one is familiar with the banner of the royal arms that betokens the presence of the King, and with our splendid national banner known as the Union Jack. The banner with the arms of the city that is flown above the Mansion House when the lord mayor is in residence is familiar to Londoners, and the citizens of Rochester are equally accustomed to see the banner of their city flying on Sundays and holidays from the great tower of their castle. Let a banner once be regarded in the light of a rectangular shield and its fitness to contain armorial bearings immediately becomes apparent. The King's banner is now always miscalled 'the royal standard,' even in official language, though heraldically it is not a standard at all, but simply a banner.