THE HERALDIC BLAZON.
THE LION RAMPANT OF SCOTLAND.
CHAPTER XIII.
"Judah is a lion's whelp." - Gen.
49:9
"Every man of the children of Israel
shall pitch by his own standard, with the ensign of his father's house." -
Num. 2:2
"In the first place went the standard
of the camp of the children of Judah." - Num. 10:14.
The Royal Standard of England, from "Symbols of our Celto-Saxon
Heritage" by W.H. Bennett, published by Canadian British-Israel
Association, 1361 Ouelette Avenue, Windsor, Ontario N8X 1J7, Canada.
F.R.A. Glover: It will not have escaped the attention of the least observant, that, in
the National Flag, called the Royal Standard, which is the Blazon of the
National Arms, in the upper and outer quartering of that Ensign, there is a
Lion Rampant, red, on a Golden Ground.
That Lion is the Lion of Scotland,
incorporated, according to the Rules of Heraldry, into the Arms and Standard of
England from the time that James VI. of Scotland, inheriting by his English
Descent the Realm of England, united the Two Crowns.
How that Eastern Tropical Beast, a Lion,
came to be the Blazon of a Country lying so far West as Scotland, and in the
Icy North, the following extract from Campion's Historie of Ireland, p. 32, in
Spenser's Publication, will declare,-
First therefore came from Ireland Fergusius,
the Son of Ferchardus; a man very famous for his skill in blazoning of armes.
Himselfe bore the Red Lyon, rampant in a Golden Field (John Major, lib. 2,
cap.1 ). There was in Ireland a monument of marble, fashioned like a throne;
and .. because he deemed the finding thereof to be ominous to some kingdome, he
brought it along with him and layde it up in the country for a Jewell. This
marble Fergusius obtained towards the prospering of his voyage, and in Scotland
he left it, which they used many years after, in Coronation of their kings at
Scone."
Thus, it will be seen, that the Lion of
Scotland was, in reality, the Lion of Ireland: and, as the Lion is no more an
Irish than a Scottish wild beast, it is evidently an importation to that
Country from the East: further, as having been associated, as is seen above, by
Fergus with the National and Family Stone, it is clear that he must have
considered it equally as the Family and National Standard.
The Harp became the National Standard of
Ireland, only from the time of Henry VIII (Ledwich, 232), in order to
commemorate his election as king of Ireland by the common assent of the Irish
Princes. They were no less glad than the English, to be rid of the unseemly
intrusions of the Bishop of Rome; and they thus expressed their gratitude to
the doughty king. However deservedly reprobated for his tyranny in other
matters, the king was a great favourite with the Chief Princes in Ireland; who
willingly recognized his authority and kingship, and did homage to him,
accordingly, as King of Ireland.
Up to this time it would seem that the Irish
had no common or National Standard; for, "in an ancient Roll of
Arms preserved by Leland (Collectanea 616), of the age of Hen. III., giving the
bearings of most European Princes, we find the Arms of Wales, of Scotland, and
the little Isle of Man, but not a word of Ireland." (Ledwich's
Antiquities, p.232).
The cause of this might have been, that the
English considered their Arms as the Arms of the English Pale; and
would have felt it to be untrue as well as impolitic, to give any blazon of any
of the then existing Irish kings, as the Arms of Ireland.
But, as Fergus had taken the Lion Rampant
with him to Scotland as a proper accompaniment to the National Stone, which he,
possibly, held to have had some talismanic virtue, it is evident that he
thought that that Standard was the Standard of his Race; and we may, therefore,
very well believe that he felt it to be the Standard of his nationality also.
That this Irish Lion was the Lion
of the Tribe of Judah, introduced into Ireland by the Prophet Jeremiah at the
same time that the Stone from the East and the Seed Royal were introduced,
there is no need to affirm. Of the probability of such a deed on the
part of the Prophet, others are as well capable of judging as he who writes. It
is very evident, that an Eastern Beast, never indigenous to these countries,
was once the Standard of Ireland, or of the Reigning Family of Ireland; and
that that goes to establish the fact of a connexion of that Family with the
East: and further, that this Figure of a Lion Rampant, is the Ensign of the
Hebrew Tribe of Judah; which concurrence tends much to show the likelihood of a
Hebrew connexion between Ireland and the East. Certainly, whatever be
the ancient facts of the case, this Irish connexion has been the means of
introducing and maintaining, in constant display, on the National Keep of
Royalty, over the anointed Head of this United Empire, the Blazon identical
with the Standard of the Tribe of Judah. This may indicate what
has been suggested, or it may mean nothing. It may be accident, and not Providence.
It certainly ties Ireland to the East, .. to those of the East who bad a Lion
Rampant for their Standard. And the son of Jesse had a Lion Rampant for his
Standard. And if there be any reason to imagine that Jeremiah, in the exercise
of his office and mission "to plant and to build" the kingdom of
Judah, for the perpetuation of the Sceptre thereof, and the continuation of the
Throne of David, set up any mark of Jewish Nationality and Descent, what badge
would he have brought and left as the mark and sign of that Monarchy, but the
old well-known and prophetically inspired Standard of the Race he represented?
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