heraldryofyorkmi01custuoft

The shady trees, the green meadows, all
DE BOHUN. 211
add an aspect of grace and
beauty to this bijou mansion, snugly nestled under a steep wooded hill.
The railway
is close by, but few passengers, as they rush through the
station, or hear " "
!
Speldhurst called out in the usual incoherent lingo of
railway officials, have any idea how much picturesque beauty
interest and sweet sentiment are at hand.
or historic
It is instinct with touching memories, not the least of the gallant
prisoner and his brave captor, who met as enemies, lived as friends, and
now rest in peace.
" The knights are dust, their good swords rust,
Their souls are with the saints, we trust."
DE BOHUN.
The shield of De Bohun* supplies an illustration of great heraldic
and historical
interest.
As regards the former, it is not only an example of the division of
the bend into cotises, which are one-half of the bendlet (itself one-half of
the bend), but it is also an example of compounding arms, i.e. of an usage
practised in the early days of heraldry (before "marshalling" or arranging
complete coats-of-arms on one shield by quartering was established), when
the desired combination was made by forming a new composition from
all the charges of the several shields, or from the most important and
characteristic of them.f
The founder of the De Bohuns as an English family, was a Humphrey
de Bohun, one of the fortunate adventurers at Hastings, known amongst
his companions, the close-shaven Normans, as "Humphrey with the beard"
(Dugdale). His son married Matilda, daughter of the feudal baron, Edward
de Sarum, descendant of William de Longespee, son of Henry
II. and Fair
Rosamond, whose arms were six lioncels rampant.
Their son, Humphrey, steward and sewer to Henry I., married
Margeria, one of the co-heiresses of Milo, Constable, and Lord of Gloucester
and Hereford, who bore gules, two bends, the one or, the other argent.
Their grandson, Henry de Bohun, was in 1199 made Earl of Hereford by
charter of King John. He thereupon adopted as his arms a coat compounded
by dividing the gold bend into four bendlets, and cotised the
silver bend by placing two of them on either side thereof, grouping three
of the six lions of Sarum also
on either side.
Henry de Bohun married Maud, sister and co-heir of William de
Mandeville, Earl of Essex, and with her he acquired the cognizance of the
Mandevilles, so frequently afterwards associated with the De Bohuns (viz.
'See coloured illustration. tBoutell's Heraldry.