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(1593) and Hertfordshire (1598). His notes on DIVINE PROVIDENCE, QUEENE OF
Northamptonshire were published long after his ENGLAND, FRAUNCE, AND
death, and he is said also to have prepared work IRELAND, POWERFUL PROTEC-
on Kent and Surrey. Several of his county maps, TOR OF THE FAITH, AND UNDOU-
however, were published by Camden and Speed. TED RELIGION OF THE MES-
Even so, he made an important contribution to SIAH, THE MOST COMFORTABLE
topography and inspired others to follow in his NURSING MOTHER OF THE
footsteps -- the great Victoria County History is ISRAEL OF GOD, IN
in a sense the fulfillment of his design. THE BRITISH
ISLES.
Among what he published, two things may be of HER HIGHNES LOYALL SUBJECT
special interest to readers. One is the royal coat JOHN NORDEN, IN ALL HU-
of arms printed in his survey of Hertfordshire. MILITIE, CONSECRATETH
From Edward III to Elizabeth I the royal arms HIS SPECULUM
displayed the English leopards quartering the BRITANNIAE.
French lilies. This forms only the first quarter of
Norden's shield. The second quarter displays the "Nursing Mother," a phrase derived from Isaiah
arms attributed to four Saxon kings -- Edward 49:23, was one commonly applied to Queen
the Confessor, Edmund of East Anglia, Egbert Elizabeth by the Protestant Reformers. The
the Great and Edward the Elder, with an reference to "the Israel of God in the British
escutcheon for the Danish kings. The third Isles" is more unusual, and is striking evidence
quarter has a bend inscribed SPQR of how many Englishmen thought
to represent the Romano-British of themselves in the Reformation
kings (Cole, Constantine, etc.) The epoch.
fourth quarter displays arms
attributed to early British kings -- The Norden coat of arms shows no
Brutus, Belinus, Arthur and claim to Judahite descent. As
Arviragus -- the last being the St. readers will be aware, this claim
George's Cross said to have been comes principally to our royal
granted to the British kings by house through Elizabeth I's
Joseph of Arimathea. At the foot of successor, James VI & I.
the shield is the Irish harp, and over Nevertheless, the claim was
all an escutcheon of the English already there in Elizabeth I through
leopards quartering the Welsh lion. at least two strands: through Matilda, daughter of
Malcolm Canmore and Queen of Henry I, from
English heraldry, under the control of the whom all our sovereigns from Henry II are
College of Arms since the reign of Richard III descended; also through Ednyved Vychan,
(1484) tends strongly in the direction of ancestor of the House of Tudor as of many old
simplification, preferring not to display more Welsh families (including that of the present
than four quarterings. The purpose of the Norden writer). Ednyved Vychan claimed descent from
coat of arms was clearly to show Elizabeth I as Judah through Joseph of Arimathea. Both of
the heir to the whole of British history. This these were claims in cadet branches. Even that
accorded with the mood of the late sixteenth through Queen Matilda could not rival the claims
century when the influence of Geoffrey of of the Kings of Scots, but these claims are
Monmouth's History was at its height. Although important evidence of the traditions regarding
not the official coat of arms for the Queen, the origins of the British royal houses.
representations similar to or identical with the
Norden coat are not uncommon at the time. -- Barry Williams

More remarkable, perhaps, is the dedication,
reproduced in the original arrangement and
spelling:

TO THE HIGH
AND MOST MIGHTY
EMPRES, ELIZABETH, BY THE