552
Constitutional History.
[chap.
very great ; the lords were themselves the makers of the law,
and the source of their local power lay in these very retinues
which disgraced them. The livery of a great lord was as
effective security to a malefactor as was the benefit of clergy
to the criminous clerk. But livery, apart from maintenance of
false quarrels, involved a political mischief.
Importance
of heraldry.
Court of
the Earl
Marshall.
471. Under the auspices of Edward I and Edward III there
was a great development of heraldic splendour ; heraldry be-
came a handmaid of chivalry, and the marshalling of badges,
crests, coat-armour, pennons, helmets, and other devices of
distinction, grew into an important branch of knowledge. The
roll of knights who attended Edward I at Caerlaverock is one
of the most precious archives of heraldic science 1. The coat-
armour of every house was a precious inheritance, which de-
scended, under definite limitations and with distinct differences,
to every member of the family : a man’s shield proved his
gentle or noble birth, illustrated his pedigree, and put Iiim
on his honour not to disgrace the bearings which his noble
progenitors had worn. The office of the Earl Marshall of
England was empowered to regulate all proceedings and suits
of heraldry, and it had a staff of busy officers2. The great
suit between Scrope and Grosvenor3, for the right to bear the
bend or on the field azure, is one of the causes célèbres of the
middle ages; it dragged on its course from 1385 to 1390;
a vast mass of evidence was brought up on both sides, and the
victory of Scrope was one of the first facts that brought before
the notice of the baronage the antiquity claimed for the house
of Grosvenor. Scarcely less famous was the contest between
lord Grey of Ruthyn and Edward Hastings, the heir by half-
blood of the Hastings baronyi : Grey of Ruthyn succeeded in
1 Itwas published by Sir Harris Nicolas in 1828, and by Wright in
1864. Other rolls are printed in the Parliamentary Writs, i. 410-420 ; ii.
pp. 196-200 ; Excerpta Historica, pp. 50, 163, 314, &c., and in the ordi-
nary books on heraldry.
s See Coke, 4th Inst. pp. 123 sq. ; Prynne, 4th Inst. pp. 59 sq. The juris-
diction of the Earl Marshall was defined by Stat. 13 Rich. II, c. 2 ; and the
College of Arms was incorporated by Richard III; Coke, 4th Inst. p. 125.
ɛ See Prynne, 4th Inst. pp. 62, 63. The whole proceedings in this case
were edited by Sir Harris Nicolas in 1832.
4 Nicolas, Historic Peerage, p. 2 39 ; Rot. Parl. iii. 480.
XXI.]
Livery.
553
gaining the arms ; both competitors assumed the title to which
neither had a right. Regular visitations were held by the Heralds’
o ° ’ visitations.
heralds, who kept courts in every county, where the claimants
of heraldic honours were bound to appear under the penalty of
being declared ignoble. The institution of the Order of the Ordersof
. knighthood.
Garter by Edward III marks another step of this history : it
was the erection of a new sort of nobility by livery ; a body
of exalted pretensions in chivalry, whose mark was the collar,
mantle, jewel and garter of the Order of S. George. The king
had numerous imitators ; the heraldic devices of lords and
ladies were pressed into the service of chivalry ; and ζ livery
of company ’ became a fashionable practice. It was no longer Livery of
a mere mark of service to wear the badge of a lord ; the lords ɪ У
wore one another’s badges by way of compliment ; Richard II
greatly offended the earl of Arundel by wearing the collar of
his uncle’s livery; the livery of John of Gaunt was severely
criticised as being scarcely distinguished from that of the
king ɪ. Worse evils followed : liveries became the badges of
the great factions of the court, and the uniform, so to speak, in
which the wars of the fifteenth century were fought.
Livery in these two aspects, in connexion that is with illegal Acts of par-
. , . ɪ . . , Iiament on
maintenance and with dynastic faction, occupies no insignificant the subject
place in the statute book and rolls of parliament. In 1377 the
commons petitioned against ‘ the giving of hats by way of livery
for maintenance,’ and the justices were directed to inquire into
cases of abuse 2 ; in 1389 a royal ordinance was founded on the
petition that no one should wear the badge of a lord3, and that
no prelate or any layman below the rank of banneret should
give such livery of company : dukes, earls, barons, or bannerets
might give livery, but only to knights retained for life by
indenture, and to domestic servants. A very long list of peti-
tions, and a proportionate number of statutes, all of the same
tendency, prove that the evil was ineradicable by mere measures
ofrestriction. In the parliament of 1399 it was Cnactedthat
1 Rot. Part. iii. 313.
2 Rot. Part. Hi. 23.
j Rot. Part. ɪiɪ. 265 ; Stat, ɪʒ Rich. XI, c. 3,