heraldryofyorkmi01custuoft

60 THE HERALDRY OF YORK MINSTER.
In the gth of Edward I., 1281, it is provided and commanded that no
woman of the city shall go to market, or in the King's highway, out of her
house, with a hood furred with other than lambskin or rabbitskin, on pain
of losing her hood to the use of the sheriffs. Ladies who wear furred capes
may have on the hoods such furs as they think proper and this because
;
the regeatresses (females who sold articles by retail), nurses and other
servants, and women of loose life, bedizen themselves, and wear hoods
furred with gros-vair and minever, in
guise of good ladies.
By 24th of Edward III., 1351, it is
provided and ordered by the mayor,
sheriffs, aldermen, and commoners of the said city, that women of immoral
character shall not " be so daring as to be attired by day or night in any
" kind of vesture trimmed with fur, such as menevyer, grey-purree of
" stranlyng, popelle of squirrels, bys (i.e.
brown hue) of rabbits or hares, or
" any other manner of noble budge, or lined with seradale, bokerames,
" samytes (samite, a rich texture of silk), or any other noble lining," on
pain
of forfeiture.
In the jrd of Richard II., 1382, it is ordered that such women shall
have and use hoods of ray only, and should not wear any manner of budge,
or perreie (purree), or revers (some kind of fur specially used for trimmings
and linings) any one transgressing to be brought to the compter, and
the furs
forfeited.
Edward II., 1310, forbids tailors to scour fur in the Chepe "that so
" the great lords and good folks passing through
. . .
might not by
" such manner of scouring be disturbed or delayed in passing." They are
to be scoured in some " dead lane, where no great lords are passing, either
" going or coming, and whereby no dispute may arise."
The ermine holds, perhaps, the chief place in popular estimation
amongst furs, not so much from the finish of its
assumed significance.
quality, but because of its
Anne of Bretagne (says Palliser, p. 1 13), 1513, Queen of Charles VIII.,
and afterwards of Louis XII., adopted the ermine, the ancient hereditary
device of her duchy, with the motto, "Malo mori quam fcedari" "Better
" to die than be
"
sullied or as the French render "
it, Plutot mourir
" que souiller."
Anne appears more frequently to
have used the motto of the Breton
order of the ermine, "A ma vie." It was placed on the herse erected at
Nantes after her death to receive her heart; and on a fountain of the
market-place of Tours may still be seen on one side the porcupine of
Louis XII., and on the other the ermine of Queen Anne, with the
" A ma vie."
motto,
After the death of Charles VIII. she encircled her arms with the
cordeliere or cord of St. Francis, which she afterwards converted into an
order for widow ladies.