heraldryofyorkmi01custuoft

THE CHEVRON.
"None of the ordinaries have so uncertain an origin as the chevron," says Dallaway
{Heraldic Enquiries], "which is so called from its expansion like the roof of a
"house, to which etymology Legh inclines when speaking of a person who bore
"three chevronells : 'the auncestor of this cote hath builded three grete houses
"'in one province.' It has likewise been referred to the tiara or head-dress of
"women, but the Glossary of Furetiere confirms the above."
CLARE.
THE shield of Clare, then, Or three chevronels gules,* which may be
noticed in the -vestibule, third window, west ;
Chapter House, north and
north-east windows ; Nave, south side, second window, east, opens a
subject of great historical and local interest. I do not know to what
"houses" Legh alluded, but as this represents the combination of three
great houses, he probably supplies the significance of the charges thereon,
and it is interesting to notice it.
Richard Fitzgilbert, Earl of Brion in Normandy, whose grandfather,
Geoffry, was natural son of Richard I., Duke of Normandy, came over with
the Conqueror, and receiving as his share many manors in Surrey, Essex,
Cambridgeshire, as well as ninety-five in Suffolk, one of which was the
Manor of Clare, from which he was styled Richard de Clare, he exchanged
his castle of Brion (or Brionne) with the Archbishop of Canterbury for the
town and castle of Tonebruge in Kent, now called Tunbridge. This is the
first house. He would seem to have borne for his arms, Argent, on a fess
azure, three cross crosslets fitch6e of the field.
This view of the subject is, I think, borne out by the fact that on the
tomb of Richard de Clare, his grandson, second Earl of Pembroke, surnamed
Strongbow, in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, there is a recumbent figure
of a man in armour of banded ringmail, and on "the head a peculiar
" carveliere or coif de fer a skull-cap of steel, curiously indented at the
[i
apex." The knees are protected by nine genouillieres of plate. The
spurs are broad-rowelled ;
and on the heater-shaped shield, carried on
the left arm, is the above device, which were probably the arms of
Fitz-Gilbert.
* See coloured illustration.