Family / house

Cecil

Family / cadet branch

Salisbury line, descended from Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury

Armiger / bearer

James Cecil, 4th Earl of Salisbury

Entity type

individual

Social rank / class

peer

Heraldic authority

English heraldic usage as recorded in county and peerage sources

Record basis

recording

Issued / first recorded

1683

Until / superseded

1694

Historical period

Restoration and early Williamite period

Blazon

Barry of ten Argent and Azure, over all six escutcheons Sable, three, two and one, each charged with a lion rampant Argent, a crescent Gules for difference.

Plain-English description

Ten horizontal stripes alternating silver and blue, with six black shields arranged three, two and one, each bearing a silver rampant lion; the whole marked with a red crescent as the Salisbury cadency difference.

Tinctures

Argent; Azure; Sable; Gules

Charges / ordinaries

Six escutcheons; Six rampant lions; Crescent

Crest

Six arrows in saltire Or, barbed and flighted Argent, bound together with a belt Gules buckled and garnished Or, over the arrows a morion cap proper.

Motto

SERO SED SERIO

Exterior ornaments

As an earl: an earl's coronet; later heraldic achievements may include supporters of two ermine lions.

Difference / variant

Salisbury cadet form of the base Cecil arms, distinguished from the senior Exeter line by a crescent Gules.

Source reference

Surrey County Council, Surrey Coats of Arms, entry for Cecil, Earl and Marquess of Salisbury

Source

Open source

Genealogical context

Father

James Cecil, 3rd Earl of Salisbury

Mother

Lady Margaret Manners

Spouse(s)

Frances Bennett, daughter of Simon Bennett of Witley Park

Children / next generation

James Cecil, 5th Earl of Salisbury

Documented depiction

Open depiction source

Notes / sources