City of Gloucester - Heraldry
by Russell Grant
Heralds were originally messengers empowered by the sovereign, to be, amongst other things, in charge of granting and documenting Coats of Arms. The College of Arms in London is the ‘home' of the Royal Kings of Arms and it is only through the Head of the College, the Earl Marshall, a royal office holder appointed by the sovereign, that Coat of Arms can be petitioned and through Letter Patent can be officially granted.
Back in Medieval times when heraldry was geared toward personal and family identity some of the great cities, London, Norwich and Gloucester (circa 1200) placed in their adopted city seals heraldic shields, which in some cases remain their civic identity by prescriptive right, in other words as a result of long-standing custom or uninterrupted possession.
Gloucester 's first seal bears a conventional representation of the city depicted as a triangular walled and battlement-enclosure with a square tower in the middle flanked by a circular bastion on each side. In the centre of the front wall is a double door with a circular window on each side and in the base are the waters of the River Severn.
It was during the 1500s and 1600s the Heralds, in the course of their nationwide travels called ‘Visitations' they recorded and sanctioned many of the arms adopted by different places – as was so with Gloucester in 1652.
The original Gloucester arms is known as the Tudor device granted in 1538 during the reign of Henry VIII. It is green with a gold pale charged with a sword in a blue scabbard studded with gold roundels, the hilt and pommel red, and upon its point a purple cap of maintenance with an ermine lining: on either side of the pale is a silver horseshoe and three nails with their points towards the shoe; the chief is parted palewise gold and purple (or red) and charged with a silver boar's head (sometimes quoted as having a red 'quince apple' in the mouth) between a red rose and a white rose each halved with a golden sun with its rays streaming towards the boar's head.
The sword is that carried before the Mayor by authority of the charter granted by good King Richard III in 1483 - which created Gloucester a city and county in its own right; the horseshoes and nails stand for Gloucester 's ancient trade in iron. The roses represent the Houses of York and Lancaster and the sun in splendour is connected to Yorkist King Edward IV. The boar is particularly associated, and remains so to this day, with his brother Richard III who, before his accession to the throne, was undoubtedly the most famous Duke of Gloucester ever.
The second of the Gloucester Coat of Arms was recorded in 1623 during Charles I's reign, although some historians believe it may have been a decade or so earlier when King James I/IV, his dad was monarch. Whenever, they became known as the Commonwealth device, for it was in 1652 when Oliver Cromwell ruled that the crest and supporters were added at the Herald's Visitation.
On the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660, the crest and supporters of the Commonwealth coat were declared null and void since they were granted during the republic. Gloucester didn't want to abandon the Arms which had been assigned to them, besides they had been in use since the first Stuart kings of Britain – and it is likely that these particular arms could well have been floating around even before the Tudor device anyway.
The red chevronels (little chevrons!) are from the arms of the family Clare, Earls of Gloucester , and roundels (balls!) from the arms of the See of Worcester, with which the See of Gloucester was at one time united.
The resultant grant of 1652 incorporated this with the addition of a crest comprising a lion looking directly at you emerging from a mural or castle-like crown holding in his right paw a broadsword and in the left paw a trowel – heraldically this is connected with plasterers but it is possible this is a symbol of Gloucester's historic industry in iron. The supporters on either side are a lion holding in the right forepaw a broadsword proper; together with the motto 'Fides Invicta Triumphat' (unconquered faith triumphs). The motto was adopted as a tribute to the spirit of the citizens of Gloucester who in 1643 successfully held the besieged city against the Royalist cavaliers in the Parliamentarian cause.
The Commonwealth coat has been in continuous use ever since without serious challenge. To protect it legally Gloucester finally and formally decided to regularise the position by having the coat recorded in the College of Arms and officially granted to them by Letter Patent dated 16 April 1945.
Where to see them!
On my walking tours of Gloucester I saw the Tudor coat twice – once in the courtyard of the New Inn: go under the arch and look up towards the gallery straight ahead, up a bit and there it is. And surprisingly I also saw it on the modern facia to the entrance of The Mall shopping centre.
The Commonwealth coat pops up everywhere, particularly on the clothing of stalwart supporters of Gloucester Rugby Football Club. In 2005 the club decided to dump this Coat as their historic badge and instead came up with a corporate logo that…well….judge for yourself. From ‘proper' heraldry came two lions holding swords supporting a dark blue rugby ball with three red wiggles in a shield with a mural crown crest. What's that all about! The perpetrators would have done better to have put the ball and wiggles into a blank shield, or stuck with the status quo rather than a messy mix n' match and making a Gloucester Old Spot's ear of it. You know what; if something ain't broke, why fix it?
Back
FREE Audio Downloads - Soundbytes
|
| Russell Grant interviews Susan Hamilton, to find out the facts about Gloucester Cathedral. Please feel free to download the audio files for your MP3 player or to listen to on your PC: |
|
Russell interviews Greg Ward at Country House Hotel & Restaurant in Gloucester
|
|
Useful information:
Producing content for Kids & Co TV channel launching in 2007 through Britain, Ireland, Europe and Asia.
|
|
Russell's Travel Features |
Read Russell's travel features:
|
 |
|
Filmimg in Gloucester |
|
|
Star Travel Features |
Russell's astrology features:
Coming soon
|
 |
|
| The Lord of Ashford's 5* Travels |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Coming Soon
|
|
|
|
|
