Garter stall plate

They are an extremely valuable source to students of heraldry, as they show contemporary images of ancient arms the provenance and reliability of which is second to none.

Unlike the ancient seals which often survive, stall plates show not only the form of the arms but generally also the tinctures (colours).

[citation needed] The appellant proposed in support of her claim that the stall plate of Henry, Duke of Norfolk (1655–1701), KG, nominated to the Order in 1685, was inscribed with the style of "Lord Furnivall".

Similarly in 1692 Henry, Earl of Suffolk (1627–1709) had made a claim[citation needed] to the Barony of Howard de Walden based on the evidence from three Garter stall plates which purported to show that baronies by writ did not pass away with heirs general but were retained by the heir male, if he were an earl, with his earldom.

King Henry VIII (1509–1547) made a statute of the Order of the Garter relating to stall plates as follows:[2] "It is agreed that every knyght within the yere of his stallation shall cause to be made a scauchon of his armes and hachementis in a plate of metall suche as shall please him and that it shall be surely sett upon the back of his stall.