heraldryofyorkmi01custuoft

78 THE HERALDRY OF YORK MINSTER.
and Scrooby in proper repair, and has left this record behind him :
" was a man, beside the worthiness of his birth, highlie esteemed with his
"
He
" prince for his fast fidelitie and great wisdome." He died at Cawood on
September 2nd, 1507, having only held the Archbishopric for seven years.
His monument, as I have said, was erected to his memory by Thomas
Dalby, his chaplain. He seems to have been buried near his patron, and
to have survived him eighteen years, dying in 1525. Formerly there was a
brass on the floor, of which there is an illustration in Drake, to his memory.
He was Prebendary of North Leverton in the Cathedral of Southwell,
1505, and of South Newbald in York Minster the same year. The year
following he was collated to the Prebend of Stillington, and to the
Archdeaconry of Richmond.
At the south-west corner of the monument to Archbishop Savage
emblazoned with arms similar
there is a figure of an angel holding a shield
to those which were on Thomas Dalby's monumental tablet, viz., a garb
impaling a chevron ermine between three buckles. The latter is the cognizance
of Dalby, but it is difficult to identify the former accurately. Torre, in his
MS. history of the Minster and its property, mentions this coat as existing
in the prebendal house of Stillington, " in the hall window," " in the window
" of the dining-room above stairs," and carved in stone on the chimneypiece
of the same, with another shield containing a garb only. He thus
labels them " Richmond Archdeaconry impaling Dalby." For want of
more definite information I must accept his statement, but neither in the
Diocesan Record Offices of York or Chester, nor in the British Museum,
can I find any seal shewing what the device of the Archdeaconry of Richmond
actually was.
There is also an uncertainty as to the meaning of the dragons on
which the supporters of the arms of Savage, in the spandrels of the arch
above the tomb, stand. Perhaps they are intended to represent the dragon
on the banner of Edward III., which "signified fierceness and cruelty:"
memorials, therefore, of Crescy and brave Sir Thomas Danvers. Perhaps
they represent " the red dragon, ensign of Cadwalader, last King of the
" Britons, from whom, by a male line, Henry VII. is said to have derived
" his pedigree, and which, painted upon white and green silk, was his
" banner at Bosworth, and afterwards affixed up, amongst other trophies
" of his victory, at St. Paul's, and commemorated by the institution of a
" Pursuivant of Arms called Rouge Dragon."* Memorials, therefore, of that
brilliant victory, and gallant young Sir John Savage.
Perhaps they represent
both. Who can say
? But who can regard them otherwise than as
tokens of the heroic deeds done
" In the brave days of old."
* Sandford's lluiialcgical History.