heraldryofyorkmi01custuoft

1 66 THE HERALDRY OF YORK MINSTER.
reverted to the Crown, they would become responsible directly
to the
King, and as time went on and their office was multiplied,
it decreased in
power and importance, until of the parish constable it might truly be said,
" Magni stat nominis umbra," for, though his duties were humble, they were
of the same character, viz., the preservation of peace
and the administration
of justice. But in ancient times it must have been an office of great
dignity as well as power, and we can well imagine those who had once
attained to it
perpetuating the name of the office as a surname for themselves
and their descendants.
The same name does not, therefore, imply the same family, and the different
coats-of-arms carried by persons called " Constable " shew that their
families are the survivors of various bygone holders of the office. There
are two distinct families of Constable in Yorkshire, both represented in the
Minster. The one, bearing barry of six or and azure, viz., the Constables of
Burton Constable, and the Clifford-Constables of Tixall, Staffordshire ;
and
the other, bearing quarterly gules and vair, with a bend, differenced in some
instances, viz., the Constables of Flamborough, Everingham, Otley, Dromondby,
and Wassand.*
The first of the latter family was William, who was living about
1260. He seems to have been the only son of Robert de Lacy, who
obtained from his elder brother, Roger, the lordship of Flamborough, which
they had inherited many generations
before from their maternal ancestor
Nigel, created by William the Conqueror premier baron of the palatinate of
Chester and constable of Chester. William seems to have held the office
of constable of Flamborough, and in consequence the office became the
name of the family and his descendants.
His son, Sir Robert, was knighted at a grand festival at Whitsuntide,
with some three hundred others, by King Edward I., in the 34th year
of his
" reign, in order to augment the glory of his expedition into Scot-
" land ;"f and his son, Sir Marmaduke, was High Sheriff of York, 40 and 41
of Edward III., as well as Member of Parliament for the county, his
descendants for five generations enjoying, in succession, the same honours.
Sir Marmaduke, the nephew of the archdeacon, whose wife was a daughter
of Lord Fitzhugh, was in France under King Edward IV., and at the
taking of Berwick, of which he was made captain. He shared with his
sons in the glory of Flodden, being then 71 years of age, for his distinguished
services at which he received an autograph acknowledgment from
King Henry VIII. He survived the dangers and fatigues of this chivalrous
expedition for four years, and died at Flamborough, 1518, aged 75. His
body rests within the chancel, and on the tomb above it
there is a long and
quaint inscription commemorating this patriotic feat.
Few tourists who visit Flamborough Head stop to visit Flamborough
* See coloured illustration. + Foster's Yorkshire Pedigrees.