“The Duk of York’s bage is the Faucon and the Fetterlock.
“The Whyte Rose by the Castell of Clyfford.
“The Black Dragon by the Erldom of Ulster.
“The Black Bull horned and clayed gold by the honor of Clare.
“The Whyte Hynd by the fayre mayden of Kent.
“The ostrych fether silver and pen gold ys the kinges.
“The ostrych fether pen and all sylver ys the Prynces.
“The ostrych fether sylver, pen ermyn is the Duke of Lancasters.
“The ostrych fether sylver and pen gobone is the Duke of Somersets.”
Many of these badges, as will be seen afterwards, have come down on signboards even to the present day. Equally common are the Stuart badges, which were:--
The red rose of Lancaster and the white rose of York frequently placed on sunbeams; sometimes the red rose charged with the white.
The rose dimidiated with the pomegranate, symbolical of the connexion between England and Spain by the marriage of Catherine of Arragon; for the same reason the castle of Castille, and the sheaf of arrows of Granada, occur amongst their badges.
The portcullis, borne by the descendants of John of Gaunt, who was born in Beaufort Castle, whence, _pars pro toto_, the gate was used to indicate the castle.
The falcon and fetterlock, badge of Henry VII., on account of his descent from Edmond of Langley, Duke of York.
The red dragon, the ensign of the famous Cadwaller, the last of the British kings, from whom the Tudors descended.
The hawthorn bush crowned, which Henry VII. adopted in allusion to the royal crown of Richard III. having been found hidden in a hawthorn bush after the battle of Bosworth.
The white falcon crowned and holding a sceptre was the badge of Queen Anna Boleyn, and of Queen Elizabeth her daughter.
The phœnix in flames was adopted by Edward VI. in allusion to his birth, having been the cause of his mother’s death; afterwards he also granted this badge to the Seymour family.
In pondering over this class of signs great difficulty often arises from the absence of all proof that the object under consideration was set up as a badge, and not as a representation of the actual animal. As no amount of investigation can decide this matter, we have been somewhat profuse in our list of badges, in order that the reader should be able to form his own opinion upon that subject. Thus, for instance, with the first sign that offers itself, the ANGEL AND TRUMPET, it is impossible to say whether the supporters of Richard II. gave rise to it, or whether it represents Fame. Various examples of it still occur, and a very good carved specimen may be seen above a draper’s shop in Oxford Street. It is also the name of alehouses in King Street, Holborn, and in Stepney, High Street, &c.