Cornish heraldry

The arms blazoned Azure, a bend or, which were the subject of the cases

One of the earliest heraldic law cases brought in England was the 1389 case of Scrope v. Grosvenor. Scrope had found Grosvenor using the same arms as him, Azure a bend or, and set out to prove his sole right to use them. In heraldic law no two unrelated families in the same country are permitted to bear the same arms. Following a long court case it was decided that Scrope had the right to the arms and Grosvenor was forced to change his arms to Azure a garb or. It became known however that a Cornish knight by the name of Carminow was also using the disputed arms.

Carminow, seeing Scrope's use of his arms, challenged the right of Scrope to bear the arms. In this case, the constable of England declared that both claimants had established their right to the arms. Carminow had proven that his family had borne the arms "from the time of King Arthur", while the Scrope family had only used the arms "from the Norman Conquest of England". (Neither of these claims to such antiquity were in fact possible as the era of heraldry did not start until the late 12th century). The two families were, however, considered of different heraldic nations, Scrope of England, Carminow of Cornwall, and as such could both bear the same arms. As stated in the records of the case, Cornwall was in effect deemed a separate nation, "a large land formerly bearing the name of a kingdom."[1]

John Vivian and Henry Drake, in their preface to the Visitation of the County of Cornwall, commented as follows: "Cornwall may be considered pre-eminent in the antiquity of its family heraldry, since it was admitted in court during the memorable Scrope and Grosvenor controversy that the same arms, Azure a bend or, had remained in the family of Carminow from King Arthur."

There are few recorded instances of heraldic officials in the Cornish tradition, however, heralds may commonly have been employed in Cornwall primarily as minstrels and story tellers. The harpist John Hilton was appointed by King Richard II as Cornwall Herald in 1398 at about the time of the Carminow case. A Cornwall Herald attended the coronation of Henry V in 1413 and there was a Cornwall Herald at the battle of Agincourt who, with the Duke of Norfolk, was too ill to take part. During the reigns of Edward IV and Henry VII the March herald was King of Arms of the west parts of England, Wales and Cornwall.[2] Only one Cornish family is known to have had its own heraldic officer: Sir Richard Nanfan, Lord Deputy of Calais in 1503, retained a pursuivant or junior herald named Serreshal, but there may have been others.

Cornish heraldry generally conformed with the rules and customs of English heraldry, and therefore with the Gallo-British tradition. However, the use of arms was far more widespread amongst the Cornish than the English and there was far less control over the use of heraldry. The antiquary Richard Carew wrote in the early 17th century, "The Cornish appear to change and diversify their arms at pleasure...The most Cornish gentlemen can better vaunt of their pedigree than their livelihood for that they derive from great antiquity, and I make question whether any shire in England of but equal quantitie can muster a like number of faire coate-armours".[3] Jewers in his Heraldic church notes from Cornwall, c. 1860-80, mentions the large number of landowners using arms never registered with the College of Arms in London. Every large farm or barton in Cornwall housed its own "Gentleman of Coat Armour".[4]

Historically primogeniture, the inheritance by the eldest son of the family estate, was not commonly practised in Cornwall. Amongst the Cornish, lands commonly were divided equally amongst all sons which resulted in smaller broken up estates, and if no sons existed lands were divided between daughters or closest relatives, male or female.[5][6] This practice may have influenced the working and development of the Cornish tradition of heraldry.[7] When primogeniture was practised, younger brothers were often married to an heiress. The heiress's arms were then adopted by the husband in place of his own family's.[3]

For further reading; Coat of arms of the Prince of Wales

Title	Escutcheon	Greater Version	Blazon	Date of Creation
Duke of Cornwall			Sables, Fifteen bezants or, five, four, three, two, one	1337
Duke of Cornwall (as the Prince of Wales)			Quarterly, 1st and 4th Gules three lions passant guardant in pale Or armed and langued Azure (for England), 2nd quarter Or a lion rampant within a double tressure flory-counter-flory Gules (for Scotland), 3rd quarter Azure a harp Or stringed Argent (for Ireland), with over all a label of three points Argent, and on an inescutcheon ensigned by the coronet of the heir-apparent, quarterly, Or and Gules four lions passant guardant counterchanged (for the Principality of Wales)	1911
Shield of Peace			Sables, three feathers argent, slipped through scrolls inscribed 'Ich Dien'	1337

• Chough: the Cornish Chough, Cornwall's national bird, is very widely used in Cornish heraldry.

Arms of the Godolphin family of Godolphin, featuring a double-headed eagle

Arms of the Killigrew family, featuring both bezants and a double-headed eagle

• Double-headed eagle: eagles with two heads occur prominently in several Cornish arms, in contrast to the rest of Britain where they are rare. The popularity of this form of eagle is probably due to Richard, Earl of Cornwall, who bore such an eagle in his role as King of the Romans.[10]
• Bezants: Lower describes how Cornish families took the bezant from the arms of the ancient earls of Cornwall, "this coat is pretended to from Cadock or Cradock earl of Cornwall in the fifth century". The bezant in fact derives from the arms of Richard, Earl of Cornwall.
• Rose: the rose is an extremely common charge in Cornish heraldry, thought by Lower to originate in the Wars of the Roses. William Smith Ellis thought it might have been derived from an unknown Anglo-Norman family in Cornwall using it as an emblem and passing it on to their supporters. It is more likely, however, to derive from the Cornish placename element ros meaning a promontory or heathland, or res, a ford, Cornish gentry often using the name of their major estate as a surname. It is used by the family of Boscawen originally from Boscawen Rose.[10][11]

• Vaughan - Asgre lan dyogel ey pherchen (A good conscience is the best shield)
• Carminow - Cala rag whethlow (A straw for the talebearer)
• Glynn - Dre weres agan Dew ny (By the help of our God)
• Truscott and Gay - Gwir yn erbyn y byd (the truth against the world)
• Polwhele - Karenza wheelas Karenza (Love seeks out love)
• Tonkin - Kensol tra Tonkyn, ouna Dew mathern yn (Before all things Tonkin, fear God in the King)
• Williams - Meor vas tha dew (Gracious is thy God)
• Polkinghorne - Rag Matern a pow (For King and Country)
• Bolitho - Re deu (By God)
• Ruddle - Ruthek ha yagh (Ruddy and hearty)
• Tremenheere - Thrugscryssough ne Deu a nef (Do not disbelieve in God of Heaven)
• Tonkin - Yn ton kyn nyjyaf (In a wave I swim)
• Godolphin - Frank ha leal ettoga (Free and Loyal Forever) and Franc ha leal atho ve (Free and Loyal Am I)
• Boscawen -Bosco, Pasco, Karenza Venza (canting arms of unknown meaning, however Karensa a vynsa, covaytys ny vynsa (Love would, greed wouldn't) is a Cornish saying)
• Harris of Keneggy - Car Deu reyz pub tra (Love God above all)
• Noye of St Buryan - Teg yw hedhwch (Fair is peace)
• Gwavas - En Hav perkou Gwav (In summer remember winter)
• Sloggett of Tresloggett - Bethoh Dur (Be Bold)
• Harvey - Arva hep arveth (To arm without aggression)
• Tangye - Tangy an dorgallow
• Southcott - Nerth Dre Lelder (Strength Through Loyalty)
• Trenear-Harvey - "Harth mes Len" (Boldly but sincerely)
• Treen - A-barth an myghtern (For the King)[12]

The coat of arms of Cornwall Council

• Cornish Guild of Heralds - Tyr ha Tylu (Land and Family)
• Cornwall Council - Onen hag Oll (One and All)
• Old Cornwall societies - Myghtern Arthur nyns yu marrow (King Arthur is not dead)
• Federation of Old Cornwall Societies - Kyntelleugh an brewyon es gesys na vo kellys travyth (Gather ye the fragments that are left, that nothing be lost)
• Gorseth Kernow - An gwyr erbyn an bys (The truth against the world)[13][14]

Attributed arms of the Saint Piran family

• The heraldic achievements of the Vyvyan and Trevelyan families both reflect claims that they were descended from the only survivor of the destruction of Lyonesse who escaped on the back of a white horse. The Vyvyans having a horse for their crest and on their arms a lion rising out of the waves, whilst the Trevelyan's have a white horse rising out of the waves for their arms.[28]
• Saint Piran, a 6th-century abbot who later became Cornwall's patron saint, is said to have borne sable, a cross argent. This design is very popular today as a symbol of Cornwall, and it is used as the Cornish flag.