Summary edit

Different sources have given Sir John Chandos two different versions of his coat of arms, as mentioned by Rs-nourse, who has done the excellent illustration. The field is given as either gold or silver, with a red pile. The gold field is found on the Garter stall plate in St George's Chapel, Windsor [1] (the source used by Rs-nourse) and in Willement's Roll S 19: 'Monsr. John Chandos. Or, a pile, gules.'[2] The problem is that the Garter Stall plate, as with all the earliest stall plates, was not produced until about 1421, fifty years after Sir John died,[1] and Willement's Roll was compiled c.1395, thirty-five years after Sir John's death.[3]

But there are at least seven sources for his arms with a silver field. Froissart describes Chandos's arms thus: 'Si estoit la banniere Monseigneur Jehan Camdos: d'argent a un pel aguiset de gueulles'.[4] There are also three English rolls of arms with painted shields: Antiquaries Roll (c.1360) AN 95 'John Chandos', County Roll (temp Ric II) CY 100, CY 399 'S' John Chandos, of Staffs', and Collins's Roll II (15c.) Q II 545 'Sir John Chandos'.[5] In addition, given Sir John's international fame, there are similar entries in three continental rolls, Armorial du héraut Navarre (c. 1368-1375) NAV 1481 'M Jehan Chandos', Urfé Roll (c.1381) URF 211 'Messire Jehan Cando, d argent a j pel de gueules esguisie', and Armorial Gelre (c.1385) GEL 632 'H' Jan Sandoys'.[6] Two of these sources date from Sir John's lifetime.

It also helps to place his arms in context. Sir John Chandos was the son of Sir Edward Chandos (d. after 1344) of Radbourne, Derbyshire, who appears as 'Mons Edw. Chaundos' bearing 'argent, a pile gules' in William Jenyns' Ordinary (c.1360-80) WJ 454 and Thomas Jenyn's Book (c.1410) TJ 1067. Earlier on, he appears with the arms 'argent, a pile gules, a label azure' in Second Dunstable Roll (1334) SD 17, Ashmolean Roll (c.1334) AS 283, and Cooke’s Ordinary (c.1340) CKO 560.[7] These arms with a silver field and a label were also borne by Edward's father, John (d.1308x1313), in Nativity Roll (1307-8) M 32, First Dunstable Roll (1309) L 222, and Parliamentary Roll (c.1312) N 618.[8]

But there was another branch of the Chandos family, at Snodhill, Herefordshire. They bore the gold shield. Sir Thomas Chandos of Snodhill (d.1375) appears in William Jenyns’ Ordinary (c.1360-80) WJ 441 bearing 'or, a pile gules.'[9] Sir Thomas's eldest son, John Chandos of Snodhill (d.1428), was sometimes confused with his distant cousin, the Knight of the Garter from Radbourne.[10] John of Snodhill used seals with a pile,[11] but we have no contemporary record of the tinctures. But if he used the same gold field as his father, this could explain why the Garter stall plate, and Willement's Roll, mistakenly used the more recent gold field instead of the correct arms for Sir John Chandos K.G. of Radbourne which he, and his ancestors, had used fifty and more years earlier: 'argent, a pile gules'.

[1] Hope, William Henry St. John, The Stall Plates of the Knights of the Order of the Garter 1348-1485, Westminster 1901, pl IV

[2] A Roll of Arms of the reign of Richard the Second, ed. Thomas Willement, London: William Pickering, 1834, p 3

[3] A.R. Wagner, Aspilogia I: A Catalogue of English Mediaeval Rolls of Arms, London 1950, pp 71-72

[4] Oeuvres de Froissart, ed. Kervyn de Lettenhove, vii. p 196, cited by A.R. Wagner, Historic Heraldry of Britain, 1939; reprinted London: Philimore, 1972, p 52

[5] cited in Dictionary of British Arms, iv. London 2014, p 297

[6] cited in Steen Clemmensen, Ordinary of Medieval Armorials, CD-ROM, rev. edn., Copenhagen: <a href="http://www.armorial.dk/">http://www.armorial.dk/</a>, 2013 s.v. 'chandos 1'

[7] cited in Dictionary of British Arms iv. p 299

[8] cited in G.J. Brault, Aspilogia III: The Rolls of Arms of Edward I, London 1997, ii. p 98

[9] cited in Dictionary of British Arms iv. p 298

[10] see Richard Barber, ‘Chandos, Sir John (d. 1370)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2006 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/5110, accessed 30 Sept 2010

[11] seals: 1376, Birch, Catalogue of Seals in the British Museum ii. no. 8508 (used by John Oldcastle); 1420, Ellis, PRO: Catalogue of Seals ii. no. P1182

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