A System of Heraldry - Clan Strachan Society

4
OF THE RISE AND PROGRESS
micht behold their nobility and honours, but to excite their posterity
to imitate
the virtues of their ancestors, as Petrus Ancarena Clement says, " Arma plunbus
in locis earn ob causam collocantur, non solum ut Nobihtatis indicia smt, &
majorumnostrorumlVIonumenta, sed ut posteri excitentur ad laudem & decus.
And Valerius Maximus upbraids a cowardly and insignificant posterity, " by those
"
ensigns, which as it were," says he, " tells them how unworthy they are of the
" honours and privileges
of their brave ancestors."
When any of the family died, the statues and images were not only thus ex
posed to view, but in the funerals were carried before the cotpse,
as ensigns of then-
nobility. This is observed by Hennanus Hermes, in his Fasciculus Juris Publici,
p. 800, and Basil Kennet, in his Antiquities of Rome, tells us, that the Romans
brought forth their images at the funerals of those persons only who had the Jus
Imaginum; and that Augustus ordered 600 beds of images to be carried before, at
the 'funeral of Marcellus and ; Sylla, the dictator, had no less than 6000.
From this practice
of the Romans, came the custom of succeeding ages to carry,
at the funerals of great men, their ensigns of nobility, with the armorial bearings of
those honourable families of whom they were descended, as well on the mother's
on funeral escut-
side, as on the father's ; which, by our practice, being placed
< heons,
round the achievement of the person deceased, are called Quarters or
Branches ; and by others, Proofs of Nobility ; but by Pontus Heuterus Delphius,
Stemmata, who, in his Genealogies, particularly treats of this subject, and derives
our custom of carrying arms at funerals from that of the Romans above mentioned,
"
Quemadmodum olim apud Romanes in more positum fuit ut
in these words :
"
majorum imagines ornandae funebrae Pompae adhiberentur, Atriaque cereis per
" Armaria dispositis, ad Gentilitatem ostendendam ornarentur : ita & nostro tem-
"
pore
in usu est, ut viri nobiles in justis funerum Exequiis, nuptiarum solenniis,
'
quorundam etiam sacrorum primordiis, longa serie a proavis demissum Stemma in
" medium adducant, ut scil. inde ortus sui splendorem commonstrent, dum qua-
"
tuor, octo, sexdecim aut triginta duo Nobilitatis suae Membra (quas vulgo qua-
" teras vocant) adferunt, licet non uno eodemque ordine a singulis Insignia
" locentur."
From all which we observe, that the use of arms with us, being hereditary
marks of honour and noble descent, are of the same nature with the Jus Imaginum
among the Romans. Which opinion is confirmed by many famous writers,
too numerous to be here inserted : But I cannot omit a modern one, the
judicious John Brydal of Lincoln's-Inn, Esq. who, in his little book, intitled, Jus
Imaginis apud Anglos, p. 53. says, " For, as in ancient times, the statues or images
" of their ancestors were proofs of their nobility, so, of latter times, coat-arms
came in lieu of those statues or images, and are the most certain proofs and evi-
"
dences of nobility. Hence it followeth, that Jus Nobilitatis is nothing else but
"
Jus Imaginis ; insomuch that the word Imago doth oftentimes signify nobility ;
"
and the right of having images with their ancestors was the same as the right
"
of having arms now with us." And hence it is, as Gerard Leigh tells us, in his
Accidents of Armory, p. 40. " That the law of arms is for the most part directed
"
and regulated by the civil law."
Our armorial bearings, us hereditary marks of honour, thus succeeding in place
of the Roman images and statues, naturally lead us to date their rise and origin as
such, from the time of the subversion of the Roman Empire by the Goths and
Vandals ; who, as they sunk many liberal arts and sciences, seem to have given
birth and life to that of heraldry. These northern and barbarous nations charged
their shields, and other pieces of armour, with figures of fierce animals, and almost
all kinds of creatures, partly for distinction's sake in time of battle, and partly for
ornament's sake, according to their own particular genius ; answerable to the
common saying, " Ex iis quibus quisque magis delectatur qualis etiam ipse sit
" cognoscitur."
These military marks and figures of lions, boars, wolves, &c. which they had on
their shields, and other pieces of armour, became hereditary ensigns of honour, and
were continued as such by them, and their posterity, and were called instead of
Jus Imaginum, Tessera Gentilitiee, Insignia Gentilitia, and sometimes Arma as
Budaeus in Pandect. " Prior pro iis" (speaking of the Roman images) says, " pos-