Family / house

Cecil

Family / cadet branch

Cecil of Burghley; Exeter branch

Armiger / bearer

Thomas Cecil, 1st Earl of Exeter

Entity type

individual

Social rank / class

peer

Heraldic authority

College of Arms tradition; Westminster Abbey memorial evidence

Record basis

ancient_usage

Issued / first recorded

1598-08-04

Until / superseded

1623-02-07

Historical period

Late Tudor; early Stuart

Grant / record reference

Inherited the paternal Cecil arms on the death of William Cecil; created Earl of Exeter in 1605.

Blazon

Barry of ten Argent and Azure, over all six escutcheons Sable, three, two and one, each charged with a Lion rampant Argent, armed and langued Gules.

Plain-English description

The inherited Cecil coat: ten silver-and-blue bars over six black shields, each carrying a silver rampant lion.

Tinctures

Argent; Azure; Sable; Gules

Charges / ordinaries

six escutcheons; six lions rampant

Crest

On a chapeau Gules turned up Ermine, a garb Or supported by two lions, the dexter Argent and the sinister Azure.

Motto

COR UNUM VIA UNA

Exterior ornaments

Earl's coronet; Knight of the Garter; the Exeter line used the undifferenced principal Cecil coat in the early succession.

Difference / variant

Principal Cecil arms inherited by the elder male branch, later known as the Exeter line; distinct from Robert Cecil's differenced Salisbury usage.

Source reference

Westminster Abbey, Thomas & William Cecil, Earls of Exeter

Linked historical person

Thomas Cecil, 1st Earl 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, Viscount Wimbledon; Elizabeth Cecil, later wife of Sir Edward Coke; Lucy Cecil, later Marchioness of Winchester

Documented depiction

Open depiction source

Notes / sources