Page:A Complete Guide to Heraldry.djvu/460

 Of instances of single objects from which shields are found depending or supported the "Treatise on Heraldry" states:—

"Allusion has been made to the usage by which on vesica-shaped shields ladies of high rank are represented as supporting with either hand shields of arms. From this probably arose the use of a single supporter. in 1284, and  in 1311, bear in one hand a shield of the husband's arms, in the other one of their own. The curious seal of, Countess of , in 1284, may be considered akin to these. In it the shield is supported partly by a falcon, and partly by a human arm issuing from the sinister side of the vesica, and holding the falcon by the jesses (, i. 764). The early seal of , King of , in 1255, bears a knight holding a shield charged with the Polish eagle (, Die Siegel des Mittelalters). In 1283 the seal of  of  bears a warrior in chain mail supporting a shield charged with a lion impaling an eagle dimidiated.

"On the seal of in 1322 the guige is held by a swan, the badge of the Earls of ; and in 1356 the shield of the first Earl of  is supported by a lion whose head is covered by the crested helm, a fashion of which there are many examples. A helmed lion holds the shield of, Duke of , in 1326.

"On the seal of, Duc de , in 1393 the supporter is a helmed swan (compare the armorial slab of of , in , Plate LXXIX.). Jean IV., Comte d' (1408), has a helmed lion sejant as supporter. In 1359 a signet of , Count of , bears a lion sejant, helmed and crested, and mantled with the arms of  between two small escutcheons of , or the county of Burgundy ["Azure, billetty, a lion rampant or"], and  ["Gules, two heads of rakes fesswise in pale or"].

"A single lion sejant, helmed and crested, bearing on its breast the quartered arms of between two or three other escutcheons, was used by the Dukes up to the death of  in 1475. In  splendid work, Famiglie celebri Italiane, the  arms are supported by a brown dog sejant, helmed, and crested with a pair of dragon's wings issuing from a crest-coronet. On the seal of, Earl of , in 1380 the shield is buckled round the neck of the white hind lodged, the badge of his half-brother,  Single supporters were very much in favour in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and the examples are numerous.