The Battle Abbey Roll. Vol. III.
by
The Duchess of Cleveland.
ADDITIONAL NAMES GIVEN BY LELAND.
Prepared by Michael A. Linton
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Howard : That this is but another version of Hayward[1] is obvious from the inscription round the effigy of the founder of the great house of Howard in Long Melford Church—
"Drape for the good state of William Haward, Chef Justis of ynglonde."
Blomfield further informs us that he was "the son of John, the eldest son of William de Wiggenshall, who took the sir-name of Heyward, Hauuard, or Howard; and was the first of this Family of that Sir-name, which, as I take it, he took from the office of Heyward there."—History of Norfolk.
But if these kindred names are alike in origin, their history has been entirely different. While one of them has remained altogether without illustration, the other has been borne to the front by the noblest of the land. A long series of splendid alliances, each carrying with it the representation of some historic Norman name, has added trophy after trophy to their armorial shield, till "all the blood of all the Howards" has become the proverbial type and boast "of English aristocracy. On the roll of parliament the head of the house, as Premier Duke, stands far in advance of his peers, his title having been conferred sixty-four years before that of the Duke of Somerset, the next in rank; and one of his Earldoms—held by tenure of the castle of Arundel—dates from 1139. His ancestral coat-of-arms rests on the crossed truncheons that denote his hereditary dignity of Earl Marshal of England—one of the two great feudal offices that now alone survive; and on its silver bend
"The ruddy lion ramps in gold "
in memory of Lord Surrey's victory at Flodden. Twenty-two Howards have been installed Knights of the Garter: they have received in all eleven Earldoms; and one of them had the perilous honour of sharing the throne of Henry VIII.
Both these names must have been added by the monks.