Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 9.djvu/445

 12 S. IX. Nov. 5, 1921.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 363 from the royal Welsh princes. Therefore the present question at issue is, why in the face of so romantic an origin for their coat of arms, does Burke's ' Peerage,' under Williams Bulkeley, blazon them as " Gules, a chevron ermine between three Saracens' heads couped at the shoulders " ? The account of Vychan's exploit and the sequel is given by both Matthew Paris and Matthew of Westminster, so that it can only be supposed that the modern description of the arms, of three Saracens' heads, is a corruption of the Welsh for three English- men's heads. Welsh heraldry retained the old name " Saxons " for the English of medieval times, and in Welsh that was Saeson. Hence, as the Saracen's head was so well known with English heralds, when the Welsh scribe wrote " Saeson " he was probably assumed to mean Sarcen for Saracen. At all events, in Berry's ' Encyclopaedia Heraldic a 'of 100 years ago, the arms were correctly given as Williams, Gu : a chev : erm : betw : three Saxons' heads couped argent. Williams of Penrhyn, the same with due difference. Williams (Cychwillan), Gu : a chev : erm : betw : three men's heads in profile, couped at the neck, ppr. hair and beards sa : Williams (Voynal, Caernarvonshire), Gu : a chev : erm : betw : three men's heads or, crined sa :. . . Altogether, the arms are given of 62 families of Williams, yet these are all in which human heads are mentioned. Therefore, perhaps it may be accepted that : 1. Burke's " three Saracens' heads " should be corrected to three Englishmen's heads. 2. That the arms were borne by only one family of Williams. 3. And that family was Williams of Pen- rhyn and Cochwillan, who descend from Ednyfed Vychan, a powerful noble in the time of Henry III., who was eighth in descent from Marshudd ap Cynan, died A.D. 877. But who was the Vychan of the story ? According to the Welsh chronicle, the ' Brut y Tywysogion,' " in 1245 King Henry III. assembled the power of England and Ire- land with the intention of subjecting all Wales, and came to Dyganny. And after fortifying the castle and leaving knights in it, he returned into England, having left an immense number of his army dead and unburied." The English version of the story is that Henry III. had assigned to his son, Prince Edward, his paramount claims in North Wales, but Llewelyn ap Gruffudd strenu- ously opposed him, with the result that there was prolonged war, mostly in favour of the Welsh. Reading the two English chroniclers, Matthew Paris and Matthew of West- minster, it appears that, in 1257, an English force, including 200 knights, was led into an ambush by Rhys Vychan. The force was massacred and the names of two of the English leaders, who were slain, are given. The * Brut y Tywysogion,' which tells the story under 1256, estimates the loss at 2,000, and is quite clear that this hero for to the Welsh he was a hero if to the English a traitor was Rhys Vychan, which agrees with the account of Matthew of Westminster. The dates, however, do not quite fit in, since Llewelyn ap Jorwerth the Great according to the * D.N.B.,' died in 1246, and the only Vychan given by that authority is the Edny-Ved Vychan (Vaughan, i.e. " the little ") previously mentioned, and he is described as a "statesman and warrior who signed a truce with Henry III. and Llewelyn ap Jorwerth in 1231. He took part in the Apud in 1241 and. was the an- cestor of the Tudors." In the Williams pedigree, Griffith ap Heillen of Cochwillan married Eva, the daughter and heiress of Griffith ap Tudor, eldest son of Tudor ap Madoc, Lord of Penrhyn. Perhaps some correspondent learned in Welsh pedigrees will be able to throw more light upon this fascinating story and identify the ancestor of the Williams to whom was granted so interesting a coat of arms. F. H. S. GLASS-PAINTERS OF YORK. (12 S. viii. 127, 323, 364, 406, 442, 485; ix. 21, 61, 103, 163, 204, 245, 268, 323.) WILLIAM PECKITT (continued). PECKITT was not only a man of taste and refinement, but also a highly ingenious person and something of an author. He had evidently a taste for chemical and scientific research, for in his will he mentions his " tellescope " " chyme obscura " and " large Ring dial," a glass globe and prism, microscope and " Limiaria." What this last was it i? difficult to say, and the * N.E.D.' does not afford any help. It might have been an instrument for viewing trans- parencies painted on glass, or some form of camera lucida such as was used as an