England
Cecil of Salisbury — Robert Cecil's early gold-crescent form
- Family / house
- Cecil; Cecil of Salisbury; Salisbury; Hatfield
- Family / cadet branch
- Founder of the Salisbury line; younger surviving son of William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, by Mildred Cooke
- Armiger / bearer
- Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury
- Entity type
- individual
- Social rank / class
- peer
- Heraldic authority
- St George's Chapel Garter-stall tradition; British Armorial Bindings database; later heraldic reproductions
- Record basis
- recording
- Issued / first recorded
- 1603
- Until / superseded
- 1612
- Historical period
- Early Stuart period
- Grant / record reference
- Baron Cecil of Essendon, 13 May 1603; Viscount Cranborne, 20 August 1604; Earl of Salisbury, 4 May 1605
- Blazon
- Quarterly of six: 1st and 6th, Barry of ten Argent and Azure, over all six escutcheons Sable, three, two and one, each charged with a lion rampant Argent, for Cecil; 2nd, per pale Gules and Azure, a lion rampant Argent supporting a tree eradicated Vert, for Winston; 3rd, Sable, a plate between three towers triple-towered Argent, for Caerleon; 4th, Argent, on a bend cotised Gules three cinquefoils Or, for Heckington; 5th, Argent, a chevron Ermine between three chess-rooks Sable, for Walcot; over all a crescent Or for difference.
- Plain-English description
- A six-part quartered shield with the Cecil coat in the first and sixth quarters and inherited Winston, Caerleon, Heckington and Walcot quarters; a gold crescent overlays the centre as Robert's younger-son difference.
- Tinctures
- Argent; Azure; Sable; Gules; Or; Vert; Ermine
- Charges / ordinaries
- barry of ten; six escutcheons; lions rampant; crescent; tree eradicated; towers; plate; cinquefoils; chess-rooks
- Crest
- Six arrows in saltire Or, barbed and flighted Argent, tied with a ribbon Gules and surmounted by a morion cap Proper.
- Motto
- SERO SED SERIO
- Exterior ornaments
- Robert's Garter achievement was displayed with the appropriate Garter and earl's coronet. The early armorial-binding records identify both an esquire-style stamp and an earl-style stamp bearing the same quartered arms and crest.
- Difference / variant
- This is the early documented Salisbury form associated with Robert himself. The crescent is recorded as Or in the British Armorial Bindings description and in the reproduction based on his Garter stall plate, whereas later Salisbury armorials standardize the branch difference as Gules.
- Source reference
- British Armorial Bindings, Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury
- Linked historical person
- Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury
- Source
- Open source
Genealogical context
- Father
- William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley
- Mother
- Mildred Cooke
- Spouse(s)
- Elizabeth Brooke, daughter of William Brooke, 10th Baron Cobham
- Children / next generation
- William Cecil, 2nd Earl of Salisbury; Frances Cecil
Documented depiction
Notes / sources
This finding materially qualifies the registry's existing red-crescent record. Robert's own early evidence should not be silently rewritten as Gules: both the British Armorial Bindings description and the Garter-stall-based depiction give the crescent Or. The later Gules form is the established Salisbury branch rendering in subsequent peerage armorials.