B Richard Nevill earl of Salisbury, 1429.
PLATE XXIII.--Shields accompanied by badges.]
By the third quarter of the fourteenth century the combination of supporters with shields of arms surmounted by crested helms had become fully established, and henceforth the number of beautiful and instructive examples is so great that it is unnecessary to do more than illustrate a typical series (figs. 117-121). It will be seen from these that in seals the majority of the supporters are upholding the heavy helm and its crest, and not the shield that hangs below it; probably on account of the nature of the design. The supporters, too, usually form pairs, and it goes without saying that every variety of creature is made to serve. Sometimes they are composed of badges, like the falcons on crooked billets used by William lord Zouch (pl. XXIV A), or the similar birds with 'words' coupled with oak leaves and the letter ~t~ that appear on a seal of Sir John Falstaff used in 1456 (pl. XXIV B). William lord Botraux, in a seal used in 1426, has his armorial ensigns flanked by two buttresses (Fr. _botreaux_); while John lord Talbot and Furnival (1406) has two _talbots_ (fig. 122), and George duke of Clarence (1463) the black bulls of Clare (fig. 123).
[Illustration: FIG. 117. Seal of Edmund Mortimer earl of March and Ulster, 1400, with rampant leopard supporters.]
[Illustration: FIG. 118. Seal of Sir William Windsor, 1381, with eagle supporters.]
[Illustration: FIG. 119. Seal of William de la Pole duke of Suffolk, 1448.]
[Illustration: FIG. 120. Seal of John Nevill lord Montagu, 1461.]
[Illustration: FIG. 121. Seal of William lord Hastings, _c._ 1461.]
[Illustration: FIG. 122. Seal of John lord Talbot and Furnival, 1406.]
[Illustration: FIG. 123. Seal of George duke of Clarence and lord of Richmond, 1462, with black bulls of Clare supporting his crested helm.]
C Henry of Lancaster earl of Derby, 1385.
PLATE XXIV.--Shields accompanied by badges.]
Where the supporters differ it is usually the case that they represent more than one dignity. Thus on one of his seals (fig. 124) Richard Beauchamp earl of Warwick (1401) used as such for supporters two muzzled bears hugging ragged staves, but on a later seal (1421) as earl of Warwick and of Albemarle the supporters are a bear and a griffin (fig. 125). So, too, his successor in the title of earl of Warwick, Richard Nevill, on a fine seal (_c._ 1451-2) has two muzzled bears for supporters, but on a later seal (_c._ 1460) as earl of Warwick and Salisbury his supporters are a Warwick bear and a Montagu griffin (fig. 69). Edmund Beaufort duke of Somerset on his seal for the town of Bayeux (_c._ 1445) (fig. 126) has on one side his own eagle supporter, and on the other a spotted dog-like beast with a crown about his neck; and Richard duke of York and earl of March on his seal as governor of France and Normandy in 1436 has for supporters the York falcon and the white lion of March. On the stall-plate of John Beaufort duke of Somerset and earl of Kendal his arms are supported by a Somerset crowned eagle and a mysterious beast called a yale,[8] behind each of which stands an ostrich feather with the quill gobony of blue and silver.