Confining ourselves to the facts as there stated, we find that the duty
of providing for the safety of London devolved on the hereditary
castellans, the Fitzwalters, Lords of Wodeham, who discharged the office
of Chief Standard-bearer in fee for the castlery of Castle Baynard
within the City. When war loomed on the horizon Fitzwalter, armed and
astride his horse of service, and attended by twenty men-at-arms, who
were mounted on horses harnessed with mail or iron, proceeded to the
great door of the Minster of St. Paul with a banner of his arms
displayed before him. There he was met by the Mayor, Sheriffs, and
Aldermen, who came armed and afoot out of the Minster, the Mayor
bearing his banner which was _gules_ and charged with the image of St.
Paul, _or_, the head, hands, and feet _argent_, and in the hands a sword
also _argent_.
On perceiving their approach, Fitzwalter dismounted, saluted the Mayor
as his comrade, and, addressing him, said: "Sir Mayor, I am come to do
my service, which I owe to the City." The Mayor, Sheriffs, and Aldermen
replied thereupon: "We allow you here, as our Standard-bearer of this
City in fee, this banner of the City to carry and govern to your power,
to the honour and profit of the City."
Fitzwalter then took the banner in his hand, and the Mayor and the
Sheriffs, following him to the door, presented him with a horse of the
value of L20, garnished with a saddle of his arms and covered with a
sendal of the same.
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