England
Cecil of Exeter: undifferenced senior male line
- Family / house
- Cecil
- Family / cadet branch
- Cecil of Burghley; Exeter line descended from the elder son of William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley
- Armiger / bearer
- Thomas Cecil, 1st Earl of Exeter
- Entity type
- cadet_branch
- Social rank / class
- peer
- Heraldic authority
- College of Arms; Cecil family records; peerage and heraldic authorities
- Record basis
- recording
- Issued / first recorded
- 1605
- Historical period
- Jacobean England to modern succession
- Grant / record reference
- Thomas Cecil was created Earl of Exeter on 4 May 1605. The Exeter line retained the Cecil base coat without the crescent difference used by the younger Salisbury line.
- Blazon
- Barry of ten Argent and Azure, over all six escutcheons Sable, three, two and one, each charged with a lion rampant Argent.
- Plain-English description
- The senior male line uses the original Cecil shield without an additional cadency mark: ten alternating silver and blue bars over six black shields, each bearing a silver upright lion.
- Tinctures
- Argent; Azure; Sable
- Charges / ordinaries
- Barry of ten; Six escutcheons arranged three, two and one; Six lions rampant Argent
- Crest
- On a chapeau Gules turned up Ermine, a garb Or supported by two lions rampant, the dexter Argent and the sinister Azure; individual and period depictions vary in details of the wreath, chapeau and lion tinctures.
- Motto
- COR UNUM VIA UNA
- Exterior ornaments
- Thomas's full achievement included the Garter, supporters consisting of two lions Ermine, and the insignia of an earl and Knight of the Garter.
- Difference / variant
- The Exeter line is the senior male line through Thomas Cecil, William Cecil's elder surviving son. Its shield is materially the same Cecil design as the base coat and is distinguished chiefly by succession in the senior branch, not by a permanent shield brisure.
- Source reference
- Westminster Abbey, Thomas & William Cecil, Earls of Exeter
- Source
- Open source
Genealogical context
- Father
- William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley
- Mother
- Mary Cheke
- Spouse(s)
- Dorothy Neville; Frances Brydges
- Children / next generation
- William Cecil, 2nd Earl of Exeter; Edward Cecil, 1st Viscount Wimbledon; Elizabeth Cecil, later wife of Sir Edward Coke; Lucy Cecil, later Marchioness of Winchester
Documented depiction
Notes / sources
The undifferenced Exeter coat should not be interpreted as evidence that every younger male descendant used an identical shield in every period. Individual cadency practices and later quarterings require separate records. The senior line's continuity is best followed through the Earls and Marquesses of Exeter and through Burghley House.