heraldryofyorkmi01custuoft

68 THE HERALDRY OF YORK MINSTER.
were so treated in an age when " Place aux dames " was the ideal in everythingperhaps
also in honour of her family, which by her marriage was
now absorbed into her husband's family, her property, and, in the case of
a peerage, her title passing into it.
Sometimes, however, the husband seems to have placed his own arms
as an inescutcheon on the lady's shield, which
were either eventually effaced or perpetuated
thereon. This seems to have been the case in the
ancient families of Warren and Mortimer, which
were both descended from Walterus or William
de Sancto Martino, Earl of Warrenne in Normandy.
He accompanied William the Conqueror, Dugdale
tells us, to England, and received in recognition
of his services large grants of land, together with
the castle of Conisburgh in Yorkshire, and the
castle of Mortimer (Mortuo Mare) in Normandy.
Roger de Mortimer, (Dugdale thinks) his own
brother, being dispossessed for treachery. The
arms of De Sancto Martino were probably a simple
shield argent, without any charge.
The eldest son, Gualterius de Sancto Martino,
William Rufus
Earl of Warrenne, was created by
Earl of Surrey, and married Elizabeth, daughter
of Hugh, Earl of Vermandois, and placed upon
her arms, or and azure cheeky, "the proper coat-
" armour of the princely house of Vermandois, an
"inescutcheon argent, with a bend thereon gules,"
probably added for difference. "Vincent says
" They probably dropped part of their arms, i.e. the bend gules, on account
"of the house of Vermandois being more honourable than their own."*
And so the shield of Warren has always appeared, as it
appears in
the windows of York Minster, cheeky or and azure. But in one of the
windows of the parish church of Selby, and also of Dewsbury, which manor
belonged to the Warrens, the arms appear with the inescutcheon.
The second son, Ralph, seems to have inherited the barony of Mortimer,
and having subdued the castle of Wigmore for the Conqueror, he
received it as a reward for his services. He seems also to have acquired
vast estates in different parts of the kingdom, possibly by marriage, though
as Dugdale only tells us that his wife was " Milicent, daughter of ... ,"
we cannot say for certain. However, she was possibly an heiress ;
and he,
like his gallant brother, placed his shield upon hers, where it has ever
remained.
Memoirs of the Ancient Earls of Warrennt and Surrey.
Rev. F. Watson.