Re: Arms of knighted Raglands (found it!)
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In reply to:
Arms of knighted Raglands
Hugh Ragland 5/15/05
For those who might be intersted, I found what I was looking for in Charles J. Ragland's book "The Raglands: The History of a British-American Family" Vol 1, pages 18-20.Here it is...
During the last century a great deal of confusion and misunderstanding has been created by the attempts of many persons to identify the coat of arms to which the Ragland family in America is entitled.A lack of understanding of the history and science of British heraldry has been responsible for some of the confusion, however, the real problem appears to stem from the fact that the Raglan(d)s of Glamorgan used three family coats of arms and a number of individual arms. According to Burke, one of the leading authoritative sources on British heraldry, the following coats of arms have been used by the Raglan(d) family:
1. a red shield with three rearing silver lions facing left (two parallel smaller lions located at the top of the shield and a larger lion in the lower center)
2. a silver shield with three vertically arranged red unicorns facing left and in a running position (with gold horn, hooves, and mane)
3. a silver shield with three vertically arranged black unicorns facing left and in a running position
Hereditary arms were first introduced into Britain in the twelfth century.Soon thereafter it became a common practice to differentiate the family arms in order to distinguish between the various branches of a family.In Great Britain the most common procedure has been for the eldest branch to carry the original arms and for each junior branch to adopt a modified coat of arms.The arms adopted by the younger branches were, more often than not, a simple change in the color scheme; however, sometimes the change would be made by adding a bar or other device to the original arms.Less frequently, younger branches adopted the arms of their maternal line (usually where property and/or titles descended through the female line) or crossed their family arms with their wife's arms in order to distinguish their branch.
The fact that the Ragland family used three different family arms indicates that the family was divided into three main branches.The proper identification of a family coat of arms is further complicated by the practice of some individual members of a family who would adopt a personal coat of arms differing from the family arms and those carried by any other member of his family.In British heraldry this often occurred when an individual made an advantageous marriage (when he married an heiress who brought property and/or titles to her husband), or when a new title was conferred upon the bearer.The arms adopted in such cases were usually created to reflect the improvement in the bearer's social standing and/or fortune.
In addition to the three arms carried by members of the Raglan family at least five personal arms have been used.Sir John Rag1an, Knight, who lived in Glamorganshire during the sixteenth century is a good example of the use of personal arms.Sir John used four different arms during his lifetime, changing them each time that there was an improvement in his status. During his life he came into possession of over twenty landed estates in Wales and England and made a most advantageous marriage to the heiress of a prominent and wealthy noble family.The coat of arms which he last used consisted of the arms of his grandfather (a crossed shield of lions and unicorns) quartered with the arms of his wife's family.The result was a coat of arms which bore the family arms of seven different families!In all probability, the first member of the Raglan family to bear a hereditary coat of arms was William ap Jenkin, alias Herbert, lord of Wern-dduglwyd, who was the great grandfather of Robert Raglan, progenitor of the Raglan family. Although it cannot be confirmed by documentary evidence, it is almost certain that William ap Jenkin bore what would later become known as the "Herbert Arms."
According to Burke's General Armory the "Herbert Arms" were carried by at least three of William's sons. This is further confirmed by the tomb of one of his sons (Thomas ap William, grandfather of Robert Raglan, who died in 1438) located at Llansaintfraed Chapel, co. Monmouth, on which the arms can still be seen.If in fact the three sons of William ap Jenkin did bear identical arms it can only mean that they had been carried by their father.The "Herbert Arms" are described thus: a vertically divided shield of blue on the left and red on the right with three silver lions rearing to the left with the lower one larger than the two upper ones.Evan ap Thomas, son of Thomas ap William, and father of Robert Raglan, appears to have borne the same arms as his father and grandfather.Robert Raglan, however, modified his arms in order to distinguish them from the "Herbert Arms" carried by his uncle, Sir William Herbert, with whom he lived.In The Golden Grove Book, compiled in 1703 by Hugh Thomas, The Deputy King of Arms, Robert Raglan is said to have first assumed a modified "Herbert Arms" which consisted of three silver lions on a red shield.Later, however, after his marriage to the heiress of the Clerke family of Llantwit, co. Glamorganshire and by whom he inherited the Clerke estate at Llantwit, Robert changed his coat of arms to suit his improved condition.He crossed the "Herbert Arms" with the "Clerke Arms" which is described in The Golden Grove Book as a shield divided vertically; the left side consisting of a vertically divided blue and red background with three silver lions (the Herbert Arms) and the right side consisting of a silver background with three vertically placed red unicorns (The Clerke Arms).
Robert Raglan had six sons, two of whom died without children and one who had daughters only.The three remaining sons each had one or more sons and were the founders of the three branches of the Raglan(d) family. The eldest branch, known as the Raglans of Carnllwydd, received the bulk of Robert's estate and adopted the modified arms first used by Robert (The Herbert lions on a field of red) as their family coat of arms. The second branch, the Raglans of Llantwit, adopted the Clerke arms (three red unicorns on a field of silver, and a third branch, the Raglans of Lysworney, a modified Clerke arms (three black unicorns on a field of silver).The American family, with one known exception, is descended from the Raglans of Lysworney and is, therefore, entitled to bear the arms of that family.