Saint Cyril of Alexandria, 1990
Friday, 8th February, 39 Eliz. II
Thirkill Room,
Clare College,
8:45 p.m.
Dr. Peter Spufford
"Private Heralds in the Middle Ages"
 
Toby A.H. Wilkinson
Paul Barber
Tim Clarke
Thomas Knollys
Patrick Little
Eóin Murphy
D.A. Palgrave
Peter Spufford
Craig Patrick Doyle
Gordon Wright
Richard Marquis-Hirsch
Paul Fairchild
Andrew Senior
 

Dr. Spufford gave an account of the private herald in the middle ages, taking the list in "The Complete Peerage" as a starting point.

The paper, previously delivered to the Society on Monday 29th February 1988, argued that these heralds were not really "private" at all. It was argued that all those persons employing heralds were doing so not as private individuals, but in their capacity as holding some kind of office giving them a measure of delegated sovereignty.

Indeed, many of them had the power to create and employ heralds expressly granted to them with the office, and others presumably had this power implicitly.


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