nasteries, with their tombs
and tablets and brasses, and their excellent libraries, had been the
great repositories of the provincial genealogies, more especially of the
abbeys' founders and benefactors. These records were collected and used
by the heralds, who thus as it were preserved and carried on the
monastic genealogical traditions. These visitations were of great use to
noble families in proving their pedigrees, and preventing disputes about
property. The visitations continued till 1686 (James II.), but a few
returns, says Mr. Noble, were made as late as 1704. Why they ceased in
the reign of William of Orange is not known; perhaps the respect for
feudal rank decreased as the new dynasty grew more powerful. The result
of the cessation of these heraldic assizes, however, is that American
gentlemen, whose Puritan ancestors left England during the persecutions
of Charles II., are now unable to trace their descent, and the heraldic
gap can never be filled up.

Three instances only of the degradation of knights are recorded in three
centuries' records of the Court of Honour. The first was that of Sir
Andrew Barclay, in 1322; of Sir Ralph Grey, in 1464; and of Sir Francis
Michell, in 1621, the last knight being convicted of heinous offences
and misdemeanours. On this last occasion the Knights' Marshals' men cut
off the offender's sword, took off his spurs and flung them away, and
broke his sword over his head, at the same time proclaiming him "an
infamous arrant knave."

The Earl Marshal's office--sometimes called the Court of Honour--took
cognizance of words supposed to reflect upon the nobility. Sir Richard
Grenville was fined heavily for having said that the Duke of Suffolk
was a base lord; and Sir George Markham in the enormous sum of L10,000,
for saying, when he had horsewhipped the huntsman of Lord Darcy, that he
would do the same to his master if he tried to justify his insolence. In
1622 the legality of the court was tried in the Star Chamber by a
contumacious herald, who claimed arrears of fees, and to King James's
delight the legality of the court was fully established. In 1646
(Charles I.) Mr. Hyde (afterwards Lord Chancellor Clarendon) proposed
doing away with the court, vexatious causes multiplying, and very
arbitrary authority being exercised. He particularly cited a case of
great oppression, in which a rich citizen had been ruined in his estate
and imprisoned, for merely calling an heraldic swan a goose.