Blennerhassett Family Tree
Genealogy One-Name Study
Introduction      The earliest dated Blennerhassett coat-of-arms
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 Blennerhassett arms, Cumberland, in Thomas Jenyn's Book, c1410
 
arms of John de Blenerhasset, Cumberland
 
earliest surviving illustration of the Blennerhassett coat-of-arms
 
in Thomas Jenyn's Book of Arms (Thomas Jenyn's Roll)
Queen Margaret's version
Queen Margaret, consort of King Henry VI of England
 
 
 
 
The earliest known representation of Blennerhassett arms appears in Thomas Jenyn's Book, Queen Margaret's version.
 
Thomas Jenyn's Book, Queen Margaret's version, was formerly at the British Museum Library but now at its successor, the British Library, in the Department of Manuscripts as ref: Add. Ms. 40851, f.68. The individual shield is numbered 1498, on page 126.  The book has been microfilmed (monochrome).
[BL Add.Ms.40851 f.68 p.126] [BL microfilm M2105] [Boos TJ] [FCA] [HUDDLESTON p.28] [TG vol.5 p.98] 
 
Thomas Jenyn's Book, also known as Thomas Jenyn's Roll, is a medieval ordinary of arms, a bound folio volume of English coats-of-arms compiled c1410 (temp. King Henry IV) and later belonging to Queen Margaret (b.1430 d.1482).  Some sources appear to suggest the arms illustrated in Thomas Jenyn's Roll are earlier, perhaps temp. Edward III (1327-1377) but is difficult to be precise about the date of a particular shield without knowing the dates of birth and death of the individual named on the shield, in this case John de Blenerhasset.
 
The volume belongs to a small group of medieval ordinaries of English arms that includes Cooke's Ordinary c1340, Cotgrave's Ordinary c1340, and William Jenyn's Ordinary (also known as William Jenyn's Roll) c1380.  William Jenyn's Ordinary was collated c1380, temp. Edward IV, and later made into a folio book of arms by William Jenyns, Lancaster Herald 1516-1527.  The original is preserved at the College of Arms, London [Ms. Jenyns' Ordinary], another version at The Society of Antiquaries, London [Ms.664/9].
 
The Blennerhassett arms are represented as: gules three dolphins hauriant embowed argent with a description in French: "1498 John de Blenerhasset port de gules a trois dolphins argent", 1498 being not a date but the number of the shield within the book.
 
The first name of each of the bearers of arms was intended to be written using a distinctive colour for the initial letter, but this initial letter was never added, so in this example the letters J for John and R for Robert are missing.  It is possible they were added but in a colour that over time faded away completely, but that is unlikely.
 
This is a rare, perhaps unique, surviving instance of Blennerhassett arms displayed without a chevron, the way they would probably have been when first granted.  The chevron that has appeared on all Blennerhassett arms since 1390 was no doubt added to differentiate the family of a younger son from the family of the eldest son, at a date before the use of standard marks of cadency .  The line of the elder son then becoming extinct, the arms with a chevron became the norm.  There can be little doubt that the arms shown here, without a chevron, are the original form. 
 
 
NOTE: Queen Margaret who owned this book was Margaret of Anjou (b.1430 d.1482), second daughter of René I of Naples and Isabella, Duchess of Lorraine.  As the wife of the Plantagenet King Henry VI of England she was Queen consort of England 1445 -1461 & 1470-1471 and a leader of the Lancastrian side during the Wars of the Roses.  She was also Queen consort of France 1445-1453.
 
 
 
photo: copyright © The British Library Board 2010
 
 
 
 
 
 
photo: copyright © The British Library Board 2010
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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copyright © 2008-2012 Bill Jehan