Kings of Arms
The growing popularity of tournaments saw a tremendous
leap in prestige for the herald's profession, and they were finally, because
of their new very marketable expertise, able to begin leaving behind their
old association with vagabond minstrels. Heralds probably always
owed their induction into the profession or creation to a knight or lord
because of all the references to even wandering heralds wearing coats of
arms, and Wagner states that a menial servant would hardly be allowed to
wander around wearing the "cote armoire" of a knight. This creation
(performed like a ceremony of baptism), and the receiving of a title and
the privilege of wearing their master's coats of arms meant that the herald
had become the official, credited representative of that knight or lord.
Perhaps due to this rise in prestige, around the
last quarter of the fourteenth century one begins to find references not
only to heralds of arms but also to kings of arms. The rank of "king
of arms" is not unlike the kings of minstrels that was also mentioned
in records?the highest rank of the profession. Where heralds and
their apprentices, pursuivants, could be employed by lords and knights,
kings of heralds were only found in the employment of sovereign princes
and kings. Kings of heralds (and also heralds) had names that were
taken from their master's lordships. For example, there was an Anjou
King and a Garter Principle King of Arms. Along with their titles,
they sometimes gained territorial jurisdiction over all the heralds in
a particular area, as the Norroy King of Arms had jurisdiction over all
the territory in England North of the Trent, and later the Garter King
of Arms would have jurisdiction over all the heralds in England.
By the fifteenth century, the granting of arms by a King of Arms on behalf
of the crown was quite common, although this practice was never followed
on the continent.
(Wagner, Anthony. Heralds of England. London: Her Majesty's Stationary
Office, 1967. P53.)
A portrait of William Bruges, first Garter King of Arms 1415, kneeling
before St. George. The Order of the Garter was created in 1344 by
Edward III as a knightly brotherhood. When William Bruges was created
as Garter King of Arms, it was the first time a King of Arms was created
for the service of an order of chivalry. His duties were twofold
however, as he was also supposed to be "King of Arms of Englishmen and
Sovereign in the Office of Arms."(HE 61). Probably, this new superior
rank was not a new, although it had never been placed in a single office,
rather falling to the most senior King of Arms.
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