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Valiant jousters upon crests
Mar. 1st, 2012 07:51 pmArtistic and historical female nudity. The crest of Dudley of Northamptonshire depicts: ‘Out of a ducal coronet or, a woman’s bust: her hair dishevelled, bosom bare, a helmet on her head with the stay or throat-latch down proper.’
The story behind it is pretty fun:
[T]he father of Agnes Hotot (who, in the year 1395, married an ancestor of the Dudleys,) having a quarrel with one Ringsdale concerning the proprietorship of some land, they agreed to meet on the ‘debateable ground,’ and decide their right by combat. Unfortunately for Hotot, on the day appointed he was seriously ill; “but his daughter Agnes, unwilling that he should lose his claim, or suffer in his honour, armed herself cap-a-pie, and, mounting her father’s steed, repaired to the place of decision, where, after a stubborn encounter, she dismounted Ringsdale, and when he was on the ground, she loosened the stay of her helmet, let down her hair about her shoulders, and, disclosing her bosom, discovered to him that he had been conquered by a woman.” This valiant lady became the heiress of her family, and married a Dudley, whence the latter family derived their right to this crest.
-- CURIOSITIES OF HERALDRY, M.A. Lower, Project Gutenberg. And it seems as if Agnes Hotot may have been real, or at least it seems stories about her have spread from more than one source. CURIOSITIES OF HERALDRY may be for you if you do not already know what vair is and wish to, or if you want to explore the colour symbolism of gules-et-argent as against gules-et-vert, or if Latin puns on people's family names are your thing.
The story behind it is pretty fun:
[T]he father of Agnes Hotot (who, in the year 1395, married an ancestor of the Dudleys,) having a quarrel with one Ringsdale concerning the proprietorship of some land, they agreed to meet on the ‘debateable ground,’ and decide their right by combat. Unfortunately for Hotot, on the day appointed he was seriously ill; “but his daughter Agnes, unwilling that he should lose his claim, or suffer in his honour, armed herself cap-a-pie, and, mounting her father’s steed, repaired to the place of decision, where, after a stubborn encounter, she dismounted Ringsdale, and when he was on the ground, she loosened the stay of her helmet, let down her hair about her shoulders, and, disclosing her bosom, discovered to him that he had been conquered by a woman.” This valiant lady became the heiress of her family, and married a Dudley, whence the latter family derived their right to this crest.
-- CURIOSITIES OF HERALDRY, M.A. Lower, Project Gutenberg. And it seems as if Agnes Hotot may have been real, or at least it seems stories about her have spread from more than one source. CURIOSITIES OF HERALDRY may be for you if you do not already know what vair is and wish to, or if you want to explore the colour symbolism of gules-et-argent as against gules-et-vert, or if Latin puns on people's family names are your thing.
