HERALD. In the histories of the heroic ages, we find important functions ascribed to those officers whom the Greeks call iesievieco-, and the Romans feciales. Their cha racter is represented as sacred and inviolable ; and in I lo their common epithet is "the divine." Their duties were not less numerous than important. They could enter without difficulty into cities that were besieged, and min gle without danger among contending armies. They sum moned the chiefs to the council ; they commanded silence, that the discourses of the kings might he, heard ; and pre sented to each of them the sceptre before he commenced his harangue. The herald was charged with the most de licate missions, and accompanied his prince on the most difficult occasions. Agamemnon sent only Talthybius and Eurybates to bring Briseis from the tent of Achylles ; and when Priam went to beg the body of his son, he took no one with him but his herald. The herald was distinguish ed by a long rod or sceptre, which he carried in his hand ; and from this circumstance it was, that the Romans gave Itim the name of caduceator. Eckhel has published a beautiful medal of Crotona, from which we may judge of the dress of a xmeti, at a time much later than the age of Homer. He is arrayed in a long tunic like that of a priest, and holds in his hands a Jiatera and a caduceus. The /1a tera denotes a libation or offering to tue gods, a function with which the heralds were frequently charged. Accord ing to Eckhel, this herald is in the act of demanding peace, and the coin was most probably struck at the time when the people of Crotona, humbled by a severe defeat, were obliged to send envoys to beg peace of the Locrians. The attitude of stretching out the right hand seems to have been considered as consecrated to the use of heralds ; and it is on this account, that, on the imperial medals, the em peror is commonly represented in the same position, when he announces peace and security to his people.
The use of heralds was very long preserved among the Greeks. There were heralds whose office it was to pro claim the laws observed at the olympic games, the names of the combatants and the victors, and, in general, every thing which was commanded by the judges of the games. The best account of the xveti of the Greeks, and the FE CI ALIS of the Romans, is to be found in the works of Grx vius and Pitiscus: or, if ancient authors be preferred, in Homer throughout : in Livy, i. 32 ; Cicero De Legibus, ii. 9 ; and Dionysius Halicarnass. lib. 2.
In the middle ages, also, the heralds perform a part of considerable importance. The origin of their name seems to be entirely uncertain, and it is difficult to say which of the sixteen theories mentioned by Edmonstone is the most ridiculous. The date of their institution in the
form of a college, in most of the European kingdoms, is equally obscure. The first king of arms of whom mention is made in the French chronicles, is Robert Dauphin, who was alive A. D. 1031. But the conjecture seems by no means unlikely, that the French borrowed the idea of a re gular body of men charged with the care of armories, pro cessions, and ceremonies, from the veterani of the empire. See Bertrand Caprioli. under the word MILITIA, as cited by Upton De Militari Officio, lib. i. cap. 8. In England it does not appear that any such officer as the herald was ever employed on missions by William the Conqueror, or either of his sons. Yet there can he no doubt that the office was familiar to Robert Curthose and Richard Cur de Lion, both of which princes were so renowned in the wars of the cross, and had so many opportunities of mingling with fo reign kings, in whose countries the heralds were already openly protected by the law. Very shortly, at all events, after this period, we find the heralds in full possession of all the privileges to which they ever attained, either in this island, or on the continent. They were allowed free en trance into the courts of all princes and great lords ; they bad power to reprove the faults of nobles, knights, and esquires ; and if these did not amend, to exclude them from all tournaments and martial exercises. It belonged to tho heralds to advertise knights and military commanders of the day of battle, to attend their sovereign's great standard in their best ornaments. They were, during the battle, to re tire to an eminence, to witness what was done on either side, and report to the king or general those who behaved most valiantly, and commit the same to writing. When the battle was over, it was their province to number the dead, to ransom the prisoners, to summon cities, and, in case of composition, to march before the captain or governor, for security of his person. At justs and tournaments, it was the office of the heralds to carry all challenges, to lay out the lists, and assign places to the combatants. Sur4 as wronged them, and refused to give full satisfaction, were declared guilty of high treason, and punished according.}'. An instance of which occurred in Scotland, A. D. 1515, when the Lord Drummond was solemnly forfeited in par liament, Eo quod Leonenz armorum regcm fiugno vislasset cunt eum de inejztiis 821i8 adnzonet and it was upon that lords's humble submission, and at the earnest intreaty of the Lyon himself, that he was restored.