Ancient Heraldic Glass at Knole, Sevenoaks

􀀑rrlt􀀒ologhr 􀀓nntiana ANCIENT HERALDIC GLASS AT KNOLE, SEVENOAKS by CANON D. INGlWd. HILL, M.A., F.S.A. MuoH attention has been given over the last century to the collections of medieval stained glass in the cathedrals of England and such parish churches as have still preserved some ancient glass. Much less attention has been paid to the considerable collections of heraldic glass of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, which can still be seen in the halls and common rooms of some Oxford and Cambridge colleges, in the Inns of Court in London and in the halls and galleries of some of the great country houses in many parts of the land. In one of the finest of all these mansions, Knole, at Sevenoaks, is a quantity of heraldic glass dating from the second half of the sixteenth century and the earlier part of the seventeenth century and, though some of this was destroyed by a land mine in 1940, a great deal still remains. No careful record of this exists in print, and it is the object of this article to set down lists of all the pieces in different parts of the house and to note coats of arms which were in the house in 1937 when I first inspected the collection and which have vanished for ever as a result of enemy action. Most of this glass can be seen in the Great Hall and staircase, and in the Brown, Leicester and Cartoon Galleries, which are open to the public; other glass is in the private part of the mansion, notably the medieval chapel and the family pew at its west end, and in the Music Room. The most ancient piece of glass is to be seen at the very top of the oriel window over the gatehouse inside the Green Court. This was probably a private chapel or oratory for Cardinal Thomas Bourgchier, a great-grandson of King Edward III, who acquired the estate of Knole for the See of Canterbury in 1456 and built the oldest part of the house. This piece of glass depicts his personal device, a falcon, and the well-known double knot of the Bourgchiers, many examples of which can be seen in the Lady Chapel off the Martyrdom Transept in Canterbury Cathedral built in his time. The house was used by his successors until the time of Cranmer, who gave it to Henry VIII. One of the downstairs rooms is still known as Cranmer's Room and contains some good modern copies of coats of the Cranmer family. The original coats have been moved to another room on the same level, but on the 1 CANON D. INGRAM HILL other side of the Gatehouse, called the Music Room. Here in an oriel are several coats all connected with the Cranmer family, but at least fifty years later in date than the death of the unhappy Archbishop Thomas (1556) since the date 1612 appears in the second light among a number of scraps, and from the style these coats are obviously Jacobean rather than Tudor in date. The first coat may be made up of pieces from other vanished shields. lt seems to be: Argent a pelican vulning itself sable a chief ermine and underneath a cross paty sable impaling argent three bars sable a canton ermine. The size of the pelican here suggests that the dexter half of the shield housed a simple Cranmer coat ldentical with the fifth coat described below; it seems probable that this may have been broken at some time and repaired with odd pieces. In the second light is a shield in a oartouche made up of scraps. These are mostly of the same date as the rest of the heraldry here, and the date 1612 places most of this work as being Jacobean; but there are also some pieces which seem to go back long before this to Cardinal Bourgcbier's time, notably the head of an angel with golden hair and an apparelled amice and a piece of a cheeky pavement. The third light contains a fine coat of eight quarters: 1, 3, 6 Cranmer: Argent on a chevron azure three cinquefoils or between three pelicans. 2, 4, 5, 8 Aslaoton: Argent five fusils in fesse gules each charged with an escallop or. 7 is much worn and may be Marshall: Azure a bend argent. Underneath is an inscription: John Cranmer sonne of Edmund married the daughter of Marshall de Mulchin. This was the grandfather of Archbishop Thomas Cranmer; he married Alice Marshall, of Muschamp, in 1450. The Cranmer family came from Sutterton, Lines., moving about 1425 into Nottinghamshire when Edmund Cranmer bought land in Aslacton near the estate of his wife Isabella. At one time, the Cranmers used a canting coat with a crane as the principal charge; it is said that Henry VIII ordered the change to a pelican when Thomas became Archbishop c. 1539 to signify his readiness to shed his blood for the benefit of his spiritual children. (Jasper Ridley's Thomas Oranmer). The fourth light has a handsome coat in a well preserved cartouche inscribed: Thomas Cranmer sonne and heir of John married Agnes daughter of Lamerus Hatfield of Willoughby had issue John Cranmer, Thomas Cranmer Archbishop of Canterbury, Edmund Cranmer Arohdeacon of Canterbury. Quarterly of eight. I and 4 Cranmer. 2 and 3 Aslacton impaling. Morton. Quarterly 1 and 4 Gules the head of a goat erased argent 2 and 3 Ermine. 2 ANCIENT HERALDIC GLASS AT KNOLE, SEVENOAKS According to the Visitation of Nottinghamshire, one of the Archbishop's nephews, another Thomas, married Elizabeth Morton. The Morton coat was, of cow-se, borne by the famous Cardinal, who lived much at Knole from 1486 to 1500. The fifth coat is the simple Cranmer one: Argent on a chevron azure three cinquefoils or between three pelicans sable. Some of the chevron seems to have peeled off, and only a little of the cartouche remains. There was formerly a sixth coat here which has now disappeared. It seems to have been the quarterly Cranmer coat impaling Hatfield: Ermine on a chevron gules three cinquefoils argent. Thomas Cranmer, Senior, married Agnes Hatfield, of W i lloughby, as the inscription in the fourth light records. Is it possible that that inscription really belongs to this lost coat and has been moved under the fourth coat by mistake1 It seems out of place there anyway. In a big window immediately over the Cranmer room looking into the Green Court are six curious pieces of glass possibly of early nineteenth- century date, each with a scroll on it lettered: Sackville Compton- Sackville Cranfield-Sackville Curzon-Saokville Clifford- Sackville Howard-Sackville Baker. Most of the glass in the house can be seen in the Cartoon Gallery, where are two different sets of shields dating from the latter part of the reign of Elizabeth I and James I, respectively. This fine gallery is lit by many windows, two of great size in which are now ten coats of arms of eminent law officers of the Crown in the latter part of the sixteenth century; these are rather small, set high up in the vnndows and may date from the time when the Crown held Knole, for though the estate was granted to the Sackvilles as early as 1566 Earl Thomas of Dorset did not gain complete possession until 1603. There were originally twelve of these coats, six in each window, but two at the far end were destroyed by enemy action in 1940. The six coats in the first window to be examined are, from left to right: I. 'William Aubrey Judge of Audience and one of the Masters of Requests'; to record verbatim the inscription which appears under this coat, as is the case with them all. He was a, Welsh lawyer born in 1529 in the Coru1ty of Brecknock. In 1583, he was a Professor of Civil Law at Oxford and Fellow of All Souls, Vicar General to Archbishop Edmund Grindal and his successor John Whitgift, being buried in 1595 in Old St. Paul's Cathedral. His coat is quarterly of six: 1 and 6 Aubrey: Azure a. chevron between three eagles' heads erased or at the fess point a martlet. 2 Llikyer: Argent a lion rampant sable armed and langued gules. 3 Egerton: Sable a chevron between three pheons argent. 3 CANON D. INGRAM IDLL 4 Cookbourne: Argent three cooks gules. 5 This quartering h!1'5 been broken and repaired with plain glass. II. 'John Herbert Esquire on of these of Requests' Another Welshman from Swansea and an M.P. Secretary of State to the Queen, 1600, knighted, 1602, and dying in 1617. He was a Master of the Court of Requests; this court, though set up long before, was developed by the Tudor sovereigns as a civil court corresponding to the Star Chamber. This is one of the most elaborate coats in the house and seems to have been of nineteen quarterings; the first three quarterings are missing and the whole coat is so badly broken and in such a poor state that I have made no attempt to blazon it. III. 'Thomas Snagge one of the Queen's Majesties Serjents at Law' He was an M.P. and Speaker of the Commons, 1588. Borne in 1536, he became a Serjeant in 1580, married one of the Dikons family and is buried at Marston Morteyne in Bedfordshire, where his tomb can still be seen in the church. The ooat is a simple one: Argent three pheons sable. IV. 'Gilbert Gerrard Knight Master of the Rowles' Gerrard became Master of the Rolls in 1581 and his career, like that of his contemporaries ·whose coats are at Knole, can be followed by reference to the D.N.B. He wa.s a Gray's Inn man, and his coat can also be seen in contemporary glass in the Hall there. Quarterly of four: 1 and 4 Gerrard: Azure a lion rampant ermine crowned or. 2 and 3 Ince: Argent three torteaux in bend between two cotises sable. V. 'John Popham Attorney General to the Queen's Majesty' 1 and 4 Popham: Argent on a chief gules two stags heads caboshed or 2 and 3 Kentisbeare: Gules a pair of wings conjoined argent debruised by a bend azure. (There appears to be a crescent or at the fesse point.) John Popham, Q.C., 1531 to 1607, Speaker of the Commons, 1580, was a great figure in the State Trials of the reign, acting as prosecuting Counsel at the trial of Father Edward Campion the Jesuit, and in the reign of James I presiding as Lord Chief Justice at the trials of Raleigh and Guy Fawkes. VI. 'John Perkeruge one of the Queen's Majesties Serjants-at-Law' This is in fact the coat of Sir John Puckering, 1544-96, a Yorkshire lawyer who became a Governor of Lincoln's Inn, Speaker of the Commons and Lord Keeper of the Great Seal in the reign of Elizabeth, who greatly favoured him. His coat (quarterly of six there) can be seen 4 ANCIENT HERALDIC GLASS AT KNOLE, SEVENOAKS on his grandiose tomb in the chapel of St. Paul in Westminster Abbey, in the Hall of the Law Courts in Chancery Lane, and was formerly in the new Hall of Lincoln's Inn. It is not easy to blazon this Knole coat, which is quarterly of eight, for the top four quarters have been set inside out, reading 4 3 2 1 (perhaps after war-time bombing) and much of this coat is in a poor state and hard to decipher heraldically. It should be: 1 and 8 Puokering: Sable a bend fusilly ootised argent. 2 Ashton: Argent a mullet sable thereon an annulet or. 3 Strangeways: Sable two lions passant argent. 4 1 Argent a cross patonce sable. 5 Barton: Ermine on a fesse gules three annulets or. 6 Hopwood: Argent three pales vert. 7 Lever: Argent two bends sable the upper one engrailed. At the other end of this gallery, looking into the Green Court, are four coats of the same series. Two coats formerly here were those of Dr. Julius Caesar, Judge of Admiralty, and Willia.m Lewyn, M.P. for Rochester, Judge of Prerogative and Chancellor of the Diocese of Rochester, a Kentish man whose grandiose tomb can still be seen in the church at Otterden, near Faversham, where he resided. The remaining four coats are now placed in the middle lights of the window, the outer ones being left blank. VII. 'Richard Cole of the Arches', the inscription partly broken. Quarterly: 1 and 4 .Azure a lion rampant or. 2 and 3 Or a cross sable between four storks proper with legs and beaks gules. This is an obscure coat. The only Cole who might fit here is Henry Cole who died c. • 1580, an official of the Court of Arches, Dean of Peculiars and a judge of the archiepiscopal court of audience in the time of Cardinal Pole. VIII. 'Ralph Rokeby Esquier of the Mr. of Requests' Another Yorkshireman appointed Master in 1576. A Lincoln's Inn man buried in 1596 in St. Andrew's Church, Holborn. Argent a chevron sable between three rooks proper on the chevron a crescent or for difference. IX. 'Christopher Wraye Knight Lord Chiefe Justice of England' Another lawyer from Lincoln's Inn, who became Speaker of the Commons in 1571 and, like Popham, played a, leading part in the trial of Father Campion. The coat has been repaired and seems to be: Azure on a. chief or three martlets gules. 5 CANON D. INGRAM HILL X. 'Roger Manwood Kt Lo. Chiefe Baron of Exchequer' This shrewd and possibly corrupt lawyer is well remembered in east Kent, having founded a Grammar School which still flourishes in Sandwich. His almshouse in Canterbury stands on the village green at Hackington, about a mile away from the Cathedral, and his tomb can be seen in the church of St. Stephen a few yards away, with a portrait bust of the old knight looking down on his effigy. This coat appears, of course, on the tomb: Sable two pallets or on a chief of the second a demi lion issuant of the first. In the other windows of this same Gallery are a fine set of early seventeenth-century coats of arms, each set in a handsome cartouche with a coronet above the coat, commemorating the alliances of the Sackville family. Thomas Sackville received Knole from Queen Elizabeth in 1568, though he did not obtain complete possession until 1603. He was made Lord Buckhurst and a Knight of the Garter in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and soon after the accession of James I in 1604 he was made Earl of Dorset. At his death his son Robert succeeded to title and estates, but he died within a year and his son, Sir Richard, was the third earl, in whose time it would seem that these coats were inserted. At the outbreak of the Second World War, there were twentyone of them in this gallery, but the land mine, which did such damage here, destroyed seven coats and only fourteen now remain, each with the name SACVILLE and the family allied to it on a label below the coat. (There seems to have been a good deal of restoration, and in some cases renewal.) Here is a list of the coats in the present order, with a note about those destroyed in the last war, from the bottom of the gallery to the big window at the far end: I. SACVILLE: Quarterly or and gules over all a bend vair impaling CLIFFORD: Chequy or and azure a fess gules. The third earl married Lady Anne Clifford, who was born in 1590 and died in 1676 as Countess of Northumberland. Earl Richard wa.s so extravagant that he ruined his family, dying prematurely in 1624, aged thirty-five. II. (Here was the coat of Saoville impaling Howard quarterly commemorating the short-lived second Earl Robert who married Lady Margaret Howard, daughter of the Duke of Norfolk. She was his third wife. He is best remembered as the founder of the well-known almshouse, Sackville Hospital, in East Grinstead.) 6 ANCmNT HERALDIO GLASS AT KNOLE, SEVENOAKS III. SACVILLE impaling BAKER: Azure a fesse or charged with three cinquefoils gules between three swans necks erased and ducally gorged of the second. This coat, much repaired with old pieces, commemorates the marriage of the first earl in 1554 with Cecily Baker, daughter of Sir John Baker, of Sissinghurst, a kinsman of the Sackvilles. She died in 1615, having borne the Earl three daughters and four sons. Earl Thomas, a cousin of Queen Elizabeth, was a great man in her reign, holding the offices of Lord Treasurer and High Steward, in which last capacity he presided at the trial of the Earl of Essex whom he sentenced to be beheaded. He is buried with others of his family at Withyham. IV. SACVILLE impaling BRUGES: Argent on a cross sable a leopard's head or. This is the coat of Sir Richard Sackville, M.P. for Kent and Privy Councillor, father of Earl Thomas. He married, in 1520, Winifred, daughter of Sir John Bruges, Lord Mayor of London, and died in 1566. V. SACVILLE impaling BULLEN: Argent a chevron gules between three bull's heads couped sable quartering HOO Quarterly sable and argent (third quarter missing). Sir John Sackville, M.P., was the father of Sir Richard and in his time Sheriff of Surrey and Sussex. He married Anne, daughter of Sir William Bullen and aunt of the famous Queen Anne, the ill-fated consort of Henry VIII, thus establishing what was to prove a vital family link with the future Elizabeth I. Sir Geoffrey Bullen in the fifteenth century had married Anne, daughter of Lord Hoo and Hastings, hence the Hoo quarterings. VI. SACVILLE impaling DIGGES: Gules on a cross argent five eagles displayed sable armed of the field. Sir Richard, Sheriff of Sussex and Surrey in the reign of Henry VIII, was Treasurer of the Army in France in 1519. At his death in 1524, he was buried at Withyham, where most of the family lie. He married Isabel, daughter of John Digges, of Barham, a well-known Kentish family found also at Reigate in Surrey. They had four sons and six daughters, the youngest of whom was the last Prioress of St. Mary, Olerkenwell. VII. SACVILLE impaling BROWNE: Quarterly 1 and 4 sable between two bendlets azure three lions passant argent. 2 and 3 Gules a lion rampant or. 7 CANON D. INGRAM HILL Humphrey, son and heir of Edward Sackville, who died in the middle of the fifteenth century, married Catherine Browne, daughter of Sir Thomas Browne chamberlain of the Royal Household. The Brownes were a branch of the .Arundel family.) VID. SACVILLE impaling COLPEPPER: Argent a bend engrailed gules. Christopher, youngest son of John Sackville, married Constance Culpeper in the middle of the sixteenth century. IX. Said to be SACK.VILLE impaling NOWERS. Only the title and surrounding glass is old; the rest is new glass. It has not been possible to discover any connection between these two families. It seems more likely that this should be a. Wakehurst coat since Sir Edward Sackville married Margaret Wakehurst. He was son and heir of Sir Thomas, dying in 1459, and for the sake of completing this genealogical series the ooa.t of Sa.okville impaling Wa.kehurst should ha.ve appeared somewhere in this series. The following shields have been rearranged since the Second World War. This is the present order: X. SACVILLE impaling AGUILLON: Gules a. fleur de lis argent. A new coat (originally no. 15). Jordan de Sa.cville, son of William, married Margaret, daughter of Sir Robert D' Aguillon. He was taken prisoner at the battle of Evesha.m in arms against the Crown and died in 1272. XI. SACVILLE impaling ARUNDEL quarterly. 1 and 4 Gules a lion rampant or =Fitzalan 2 and 3 Sable fretty or=Matra.vers. The Fitzalan family in the later Middle Ages were Earls of Arundel and Barons Matravers; the titles passed to the Howards in Tudor times. XII. SACVILLE impaling MALLINES: Or a bend gules a five pointed label azure. In the late-thirteenth century Andrew, son of William Sackville, was left as a minor in Dover Castle under the care of Sir Stephen de Pencester; he was released on condition that he married Ermyntrude, daughter of Sir Roger Malyns, one of the Queen's Ladies, which he did. He was at the Siege of Calais under Edward ID in 1293, dying in 1296. XIII. SACVILLE impaling MORTIMER {MORTUOMORE) Azure three bars or on an inescutcheon argent on a chief of the first two pallets between as many gyrons of the second. 8 ANCIENT HERALDIC GLASS AT KNOLE, SEVENOAKS This is a new coat in an old setting. It would appear to commemorate the marriage of Sir Andrew Sackville with Joan, daughter of Roger Mortimer. She was his second wife and bore him a son Thomas. See no.XV. XIV. SACVILLE impaling DE LA BEACH: Vairy gules and argent. Sir Andrew's first wife was Joan, sister and heiress of John de la Beach. He was born in ] 306 and married three times, being M.P. for the County of Sussex and also Sheriff of Surrey and Sussex and companion in arms of Edward, the Black Prince. He died just before him in 1370. XV. SACVILLE impaling DALLINGRIDGE: Argent a cross gules in a dexter canton a mullet sable. (Burke says the cross should be engrailed and the field or not argent.) Sir Thomas Sackville, M.P. for Bucks, 1377, married Margaret, daughter of Sir Edward Dallingridge, of Bodiam Castle, Sussex, by whom he had five sons and four daughters. He was Sheriff of Sussex and Surrey and served under Henry V, dying c. 1432. XVI. SACVILLE impaling HASTINGS: Or a maunche gules. This was a new coat commemorating the marriage of William, son of Jordan Saokville to Clare, daughter of Matthew de Hastings. XVII. SACVILLE impaling NORMANVILLE: Argent on a fesse cotised gules three fleurs de lis of the field. T h is lost shield commemorated the marriage of Sir Jordan de Sackville to Maud Normanville. Sir Jordan was one of the barons who forced King John to sign the Magna Charta.. He recovered his Irish estates in the reign of Henry ill. XVill. SACVILLE impaling BROOKE: Gules on a chevron argent a lion rampant sable. This seems to be a new coat and has not been moved. Sir Jeffrey Sackville, third son of Sir Jordan, married Constance, daughter of Sir Edmund Brooke. XIX. SAOVILLE impaling VERE: Quarterly gules and or. In the first quarter a five-pointed mullet argent. Sir Jordan Saokville married Clementine de Vere, a daughter of the Earl of Oxford. He died in 1208, leaving no issue. XX. SAOVILLE impaling DENE: Argent fretty vert. This seems to have been a new coat commemorating the marriage of Jordan, eldest son of Robert with Ela Dene in Norman times. She was 9 CANON D. INGRAM HILL the daughter of Ralph de Dene and co-heiress with her brother, Robert, of the Manor of Buckhurst, which thus came into the family of Sackville. XXI. SACVILLE impaling WO ODVILLE: Argent a fesse and canton conjoined gules. Sir Robert de Sacville, third son of the famous Herbrand, married Laetitia, daughter of Sir Henry Woodville. She bore him four sons, which did not prevent him from becoming in later life a monk of the monastery of St. John in Colchester, Essex. In the Leicester Gallery in an oval medallion at the far end of the Gallery is an interesting piece of glass of the sixteenth century: a half figure in helm and cuirass against a deep blue diapered ground inscribed below: HERBR.ANDUSDESACVILL Praepotens Normanus intravit Angliam cum GuUelmo Oonq·uestore. Ano Dn. MLXVI. This is the founder of the family, a Norman baron who came over with Duke William of Normandy in 1066. So the fortunes of the Sackville family can be traced for some six centuries in this interesting series of coats and panels. In the Great Hall of Knole are Tudor coats as well as others of later date. At the far end of the Hall from the normal entrance is the royal coat of Elizabeth in the first window on the right-hand side in a cartouche: France and England quarterly surmounted with a crown a lion crest on top. The motto 'Semper eadem' and the usual supporters, a lion crowned and a dragon gules both rampant, appear. Underneath in the same window is a coat which has been broken and repaired. It is intended to be SACVILLE impaling DEAN, but though the cartouche is complete the Dean part of the coat is made up and instead of the correct blazon-argent fretty vert-a hand in a. white sleeve on a blue ground has been put in with a plain piece of ruby glass to fill the rest of the shield. In the next window is an elaborate coat of nine quarters for Lionel CranfieldS ackville, K.G., firstD uke ofD orset, 1688-1765. His portrait by Kneller hangs in the Ballroom nearby, and his stall plate, dated 1724, can be seen in St. George's Chapel, Windsor, with even more quarterings than appear here. The coat has been broken and repaired with yellow glass but the nine quarterings are intact, arranged in three rows: I and 9 Sackville 2Dean I 3 Aguillon 10 ANCIENT HERALDIC GLASS AT KNOLE, SEVENOAKS 4 Dallingridge (see Cartoon Gallery coats) 5 Neville: Lozengy or and gules on a canton argent six billets azure. 6 Courci: Argent three eagles displayed gules crowned or. 7 Curzon: Azure on a bend between two lions passant guardant argent three blackbirds proper. (The fourth earl, who died in 1652, married Mary Curzon of Croxhall, Derbyshire.) 8 Cranfield: Argent on a, pale azure three :fl.eurs de lis of the field. (The fifth earl, who died in 1677, married Lady Frances Cranfield, daughter and heiress of the Earl of Middlesex.) In the next window is a plain coat of the Sackville family of the same date. Both these eighteenth-century coats are square panels; in each case, the coat has the leopard supporters and for crest an estoile of six points rising out of a coronet of eight fieurs de lis. Both are gartered with the family motto as well. In the next window is an early seventeenth-century coat of VERE recalling the alliance said to have taken place in the thirteenth century between the families of Vere and Sackville. It has been broken at some time and repaired at the bottom with plain glass. The shield is set in an oval medallion with a coronet above and there are eight quarterings, and mermaids supporting the cartouche on each side. 1 Vere: Quarterly gules and or in the first quarter a mullet argent. 2 Fitzhamo: Azure a lion rampant or. 3 Samford: Barry nebuly of six argent and azure. 4 Badlesmere: Argent a fesse between two bars gemel gules. 5 Sergeaux: Argent semy of cherries gules slipped vert a saltire sable. 6 Clare: Or three chevrons gules. 7 Colbrooke: Argent on a lion rampant gules a fesse or charged with three crosses paty fitchy sable. 8 De Quincy: Argent a fret gules. On the opposite side of the Rall facing the dais is a fine coat of the ill-fated Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, beheaded for treason in February 1601. He was co-trustee with the Earl of Dorset for the estate of Knole in the latter part of Elizabeth's reign, which is doubtless why his coat appears here. The coat is quarterly of sixteen with a coronet above and garter around, the enamel of which has peeled off rather. The inscription below reads: 'Robart Devereux Earle of Essex Mr. of the Queene's Horse' (Archbishop Bourgchier was grand-uncle to the mother of this famous Earl.) 11 CANON D. INGRAM HILL The quarterings are arranged in four rows as follows: Devereux: Argent a fesse gules in chief three torteaux. Bourgchier: Argent a cross engrailed gules between four water budgets sable. Plantagenet of Gloucester: France and England quarterly. Bohun: Azure three bendlets or between six lions rampant argent. Milo: Or two bendlets gules. Mandeville: Gules an escarbuncle or. Lovaine: Gules a fesse argent between six billets or. Woodville: Argent a fesse and canton conjoined gules. Crophule: Argent a saltire gules fretty or. Audley: Gules a fret or. Le Mareshal: Per pale or and vert a lion rampant gules. Le Mareschal: Gules a band lozengy or. Ferrera of Chartley: Vairy or and gules. Chester: Azure three garbs or. De Quenci: Gules seven mascles or three three one. Earldom of Leicester: Gules a cinquefoil ermine. In the windows of the Great Staircase which leads out of the Hall to the floor above are many quarries-some sixty in all-showing the Sackville crests: a ram's head and a leopard argent spotted sable sejant affronte on a ground azure. These devices are painted in enamel with a coronet above the crest. Among all these quarries in the windows which light the staircase are two larger pieces: a Sackville coat of six quarterings coroneted and gartered with leopard supporters and the ram's head crest above. The coat is encircled with a garter, and under it is the family motto, 'Toujours loyal'. It is not in very good condition and is broken in one place on the motto strip. 1 and 6 Sackville; 2 Deane; 3 Or a bend gules a label of six points azure; 4 De la Beach; 5 Or two lions passant guardant gules. The other device shows the ram's head encircled with a garter with a coronet above. At the entrance to the Brown Gallery at the top of the staircase is a small lobby in whose windows can be seen some rather dull figures in grisn.ille depicting the Virtues-Prudentia, Justitia and Fortitudolate seventeenth-century work from Holland or Belgium in all probability. Just inside the Gallery on the right side is a small closet fitted up as an oratory, in whose windows are two panels of the same period and style in enamel; one shows a warrior in classical armour standing 011 a shield with battle scenes inset, while the other depicts the sacrifices of Cain and Abel. Cain is dispatching his victim with a bone in the manner of Samson. On either side of these panels are some charming flower panels, one showing a tulip, which suggests that these are Dutch pieces 12 ANCIBNT HERALDIC GLASS AT KNOLE, SEVENOAKS of the Ia.te seventeenth-century when a tulip mania swept through the Netherlands. In the main Gallery a.re some excellent examples of early Tudor heraldry-the three ostrich feathers of the Prince of Wales and the motto Ich Dien in a blue wreath bound with clasps of gold, red and white, with a princely coronet above. This would seem to be the arms of Edward VI as Prince of Wales and so dates from the last decade or so of the reign of Henry VIII. In another window is a Tudor rosegules and argent barbed vert, set in a wreath purpure and surmounted by a golden crown; the letters H and R intertwined appear at top and bottom, presumably for Henry VIII. In a large window at the bottom of the Gallery are two more pieces of Royal heraldry: a crowned fleur de lis in a purple wreath with letters H and R, and a splendid late fifteenth-century coat of the Royal Arms, which may be that of Henry VII and is probably the best piece of glass in the house. It is France and England quarterly, crowned and gartered, the coat of arms executed in rich pot metal with a crown in yellow sta.in. Knole possesses a lovely private chapel dating from the fifteenth century and erected either in the time of Cardinal Bourgchier or his successor Morton. It has been beautifully restored in recent years under the direction of Mr. Stephen Dykes Bower and is still used by the Sackville family, but is not among those rooms shown to the general public. In the large east window set in plain glass is a grisaille panel of the Crucifixion of late seventeenth-century work, and in the tracery above the figures of the Twelve Apostles with their emblems; in the top row are Peter, James Major, Philip, Matthew, James the Minor and Matthias, while in the row below are Andrew, John, Bartholomew, Thomas, Simon and Paul. In one of the windows on the south side of the chapel is a small sixteenth-century Annunciation, with a rhyming inscription in German below. At the back of the chapel is the Family Pew, from which it is ea.sy to inspect the interesting pieces of glass in the south-west window. Like all the rest of the glass in this chapel, it is foreign work and may have been procured abroad by some members of the family doing the Grand Tour or in the years that followed the Napoleonic Wars, when many art treasures from plundered and dissolved monasteries were on the market and available for purchase by wealthy English connoisseurs. Pieces here include a dull brown panel of enamel work showing the herald angel of St. Luke II appearing to shepherds with the inscription 'Gloria in excel-sis Deo', and also a seventeenth-century panel of the Crucifixion with Mary and John on either side of the Rood, Mary Magdalene at the foot of the cross with her pot of ointment lying on the ground, and angels catching the blood of the Saviour in chalices. Small panels show St. Mark and the lion, St. John and the eagle, and 13 CANON D. INGRAM HILL also St. Jerome and the lion-part of a set of the Four Evangelists and the Four Latin Doctors of the Church. In addition, there are scenes of the adoration of the Magi and the Resurrection as well as a group of scenes of Christ's Passion-the Last Supper, Christ arrested in Gethsemane with Peter striking down Malchus, and the scourging of Jesus. A piece of glass of German origin shows St. Peter with a key and St. Martin as a bishop with crosier, vested in cope and mitre, carrying a church in his hand and accompanied by three geese. All in all, the glass in the great house at Knole may be counted as one of the many attractions of this wonderful mansion, so rich in pictures, furniture and art treasures of every description, still housed in their original setting and guarded lovingly by the National Trust and a devoted team of guides and helpers headed by members of the Sackville family, whose home this has been for so many centuries. To all this band of people I record my gratitude for the help given and the interest shown in the preparation of this paper over many years. I have read carefuJJy the various guides to Knole, from Bridgeman's Topographical Sketch of I{ nowle in Kent, published in 1797 in London, to the excellent guide by the late V. Sackville-West and her charming book, Knole and the SackviUes. For information about Cranmer and his family I have relied upon the biographies of Professor A. F. Pollard and Mr. Jasper Ridley, and for information a.bout members of the Sackville family and the Law Officers of the Crown in the time of Elizabeth I, whose arms appear in the Cartoon Gallery, I have consulted the invaluable Dictionary of National Biography. The standard works on heraldry by Papworth and Burke have played their part in the identification of many of the coats of arms in various parts of the house. 14