Bear and Ragged Staff

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Bear and Ragged Staff heraldic motif used by the Earls of Warwick, from the Lord Leycester Hospital in Warwick.
supporters
to his couched heraldic shield
Bear and Raggd Staff, detail from monument to Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester in the Collegiate Church of St Mary, Warwick

The Bear and Ragged Staff is a

heraldic emblem or badge associated with the Earldom of Warwick.[1]

The Ragged Staff is believed to refer to

ash tree torn up by the roots."[2]

The emblem of a

Sheriff of Worcestershire. His heir was his son-in-law Walter de Beauchamp (died 1130/3), whose descendant was William de Beauchamp, 9th Earl of Warwick (c.1238-1298), the eldest son of William de Beauchamp of Elmley by his wife Isabel de Mauduit, sister and heiress of William Mauduit, 8th Earl of Warwick
.

Turnbull (1995) however suggests that the bear emblem came from another early legendary Earl of Warwick named Arthal, which he suggests signifies "a bear".[5]

Similarly the proto-heraldic emblem of Sir

Reginald FitzUrse (1145–1173), one of the four knights who murdered Thomas Becket
in 1170, was a bear.

The emblem was also adopted by Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester (1532-1588) of Kenilworth Castle in Warwickshire, younger brother of Ambrose Dudley, 3rd Earl of Warwick, descended from Richard Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick (1382-1439) and especially fascinated by his Beauchamp descent.[6] His monument in the Collegiate Church of St Mary, Warwick, displays the Bear and Ragged Staff emblem.

The emblem is today used on the flag of the historic county of Warwickshire.[7]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bear and ragged staff (Earls of Warwick badge).
  1. ^ Earls of Warwick and the County of Warwickshire, Draw Shield, retrieved 10 April 2024
  2. ISBN 1-85409-264-2
    , p. 160
  3. ^ Mason "Legends of the Beauchamps' Ancestors" Journal of Medieval History pp. 34–35
  4. ^ Sanders, I.J. English Baronies: A Study of their Origin and Descent 1086-1327, Oxford, 1960, pp.75-6, Barony of Salwarpe
  5. ISBN 1-85409-264-2
    , p. 160
  6. ^ Adams, Simon (2002): Leicester and the Court: Essays in Elizabethan Politics Manchester University Press, pp. 312–313, 321
  7. ^ Bear & Ragged Staff – Then & Now, Kenilworth History & Archaeology Society, 12 March 2021, retrieved 10 April 2024
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