and which, according to the inscription beneath them, were to commemorate such warriors as had gained for themselves renown and glory in the reign of Edward III. The same idea guided the selection of most of the coats of arms at Sculthorpe, which were, as far as can be gathered, those of Edward the Black Prince; Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester; John of Ghent; Sir Robert Knollys; Edward the Confessor; De Norwich; Sir Hugh Calverley; Beauchamp; Felbrigge; Erpingham; Morley; Wodehouse; Mortimer of Attleborough, impaling, or, a cross gules; Stafford; Tyes; Ingloys; Shelton; and Knollys impaling Beverley. Lastly, the coat described "Argent, a fesse engrailed between three Catherine wheels sable."3

3 Extract from Henry Chitting's Visitation of Norfolk and Suffolk, A.D. 1600 to 1620.

In the roofe of the church,

SCULTHORPE.

Norwich, Azure and gules per pale, a lion ermine.

St. Edward.

England and England with a label of five points argent.
E.

Norwich.

Morley.

Mortimer of Attleburgh sideth [i.e. impales], Or, a cross gules.

Knowles, Gules, on a cheveron argent three roses gules.

Shelton or Mawtby.

England quartereth Castile and Arragon.

Beauchamp, Gules, a fesse inter six cross-crosslets or.

Erpingham.

Ingloys, Gules, six barlets or, on a canton argent five billets sable.
Thomas Woostok, A border argent, England.

Stafford.

Felbrig, Or, a lion gules.

Woodhowse, Sable, a cheveron gutté or inter three cinquefoiles ermine.

Gules, a cheveron argent with a labell of three points mesme.
Argent, a fesse ingrailed inter three Katherine wheeles sable.

Knowles, within a border azure bezanted. Orate p' aia Rob'ti Knowles milit'.

Argent, a fesse gules inter three caulves trippant sable.

Knowles without a border sideth Argent, a fesse dancy inter three leopards' heads sable. [Beverley.]

Knowles sideth the same coat round about the churche.

The arms of De Norwich were placed in the church from the connection of the family with Sculthorpe. "Shelton" and Mawtby" bore almost a similar shield; the one here was probably that of Sir Ralph Shelton, of Great Snoring, who had been at the battle of Crescy. The arms of the Black Prince in this case had a label of five points instead of three. An example of this is engraved in Boutell's Manual of Heraldry; where it is mentioned that the Prince used a scal with a silver label of five points. The badge of Edward the Confessor was impaled by Richard II.; it may have been added to the other royal shields in this church in remembrance of Edward III., whose patron saint he was, and who had placed the arms of "St. Edward," it is supposed for that reason, in St. Stephen's Chapel in Westminster Abbey.

Of Sir Robert Knolly's no distinct biography appears to have been written, but from many sources, details of his life and doings may be ascertained, and a picture formed of his long and successful career. Of this career Froissart affords the most interesting particulars. Much of the history of Sir Robert Knollys is preserved in the vivid and romantic pages of the old chronicler, and the notices of more modern writers seem dull and unreal in comparison with his contemporary descriptions; but facts and traditions have been gathered and published by later research: to Weever, Blomefield, and more recently to Mr. J. G. Nichols, we owe information conveyed in their accounts of the several churches with which Sir Robert Knolly's was connected. He is also commemorated in A Chronicle of London, from 1089 to 1483, written in the fifteenth century, and in Fabyan's Chronicle, published in 1533; also in Fuller's Worthies, Dugdale's Monasticon, Boothroyd's History of Pontefract, and in other chronicles and histories, medieval and modern.

It was in the stirring times of Edward III. that he first took arms, about the year 1351, and this was the commencement of a series of foreign expeditions or campaigns,

which, with an intervening period of seven years, when he resided in Brittany, occupied the following thirty years of his life. He served during this eventful time under three, successively, of the sons of Edward III.,--the Black Prince, John of Gaunt, and Thomas of Woodstock; and was engaged repeatedly in those celebrated wars where the best and bravest of her knights so often turned the fortunes of the day to England's glory. Among these, Sir Robert Knollys seems to have had one chosen friend and comrade, Sir Hugh Calverley; and the two Cheshire knights performed together many congenial feats of arms.

One of the first of these-the account of which is the earliest mention of Sir Robert Knollys' military life, then begun, at thirtysix, in the prime and flower of his age-was the combat between thirty English and thirty Bretons, which was arranged between the French and English generals in the hope of ending the incessant struggles and bloodshed of which Brittany was the scene in 1351, and which is known as the battle of Trente. "The place appointed for it was at the half-way oak-tree between Josselin and Ploermel, and the day fixed the 27th of March, the fourth Sunday in Lent. Each combatant chose what arms he liked. The advantage at first was for the English, but after the greater part of both sides had been killed, the Bretons at last gained the day." 4

Five years later he accompanied the Black Prince to France. To him was given the command of part of the English army, and he was one of those, who, in that short and marvellous struggle at Poictiers, where eight thousand English put to flight seven times their number, shared the perils and triumphs of the day.

After this he made two more campaigns before he again joined the immediate army of the Prince of Wales. The first in 1358, when he assisted in the war made upon France

Froissart, also Fuller's Worthies, p. 179.

by the King of Navarre, which lasted about two years. Some of its incidents are described in Fabyan's Chronicle

The 2nd day of Maye was wonne by Sir Robert Knolles and his company, a towne called Chasteleyn sur Louvayn, and pilled it. And after wyth their pillage and prisoners, the sayd Englishmen rode to the new castell upon Loyre

And then the sayde Sir Robert Knolles, with aide of the king's men, daily wonne many townes and strongholds in Bretagne, 1359." In Holinshed's Chronicle we are told that "Sir Robert Knolles, with other captains and men of war, upon the tenth day of March, scaled the walls of the citie of Auxerre, and behaved so manfullie that they were masters of the town before the sun was up. They got exceeding much by the spoil of that city and by ransoming the prisoners. The citizens agreed to give to Sir Robert Knolles gold which amounted to the sum of twelve thousand and five hundred pounds." 5

These and similar successes, and their substantial results, disinclined Sir Robert Knollys to lay down his arms, and when peace was made between France and England in 1360 he joined the Free Companies, and, with Sir John Chandos and other well-known knights, took the side, so long supported by England, of the Count de Montfort in the contest for Brittany, which still remained undecided. De Montfort, with the powerful aid of these valiant adherents, succeeded in his object; Charles of Blois, the rival claimant, was killed in battle; Du Guesclin, the famous general, taken prisoner; and in return for the important services which placed him in possession of the dukedom, he granted estates and the castles of Derval and Le Rouge to Sir Robert Knollys in the year 1364.

Sir Hugh Calverley, who had also joined the Companions, served soon after this in Spain, when the brother of the King of Castile deposed him and established himself upon

5 Holinshed's Chronicle, under Edward III., 1358.