ITS 450TH BIRTHDAY

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 252, 21 July 1934, Page 18

ITS 450TH BIRTHDAY

College of Arms on Exhibition

For the first time in its life—and it is -150 years old—the College of Arms is to be opened to the public. The Heralds have never celebrated their anniversaries before,' but at the end of this month open house is to be kept at the historic building In Queen Victoria Street, in which Ire guarded documents and relics of world-wide interest. ' ? ■ <".A No country in the world possesses a collection of genealogical records equal to this. It is the charter from Richard HI. that the College is to. celebrate.

Actually the. work wag begun some centuries before Mary Tudor gave the Herolds Derby House, the old home of the Stanleys, for the purpose, as set out in her deed, “That the officers might meet together and agree among themselves.” The Great Fire of London started near to Derby House, and soon that was in flames. Not one record perished, for the Heralds, at some personal risk, carried them all to. safety. The .present college was bullfi on the same site, under the supervision of Sir Christopher Wren. - Originally a quadrangle, one wing was. pulled down In 1867 to make way for

Queen Victoria Street. The Heralds cannot say how many records they have! Some of them, in fact, have only been discovered now that preparations are afoot for the.public exhibition. _ ' t, . Some of the parchments have been bound In book form. One of them shown recently to a “Sunday Times” representative depicted the descent of the Saxon Kings, and its entries indicated that they went back through Adam and Eve to the Holy' Trinity itself 1 The record is further enlivened by entertaining drawings of Adam and Eve and the family of Noah. The Ark is shown as an open boat with a tall funneldlke tower in the centre. , But it is to the Rolls whose historical accuracy cannot be doubted that the Heralds will direct most attention during the exhibition. Three beautifully illustrated Parliament Rolls of *. King Henry VIII.’s reign, dated 1514, 1523, and 1539, are a of their times. The first two include the mitred abbots; the third does not, for during the few years which had intervened the monasteries had been dissolved.

Another Henry VIII. record is the Roll of Westminster Tournament held In February, 1510. It is 60 feet long, and- in beautiful script, and pictures shows the procedure of. entry into the lists. Whenever later tournaments and pageants recapitulating them have been held, it is this Roll that has been the basis of information. The family tree' of James Lis a picturesque document.’: It is depicted as a veritable tree, with the .first ancestor prone—asleep at the roots and portals of others hanging from the boughs of the tree. - • One of the relics is now the personal property of the Herald pf the House of; Lancaster,, .but will Ibe 'included in the exhibition. It is ! the original drawing of the proclamaj tion by the Heralds of, the Peace of Versailles in 1783 by -which the IndeI pendence of America was recognised. The most amusing record in the College Is a beautifully painted book of the arm granted by. Henry Christophe, the negro,, who appointed himself Emperor of Hayti in 1810. His particular friends he made Dukes and Marquesses, and must have enjoyed himself selecting the titles, tin the book is a painting of the shield of the Duke,of Marmalade, and another Of the Marquis of Lemonade. How-the book came to the college the Heralds do not know, but it is believed that the.negro sent it with “the Compliments of His Majesty" so that the College would not impinge on any armorial j bearings of the nobility he had created. The work of the College of Arms is not all in the past. Yhar by year creations are made'and new arms granted, and recently, coats of arms have had to be devised for the many new boroughs that have received charters. The forthcoming exhibition will be held in the romantic ■ Earl-Marshal’s .Court—the 'officer, of Earl-Marshal is hereditary in 'the family of the Dukes of Norfolk —and ..a large room opening oiit of it. It will be concerned only with England and Empire, for in Scotland the heraldic functions are performed hy the Lyon Klng-of-Arms, and in Ireland by the Ulster Klng-of-Arms.