Author Topic: Help with understanding marshalling of quarters  (Read 1757 times)

Offline tlaporte

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Help with understanding marshalling of quarters
« on: Monday 15 February 16 04:45 GMT (UK) »
Hello
I could use some help with the family implications in one of my ancestor's quartered arms.  Each quarter is again quartered so there are 16 arms in total.  I have not seen these arms which are in St Botulph's church in Boston, Lincolnshire but I have two descriptions of them from books about the church I have found online.  One description just lists 16 arms by number from 1 to 16 while the other describes 4 sets of 4 arms which I assume is one list per quarter.
First question, if recorded correctly, would the 4 quarters be numbered clockwise or counter-clockwise:
1  2
3  4
or
1  4
2  3
or some other way?
The same question for the quarters within each quarter:
(example if the numbering is clockwise)
1-1  1-2   2-1  2-2
1-3  1-4   2-3  2-4
3-1  3-2   4-1  4-2
3-3  3-4   4-3  4-4
or some other way?

I will post the details of the actual arms in a subsequent post.


Offline tlaporte

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Help with understanding marshalling of quarters, part 2
« Reply #1 on: Monday 15 February 16 04:48 GMT (UK) »
Here are the descriptions of the first two quarters of the arms, collated together from the two references: (note: I am not going to ask about the heraldic terms used, I understand most of them from online references)

For each arms the first line is from the first description and the second is the one that I believe corresponds to it from the second description. 

These arms are adjacent to a memorial to Richard Bolle of Haugh, co. Lincolnshire (ca. 1507-1592) so they have been assumed to be his arms.  If they were his though would they not have included his wife's (dau. of Sir William Skypwyth of Ormesbie) arms?  All the quarters are of his father's and mother's lines.  I found one reference that a husband had the right to include his wife's arms with his own.  So would the following more likely be his father's arms?

Quarter 1
1.  sa. 3 lamps or, flame, ar.
     3 cups, jessant boars heads (Bolle)
     (note: the second description is correct.  The three couped boars heads were the arms of the Bolles of Swineshead whose tomb is nearby.  The boars heads rising from the cups does look much like a flame rising from a lamp.)

2.  ar. 3 ***** sa.
     3 maces (Pulvertoft)
     (note: I don't believe that Pulvertoft is correct.  Richard's 4 greats grandmother was a Pulvertoft of Spalding but their arms were 'ar., a mullet between 8 fleur-de-lis gu.' I believe this may be the arms of Kyme of Friskney (see note just below).  The Kyme's 3 quatre-foils may have looked to the author like 3 maces and Kyme would belong on this.  Opinions?)

3.  ar. a chevron between 10 cross crosslets, ca - Kyme
     a chevron between 10 cross croslets, 6 in chief and 4 in base  (Haugh)
     (note: the second description is correct.  Richard Bolle's grandmother was Catherine Haugh, heiress, who brought the Haugh estate to the Bolles. Their arms in the Encyclopedia of Heraldry were 'Ar. a chevron between ten crosses gu.'   Kyme was also possible as Robert's great grandmother was a daughter of Kyme of Friskney but their arms were 'arg. a chevron between three quatre-foils az.' which could have been the arms listed just above this one.)   

4.  sa. a chevron between 3 bells, or.
    a chevron between 3 bells (Bell)
    (note: Bell would be correct.  Catherine Haugh's mother was a Bell and the Bell estate came to the Bolles with the Haugh estate)

Quarter 2
1.  Barry of 6 ar. and sa. in chief, 3 bezants
     2 bars, in chief 3 roundles (Angevin)
     (note: probably correct.  Richard's 3 great grandmother was an Angevyne of Lincolnshire and their arms were 'ar. two bars gu., in chief 3 torteaux'.  Close enough given the family relationship?)

2.  a chevron between 3 escallops in chief, and a cross fitchee in base, sa.
     a chevron, between 3 escallops in chief, and a cross croslet fitchy in base (Dalderby)
     (note: this must be Dalderby as that is exactly their arms but I know of no connection between Bolle or Haugh to Dalderby.  Question: these arms are very prominent in the top right hand corner (if the quarters and sub-quarters are numbered clockwise as I'm assuming) does that imply that the Dalderby family was a more prominent ancestor than the others?  Is there any way that their position implies a Bolle or a Haugh connection in particular?)

3.  party per-pale dancettee, sa. and or.
     per pale indented ..... and .... (Holland)
     (note: Holland is possibly correct but I would like other people's opinions.  The Holland (Lincolnshire) arms were 'Barry bendy of eight gu. and or.'  Does that sound like they would appear similar to the above descriptions?   Eight generations earlier the lands of a minor heiress of the Bolles were awarded to a John and Margaret Holland to manage for her until her majority.  I believe that the Hollands were the girl's Uncle and Aunt so there was some family connection between the Bolles and Hollands.)

4.  sa. a chevron ermine, between three wings, ar.
     a chevron between three wings (Nanfant)
     (note: I believe this is correct.  Richard's grandmother was a Nanfant heiress who brought a huge estate to the Bolles and these are the correct arms for Nanfant)


Offline tlaporte

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Help with understanding marshalling of quarters, part 3
« Reply #2 on: Monday 15 February 16 04:49 GMT (UK) »
Here are the next and last two quarters:

Quarter 3
1.  ar. 3 foxes passant, sa.
     3 foxes (Nanfant)
     (note: this one is the most important question to me.  I cannot see how this one can also be Nanfant but they are exactly the same as the as "argent, three foxes passant (or courant), gules (or sable) is borne by Tregoze of Cornwall."  The Tregoze of Cornwall were related to the Blanchminsters.  Alice Blanchminster, a co-heiress, married Sir Richard Hewis, their heir was their granddaughter Joan Coleshill whose heir was Isabel Nanfan who married Richard Bolle of Haugh, the grandparents of this Richard Bolle.  The Blanchminster, Hewis and Coleshill arms are all listed below as well.  I don't have Tregoz in that direct line though so I don't know why their arms are on here.)

2.  cheque, or. and sa. a chief ermine
     chequy ... and ... a chief ermine (Coleshill)
     (note: probably correct, see above note)

3.  fretty ar. and sable
     .... fretty .... (Blanchminster)
      (note: probably correct, see above note)

4.  ar. a chevron between 3 cross crosslets, sa. on a bordure of the second entoyer of bezants
     a chevron between 3 cross croslets ... a border ... semee of roundles (Fitzwilliam)
     (note: probably correct.  Richard's mother was a Fitzwilliam of Mablethorpe heiress.)

Quarter 4
1.  fretty sa. and ar. a canton of the last
     fretty .... a canton (Hewis)
     (note: probably correct, see above note)
     
2.  ar. 3 chevronels sa. in chief a fleur-de-lis, or.
     3 chevrons .... (Archdecon)
     (this one I don't understand at all.  There was an Archdeacon family with arms 'ar. three chevrons sa.', with no mention of the fleur-de-lis, which also had Cornish roots.  Joan Coleshill's first husband was Sir Humphrey Arundell of Lambourn. Her estate eventually passed to Richard Bolles as mentioned above.  Sir Humphrey's brother Sir Thomas Arundell first wife was Margery Archdeacon, heiress of Sir Warine Archdeacon who died without issue but I don't know how the right to her arms could pass from Thomas to his brother Humphrey.  Thomas had a male heir by his second wife.
Another possibility is that these are the Fitzwilliam of Mablethorpe's arms.  The arms identified above as the Fitzwilliam arms seem to be of an earlier member of the family.  The Fitzwilliam of Mablethorpe pedigree in Maddison's Lincolnshire Pedigrees states their arms were "lozengy argent and gules, in fesse a fleur-de-lis of the second within a border sable bezanted.  These arms seem to be a mixture of Fitz-william and Mablethorpe".  The fleur-de-lis doesn't fit the Archdeacon arms which made me think of this alternative but I don't know if the chevrons in the descriptions suit.)
     
3.  sa. a chevron, between 3 crosslets, or., in chief a lion passant of the second
     a chevron between 3 croslets .... and a lion passant in chief (Mablethorpe)
     (note: probably correct, see above note for Fitzwilliam)

4.  ar. two bars engrailed, sa.
     2 bars engrailed (Stayne)
     (note: those are the correct arms for Stayne of Lincolnshire.  Thomas Fitzwilliam, of Mablethorpe married Joan, daughter and heir of William de Stayne.

Thank you for any advise you may be able to give me.

Offline KGarrad

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Re: Help with understanding marshalling of quarters
« Reply #3 on: Monday 15 February 16 07:30 GMT (UK) »
Quarters are always numbered:
1  2
3  4

E.G. the Royal Coat of Arms (England), has England in quarters 1 and 4, Scotland in 2, and Ireland in 3.
Garrad (Suffolk, Essex, Somerset), Crocker (Somerset), Vanstone (Devon, Jersey), Sims (Wiltshire), Bridger (Kent)


Offline tlaporte

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Re: Help with understanding marshalling of quarters
« Reply #4 on: Tuesday 23 February 16 05:50 GMT (UK) »
Thank you.  Then I have the arms in the correct order.
With the use of several books on heraldry that I found online I have managed to tentatively identify 15 of the 16 arms on this memorial arms and have confirmed that they were consistent with only one person, Sir John Bolles, 1st Baronet Scampton as I had hoped.  I don't know what the correct terminology is for this coat of arms made up of all of the arms that he has the rights to.

One I have no idea about at all and it is quite distinctive.  I've attached an image of it but I believe it would be termed 'argent, three Maces of the Lord Mayor of London on as many wreaths argent'

This family had links to three different Lord Mayor's of London, one was was Sir George Bolles in 1617, father of the holder of these arms, and another was the previous mayor Sir John Hart, the father-in-law of the holder.  A third named Conyers came in a later generation.  However, both of these Mayors had their own arms which are already on this combined arms.  Also, a member of another branch of this family entirely has the same arms with a mace on his memorial which would indicate that it relates to a family at least 3 generations earlier when these two lines had a common ancestry.

Would anyone have an idea about these arms?  The mace shown is as illustrated in one book on heraldry as specifically the mace of the Lord Mayor of London.  If that is correct, would this mean that an even earlier ancestor of theirs was a Lord Mayor of London?  Would the wreath with the mace give any further clue as to whom that would be?

Any suggestions/assistance would be appreciated.

Tom