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The Manuscript: Badges and Devices In addition to arms, the later medieval royalty, nobility and gentry used a variety of badges and devices. The Edward IV Roll contains Edward's own badges as well as some of his ancestors or supporters.
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Sun, Fetterlock, Rose
These three badges are repeated in a regular rotation throughout the length of the manuscript. The sun was used as a badge by Richard II and was adopted by Edward IV as the sun in splendor after the battle of Mortimer's Cross because of the three suns seen in the sky just before the battle. The white rose (discolored in many places on this manuscript) was used by many members of the House of York, but it achieved its real prominence with Edward IV; it is described more fully below. The fetterlock is a badge taken by Edward Langley, first duke of York, and was used by Edward's father, together with a falcon. |
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White Hart
The white hart badge was used by Richard II, and can be seen most famously in the Wilton Diptych, a painting in the National Gallery, London. In this painting, Richard wears a cloth of gold robe with a hart pattern as well as an elaborate white hart jewel. The painting also depicts the Virgin Mary surrounded by thirteen angels, all wearing the white hart badge. The white hart can be found repeatedly in the Edward IV Roll, probably to reinforce Edward's right to claim the throne as the legitimate heir of Richard II via the Mortimers. |
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Black Bull of Clare
The black bull is associated with the honor of Clare. It was Lionel of Antwerp, duke of Clarence, the second son of Edward III, that gave Edward IV the senior claim to the throne. Additionally, the intermarriage of the Clare and Mortimer lines allowed Edward to claim the British heritage of Brutus, Arthur, and Cadwalader. |
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White Lion of March
A badge of the Mortimer Earls of March, this was the badge that Edward used throughout his life. It was common for his adherents to wear gold livery collars (neck chains) with alternating links of suns and roses, with a single white lion at the center. An example can be seen in the "Donne Triptych," a painting by Hans Memling in the National Gallery, London.
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Falcon, Fetterlock, Rose, Cross of St. George
This symbolically complex and unusual image blends the emblems and badges of England, Richard, duke of York and Edward IV. Most falcon-and-fetterlock images show the falcon contained within the fetterlock. Here the falcon perches atop the fetterlock, while the rose-en-soleil it contains has at its center the cross of St. George, patron saint of England and one of the particular saints of the House of York. |
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Both of these knots are associated with families who intermarried with the Yorkist dynasty
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Stafford Knot |
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Bourchier Knot |
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Rose-en-Soleil
The rose has had a number of meanings in the middle ages. Both white and red roses have been associated with Christ and the Virgin Mary. Edward used the white rose as a badge and was called "the Rose" or "the rose of Rouen" in propaganda documents of the day, such as this one: "Lette us walke in a newe wyne yerde, and lette us make us a gay gardon in the monythe of marche with thys fayre whyte ros and herbe, the Erle of Marche." The origin of the relationship of the white rose with the House of York is obscure. C. W. Scott-Giles, in Shakespeare's Heraldry, claims that the white rose was "originally a badge of the Mortimer earls of March, and was used by Earl Roger, who died in 1369." Others have suggested that the white rose is "by right of the Castle of Clifford." Edward is descended from Maude Clifford, but how the badge came to be associated with the castle is likewise unknown. Edward combined the rose and the rays of the sun in the rose-en-soleil, which appears in regular rotation with the sun and fetterlock in the manuscript. It also appears, in a larger version, along the left and right margins of the top half of the manuscript, alternating with the banners and accompanied by Edward's motto, comfort et liesse (comfort and joy).
- The "white rose" quotation is from V. J. Scattergood, Politics and Poetry in the Fifteenth Century (New York: Barnes & Noble, 1971), p. 189.
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