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The Grant of Arms
In the True Travels (top of p. 15, misprinted as "13"), the story of Zsigmond
Báthory's gift of a shield of "three Turkes heads" is repeated verbatim from
the Purchas version (Pilgrimes, II, 1366) only to the end of the sentence, after
which Smith inserted the complete Latin text of the grant, accompanied by
an engraving of the shield and followed by Sir William Segar's Latin confirmation
of the act of recording it, along with an English translation of both
(pp. 15–18). As to the authenticity of this transaction from the English standpoint,
the York Herald of Arms, Dr. Conrad Swan, wrote the following to
the editor: "One might say that the Arms of Captain John Smith, granted
by Báthory were officially recorded in the Records of the College of Arms by
means of a full transcription of the Letters Patent, issued by Báthory, including
a drawing of the Armorial Bearings and Seal which depended from the
Patent."
(see the Biographical Directory), who included a small version of it in the
"map of Ould Virginia" commissioned for the Generall Historie as soon as
Frances Howard, the duchess of Richmond and Lennox, responded to John
Smith's broadside of 1623 (see Volume II). Thus it would appear that Smith
was "legitimizing" his grant of arms by c. July 1624, when the Generall
Historie was licensed for publication. Vaughan's original drawing is preserved
in the College of Arms. It was officially copied for the editor some
years ago and is reproduced in the front matter of Volume I of this edition.
All the same, and still from the English standpoint, three pertinent
observations should be made that have to do with heraldic records of Smith's
day. First, inaccuracies are known to have existed, including a "concocted"
list of peers.
has expressed the opinion, "If one may sum Segar up, he was not, I think,
a knave, but it cannot be denied that he could show himself gullible." On
the other hand, a third consideration tends to restore our confidence. Augustine
Vincent, Windsor Herald from 1624 to 1626, compiled "Collectanea"
among which we find comments on and corrections of Segar's recording of
Smith's grant, but no question about its authenticity. This is significant
because of "the high opinion entertained of his professional talent, ... and
profound research, by those who are acquainted with the solid foundations
which support his fame."
From the Transylvanian and Hungarian viewpoint, however, many
details must be mistaken. Of these divergences from bald fact, the following
in the Latin text was corrected by Segar to "Moldavia" in English; Zsigmond's
titles as Comes (count) are not elsewhere recorded; Henricus Volda
seems to the editor suspicious as a name, as do the three countships of Meldri,
Salmariae, and Peldoiae; and Cambia (or Cambria) is not known as a name
for any part of Tatary. In addition, while the three tusks on the seal (see
below, 16) are characteristic for Zsigmond, both his title and the inscription
around the seal are erroneous. And finally, Segar's translation is inaccurate
in spots. These and other "slips" are more fully explained in appropriate
footnotes.
For all that, it must be remembered that the printed version of these
documents was derived from the recorded copy, for John Smith willed the
original "Coate of Armes" to Thomas Packer (see the original testament
transcribed in the Fragments), and it has since been lost. Corruptions may
have crept in to the document in the course of transcription. At least one
such document of similar import has survived (preserved in the Österreichisches
Staatsarchiv, Vienna) and has been inspected by the editor. This
grant was inscribed on an oblong sheet about 19 ½ by 32 ½ centimeters (7 ½ by
12 ½ inches) in size, which was folded lengthwise twice and crosswise twice
and sealed in the middle. It is at least an odd coincidence that this paper
shows illegible words, due to damage in folding, at the same relative positions
in the text as the erroneous or suspicious names in the recorded copy of
Smith's grant in the College of Arms.
Smith's memory, then, or the imagination of Sir William Segar, may
be suspected of having provided the fantaisistes titles, and Sir William alone
seems to have been the cause of the long-standing controversy about the
location of Smith's three duels — the controversialists having failed to read
the Latin original. That there were castles or fortified towns along the road to
the "royal city" (ad urbem regalem, i.e., Alba Iulia) is a historical fact. Which
of these was the scene of the duels, no one can tell today. To close the matter,
it need only be said that to regard Smith's grant and its registration by the
College of Arms as chicanery requires far more casuistry than to credit it as
truth (see the inter-Hungarian altercation between Lewis L. Kropf and
Laura Polanyi Striker).
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