Pomp with a point

In the first of a new series on historic organisations, we look at the crucial role the Lyon Court plays in protecting Scotland’s heraldry

Words by RODDY MARTINE

Resplendent in decorative tabards of gold, scarlet, and blue, with black and gold bicorn hats, the Heralds and Pursuivants of Scotland are to be seen on parade whenever there is an important display of national pageantry. But there is far more to these symbolic remnants of a bygone age than meets the eye.

Although the Court of the Lord Lyon King of Arms is known to date from the 14th century, its mythology lies deep in the mists of a long ago land of Celts and Druids, where High Sennachies were primarily held responsible for recording the genealogies of the ruling houses of Scotland.

In a medieval world preoccupied with primogeniture, it was critical to have a judicial authority to oversee pedigree, precedence and inheritance. European Chivalry – collectively knights, noblemen and horsemen – placed immense importance on heraldic devices, the coats of arms, shields, crests and monograms, which not only confirmed but displayed personal status and provenance. This was how the ruling elite recognised one another and how they held on to their inherited property and land. And Scotland was ahead of the game.

The earliest written record of a ‘Lyoun Herauld’ dates from 1377. The first recorded holder of the office was one Henry Greve, during the reign of King Robert III, who attended the coronation of King Henry IV in London in 1399. The title of ‘Lyon’ derives from the lion depicted on the Coat of Arms of Scotland, a heraldic symbol first employed in the reign of King William the Lion in the 12th century.

By 1400, a scion of the powerful House of Douglas occupied the senior post and by 1437, the role had passed to Alexander Nairn of Sandford. Other luminaries followed, often in an ambassadorial position, but from 1542 to 1554, during the reign of Mary, Queen of Scots, the best remembered is the flamboyant poet/playwright Sir David Lyndsay of the Mount. His Ane Pleasant Satyre of the Thrie Estaitis is the work for which he is best known.

Throughout the second millennium the office of Lord Lyon King of Arms played a unifying role in Scotland’s turbulent history. Both King Edward I of England and Oliver Cromwell sought to undermine Scotland’s stability by destroying its national archives, but they were unsuccessful. Charters and ancient land rights held and hidden by prominent families survived, forming the bedrock of the current system.

By the late 15th century, England too had its College of Arms, or Herald’s College, founded in 1484 with a royal charter from Richard III. The Lord Lyon’s English equivalent is the Earl Marshal, and England has its own heraldic officers. Several similar heraldic institutions with equal authority survive throughout the European Union, but it is to Scotland that the widely spread clan and family diaspora of the New World still return.

Before his death in 1677, Sir Charles Erskine of Cambo, established the Public Record of All Arms and Bearings in Scotland. During the 1745 Jacobite Rising, Sir Alexander Brodie of that Ilk, despite being a Hanoverian sympathiser, remained neutral towards the rebellious sympathies of his staff. Lord Lyon from 1890 to 1927, Sir James Balfour Paul was author of the nine-volume The Scots Peerage .

In the 20th century, Sir Thomas Innes of Learney (Lyon from 1945 to 1969), and his son Sir Malcolm Innes of Edingight (Lyon from 1981 to 2001) added great distinction

to the office within a changing world order.

In 2022, the Court of the Lord Lyon King of Arms remains a government body housed at New Register House in Edinburgh, and the fees charged for a Grant of Arms or similar patents, are paid to HM Treasury. Both the Lord Lyon and Lyon Clerk and Keeper of the Records, who oversees Letters Patent, are appointed by the Monarch on the recommendation of the First Minister of Scotland.

The Lord Lyon must hold a legal qualification in order to exercise criminal jurisdiction over all heraldic matters. Another responsibility is to grant new arms and patents, and to confirm proven pedigrees and claims to existing arms, as well as to officially recognise the authenticity of Clan Chiefs after due diligence.

The Court of the Lord Lyon is fully integrated into the Scottish legal system with a dedicated prosecutor known in Scotland as a Procurator Fiscal. It is further charged with the organising of State ceremonies in Scotland when Her Majesty The Queen is in attendance.

Such events include the State Opening of the Scottish Parliament, the installation of Knights of the Thistle, and the making of Royal proclamations and announcements (such as when a General Election is called) from the Mercat Cross in Edinburgh. Other offices within the Lyon Office portfolio include a Heraldic Painter, a Ceremonial Development Officer, the Lyon Macer, and an Honorary Vexillologist (flag developer). For ceremonial occasions, there are three Heralds at Arms – Marchmont, Rothesay and Islay; three Pursuivants of Arms In Ordinary – Carrick, Ormond and Unicorn; two Heralds of Arms Extraordinary – Angus and Albany; and three Pursuivants of Arms – Linlithgow, Falkland and March. There are also four Private Pursuivants of Arms – Finlaggan, Slains, Garrioch and Endure, who

LEFT TO RIGHT:

Joseph Morrow, the current Lord Lyon King of Arms, has been in the role since 2014; the Governor Installation ceremony, 2021

are each independently employed by members of the Scottish nobility and Clan Chiefs to perform ceremonial activities.

Dr Joseph Morrow CBE, KStJ, QC, DL, FRSE, the congenial incumbent of the office, was sworn in as Lord Lyon King of Arms by the Lord President of the Court of Session in 2014.

It was an unexpected but innovatory appointment as he had previously served as Her Majesty’s Commissioner for the Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland, and President of the Additional Support Needs Tribunal for Scotland.

An Honorary Canon of St Paul’s Cathedral of Dundee, Vice Lord Lieutenant of the City, and former Grand Master Mason of the Grand Lodge of Scotland, he has brought a fresh and modernising approach to his great office.

Dr Morrow’s fascination with heraldry began at the age of 10. His parents were dedicated church goers and during Sunday sermons, the young Joseph’s attention was caught by all the armorial bearings surrounding him. His imagination took flight as he realised that all of those shields on display belonged to real families whose names are embedded in the history of Scotland.

“What impressed me most was that I was living in Scotland and these armorials gave me an insight into both the past and present,” he reflects. “Those images made me think about the values that have been rooted in Scotland from time immemorial; qualities of decency and fairness shared by all Scots wherever they are in the world.”

When the Heraldry Society was launched in 1977, he immediately signed up as a member but kept a low profile while pursuing a legal career. When the post of Lord Lyon was advertised in 2013, he applied as an outsider.

It was the fulfilment of a dream, he admits, and remains candidly forthright about wanting to modernise the system, to reach out across Scotland and beyond. “There is such a lot of ignorance about what we do,” he admits. “One of my main missions is to provide a contemporary understanding of the role. Public engagement is therefore very important.”

To this end, he has lectured extensively throughout Scotland and prior to the pandemic spent four weeks in Australia, and attended Highland Gatherings in Ontario, New Hampshire and North Carolina. Later this year he plans to go to Grenville, and he has been asked to preach in the National Cathedral in Washington DC.

A posthumous Coat of Arms was recently granted to Scotland’s National Bard through the Robert Burns World Federation [as reported in Issue 119 of Scotland] and in April he will give a talk on the subject during Tartan Week in New York.

Since his appointment, the Lyon Court has sworn in its incoming Officers of Arms at ceremonies in Glasgow and Dundee. “We need to be seen out-and-about more and for the public to understand what we do,” he says.

He is particularly enthused about the recently launched community flag competitions held in Wick, Skye and Maryhill. “Some areas had over 350 design submissions,” he says with delight.

One of the positive aspects of the Covid-19 restrictions, is that The Lord Lyon has been able to reach out to new audiences more effectively through both Zoom and The Court of the Lord Lyon’s new YouTube channel. Later this year there are plans to launch The Lord Lyon Society, a charitable foundation with HRH The Princess Royal as Patron. A Festival of Scottish Heraldry is planned for Saturday 3 December 2022.

Keeping up with the times has naturally thrown up a spate of challenges in terms of heraldic expression, not least with regard to the role of women, same-sex marriages, and diversity. Dr Morrow regards this with equanimity. “It’s just a part of living in an evolving society,” he says.

A true romantic, Dr Morrow talks about walking down the Royal Mile from Edinburgh Castle to the Palace of Holyroodhouse. “As you get older it’s easier to walk downhill,” he quips. “However, there are centuries of Scottish and European heraldry on the buildings [in the capital and throughout Scotland]. Look at the Mercat Cross in Parliament Square, the dinner service at Glamis Castle in Angus, or on the ceiling and windows at Mount Stuart on Bute.

“Consciously or subconsciously, the trappings of the past and the guidelines they provide for the present and the future are inescapable.” S

CLOCKWISE, FROM TOP LEFT:

Mount Stuart on the Isle of Bute features some impressive heraldry on its windows and ceilings; the Lord Lyon delivering a Proclamation for COP26 in Glasgow; a parade during the Dissolution of Parliament