Family / house

Cecil

Family / cadet branch

Exeter line; Wakerley succession descending from Sir Richard Cecil, second son of Thomas Cecil, 1st Earl of Exeter

Armiger / bearer

David Cecil, 3rd Earl of Exeter

Entity type

cadet_branch

Social rank / class

peer

Heraldic authority

The Complete Peerage; Cracroft's Peerage; DNB-derived genealogical records

Record basis

ancient_usage

Issued / first recorded

c.1600

Until / superseded

18 April 1643

Historical period

Early Stuart period; English Civil War

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

Ten alternating horizontal stripes of silver and blue, with six black shields arranged three, two and one across the field; each shield bears a silver rampant lion with red claws and tongue.

Tinctures

Argent; Azure; Sable; Gules

Charges / ordinaries

Six escutcheons; Six rampant lions

Crest

The Exeter Cecil crest is generally recorded as a garb Or supported by two lions rampant, the dexter Argent and the sinister Azure, usually on a chapeau Gules turned up Ermine.

Motto

COR UNUM VIA UNA

Exterior ornaments

As Earl of Exeter, an earl's coronet and, in Garter contexts, the Garter and appropriate supporters could be displayed.

Difference / variant

The arms are the undifferenced Exeter Cecil design, but the armiger represents a collateral Wakerley branch that inherited the Exeter earldom after the extinction of the direct male line of William Cecil, 2nd Earl of Exeter.

Source reference

Cracroft's Peerage, Exeter, Earl of

Source

Open source

Genealogical context

Father

Sir Richard Cecil of Wakerley

Mother

Elizabeth Cope

Spouse(s)

Lady Elizabeth Egerton

Children / next generation

John Cecil, 4th Earl of Exeter

Notes / sources