William Segar, Garter Principal King of Arms, early 17th century
Sir
William Segar (in or before 1564–1633) was a
portrait painter and
officer of arms to the court of
Elizabeth I of England who became
Garter King of Arms under
James I.
Like other
artists of the Tudor court, Segar was active in more than one medium, painting portraits of luminaries of the court in addition to his duties in the
College of Arms. He painted Elizabeth's
favourite the
Earl of Essex in his "Sable sad" (black) armour for the
Accession Day tilt of 1590. The famous "Ermine Portrait" of Elizabeth is sometimes attributed to Segar.
Personal life
William Segar may have been the son of one Nicholas Segar
or of Francis Nycholson, alias Seager, who became a freeman of the
Stationers' Company in 1557
. Once thought to be of
Dutch origin, Segar is now believed to have been born in
England of an English mother.
By 1584 William had married Helen Somers, and had three sons and three daughters. By 1596 Segar was married to Maria Browne and had four sons, including
Thomas Segar who later became
Bluemantle Pursuivant, and three daughters. In December of 1616 one of Segar's rivals,
York Herald Ralph Brooke, tricked him into confirming foreign royal arms to Gregory Brandon, a common
hangman of
London who was masquerading as a
gentleman. Brooke then reported him to James I, who imprisoned both Brooke and Segar in
Marshalsea. They were released a few days later and the Lord Chamberlain hoped that the experience would make Brooke more honest and Segar more wise.
Heraldic career
William Segar as Norroy King of Arms in the funeral procession of Elizabeth I, 1603.[Marks and Payne, British Heraldry, p. 48, 87]
Segar was trained as a
scrivener and found employment with Sir
Thomas Heneage, vice-chamberlain to Queen Elizabeth. Through Heneage's influence, Segar was admitted to the College of Arms in June 1585.
[Moule, Thomas, Bibliotheca heraldica Magnæ Britanniæ, 1822, at , retrieved 7 December 2007][Strong 1969, English Icon, p. 17-18] While serving as
Portcullis Pursuivant, he "reluctantly"
accompanied
Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester on his 1586 expedition to the
Netherlands to serve as the
Master of ceremonies for the
St. George's Day festivities in
Utrecht. A description of this festival in
John Stow's
Annales is based on "the true and faithful description by one William Segar, alias Portclose [Portcullis], an officer of arms in that service."
Segar was promoted to
Somerset Herald in 1589 and to
Norroy King of Arms in 1593 During his tenure as Norroy,
Robert Cooke,
Clarenceux King of Arms, was encroaching on the traditional privileges of Garter King of Arms, Sir
William Dethick. In 1595 Segar sided with Dethick, criticizing Cooke for his inability to write clearly and for making many grants of arms to "base and unworthy persons for his private gaine onely."
In 1596, Segar accompanied the
Earl of Shrewsbury to invest
Henry IV of France with the
Order of the Garter, witnessing Henry's famed
Royal entry into
Rouen.
As Norroy, Segar carried the
Sword of state in the
funeral procession of Elizabeth I (1603). A comtemporary
manuscript shows Segar in the black
gown and
hood with
liripipe of
Tudor court
mourning worn with his herald's
tabard (image, left).
That same year, Segar was made deputy Garter to invest
Christian IV of Denmark with the Order of the Garter in place of the unpopular Dethick. He was appointed as Garter by a signet bill in January 1604, although Dethick (who now described Segar as "a poor, base, beggarly painter, and an ignorant peasant"
) refused to resign until December 1606. Segar obtained a great seal patent, confirming him as Garter, on 17 January 1607. In 1612 he invested
Maurice, Prince of Orange, with the Garter, and the same year was granted arms. He was knighted on 5 November 1616.
Segar was the author of
The Booke of Honour and Armes which was published anonymously in 1590. An expanded and illustrated version was published as
Honour Military and Civil 1602; some editions had an
engraved frontispiece by
Francis Delaram (image, above right).
Court painter
Francis Meres in his
Palladia Tamia (1598) lists "William and Francis Segar brethren" among famous painters of the day.
Little is known about Francis, who was residing abroad by 1605.
Segar's first documented activity is an illumination of
Dean Colet in the Statute Book of
St. Paul's School, for which payment is recorded in the accounts for 1585/86. The "Ermine Portrait" of Elizabeth I is dated to the same period. Segar was heavily patronized by Essex in the early 1590s, and also painted portraits of Leicester, Sir
Francis Drake, and other members of the court. The last recorded payment to Segar as a painter is for a portrait of the queen in 1597.
Two
sonnets by one "Ch.M." in honour of his lady Oriana were addressed to Segar, who seems to have been painting her portrait; these probably date to the 1590s.
Portraits
See also
