On England's Heraldic Visitation In Early Modern Time

From the beginning of early modern times,Heraldic Visitation has been an official administrative means to register the information of coats of arms,prevent the phenomenon of misuse,and maintain the order of usage in heraldry,for the purpose of strengthening monarchical power until 1688.Heraldic Visitation is not a sudden flash in Tudor Dynasty.Rather,it has a profound historical depth.With the introduction of feudalism to England,the English society gradually formed a complete system of Law of Arms corresponded with the knight service,not only stipulating the military utility of recognition in the war and social utility representing the status in the peace,but exclusively setting a series of the peerage's privileges and rights in heraldry,including of having heralds,specific heraldic jurisdiction,and appealing to the high court of chivalry as well.Afterwards,though,the levy of scutage and loose of feudal duty,weakened the military utility,the social utility was strengthened conversely.Consequently,the coat of arms met the demand of peerage's pursuit of honor and received recognition and popularity widely.Nevertheless,there existed congenital deficiency and acquired sufficiency.The Law of Arms itself characteristic of the dispersion of heraldic jurisdiction,gave rise to the dilemma that whatever the royal or the noble both had less influence over the trans-regional matters of heraldry.Moreover,owing to the lack of heraldic constitutional construction in the long-term period,the system failed to adopt new emergence,especially when the gentry appeared,and by all means getting the right of having coat of arms.But there was no rule could be applied to regulate the jurisdiction over them,which deepen the chaos of usage of it.These malpractices gave rise to one phenomena:during the early several centuries,self-assuming,occupying illegally,the abuse of usage,and dispute induced by use of same charges in separate armigerous families,were increased remarkably.In response to the challenge,the individual and the authority once took sort of measures to prevent the confusion,but failed.These measures didn't break the essence of Law of Arms,and the framework of Feudalism,the misuse still continued.To release the chaos and disorder demand centralizing the jurisdiction dispersed among peerage into the Crown,with strong forces to push the regulation and order.However,in the context of Feudalism,however,the latter cannot afford it.In early modern time,a series of new changes occurred,providing the possibility of the appearance of the Heraldic Visitation.At the microscopic aspect,the improvement in the institutional building,staffing arrangements,and the way of compilation,made preparation for the appearance of the Heraldic Visitation technically.From the macroscopic view,the Tudor Dynasty further stroke the great aristocracy,exert influence of kingship in all spheres of society,in order to strengthen the control of the heraldic affairs;Meanwhile,as the feudalism disintegrated further,the gentry and the city businessmen rose,and occupied a more and more important position in the local management and the financial support of the central government,which made them become the group the Tudor reign relied on.To move the heraldry's use qualification upwards,bring the gentry into a stable and orderly "England honor system"(quoted from Lawrence Stone),became one of the measures to obtain their support.In order to maintain the stability of the honor system in England,it was imperative to carry out the jurisdiction over the entire-range heraldry and reversed the previous disorder.Therefore,the emergence and implementation of the Heraldic Visitation has become an inevitable result to meet the Times on the basis of a long-term institutional building and practice activities.Under the authority of the king,from the reign of Henry VIII in Tudor dynasty,to the end of the last Heraldic Visitation in 1688,in more than a centuries,the English College of Arms dispatched heralds charters to a specific area within England,Wales and Irish,to carry out records,investigation,correction which form the main content of the heraldic visitation activities.They verified the legitimacy of the holder and the normativity of usage,recorded the pedigree of local families,and finally transcribed into a booklet back to London.The implementation of the Heraldic Visitation has multiple-latitude effects.In terms of political intent,the royal family achieved the conventional and institutionalized control over the heraldic matters in the whole territory,enhanced the presence of the royal family in the counties,and further strengthened the power of autocratic monarchy.Meanwhile,Visitation effectively curbed the abuse of the situation,met the gentry and city businessmen' need for the pursuit of honor,acquired their supports,and inspired their enthusiasm for the Royal and National Service.In the perspective of disciplinary development,heralds' practice exposed sort of problems in the process of visitation,such as heralds' adherence to the principle of precedent and the corruption,making the accuracy of the heraldry records,the degree of professionalism and the scientificity of the use of the methods being openly questioned.William Camden,as the representative of the heralds,by learning from the the thought of research in the antiquities,pushed the transformation of heraldry,clarified the distinction and boundaries between heraldry,antiquities and history.It lay a foundation for the flourishing of the antiquities movement and the formation of modern history research thought afterwards.In the development of English localism and affairs,the Heraldic Visitation successfully aroused the gentry's enthusiasm for antiquities,the regional history and family status,which promoted the internal self-identity.Through the investigation of the rise and fall of the Heraldic Visitation,we can find that the fate of heraldry and Heraldic Visitation are closely related to the ups and downs of English autocratic monarchy.From the several attempts in the ancient times to the final formation and implementation in early modern times,as a strong response to the development of the Times,the Heraldic Visitation consolidated the autocratic monarchy and the development of the heraldry itself.However,echoes with the highly stratified and social mobility in England,the heraldry is not the same as the title of the aristocracy in the European Continent,the process of Heraldic Visitation fixed,but it was not a custom,the implement absolutely relied on the king's will,and therefore,the essence of the Visitation is merely a kind of administrative means attached to the power of kingship,rather than the legal system.