Back in December, the British Library digitized and released to the public domain over 1 million images from its collection. The entire set can be viewed on Flickr. I took the liberty of creating a filter using the word "heraldry" and it can be accessed here: http://www.flickr.com/search/?w=12403504@N02&q=arms
Unfortunately, most of it is in black and white ... but it’s still really cool. I did find one grant of arms that was quite stunning. Perhaps more filter tinkering will help uncover more gems.
View full size: http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3752/12458934413_1f31c6733f_o.jpg
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3752/12458934413_b799dd1282_z.jpg
Jeremy Keith Hammond;101519 wrote:
but it’s still really cool. I did find one grant of arms that was quite stunning.
This is fantastic, and perhaps more fantastic than you realize. This is the grant of arms to the great-grandfather of the man whose tomb this is, now mounted on the wall in the vestibule of Bruton Parish Church, Williamsburg:
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3677/10984230214_4699e48518_z.jpg
Nathaniel Bacon, Sr (1620-1696), president of the Council and acting governor of Virginia in the 1680s and 90s. His nephew, Nathaniel Bacon, Jr, was the leader of Bacon’s Rebellion in 1676.
The arms are Quarterly, 1st and 4th Gules on a chief Argent two mullets pierced Sable (Bacon); 2nd and 3rd Or two bars Azure over all a bend Gules (Quaplade), with a crescent in fess point for difference.
Love the boar crest—a pun on "Bacon."
Well, damn.
Curious. NEHGS’s Committee on Heraldry says Nathaniel Bacon, governor, only used the first quarter.
Jeremy Keith Hammond;101523 wrote:
Curious. NEHGS’s Committee on Heraldry says Nathaniel Bacon, governor, only used the first quarter.
The NEHGS tends to register only the pronominal quarters, at least in a lot of cases I’ve found. Perhaps they reason that the quarterings can evolve over time, and that their use is usually optional.
Serendipitous find, indeed!
—Guy
You will note the argent of the Bacon chief in the arms and ermine boar in the crest has oxidised over the years.
John
Guy Power;101527 wrote:
Serendipitous find, indeed!
—Guy
Want a bit more serendipity? Nathaniel Bacon originally settled in Isle of Wight Co, Va, which is where Smithfield hams come from.
Doing a little more digging (and reading the actual text), this is not actually a grant to the direct ancestor of the two Nathaniel Bacons of Virginia. It’s not technically a grant of arms at all, but a confirmation of (allegedly) ancient arms to Sir Nicholas Bacon, Elizabeth I’s Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, along with the grant of a crest.
The ancestor of the Virginia Bacons was Sir Nicholas’s younger brother James Bacon, an alderman and sheriff of London. The same arms and crest, but with a mullet for difference instead of a crescent, were also confirmed to him in 1568, as documented in the visitation records. Perhaps James got a separate document.
It’s interesting that the cadency mark on the tomb at Williamsburg is a crescent, perhaps because the father of Nathaniel Bacon, Sr, was a second son.
Anyway, here’s the genealogy, for reference.
Robert Bacon of Drinkston
* Thomas Bacon
* Sir Nicholas Bacon, Lord Keeper
* James Bacon, alderman and sheriff
** Sir James Bacon of Friston
*** Rev James Bacon
**** Nathaniel Bacon, President of the Council of Va
** Nathaniel Bacon
*** Thomas Bacon, MP
**** Nathaniel Bacon the Rebel
I was also mistaken about the relationship between the two Virginians. They were second cousins, not uncle and nephew.