The armorial bearings of the Borough of St Edmundsbury and their meaning
The origins of St Edmundsbury’s armorial bearings
The re-organisation of local government in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972 created a new area called the Borough of St Edmundsbury. Four previous local authority areas were combined to become the District of St Edmundsbury with effect from 1 April 1974. These were the former Borough of Bury St Edmunds, Urban District of Haverhill, Rural District of Clare, and the Rural District of Thingoe. On 15 May 1974, the Queen granted a Charter conferring Borough status upon the new District. Up to the date of re-organisation Bury St Edmunds Council used a coat of arms granted in 1606. Thingoe Council was granted Arms in 1958. Neither Haverhill nor Clare Councils were granted Arms, but the former used a badge depicting a loom.
With four former authorities in the new Borough neither of the armorial bearings could identify the new authority and area. Therefore the Borough Council of St Edmundsbury petitioned for a Grant of Armorial Bearings. The Arms designed by the College of Arms were approved by the Council and with effect from 13 February 1975, were reserved to the Borough Council. Letters Patent by which a right to Arms is established, were granted by the Garter, Clarenceux and Norry and Ulster Kings on Arms on 21 June 1977.
What are armorial bearings?
The functional purpose of Arms is identification. It therefore follows that they must be unique in order to identify one particular person or, as this instance, a local authority area. In the days before gunpowder, Knights fought on horseback and wore steel armour and a helmet, and carried a shield.
As the helmet completely covered their faces they were unrecognisable. Hence the practice arose of wearing a distinctive crest on a cloak or mantle worn over the helmet and painting a design and motto on the shield, to show people who they were. Later these crests, designs and mottoes were registered by the College of Arms. They were handed down from father to son and became the Crest, Arms and Motto of the family.
The right to bear Arms is regarded as being in the nature of a dignity. Like all dignities, Arms emanate from the Sovereign, as fount of all honour. Armorial Bearings may be granted to local authorities, universities, colleges, hospitals. learned societies, dioceses and the like, all of which have an existence recognisable at law. Such a grant of Arms has to be registered by the College of Arms in the same way as Arms granted to an individual.
What does St Edmundsbury’s coat of arms mean?
Blazon in respect of the grant of armorial bearings to the Borough Council of St Edmundsbury
ARMS Azure, a representation of the Sword in its Scabbard of the St Edmundsbury Borough Council proper between in fess, two pairs of arrows each in saltire points downwards, Argent enfiling an Ancient Crown Or.
CREST On a Wreath of the colours upon a grassy mount a Wolf sejant proper resting the dexter paw upon a King’s head couped at the neck also proper crowned Or, mantled Gules doubled Argent.
SUPPORTERS Dexter, a Lion per chevronny Or and Gules charged on the shoulder
with a roundel Gules fretty Or; Sinister, an Ounce Sable bezanty gorged
with a collar compony counter compony Argent and Azure and charged
on the shoulder with a roundel Or fretty Sable.
MOTTOSACRARIUM REGIS CUNABULA LEGIS
A modern description might therefore run as follows:-
ARMS
The colour of the shield is blue. In the centre of the shield is the Sword of the St Edmundsbury Borough Council in its natural colours. It has a red velvet scabbard trimmed with gilt ornaments. The spirally twisted grip of the sword is also of gilt.
On either side of the Sword is an ancient gold crown encircling two silver arrows in the form of an X with their points downwards.
CREST
The wreath is of silver and blue.
Above this a grassy hill on which sits a wolf in profile and natural colour facing left. Its right paw rests on the gold crowned head of a King which has been cut of at the neck. He mantling is coloured red on the outside and silver on the inside.
All of this is in turn placed upon a Helm appropriate to a corporation – steel, with the visor closed facing the viewers left.
SUPPORTERS
On the dexter side (the viewer’s side) is a lion on which gold and red inverted V’s are superimposed. Its claws and tongue are blue. On the shoulder is a roundel with interlaced lines of red and gold.
On the sinister side (the viewer’s right) is a black panther with rows of gold coin-like circles. Around its neck is a collar or band in checks of blue and silver. On the shoulder is a roundel with interlaced lines of gold and black. The claws and tongue are red.
MOTTO
The Latin: “Sacrarium Regis Cunabula Legis” may be translated “Shrine of the King, Cradle of the Law”. This was also the motto of the former Borough of Bury St Edmunds.
This emphasises the historic importance in Bury St Edmunds. The first part “Shrine of the King” refers to the burial place of King Edmund, around whose shrine was built the greatest Benedictine Abbey.
“Cradle of the Law” refers to the Magna Carta and reminds us that the law which gave Englishmen the freedom had its origin at Bury St Edmunds.
Towards the end of 1214, according to the Chronicler, Roger of Wendover, a number of barons, disguised as pilgrims, took an oath before the High Altar in the Abbey at Bury St Edmunds, that they would make King John put his seal to the Great Charter. This he did at Runnymede, on the banks of the Thames near Windsor in June 1215.
From the provisions of Magna Carta, developed and amended from time to time, have come laws to prevent oppression and injustice.
Arms and Motto of the Borough tell us of a thousand years of history in which there is considerable pride. The Arms remind us too, of the four former local authorities that now make up the Borough of St Edmundsbury – the whole area of which was once the property of the Abbey of St Edmund.
Heraldic language
The modern equivalents of some of the words in the blazon are as follows:-
Argent silver
Azure blue – usually dark
Bezanty repeated coin-like circles in rows
Charged represented
Chevronny with inverted V’s
Compony A chequered band coloured alternatively metal and tincture
Counter
Compony
Coupedcut – the point of severance
Dexter right hand. Hence the left-hand side as viewed (armed man carrying
shield is behind)
Doubled mantling turned back to reveal some of the reverse side
Enfiling encircling
Fess, in in the centre of the shield
Fretty interlaced, as in weaving
Gorged beasts neck encircled with some object
Gules red
Mantledfronds of fabric falling from below the wreath and draped on each side of the Helm
Or gold
Ounce name applied to members of the cat family – mountain panther, snow leopard or cheetah
Proper in natural colour
Sable black
Saltire, in in the form of a X
Sejant sitting on haunches
Sinister left hand. Hence the right-hand side as viewed
Wreath of two lengths of fabric twisted like the strands of a rope with which the Colours helmet of rank is encircled and upon which the crest is set. The wreath
is of six segments alternate metal and tincture being the major colours
of the shield in this instance Azure and Or – namely blue and gold
Medieval life
Fast food bars and take-aways seem such a part of 20th century culture that it’s difficult to believe families in the 13th century had their equivalent of burger and fries.
For in the large towns and cities you could buy pre-cooked food, including meat and fish, on a plate of bread – the forerunner of the sandwich. And dishes that we regard as modern French delicacies like boeuf bourguignon and coq au vin were on the menu in a lot of households.
But medieval cooks also prepared dishes which have since disappeared from British tables. Nowadays most would turn their noses up at crane, heron or gull which must have tasted strongly of fish despite all the spices used in 13th century kitchens.
There’s another myth about medieval life and that’s the food the peasants ate. It’s true their lives could be hard with long hours of toil on the land and certainly they enjoyed little meat but, apart from famine years, they had a good diet of bread, berries, fruit, vegetables and fish with occasional bacon, fowl and game.
At the other end of the social scale the aristocrats faced some exotic dishes – like swan and peacock. Below you will see a menu for a castle feast-day it’s enough to make the 21st century mind boggle.
First course
Brawn with sharp sauce – a pudding to eat with the main dish
Boar’s head – armed with tusks and decorated elaborately served with hot, spiced gravy
Cygnets (young swans)
Capon
Pheasants
Heron
Custarde Lumbarde – baked custard in pastry case served with dried fruits
Soltetee – an elaborate centre piece of sugar and paste which was partly edible
Second course
Venison cooked in a stew of corn and served with red currant jelly
Suckling pig stuffed with forcemeat
Peacocks
Cranes
Roast venison
Rabbit
Bitterns
Chickens cooked with saffron and made golden with egg yolks
Rich fried brawn served with a tart vinegar sauce
Leche Lumbarde – a bread and dried fruit dish
Soltetee
Third course
Blaundesorye – white curd and white meat mixed with almonds
Quince pie
Egret
Curlew
Perch
Pigeons
Quails
Snipes
Lark and other small birds in a pie
Rabbit
Eggs in aspic
Fritters
Sweetmeats – similar to modern marzipan and fancy cakes
Pettyperneux – fancy pastry, golden egg yolks and mincemeat
And all that at 10 o’clock in the morning – for the main meal of the day in the 13th century was normally eaten at around 9 or 10 am except when there were special guests and then it might be put off until midday. Dinner was eaten early because everyone got up at the crack of dawn and would have been working for three or four hours before they sat down to eat.
In her book Food in England, Dorothy Hartley explains that the above menu wasn’t as horrendous as it sounds. ‘The sets of dishes making up a course were all available together, but each course was completely removed before the next came in. For example, the first main course was boar’s head with a sort of Yorkshire pudding and gravy. As an alternative, if you did not want this main hot dish, you could have cold brawn and sauce, or the ladies, perhaps, preferred the poultry course of capon or swan.
“The roast pheasant and heron were side dishes to balance the fish dish (which would have come in every course, in those ‘religious days’). The Custarde Lumbarde is a sweet dish, and would be there in case anyone wanted it…. Everybody did not eat everything! If you consider the guests, each choosing one thing from each course, you only have a four course dinner, though more elaborately arranged than we consider possible”.
Dorothy Hartley includes a useful list of contemporary do’s and don’ts for the castle guest in medieval times. It begins:-
“When thou come to a lordis gate
The porter thou shalt fynde thereate
Take him, thou shalt they wepyn
And ask him to leve in to go
When thou come the halledor to
Do off thy hode, thy gloves also
In myddys the halleupon the flore
While marshallor usher come fro the dore
And bydde thee sitte, or to the Lorde the lede
Lay thy trenchour thee before
And sitte up right for any sore!”
In modern translation this means:-
“When you come, the footman opens the door, you hand over your stick or bag. Leave your hood and gloves in the hall cloakroom. You then go into the main hall and the servant will take you to your host, if you’re expected, or show you where to sit and wait.”
The medieval instructions go on at some length but it’s remarkable how similar the good manners of the 1200s are to the best behaviour of today.
Dorothy Hartley was writing in the 1950s but with some modifications her thoughts apply to 1989. “This simple courtesy remains. We substitute hat and stick for the helmet and spear but the rest is in our own usage today. On arrival we hand over our impedimenta and packages at the gate and ask to see our host and hostess. If we have the right to enter, we are led from the gatehouse to main ‘halle dor’ where we remove outdoor things. Here we are probably offered a wash and brush up.
“Now the marshall of the hall, that is, the head servant, comes to show you where to sit and wait by the fire, or, if you are to go direct to the family, he will ‘to the Lorde the lede’. Greetings over, you will probably be given a drink and a short rest and be introduced to others – the equivalent of our cocktail before dinner. On the blast of the trumpets (our gong sounding) you find your seat at table and wait, politely still, until all the company are seated and the meal begins. Notice that you may cut your trencher bread, thus preparing your plates for dinner – these ‘trenchours’, and your own knife and spoon, you might lay ready for use; but it was then, a now, unmannerly to begin to crumble bread or drink before the dinner begins.
“Byt not thy brede and lay it down” is also in usage today. It is because in these early centuries their first bread, which became soaked with the gravy and sauces was, after the first course, collected and distributed among the lesser people at the lower tables. Therefore to bite that bread would have been a grave discourtesy to those having it after you.”
Cheers! The men and women of medieval Britain did not just enjoy their food but could drink in prodigious amounts.
The standard daily amount for a monk was two gallons of ale beer – that’s 16 pints!
They also drank wine but the English variety could be fairly hard to take and a chronicler of the time suggested English wine could only be drunk with closed eyes and through clenched teeth!
By the beginning of John’s reign in 1199 European wine – both from France and what is now Germany – was becoming increasingly popular.
But John’s decision to keep the price of wines from Anjou and Poitou at a fairly low level was not greeted with universal acclaim.
One contemporary chronicler Roger Howden said that England was subsequently “filled with drink and drinkers”.
Our research has not revealed what medieval monks used for hangovers
but there were a wide range of cures for other ills. These were widely
based on common sense and the use of herbs. Some medical advice never changes – doctors telling patients to take plenty of exercise to improve
their health years before John began his reign.
If John had not become famous for his act of putting his seal on the Magna Carta he would, perhaps, have been remembered for being the first monarch to introduce income tax.
It was in 1207 that the thirteenth was introduced when 1s (5p) was levied on each mark (13s 4d –approx 67p) of income from rents and moveable property.
There was great opposition to the tax and some people even hid their goods in monasteries in a, sometimes vain, bid to avoid paying. But from King John’s point of view it was incredibly successful and raised £60,000 – about double his normal income.
By the beginning of John’s reign money was widely used. It is interesting to compare the sort of wages the ordinary men earned and the cost of some of the goods they could buy if they could afford them.
A plumber would earn three pennies a day. That is based on old money and nowadays would approximate to one and a half pence. With this he could have bought a gallon of cider at one half penny but he would have had to work two days to have bought a gallon of butter at four and a half pennies.
One hundred and twenty eggs would have cost two and a half pennies and was well within his budget but cloves at ten shillings – that’s 120 pennies (50p today) – was only something the lord of the manor could afford.
By the time King John sat on the throne of England there were thriving villages throughout the country.
Up until the 9th century the sparse rural communities had lived in tiny hamlets or isolated farmsteads but over the next 400 years life changed dramatically.
In much of the English countryside the isolated farmsteads vanished and were replaced with new, planned villages which included open fields. Although in parts of East Anglia the old system remained.
Village life in the 13th century revolved around agriculture. Peasants held land from their lord in return had to work in his fields – for up to two days a week and longer at harvest time.
A typical village was largely self sufficient. Sheep provided wool; cattle meat, hides and dairy products, while horses pulled the ploughs in the fields for corn and other crops.
Streams were dammed to provide power to run water mills to grind the village corn.
Each community had its own church and manor house where the local lord lived. The manor house and the home of the village pastor were made of stone but the peasants lived in mud huts with thatched roofs.
These homes were basic but they did not have a solid wooden door with locks and shutters on the windows.
Inside they had open fires for warmth and cooking and caskets and chests for storing belongings. The huts were lit by candles and families, who would gather round the fire to play games in the evening, often shared their home with cattle.
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