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150-466: Although the phrase "almighty dollar" was not popularized until the 1900s, similar phrases had been used much earlier. For example, the British writer Ben Jonson wrote in 1616: Whilst that for which all virtue now is sold, And almost every vice, almighty gold. The "dollar" version of the phrase is commonly attributed to Washington Irving , who used it in the story "The Creole Village," first published in

300-495: A crest , supporters , and other heraldic embellishments. The term " coat of arms " technically refers to the shield of arms itself, but the phrase is commonly used to refer to the entire achievement. The one indispensable element of a coat of arms is the shield; many ancient coats of arms consist of nothing else, but no achievement or armorial bearings exists without a coat of arms. From a very early date, illustrations of arms were frequently embellished with helmets placed above

450-413: A shield , helmet and crest , together with any accompanying devices, such as supporters , badges , heraldic banners and mottoes . Although the use of various devices to signify individuals and groups goes back to antiquity , both the form and use of such devices varied widely, as the concept of regular, hereditary designs, constituting the distinguishing feature of heraldry, did not develop until

600-546: A London setting, themes of trickery and money, and a distinct moral ambiguity, despite Jonson's professed aim in the Prologue to Volpone to "mix profit with your pleasure". His late plays or " dotages ", particularly The Magnetic Lady and The Sad Shepherd , exhibit signs of an accommodation with the romantic tendencies of Elizabethan comedy . Within this general progression, however, Jonson's comic style remained constant and easily recognisable. He announces his programme in

750-550: A brief Bible verse (the neck-verse ), forfeiting his "goods and chattels" and being branded with the so-called Tyburn T on his left thumb. While in jail Jonson converted to Catholicism, possibly through the influence of fellow-prisoner Father Thomas Wright , a Jesuit priest. In 1598 Jonson produced his first great success, Every Man in His Humour , capitalising on the vogue for humorous plays which George Chapman had begun with An Humorous Day's Mirth . William Shakespeare

900-553: A brief spell of imprisonment imposed to mark the authorities' displeasure at the work, in the second week of October 1605, he was present at a supper party attended by most of the Gunpowder Plot conspirators. After the plot's discovery, he appears to have avoided further imprisonment; he volunteered what he knew of the affair to the investigator Robert Cecil and the Privy Council. Father Thomas Wright, who heard Fawkes's confession,

1050-497: A bright violet-red or pink colour; and carnation , commonly used to represent flesh in French heraldry. A more recent addition is the use of copper as a metal in one or two Canadian coats of arms. There are two basic types of heraldic fur, known as ermine and vair , but over the course of centuries each has developed a number of variations. Ermine represents the fur of the stoat , a type of weasel, in its white winter coat, when it

1200-423: A charge of recusancy , with Jonson alone additionally accused of allowing his fame as a Catholic to "seduce" citizens to the cause. This was a serious matter (the Gunpowder Plot was still fresh in people's minds) but he explained that his failure to take communion was only because he had not found sound theological endorsement for the practice, and by paying a fine of thirteen shillings (156 pence ) he escaped

1350-878: A cousin of King James, in Leith, and was made an honorary burgess of Edinburgh at a dinner laid on by the city on 26 September. He stayed in Scotland until late January 1619, and the best-remembered hospitality he enjoyed was that of the Scottish poet, William Drummond of Hawthornden , sited on the River Esk . Drummond undertook to record as much of Jonson's conversation as he could in his diary, and thus recorded aspects of Jonson's personality that would otherwise have been less clearly seen. Jonson delivers his opinions, in Drummond's terse reporting, in an expansive and even magisterial mood. Drummond noted he

1500-399: A dark red or mulberry colour between gules and purpure, and tenné , an orange or dark yellow to brown colour. These last two are quite rare, and are often referred to as stains , from the belief that they were used to represent some dishonourable act, although in fact there is no evidence that this use existed outside of fanciful heraldic writers. Perhaps owing to the realization that there

1650-498: A division of the field, which is partly metal and partly colour; nor, strictly speaking, does it prevent a field from consisting of two metals or two colours, although this is unusual. Furs are considered amphibious, and neither metal nor colour; but in practice ermine and erminois are usually treated as metals, while ermines and pean are treated as colours. This rule is strictly adhered to in British armory, with only rare exceptions; although generally observed in continental heraldry, it

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1800-399: A famous poem to Camden and lines to Lucy Harington, are longer and are mostly addressed to specific individuals. Although it is included among the epigrams, " On My First Sonne " is neither satirical nor very short; the poem, intensely personal and deeply felt, typifies a genre that would come to be called "lyric poetry." It is possible that the spelling of 'son' as 'Sonne' is meant to allude to

1950-642: A fixed engagement in the Admiral's Men , then performing under Philip Henslowe 's management at The Rose . John Aubrey reports, on uncertain authority, that Jonson was not successful as an actor; whatever his skills as an actor, he was more valuable to the company as a writer. By this time Jonson had begun to write original plays for the Admiral's Men; in 1598 he was mentioned by Francis Meres in his Palladis Tamia as one of "the best for tragedy." None of his early tragedies survive, however. An undated comedy, The Case

2100-407: A grant of arms; it may be assumed without authority by anyone entitled to bear arms, together with mantling and whatever motto the armiger may desire. The crest, however, together with the torse or coronet from which it arises, must be granted or confirmed by the relevant heraldic authority. If the bearer is entitled to the ribbon, collar, or badge of a knightly order, it may encircle or depend from

2250-426: A lasting influence on English poetry and stage comedy. He popularised the comedy of humours ; he is best known for the satirical plays Every Man in His Humour (1598), Volpone, or The Fox ( c.  1606 ), The Alchemist (1610) and Bartholomew Fair (1614) and for his lyric and epigrammatic poetry. He is regarded as "the second most important English dramatist, after William Shakespeare , during

2400-464: A late use of heraldic imagery has been in patriotic commemorations and nationalistic propaganda during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Since the late nineteenth century, heraldry has focused on the use of varied lines of partition and little-used ordinaries to produce new and unique designs. A heraldic achievement consists of a shield of arms , the coat of arms, or simply coat, together with all of its accompanying elements, such as

2550-454: A line when he wrote. His own claimed response was "Would he had blotted a thousand!" However, Jonson explains, "Hee was (indeed) honest, and of an open, and free nature: had an excellent Phantsie ; brave notions and gentle expressions: wherein hee flow'd with that facility, that sometime it was necessary he should be stopp'd". Jonson concludes that "there was ever more in him to be praised than to be pardoned." When Shakespeare died, he said, "He

2700-613: A master bricklayer two years later. Jonson attended school in St Martin's Lane in London. Later, a family friend paid for his studies at Westminster School , where the antiquarian , historian, topographer and officer of arms William Camden (1551–1623) was one of his masters. The pupil and master became friends, and the intellectual influence of Camden's broad-ranging scholarship upon Jonson's art and literary style remained notable, until Camden's death in 1623. At Westminster School he met

2850-590: A nonsensical line in Julius Caesar and the setting of The Winter's Tale on the non-existent seacoast of Bohemia. Drummond also reported Jonson as saying that Shakespeare "wanted art" (i.e., lacked skill). In "De Shakespeare Nostrat" in Timber , which was published posthumously and reflects his lifetime of practical experience, Jonson offers a fuller and more conciliatory comment. He recalls being told by certain actors that Shakespeare never blotted (i.e., crossed out)

3000-409: A number is usually displayed only in documentary contexts. The Scottish and Spanish traditions resist allowing more than four quarters, preferring to subdivide one or more "grand quarters" into sub-quarters as needed. The third common mode of marshalling is with an inescutcheon , a small shield placed in front of the main shield. In Britain this is most often an "escutcheon of pretence" indicating, in

3150-470: A number of Jonson's plays, at least two of which ( Every Man in His Humour and Sejanus His Fall ) Shakespeare certainly acted in. However, it is now impossible to tell how much personal communication they had, and tales of their friendship cannot be substantiated. Jonson's most influential and revealing commentary on Shakespeare is the second of the two poems that he contributed to the prefatory verse that opens Shakespeare's First Folio . This poem, "To

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3300-520: A number of seals dating from between 1135 and 1155 appear to show the adoption of heraldic devices in England, France, Germany, Spain, and Italy. A notable example of an early armorial seal is attached to a charter granted by Philip I, Count of Flanders , in 1164. Seals from the latter part of the eleventh and early twelfth centuries show no evidence of heraldic symbolism, but by the end of the twelfth century, seals are uniformly heraldic in nature. One of

3450-401: A number of ways, of which the simplest is impalement : dividing the field per pale and putting one whole coat in each half. Impalement replaced the earlier dimidiation – combining the dexter half of one coat with the sinister half of another – because dimidiation can create ambiguity between, for example, a bend and a chevron . "Dexter" (from Latin dextra , "right") means to

3600-506: A portrait of Jonson, offers a caricature that is recognisable from Drummond's report – boasting about himself and condemning other poets, criticising performances of his plays and calling attention to himself in any available way. This " War of the Theatres " appears to have ended with reconciliation on all sides. Jonson collaborated with Dekker on a pageant welcoming James I to England in 1603 although Drummond reports that Jonson called Dekker

3750-690: A proclamation in 1419, forbidding all those who had not borne arms at the Battle of Agincourt from assuming arms, except by inheritance or a grant from the crown. Beginning in the reign of Henry VIII of England, the English Kings of Arms were commanded to make visitations , in which they traveled about the country, recording arms borne under proper authority, and requiring those who bore arms without authority either to obtain authority for them, or cease their use. Arms borne improperly were to be taken down and defaced. The first such visitation began in 1530, and

3900-415: A remarkable new direction for Jonson: a move into pastoral drama. During the early 1630s, he also conducted a correspondence with James Howell , who warned him about disfavour at court in the wake of his dispute with Jones. According to a contemporary letter written by Edward Thelwall of Gray's Inn , Jonson died on 18 August 1637 (O.S. 6 August). He died in London. His funeral was held the next day. It

4050-497: A rogue. Marston dedicated The Malcontent to Jonson and the two collaborated with Chapman on Eastward Ho! , a 1605 play whose anti-Scottish sentiment briefly landed both Jonson and Chapman in jail. At the beginning of the English reign of James VI and I in 1603 Jonson joined other poets and playwrights in welcoming the new king. Jonson quickly adapted himself to the additional demand for masques and entertainments introduced with

4200-430: A series of setbacks drained his strength and damaged his reputation. He resumed writing regular plays in the 1620s, but these are not considered among his best. They are of significant interest, however, for their portrayal of Charles I 's England. The Staple of News , for example, offers a remarkable look at the earliest stage of English journalism. The lukewarm reception given that play was, however, nothing compared to

4350-466: A shield divided azure and gules would be perfectly acceptable. A line of partition may be straight or it may be varied. The variations of partition lines can be wavy, indented, embattled, engrailed, nebuly , or made into myriad other forms; see Line (heraldry) . In the early days of heraldry, very simple bold rectilinear shapes were painted on shields. These could be easily recognized at a long distance and could be easily remembered. They therefore served

4500-472: A traditional shield under certain circumstances, and in Canadian heraldry the shield is now regularly granted. The whole surface of the escutcheon is termed the field , which may be plain, consisting of a single tincture, or divided into multiple sections of differing tinctures by various lines of partition; and any part of the field may be semé , or powdered with small charges. The edges and adjacent parts of

4650-520: A window commemorating the knights who embarked on the Second Crusade in 1147, and was probably made soon after the event; but Montfaucon's illustration of the window before it was destroyed shows no heraldic design on any of the shields. In England, from the time of the Norman conquest, official documents had to be sealed. Beginning in the twelfth century, seals assumed a distinctly heraldic character;

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4800-425: Is Altered , is markedly similar to Shakespeare's romantic comedies in its foreign setting, emphasis on genial wit and love-plot. Henslowe's diary indicates that Jonson had a hand in numerous other plays, including many in genres such as English history with which he is not otherwise associated. The comedies of his middle career, from Eastward Hoe to The Devil Is an Ass are for the most part city comedy , with

4950-499: Is Altered , may be his earliest surviving play. In 1597, a play which he co-wrote with Thomas Nashe , The Isle of Dogs , was suppressed after causing great offence. Arrest warrants for Jonson and Nashe were issued by Queen Elizabeth I 's so-called interrogator, Richard Topcliffe . Jonson was jailed in Marshalsea Prison and charged with "Leude and mutynous behaviour", while Nashe managed to escape to Great Yarmouth . Two of

5100-409: Is Altered , Jonson eschewed distant locations, noble characters, romantic plots and other staples of Elizabethan comedy, focusing instead on the satiric and realistic inheritance of new comedy . He set his plays in contemporary settings, peopled them with recognisable types, and set them to actions that, if not strictly realistic, involved everyday motives such as greed and jealousy . In accordance with

5250-402: Is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology , together with the study of ceremony , rank and pedigree . Armory, the best-known branch of heraldry, concerns the design and transmission of the heraldic achievement . The achievement, or armorial bearings usually includes a coat of arms on

5400-450: Is also credited with having originated the English crest of a lion statant (now statant-guardant). The origins of heraldry are sometimes associated with the Crusades , a series of military campaigns undertaken by Christian armies from 1096 to 1487, with the goal of reconquering Jerusalem and other former Byzantine territories captured by Muslim forces during the seventh century. While there

5550-701: Is any object or figure placed on a heraldic shield or on any other object of an armorial composition. Any object found in nature or technology may appear as a heraldic charge in armory. Charges can be animals, objects, or geometric shapes. Apart from the ordinaries, the most frequent charges are the cross – with its hundreds of variations – and the lion and eagle . Other common animals are bears , stags , wild boars , martlets , wolves and fish . Dragons , bats , unicorns , griffins , and other monsters appear as charges and as supporters . Animals are found in various stereotyped positions or attitudes . Quadrupeds can often be found rampant (standing on

5700-503: Is called barry , while a pattern of vertical (palewise) stripes is called paly . A pattern of diagonal stripes may be called bendy or bendy sinister , depending on the direction of the stripes. Other variations include chevrony , gyronny and chequy . Wave shaped stripes are termed undy . For further variations, these are sometimes combined to produce patterns of barry-bendy , paly-bendy , lozengy and fusilly . Semés, or patterns of repeated charges, are also considered variations of

5850-442: Is called an ermine. It consists of a white, or occasionally silver field, powdered with black figures known as ermine spots , representing the black tip of the animal's tail. Ermine was traditionally used to line the cloaks and caps of the nobility. The shape of the heraldic ermine spot has varied considerably over time, and nowadays is typically drawn as an arrowhead surmounted by three small dots, but older forms may be employed at

6000-438: Is given to the heraldic artist in depicting the heraldic tinctures; there is no fixed shade or hue to any of them. Whenever an object is depicted as it appears in nature, rather than in one or more of the heraldic tinctures, it is termed proper , or the colour of nature. This does not seem to have been done in the earliest heraldry, but examples are known from at least the seventeenth century. While there can be no objection to

6150-502: Is no evidence that heraldic art originated in the course of the Crusades, there is no reason to doubt that the gathering of large armies, drawn from across Europe for a united cause, would have encouraged the adoption of armorial bearings as a means of identifying one's commanders in the field, or that it helped disseminate the principles of armory across Europe. At least two distinctive features of heraldry are generally accepted as products of

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6300-423: Is no heraldic authority, and no law preventing anyone from assuming whatever arms they please, provided that they do not infringe upon the arms of another. Although heraldry originated from military necessity, it soon found itself at home in the pageantry of the medieval tournament . The opportunity for knights and lords to display their heraldic bearings in a competitive medium led to further refinements, such as

6450-452: Is normally left to the discretion of the heraldic artist, and many different shapes have prevailed during different periods of heraldic design, and in different parts of Europe. One shape alone is normally reserved for a specific purpose: the lozenge , a diamond-shaped escutcheon, was traditionally used to display the arms of women, on the grounds that shields, as implements of war, were inappropriate for this purpose. This distinction

6600-455: Is not adhered to quite as strictly. Arms which violate this rule are sometimes known as "puzzle arms", of which the most famous example is the arms of the Kingdom of Jerusalem , consisting of gold crosses on a silver field. The field of a shield, or less often a charge or crest, is sometimes made up of a pattern of colours, or variation . A pattern of horizontal (barwise) stripes, for example,

6750-522: Is really no such thing as a stain in genuine heraldry, as well as the desire to create new and unique designs, the use of these colours for general purposes has become accepted in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Occasionally one meets with other colours, particularly in continental heraldry, although they are not generally regarded among the standard heraldic colours. Among these are cendrée , or ash-colour; brunâtre , or brown; bleu-céleste or bleu de ciel , sky blue; amaranth or columbine ,

6900-423: Is similar to vair in pale, but diagonal. When alternating rows are reversed as in counter-vair, and then displaced by half the width of one bell, it is termed vair in point , or wave-vair. A form peculiar to German heraldry is alternate vair , in which each vair bell is divided in half vertically, with half argent and half azure. All of these variations can also be depicted in the form known as potent , in which

7050-452: Is sometimes found. Three additional furs are sometimes encountered in continental heraldry; in French and Italian heraldry one meets with plumeté or plumetty , in which the field appears to be covered with feathers, and papelonné , in which it is decorated with scales. In German heraldry one may encounter kursch , or vair bellies, depicted as brown and furry; all of these probably originated as variations of vair. Considerable latitude

7200-564: Is the use of a limited palette of colours and patterns, usually referred to as tinctures . These are divided into three categories, known as metals , colours , and furs . The metals are or and argent , representing gold and silver, respectively, although in practice they are usually depicted as yellow and white. Five colours are universally recognized: gules , or red; sable , or black; azure , or blue; vert , or green; and purpure , or purple; and most heraldic authorities also admit two additional colours, known as sanguine or murrey ,

7350-509: The Bayeux Tapestry , illustrating the Norman invasion of England in 1066, and probably commissioned about 1077, when the cathedral of Bayeux was rebuilt, depicts a number of shields of various shapes and designs, many of which are plain, while others are decorated with dragons, crosses, or other typically heraldic figures. Yet no individual is depicted twice bearing the same arms, nor are any of

7500-473: The High Middle Ages . It is often claimed that the use of helmets with face guards during this period made it difficult to recognize one's commanders in the field when large armies gathered together for extended periods, necessitating the development of heraldry as a symbolic language, but there is little support for this view. The perceived beauty and pageantry of heraldic designs allowed them to survive

7650-595: The Nebra sky disc , is also thought to serve as a heraldic precursor. Until the nineteenth century, it was common for heraldic writers to cite examples such as these, and metaphorical symbols such as the "Lion of Judah" or "Eagle of the Caesars", as evidence of the antiquity of heraldry itself; and to infer therefrom that the great figures of ancient history bore arms representing their noble status and descent. The Book of Saint Albans , compiled in 1486, declares that Christ himself

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7800-410: The fess , the pale , the bend , the chevron , the saltire , and the pall . There is a separate class of charges called sub-ordinaries which are of a geometrical shape subordinate to the ordinary. According to Friar, they are distinguished by their order in blazon. The sub-ordinaries include the inescutcheon , the orle , the tressure, the double tressure, the bordure , the chief , the canton ,

7950-592: The griffin can also be found. In the Bible , the Book of Numbers refers to the standards and ensigns of the children of Israel , who were commanded to gather beneath these emblems and declare their pedigrees. The Greek and Latin writers frequently describe the shields and symbols of various heroes, and units of the Roman army were sometimes identified by distinctive markings on their shields. At least one pre-historic European object,

8100-404: The herald , originally a type of messenger employed by noblemen, assumed the responsibility of learning and knowing the rank, pedigree, and heraldic devices of various knights and lords, as well as the rules governing the design and description, or blazoning of arms, and the precedence of their bearers. As early as the late thirteenth century, certain heralds in the employ of monarchs were given

8250-459: The label , and flaunches . Ordinaries may appear in parallel series, in which case blazons in English give them different names such as pallets, bars, bendlets, and chevronels. French blazon makes no such distinction between these diminutives and the ordinaries when borne singly. Unless otherwise specified an ordinary is drawn with straight lines, but each may be indented, embattled, wavy, engrailed, or otherwise have their lines varied. A charge

8400-480: The sonnet form, with which it shares some features. A few other so-called epigrams share this quality. Jonson's poems of "The Forest" also appeared in the first folio. Most of the fifteen poems are addressed to Jonson's aristocratic supporters, but the most famous are his country-house poem "To Penshurst" and the poem " To Celia " ("Come, my Celia, let us prove") that appears also in Volpone . Underwood , published in

8550-568: The 11th —in or near London. In midlife, Jonson said his paternal grandfather, who "served King Henry 8 and was a gentleman", was a member of the extended Johnston family of Annandale in the Dumfries and Galloway , a genealogy that is attested by the three spindles ( rhombi ) in the Jonson family coat of arms : one spindle is a diamond-shaped heraldic device used by the Johnston family. His ancestors spelt

8700-414: The 1616 folio) is an entry in a genre that was popular among late-Elizabethan and Jacobean audiences, although Jonson was perhaps the only poet of his time to work in its full classical range. The epigrams explore various attitudes, most from the satiric stock of the day: complaints against women, courtiers and spies abound. The condemnatory poems are short and anonymous; Jonson's epigrams of praise, including

8850-428: The 1837 edition of The Magnolia , a literary annual: The almighty dollar, that great object of universal devotion throughout our land, seems to have no genuine devotees in these peculiar villages; and unless some of its missionaries penetrate there, and erect banking houses and other pious shrines, there is no knowing how long the inhabitants may remain in their present state of contented poverty. Charles Dickens used

9000-719: The Church of England); the carving shows a distinct space between "O" and "rare". A monument to Jonson was erected in about 1723 by the Earl of Oxford and is in the eastern aisle of Westminster Abbey's Poets' Corner . It includes a portrait medallion and the same inscription as on the gravestone. It seems Jonson was to have had a monument erected by subscription soon after his death but the English Civil War intervened. Apart from two tragedies, Sejanus and Catiline , that largely failed to impress Renaissance audiences, Jonson's work for

9150-457: The Continent, Jonson returned to England and worked as an actor and as a playwright. As an actor, he was the protagonist "Hieronimo" (Geronimo) in the play The Spanish Tragedy ( c.  1586 ), by Thomas Kyd (1558–94), the first revenge tragedy in English literature. By 1597, he was a working playwright employed by Philip Henslowe , the leading producer for the English public theatre; by

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9300-603: The English Civil War, the "Tribe of Ben" touted his importance, and during the Restoration Jonson's satirical comedies and his theory and practice of "humour characters" (which are often misunderstood; see William Congreve's letters for clarification) was extremely influential, providing the blueprint for many Restoration comedies. John Aubrey wrote of Jonson in Brief Lives . By 1700, Jonson's status began to decline. In

9450-491: The First Folio, and he may have been inspired to write this poem by reading his fellow playwright's works, a number of which had been previously either unpublished or available in less satisfactory versions, in a relatively complete form. Jonson was a towering literary figure, and his influence was enormous for he has been described as "One of the most vigorous minds that ever added to the strength of English literature". Before

9600-586: The King was in residence. The Masque of Blackness was praised by Algernon Charles Swinburne as the consummate example of this now-extinct genre, which mingled speech, dancing and spectacle. On many of these projects, he collaborated, not always peacefully, with designer Inigo Jones . For example, Jones designed the scenery for Jonson's masque Oberon, the Faery Prince performed at Whitehall on 1 January 1611 in which Prince Henry , eldest son of James I, appeared in

9750-513: The Memory of My Beloved the Author, Mr. William Shakespeare and What He Hath Left Us" , did a good deal to create the traditional view of Shakespeare as a poet who, despite "small Latine, and lesse Greeke", had a natural genius. The poem has traditionally been thought to exemplify the contrast which Jonson perceived between himself, the disciplined and erudite classicist, scornful of ignorance and sceptical of

9900-579: The Romantic era, Jonson suffered the fate of being unfairly compared and contrasted to Shakespeare, as the taste for Jonson's type of satirical comedy decreased. Jonson was at times greatly appreciated by the Romantics, but overall he was denigrated for not writing in a Shakespearean vein. In 2012, after more than two decades of research, Cambridge University Press published the first new edition of Jonson's complete works for 60 years. Heraldry Heraldry

10050-465: The Welsh poet Hugh Holland , with whom he established an "enduring relationship". Both of them would write preliminary poems for William Shakespeare 's First Folio (1623). On leaving Westminster School in 1589, Jonson attended St John's College, Cambridge , to continue his book learning. However, because of his unwilled apprenticeship to his bricklayer stepfather, he returned after a month. According to

10200-528: The actors, Gabriel Spenser and Robert Shaw, were also imprisoned. A year later, Jonson was again briefly imprisoned, this time in Newgate Prison , for killing Gabriel Spenser in a duel on 22 September 1598 in Hogsden Fields (today part of Hoxton ). Tried on a charge of manslaughter , Jonson pleaded guilty but was released by benefit of clergy , a legal ploy through which he gained leniency by reciting

10350-403: The antiquity of heraldry. The development of the modern heraldic language cannot be attributed to a single individual, time, or place. Although certain designs that are now considered heraldic were evidently in use during the eleventh century, most accounts and depictions of shields up to the beginning of the twelfth century contain little or no evidence of their heraldic character. For example,

10500-409: The arms of a married couple, that the wife is an heraldic heiress (i.e., she inherits a coat of arms because she has no brothers). In continental Europe an inescutcheon (sometimes called a "heart shield") usually carries the ancestral arms of a monarch or noble whose domains are represented by the quarters of the main shield. In German heraldry , animate charges in combined coats usually turn to face

10650-404: The artist's discretion. When the field is sable and the ermine spots argent, the same pattern is termed ermines ; when the field is or rather than argent, the fur is termed erminois ; and when the field is sable and the ermine spots or , it is termed pean . Vair represents the winter coat of the red squirrel , which is blue-grey on top and white underneath. To form the linings of cloaks,

10800-593: The authority of the Earl Marshal ; but all of the arms granted by the college are granted by the authority of the crown. In Scotland Court of the Lord Lyon King of Arms oversees the heraldry, and holds court sessions which are an official part of Scotland's court system. Similar bodies regulate the granting of arms in other monarchies and several members of the Commonwealth of Nations , but in most other countries there

10950-435: The base. The other points include dexter chief , center chief , and sinister chief , running along the upper part of the shield from left to right, above the honour point; dexter flank and sinister flank , on the sides approximately level with fess point; and dexter base , middle base , and sinister base along the lower part of the shield, below the nombril point. One of the most distinctive qualities of heraldry

11100-416: The careful attention to form and style that often came naturally to those trained in classics in the humanist manner. Jonson largely avoided the debates about rhyme and meter that had consumed Elizabethan classicists such as Thomas Campion and Gabriel Harvey . Accepting both rhyme and stress, Jonson used them to mimic the classical qualities of simplicity, restraint and precision. "Epigrams" (published in

11250-416: The centre of the composition. In English the word "crest" is commonly (but erroneously) used to refer to an entire heraldic achievement of armorial bearings. The technical use of the heraldic term crest refers to just one component of a complete achievement. The crest rests on top of a helmet which itself rests on the most important part of the achievement: the shield. The modern crest has grown out of

11400-646: The churchman and historian Thomas Fuller (1608–61), Jonson at this time built a garden wall in Lincoln's Inn . After having been an apprentice bricklayer, Jonson went to the Netherlands and volunteered to soldier with the English regiments of Sir Francis Vere (1560–1609) in Flanders . England was allied with the Dutch in their fight for independence as well as the ongoing war with Spain . The Hawthornden Manuscripts (1619), of

11550-460: The comedies Volpone (acted 1605 and printed in 1607), Epicoene, or the Silent Woman (1609), The Alchemist (1610), Bartholomew Fair (1614) and The Devil Is an Ass (1616). The Alchemist and Volpone were immediately successful. Of Epicoene , Jonson told Drummond of a satirical verse which reported that the play's subtitle was appropriate since its audience had refused to applaud

11700-529: The conversations between Ben Jonson and the poet William Drummond of Hawthornden (1585–1649), report that, when in Flanders, Jonson engaged, fought and killed an enemy soldier in single combat , and took for trophies the weapons of the vanquished soldier. Johnson is reputed to have visited the antiquary Sir Robert Cotton at a residence of his in Chester early in the 17th century. After his military activity on

11850-401: The crusaders: the surcoat , an outer garment worn over the armor to protect the wearer from the heat of the sun, was often decorated with the same devices that appeared on a knight's shield. It is from this garment that the phrase "coat of arms" is derived. Also the lambrequin, or mantling, that depends from the helmet and frames the shield in modern heraldry, began as a practical covering for

12000-527: The descendants of the various persons depicted known to have borne devices resembling those in the tapestry. Similarly, an account of the French knights at the court of the Byzantine emperor Alexius I at the beginning of the twelfth century describes their shields of polished metal, devoid of heraldic design. A Spanish manuscript from 1109 describes both plain and decorated shields, none of which appears to have been heraldic. The Abbey of St. Denis contained

12150-405: The development of "landscape heraldry", incorporating realistic depictions of landscapes, during the latter part of the eighteenth and early part of the nineteenth century. These fell out of fashion during the mid-nineteenth century, when a renewed interest in the history of armory led to the re-evaluation of earlier designs, and a new appreciation for the medieval origins of the art. In particular,

12300-471: The development of elaborate tournament helms, and further popularized the art of heraldry throughout Europe. Prominent burghers and corporations, including many cities and towns, assumed or obtained grants of arms, with only nominal military associations. Heraldic devices were depicted in various contexts, such as religious and funerary art, and in using a wide variety of media, including stonework, carved wood, enamel , stained glass , and embroidery . As

12450-446: The dexter is on the left side, and the sinister on the right. The placement of various charges may also refer to a number of specific points, nine in number according to some authorities, but eleven according to others. The three most important are fess point , located in the visual center of the shield; the honour point , located midway between fess point and the chief; and the nombril point , located midway between fess point and

12600-441: The dismal failure of The New Inn ; the cold reception given this play prompted Jonson to write a poem condemning his audience ( An Ode to Himself ), which in turn prompted Thomas Carew , one of the "Tribe of Ben", to respond in a poem that asks Jonson to recognise his own decline. The principal factor in Jonson's partial eclipse was, however, the death of James and the accession of King Charles I in 1625. Jonson felt neglected by

12750-443: The earliest known examples of armory as it subsequently came to be practiced can be seen on the tomb of Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou , who died in 1151. An enamel, probably commissioned by Geoffrey's widow between 1155 and 1160, depicts him carrying a blue shield decorated with six golden lions rampant. He wears a blue helmet adorned with another lion, and his cloak is lined in vair. A medieval chronicle states that Geoffrey

12900-436: The escutcheon are used to identify the placement of various heraldic charges; the upper edge, and the corresponding upper third of the shield, are referred to as the chief; the lower part is the base. The sides of the shield are known as the dexter and sinister flanks, although these terms are based on the point of view of the bearer of the shield, who would be standing behind it; to the observer, and in all heraldic illustration,

13050-812: The expanded folio of 1640, is a larger and more heterogeneous group of poems. It contains A Celebration of Charis , Jonson's most extended effort at love poetry; various religious pieces; encomiastic poems including the poem to Shakespeare and a sonnet on Mary Wroth ; the Execration against Vulcan and others. The 1640 volume also contains three elegies which have often been ascribed to Donne (one of them appeared in Donne's posthumous collected poems). There are many legends about Jonson's rivalry with Shakespeare . William Drummond reports that during their conversation, Jonson scoffed at two apparent absurdities in Shakespeare's plays:

13200-407: The family name with a letter "t" (Johnstone or Johnstoun). While the spelling had eventually changed to the more common "Johnson", the playwright's own particular preference became "Jonson". Jonson's father lost his property, was imprisoned, and, as a Protestant, suffered forfeiture under Queen Mary . Becoming a clergyman upon his release, he died a month before his son's birth. His widow married

13350-399: The field. The Rule of tincture applies to all semés and variations of the field. The field of a shield in heraldry can be divided into more than one tincture , as can the various heraldic charges . Many coats of arms consist simply of a division of the field into two contrasting tinctures. These are considered divisions of a shield, so the rule of tincture can be ignored. For example,

13500-524: The first volume of the folio-collected edition of his works that year. Other volumes followed in 1640–41 and 1692. (See: Ben Jonson folios ) On 8 July 1618 Jonson set out from Bishopsgate in London to walk to Edinburgh, arriving in Scotland's capital on 17 September. For the most part he followed the Great North Road , and was treated to lavish and enthusiastic welcomes in both towns and country houses. On his arrival he lodged initially with John Stuart,

13650-475: The fur is termed gros vair or beffroi ; if of six or more, it is menu-vair , or miniver. A common variation is counter-vair , in which alternating rows are reversed, so that the bases of the vair bells of each tincture are joined to those of the same tincture in the row above or below. When the rows are arranged so that the bells of each tincture form vertical columns, it is termed vair in pale ; in continental heraldry one may encounter vair in bend , which

13800-678: The gradual abandonment of armour on the battlefield during the seventeenth century. Heraldry has been described poetically as "the handmaid of history", "the shorthand of history", and "the floral border in the garden of history". In modern times, individuals, public and private organizations, corporations, cities, towns, regions, and other entities use heraldry and its conventions to symbolize their heritage, achievements, and aspirations. Various symbols have been used to represent individuals or groups for thousands of years. The earliest representations of distinct persons and regions in Egyptian art show

13950-402: The helmet and the back of the neck during the Crusades, serving much the same function as the surcoat. Its slashed or scalloped edge, today rendered as billowing flourishes, is thought to have originated from hard wearing in the field, or as a means of deadening a sword blow and perhaps entangling the attacker's weapon. The spread of armorial bearings across Europe gave rise to a new occupation:

14100-447: The inscription. Another theory suggests that the tribute came from William Davenant , Jonson's successor as Poet Laureate (and card-playing companion of Young), as the same phrase appears on Davenant's nearby gravestone, but essayist Leigh Hunt contends that Davenant's wording represented no more than Young's coinage, cheaply re-used. The fact that Jonson was buried in an upright position was an indication of his reduced circumstances at

14250-427: The intense desire for money and the negative effects that such desire can have on a person's personality and actions. The phrase "Almighty Dollar" is repeated many times in the song "Money (In God We Trust)" by the funk metal band Extreme . Ben Jonson Benjamin Jonson ( c. 11 June 1572 – 18 August [ O.S. 6 August] 1637) was an English playwright and poet. Jonson's artistry exerted

14400-567: The last was carried out in 1700, although no new commissions to carry out visitations were made after the accession of William III in 1689. There is little evidence that Scottish heralds ever went on visitations. In 1484, during the reign of Richard III , the various heralds employed by the crown were incorporated into England's College of Arms , through which all new grants of arms would eventually be issued. The college currently consists of three Kings of Arms, assisted by six Heralds, and four Pursuivants , or junior officers of arms, all under

14550-409: The left hind foot). Another frequent position is passant , or walking, like the lions of the coat of arms of England . Eagles are almost always shown with their wings spread, or displayed. A pair of wings conjoined is called a vol . In English heraldry the crescent , mullet , martlet , annulet , fleur-de-lis , and rose may be added to a shield to distinguish cadet branches of a family from

14700-399: The main purpose of heraldry: identification. As more complicated shields came into use, these bold shapes were set apart in a separate class as the "honourable ordinaries". They act as charges and are always written first in blazon . Unless otherwise specified they extend to the edges of the field. Though ordinaries are not easily defined, they are generally described as including the cross ,

14850-449: The masses, and Shakespeare, represented in the poem as a kind of natural wonder whose genius was not subject to any rules except those of the audiences for which he wrote. But the poem itself qualifies this view: Some view this elegy as a conventional exercise, but others see it as a heartfelt tribute to the "Sweet Swan of Avon", the "Soul of the Age!" It has been argued that Jonson helped to edit

15000-478: The more serious penalties at the authorities' disposal. His habit was to slip outside during the sacrament, a common routine at the time—indeed it was one followed by the royal consort, Queen Anne of Denmark , herself—to show political loyalty while not offending the conscience. Leading church figures, including John Overall , Dean of St Paul's , were tasked with winning Jonson back to Protestantism, but these overtures were resisted. In May 1610 Henry IV of France

15150-430: The name implies, the usual number of divisions is four, but the principle has been extended to very large numbers of "quarters". Quarters are numbered from the dexter chief (the corner nearest to the right shoulder of a man standing behind the shield), proceeding across the top row, and then across the next row and so on. When three coats are quartered, the first is repeated as the fourth; when only two coats are quartered,

15300-563: The new court. A decisive quarrel with Jones harmed his career as a writer of court masques, although he continued to entertain the court on an irregular basis. For his part, Charles displayed a certain degree of care for the great poet of his father's day: he increased Jonson's annual pension to £100 and included a tierce of wine and beer. Despite the strokes that he suffered in the 1620s, Jonson continued to write. At his death in 1637 he seems to have been working on another play, The Sad Shepherd . Though only two acts are extant, this represents

15450-526: The new reign and fostered by both the king and his consort Anne of Denmark . In addition to his popularity on the public stage and in the royal hall, he enjoyed the patronage of aristocrats such as Elizabeth Sidney (daughter of Sir Philip Sidney ) and Lady Mary Wroth . This connection with the Sidney family provided the impetus for one of Jonson's most famous lyrics, the country house poem To Penshurst . In February 1603 John Manningham reported that Jonson

15600-683: The next year, the production of Every Man in His Humour (1598) had established Jonson's reputation as a dramatist. Jonson described his wife to William Drummond as "a shrew, yet honest". The identity of Jonson's wife is obscure, though she sometimes is identified as "Ann Lewis", the woman who married a Benjamin Jonson in 1594, at the church of St Magnus-the-Martyr , near London Bridge . The registers of St Martin-in-the-Fields record that Mary Jonson, their eldest daughter, died in November 1593, at six months of age. A decade later, in 1603, Benjamin Jonson, their eldest son, died of bubonic plague when he

15750-662: The next, representing a particular person or line of descent. The medieval heralds also devised arms for various knights and lords from history and literature. Notable examples include the toads attributed to Pharamond , the cross and martlets of Edward the Confessor , and the various arms attributed to the Nine Worthies and the Knights of the Round Table . These too are readily dismissed as fanciful inventions, rather than evidence of

15900-601: The occasional depiction of objects in this manner, the overuse of charges in their natural colours is often cited as indicative of bad heraldic practice. The practice of landscape heraldry, which flourished in the latter part of the eighteenth and early part of the nineteenth century, made extensive use of non-heraldic colours. One of the most important conventions of heraldry is the so-called " rule of tincture ". To provide for contrast and visibility, metals should never be placed on metals, and colours should never be placed on colours. This rule does not apply to charges which cross

16050-401: The older, undulating pattern, now known as vair ondé or vair ancien , the bells of each tincture are curved and joined at the base. There is no fixed rule as to whether the argent bells should be at the top or the bottom of each row. At one time vair commonly came in three sizes, and this distinction is sometimes encountered in continental heraldry; if the field contains fewer than four rows,

16200-458: The orders of Lord Burghley , was permitted to minister to the inmates of London prisons. It may have been that Jonson, fearing that his trial would go against him, was seeking the unequivocal absolution that Catholicism could offer if he were sentenced to death. Alternatively, he could have been looking to personal advantage from accepting conversion since Father Wright's protector, the Earl of Essex ,

16350-410: The pelts were sewn together, forming an undulating, bell-shaped pattern, with interlocking light and dark rows. The heraldic fur is depicted with interlocking rows of argent and azure, although the shape of the pelts, usually referred to as "vair bells", is usually left to the artist's discretion. In the modern form, the bells are depicted with straight lines and sharp angles, and meet only at points; in

16500-516: The phrase in Chapter III, "Boston", of his American Notes , published in 1842. Edward Bulwer-Lytton is often credited with coining the related phrase "pursuit of the almighty dollar", which he used in his 1871 novel The Coming Race . More obscure uses of the phrase can be found as far back as 1852. " The Almighty Dollar " is the name of a 2007 Ozzy Osbourne song from his album Black Rain . The song argues that money and greed are destroying

16650-572: The planet by blinding people to problems such as global warming and pollution . "Almighty Dollar" is the name of a Devin the Dude song from his 2007 album Waitin' to Inhale . It is a lament both of a marijuana user's lack of money and the declining buying power of the US dollar . The words "Almighty Dollar" are repeated in the 1973 funk hit single " For the Love of Money " by The O'Jays . The song cautions against

16800-414: The play (i.e., remained silent). Yet Epicoene , along with Bartholomew Fair and (to a lesser extent) The Devil is an Ass have in modern times achieved a certain degree of recognition. While his life during this period was apparently more settled than it had been in the 1590s, his financial security was still not assured. Jonson recounted that his father had been a prosperous Protestant landowner until

16950-402: The plot mostly takes second place to a variety of incident and comic set-pieces. They are, also, notably ill-tempered. Thomas Davies called Poetaster "a contemptible mixture of the serio-comic, where the names of Augustus Caesar , Maecenas , Virgil , Horace , Ovid and Tibullus , are all sacrificed upon the altar of private resentment". Another early comedy in a different vein, The Case

17100-568: The priest alone drinks the wine. The exact date of the ceremony is unknown. However, his interest in Catholic belief and practice remained with him until his death. Jonson's productivity began to decline in the 1620s, but he remained well-known. In that time, the Sons of Ben or the "Tribe of Ben", those younger poets such as Robert Herrick , Richard Lovelace , and Sir John Suckling who took their bearing in verse from Jonson, rose to prominence. However,

17250-442: The prologue to the folio version of Every Man in His Humour : he promises to represent "deeds, and language, such as men do use". He planned to write comedies that revived the classical premises of Elizabethan dramatic theory—or rather, since all but the loosest English comedies could claim some descent from Plautus and Terence , he intended to apply those premises with rigour. This commitment entailed negations: after The Case

17400-474: The public theatres was in comedy. These plays vary in some respects. The minor early plays, particularly those written for boy players , present somewhat looser plots and less-developed characters than those written later, for adult companies. Already in the plays which were his salvos in the Poets' War, he displays the keen eye for absurdity and hypocrisy that marks his best-known plays; in these early efforts, however,

17550-620: The reign of James I ." Jonson was a classically educated , well-read and cultured man of the English Renaissance with an appetite for controversy (personal and political, artistic and intellectual) whose cultural influence was of unparalleled breadth upon the playwrights and the poets of the Jacobean era (1603–1625) and of the Caroline era (1625–1642). Jonson was born in June 1572 —possibly on

17700-414: The reign of " Bloody Mary " and had suffered imprisonment and the forfeiture of his wealth during that monarch's attempt to restore England to Catholicism. On Elizabeth 's accession, he had been freed and had been able to travel to London to become a clergyman. (All that is known of Jonson's father, who died a month before his son was born, comes from the poet's own narrative.) Jonson's elementary education

17850-458: The right from the viewpoint of the bearer of the arms and "sinister" (from Latin sinistra , "left") means to the bearer's left. The dexter side is considered the side of greatest honour (see also dexter and sinister ). A more versatile method is quartering , division of the field by both vertical and horizontal lines. This practice originated in Spain ( Castile and León ) after the 13th century. As

18000-418: The rise of firearms rendered the mounted knight increasingly irrelevant during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and the tournament faded into history, the military character of heraldry gave way to its use as a decorative art. Freed from the limitations of actual shields and the need for arms to be easily distinguished in combat, heraldic artists designed increasingly elaborate achievements, culminating in

18150-433: The second is also repeated as the third. The quarters of a personal coat of arms correspond to the ancestors from whom the bearer has inherited arms, normally in the same sequence as if the pedigree were laid out with the father's father's ... father (to as many generations as necessary) on the extreme left and the mother's mother's...mother on the extreme right. A few lineages have accumulated hundreds of quarters, though such

18300-426: The senior line. These cadency marks are usually shown smaller than normal charges, but it still does not follow that a shield containing such a charge belongs to a cadet branch. All of these charges occur frequently in basic undifferenced coats of arms. To marshal two or more coats of arms is to combine them in one shield, to express inheritance, claims to property, or the occupation of an office. This can be done in

18450-585: The shape of the vair bell is replaced by a T -shaped figure, known as a potent from its resemblance to a crutch. Although it is really just a variation of vair, it is frequently treated as a separate fur. When the same patterns are composed of tinctures other than argent and azure, they are termed vairé or vairy of those tinctures, rather than vair ; potenté of other colours may also be found. Usually vairé will consist of one metal and one colour, but ermine or one of its variations may also be used, and vairé of four tinctures, usually two metals and two colours,

18600-436: The shield. Some arms, particularly those of the nobility, are further embellished with supporters, heraldic figures standing alongside or behind the shield; often these stand on a compartment , typically a mound of earth and grass, on which other badges , symbols, or heraldic banners may be displayed. The most elaborate achievements sometimes display the entire coat of arms beneath a pavilion, an embellished tent or canopy of

18750-408: The shields. These in turn came to be decorated with fan-shaped or sculptural crests, often incorporating elements from the shield of arms; as well as a wreath or torse , or sometimes a coronet , from which depended the lambrequin or mantling . To these elements, modern heraldry often adds a motto displayed on a ribbon, typically below the shield. The helmet is borne of right, and forms no part of

18900-449: The temper of his age, he was often so broad in his characterisation that many of his most famous scenes border on the farcical (as William Congreve , for example, judged Epicoene ). He was more diligent in adhering to the classical unities than many of his peers—although as Margaret Cavendish noted, the unity of action in the major comedies was rather compromised by Jonson's abundance of incident. To this classical model, Jonson applied

19050-415: The time of his death, although it has also been written that he asked for a grave exactly 18 inches square from the monarch and received an upright grave to fit in the requested space. It has been pointed out that the inscription could be read "Orare Ben Jonson" (pray for Ben Jonson), possibly in an allusion to Jonson's acceptance of Catholic doctrine during his lifetime (although he had returned to

19200-548: The title "King of Heralds", which eventually became " King of Arms ." In the earliest period, arms were assumed by their bearers without any need for heraldic authority. However, by the middle of the fourteenth century, the principle that only a single individual was entitled to bear a particular coat of arms was generally accepted, and disputes over the ownership of arms seems to have led to gradual establishment of heraldic authorities to regulate their use. The earliest known work of heraldic jurisprudence , De Insigniis et Armis ,

19350-422: The title role. Perhaps partly as a result of this new career, Jonson gave up writing plays for the public theatres for a decade. He later told Drummond that he had made less than two hundred pounds on all his plays together. In 1616 Jonson received a yearly pension of 100 marks (about £60), leading some to identify him as England's first Poet Laureate . This sign of royal favour may have encouraged him to publish

19500-464: The troublesome twelve years he remained a Catholic. His stance received attention beyond the low-level intolerance to which most followers of that faith were exposed. The first draft of his play Sejanus His Fall was banned for " popery ", and did not re-appear until some offending passages were cut. In January 1606 he (with Anne, his wife) appeared before the Consistory Court in London to answer

19650-459: The two features of his style which save his classical imitations from mere pedantry: the vividness with which he depicted the lives of his characters and the intricacy of his plots. Coleridge, for instance, claimed that The Alchemist had one of the three most perfect plots in literature. Jonson's poetry, like his drama, is informed by his classical learning. Some of his better-known poems are close translations of Greek or Roman models; all display

19800-434: The type associated with the medieval tournament, though this is only very rarely found in English or Scots achievements. The primary element of a heraldic achievement is the shield, or escutcheon, upon which the coat of arms is depicted. All of the other elements of an achievement are designed to decorate and complement these arms, but only the shield of arms is required. The shape of the shield, like many other details,

19950-421: The use of standards topped with the images or symbols of various gods, and the names of kings appear upon emblems known as serekhs , representing the king's palace, and usually topped with a falcon representing the god Horus , of whom the king was regarded as the earthly incarnation. Similar emblems and devices are found in ancient Mesopotamian art of the same period, and the precursors of heraldic beasts such as

20100-446: Was "a great lover and praiser of himself, a contemner and scorner of others". On returning to England, he was awarded an honorary Master of Arts degree from Oxford University. The period between 1605 and 1620 may be viewed as Jonson's heyday. By 1616 he had produced all the plays on which his present reputation as a dramatist is based, including the tragedy Catiline (acted and printed 1611), which achieved limited success and

20250-414: Was a gentleman of coat armour. These claims are now regarded as the fantasy of medieval heralds, as there is no evidence of a distinctive symbolic language akin to that of heraldry during this early period; nor do many of the shields described in antiquity bear a close resemblance to those of medieval heraldry; nor is there any evidence that specific symbols or designs were passed down from one generation to

20400-416: Was among the first actors to be cast. Jonson followed this in 1599 with Every Man out of His Humour , a pedantic attempt to imitate Aristophanes . It is not known whether this was a success on stage, but when published it proved popular and went through several editions. Jonson's other work for the theatre in the last years of Elizabeth I's reign was marked by fighting and controversy. Cynthia's Revels

20550-401: Was among those who might hope to rise to influence after the succession of a new monarch. Jonson's conversion came at a weighty time in affairs of state; the royal succession, from the childless Elizabeth, had not been settled and Essex's Catholic allies were hopeful that a sympathetic ruler might attain the throne. Conviction, and certainly not expedience alone, sustained Jonson's faith during

20700-467: Was assassinated, purportedly in the name of the Pope; he had been a Catholic monarch respected in England for tolerance towards Protestants, and his murder seems to have been the immediate cause of Jonson's decision to rejoin the Church of England. He did this in flamboyant style, pointedly drinking a full chalice of communion wine at the eucharist to demonstrate his renunciation of the Catholic rite, in which

20850-488: Was attended by "all or the greatest part of the nobility then in town". He is buried in the north aisle of the nave in Westminster Abbey , with the inscription "O Rare Ben Johnson [ sic ]" set in the slab over his grave. John Aubrey , in a more meticulous record than usual, notes that a passer-by, John Young of Great Milton , Oxfordshire , saw the bare grave marker and on impulse paid a workman eighteen pence to make

21000-518: Was given a shield of this description when he was knighted by his father-in-law, Henry I , in 1128; but this account probably dates to about 1175. The earlier heraldic writers attributed the lions of England to William the Conqueror , but the earliest evidence of the association of lions with the English crown is a seal bearing two lions passant, used by the future King John during the lifetime of his father, Henry II , who died in 1189. Since Henry

21150-436: Was in a small church school attached to St Martin-in-the-Fields parish, and at the age of about seven he secured a place at Westminster School , then part of Westminster Abbey . Notwithstanding this emphatically Protestant grounding, Jonson maintained an interest in Catholic doctrine throughout his adult life and, at a particularly perilous time while a religious war with Spain was widely expected and persecution of Catholics

21300-545: Was intensifying, he converted to the faith. This took place in October 1598, while Jonson was on remand in Newgate Gaol charged with manslaughter . Jonson's biographer Ian Donaldson is among those who suggest that the conversion was instigated by Father Thomas Wright, a Jesuit priest who had resigned from the order over his acceptance of Queen Elizabeth's right to rule in England. Wright, although placed under house arrest on

21450-416: Was known to Jonson from prison in 1598 and Cecil may have directed him to bring the priest before the council, as a witness. At the same time, Jonson pursued a more prestigious career, writing masques for James's court. The Satyr (1603) and The Masque of Blackness (1605) are two of about two dozen masques which Jonson wrote for James or for Queen Anne, some of them performed at Apethorpe Palace when

21600-529: Was living on Robert Townsend, son of Sir Roger Townshend , and "scorns the world." Perhaps this explains why his trouble with English authorities continued. That same year he was questioned by the Privy Council about Sejanus , a politically themed play about corruption in the Roman Empire. He was again in trouble for topical allusions in a play, now lost, in which he took part. Shortly after his release from

21750-511: Was not always strictly adhered to, and a general exception was usually made for sovereigns, whose arms represented an entire nation. Sometimes an oval shield, or cartouche, was substituted for the lozenge; this shape was also widely used for the arms of clerics in French, Spanish, and Italian heraldry, although it was never reserved for their use. In recent years, the use of the cartouche for women's arms has become general in Scottish heraldry, while both Scottish and Irish authorities have permitted

21900-480: Was not of an age, but for all time." Thomas Fuller relates stories of Jonson and Shakespeare engaging in debates in the Mermaid Tavern ; Fuller imagines conversations in which Shakespeare would run rings around the more learned but more ponderous Jonson. That the two men knew each other personally is beyond doubt, not only because of the tone of Jonson's references to him but because Shakespeare's company produced

22050-651: Was produced by the Children of the Chapel Royal at Blackfriars Theatre in 1600. It satirised both John Marston , who Jonson believed had accused him of lustfulness in Histriomastix , and Thomas Dekker . Jonson attacked the two poets again in Poetaster (1601). Dekker responded with Satiromastix , subtitled "the untrussing of the humorous poet". The final scene of this play, while certainly not to be taken at face value as

22200-400: Was seven years old, upon which Jonson wrote the elegiac " On My First Sonne " (1603). A second son, also named Benjamin Jonson, died in 1635. During that period , Jonson and his wife lived separate lives for five years; Jonson enjoyed the residential hospitality of his patrons, Esme Stuart, 3rd Duke of Lennox and 7th Seigneur d'Aubigny and Sir Robert Townshend. By summer 1597, Jonson had

22350-550: Was the son of Geoffrey Plantagenet, it seems reasonable to suppose that the adoption of lions as an heraldic emblem by Henry or his sons might have been inspired by Geoffrey's shield. John's elder brother, Richard the Lionheart , who succeeded his father on the throne, is believed to have been the first to have borne the arms of three lions passant-guardant, still the arms of England, having earlier used two lions rampant combatant, which arms may also have belonged to his father. Richard

22500-468: Was written about 1350 by Bartolus de Saxoferrato , a professor of law at the University of Padua . The most celebrated armorial dispute in English heraldry is that of Scrope v Grosvenor (1390), in which two different men claimed the right to bear azure, a bend or . The continued proliferation of arms, and the number of disputes arising from different men assuming the same arms, led Henry V to issue

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