heraldryofyorkmi01custuoft

INTRODUCTION.
4 !
chapter of the court was held at the siege of Rouen in the following
year, 1420.
The outlines of a code of laws and observances were thus formed and
approved of, and the officers of the institute recognised, not merely as
personal servants, but as officers of the King. In the reign of Richard III.
they were incorporated by
royal charter, and two additional
subordinate Kings
of Arms were appointed,
viz., Clarenceux, with jurisdiction
south of the Trent ;
Norroy, or North King, north
thereof.
Under these were
appointed six assistant
officers, called Heralds, and
thus styled Lancaster,
Somerset, Richmond, Windsor,
York, Chester; and
four Pursuivants Rouge-Croix, Blue Mantle, Portcullis, Rouge-Dragon.
They were also called Chevaliers of Arms, or Knight Riders, and their
service was originally of high trust and great consideration, viz., the bearing
of letters and messages to sovereign princes and persons of great authority.
In fact, they were the predecessors of the modern Queen's Messengers ; but
their duty, if not more honourable, was at least more delicate and difficult
than the latter, as the messages would often be by word of mouth, and the
delivery thereof involve considerable personal risk as well as great fatigue.
In Ireland (see Clarke's
Heraldry) there was an Ulster
King of Arms, with two
Heralds (Cork and Dublin)
and six Pursuivants. For
Scotland, the Lyon King of
Arms, with a Deputy, Clerk,
and Keeper of the Records ;
six Heralds Rothesay,
Marchmont, Islay, Albany,
Snowdon, and Ross; and
six Pursuivants Dingwall,
Bute, Carrick, Ormond, Kintyre,
and Unicorn.
In his poem of Marmion (canto iv., st. vii.), Sir Walter Scott has given
us a charming picture of one of those Lyon Kings of Arms, and has shewn