Helmet crest
Category
Wooden objects
Date
c. 1570
Materials
Wood, gilding and polychromy
Measurements
220 x 350 x 70 mm
Order this imageCollection
Godolphin, Cornwall
NT 169408
Caption
Carved wooden beasts like these were originally designed to sit on top of armoured helmets worn at ceremonial events and court contests. However, these dolphins were probably used on helmets prominently displayed at the funerals of members of the Godolphin family. The dolphin emblem was chosen as a pun on the family name and also alluded to the fact that they owned large stretches of the Cornish coast. The earliest crest is similar to those worn at court jousts in front of Queen Elizabeth I and appears to have belonged to Sir William Godolphin (c.1518–70), who served the Crown in various offices. As recognisable heraldic symbols, such crests could convey association with landed families across time. These emblems appeared in seal rings (used to seal correspondence), as well as on servant livery, horses and coaches, and were often carved or engraved onto architectural features.
Summary
Heraldic helmet crest in the form of a dolphin probably relating to Sir William Godolphin (c.1518-70). The carved wooden dolphin is complete and is painted and parcel-gilt. The mouth is open to reveal two fangs in the lower jaw, a set of front teeth and a tongue. The fins are gilded, while the body of the dolphin is black with carved scales.
Full description
This and a similar, slightly later version (NT 169409) are carved wooden representations of the dolphin which formed the crest of the Godolphins, a play on words typical of heraldry. They are likely to have been made as part of the funerary accoutrements of members of the family who had owned the eponymous Godolphin estate in Cornwall since the Norman period. The full, heraldic description of the crest of the Godolphin family is, according to Fairbairn’s Crests: ‘a dolphin, sable, finned or’. This means that the creature should be depicted as painted black with gold fins. Crests, to be placed on top of the helmet, developed from the late 12th century and rather than being a practical symbol of the knight’s identity on the battlefield, as is often suggested, they were much more likely to have been primarily an expression of ‘the peacock-popinjay vanity ingrained in human nature’, as it was put by the great authority on heraldry, Arthur Fox-Davies. In mediaeval and Tudor England they would have been most prominently displayed at court jousts or in processions, including those for funerals. From the late 16th century their use expanded from the nobility and knights to all those with heraldic bearings. By the 16th century the Godolphins were the most powerful family of the west of the county and the earlier crest is likely to relate to Sir William Godolphin (b. by 1518, d. 1570) who was in favour under Henry VIII, Edward VI and Elizabeth. He had begun as a protégé of Thomas Cromwell, survived his fall and went on to control the greatest tin mining interest in Cornwall. In 1544 he accompanied Henry VIII to France and put his mining experience to good effect as master of the mines during the successful siege of Boulogne. Though wounded during the conflict he was considered to have acted with valour and was rewarded with a knighthood and the bailiwick of the captured town. During Edward VI’s reign Godolphin played a critical part in the securing of Cornwall after the Pray Book or Western Rebellion and in 1553 he was returned to Parliament for the shire, for the second time. Having retreated from prominence under Mary he was again in favour during the reign of Elizabeth who leased him the Scilly Isles, of which he was already captain. It must have been Sir William, and not as is often stated, his father, also Sir William, who was buried at Breage, in which parish Godolphin House lies, on the 30th July 1570. As he was an armigerous knight of great significance there would have been a magnificent and colourful heraldic funeral orchestrated by the College of Arms, with standards, banners, an actual shield painted with his arms and, ahead of the coffin, borne by heralds, a sword and his helm or helmet topped by a wooden representation of the dolphin family crest. These then featured in the funeral service and would have ended by being placed on Sir William’s tomb in the Godolphin chapel. It was common practice for all or part of this paraphernalia to be set up on the wall of the church thereafter, supported by iron embrasures, and there are numerous examples surviving in situ throughout England. Strangely, for a family of the prominence of the Godolphins, no tombs survive in Breage church and they perhaps succumbed to Protestant zeal during the Commonwealth. There were, however, still three helms there in 1913 when H. R. Coulthard published his history of the parish and the crests at Godolphin today may well have come from them. Coulthard included a photograph of one helm, complete with its crest. The crests are reputed to have been bought at auction by Mrs Mary Schofield and were acquired by the National Trust with Godolphin House in 2007. They are displayed in the dining room.
Provenance
Formerly owned by Mrs Mary Schofield and believed to have been bought by her at auction. Acquired by the National Trust with Godolphin House in 2007.
Credit line
Godolphin House, the Schofield Collection (National Trust)
References
Goring 1982: J. J. Goring, ‘Godolphin, William I (by 1518-70), of Godolphin, Cornw.’, The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509-1558 (London, 1982): 219-20 Coulthard 1913: Hugh Robert Coulthard, The Story of an Ancient Parish: Breage with Germoe., Camborne 1913, pp. 100-14 Fairbairn 1905: James Fairbairn, Fairbairn’s Crests of the Families of Great Britain and Ireland, London 1905, p. 206 Litten 2005: Julian Litten, ‘The Heraldic Funeral’, The Coat of Arms, third series vol. 1, pt 1, no. 209 (Spring 2005), 47-67. Fox-Davies 1985: A. C. Fox-Davies, A Complete Guide to Heraldry, London 1985, pp. 245-62