Nicholas Charles or Carles (died 1613) was an English

officer of arms An officer of arms is a person appointed by a sovereign or state with authority to perform one or more of the following functions: * to control and initiate armorial matters; * to arrange and participate in ceremonies of state; * to conserve ...

, who served as

Lancaster Herald Lancaster Herald of Arms in Ordinary is an England, English officer of arms at the College of Arms in London. The title of Lancaster Herald first occurs in 1347 at Calais, and to begin with this officer was a servant to the noble House of Lancaste ...

from 1609 to 1613. He made a copy of an early and rare 13th-century

roll of arms A roll of arms (or armorial) is a collection of coat of arms, coats of arms, usually consisting of rows of painted pictures of shields, each shield accompanied by the name of the person bearing the arms. The oldest extant armorials date to the m ...

, the original of which is now lost, known after him as "Charles's Roll".

Life

Charles, according to

Mark Noble Mark James Noble (born 8 May 1987) is an English former professional Association football, footballer who played as a midfielder. He is currently the sporting director of Premier League club West Ham United F.C., West Ham United. A fan of the c ...

, was the son of George Carles, a

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

butcher. At an early age he entered the

College of Arms The College of Arms, or Heralds' College, is a royal corporation consisting of professional Officer of Arms, officers of arms, with jurisdiction over England, Wales, Northern Ireland and some Commonwealth realms. The heralds are appointed by the ...

as Blanche Lyon Pursuivant; on 21 April 1609 he was created Lancaster Herald in the place of Francis Thynne. In 1611 he accompanied Richard St George,

Norroy King of Arms Norroy and Ulster King of Arms is the provincial King of Arms at the College of Arms with jurisdiction over England north of the River Trent, Trent and Northern Ireland. The two offices of Norroy and Ulster were formerly separate. Norroy King of ...

, in his visitation of

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

; and on 22 July 1613

William Camden William Camden (2 May 1551 – 9 November 1623) was an English antiquarian, historian, topographer, and herald, best known as author of ''Britannia'', the first chorographical survey of the islands of Great Britain and Ireland that relates la ...

Clarenceux King of Arms Clarenceux King of Arms, historically often spelled Clarencieux (both pronounced ), is an Officer of Arms, officer of arms at the College of Arms in London. Clarenceux is the senior of the two provincial King of Arms, kings of arms and his juri ...

nominated him his deputy for the visitation of

Huntingdonshire Huntingdonshire (; abbreviated Hunts) is a local government district in Cambridgeshire, England, which was historically a county in its own right. It borders Peterborough to the north, Fenland to the north-east, East Cambridgeshire to the e ...

. Charles had barely completed this task when he died on 19 November 1613. He was a friend of Camden and Sir Robert Cotton. Thomas Milles commended Charles in his ''Catalogue of Honour''; and Edmund Howes, the continuator of

John Stow John Stow (''also'' Stowe; 1524/25 – 5 April 1605) was an English historian and antiquarian. He wrote a series of chronicles of History of England, English history, published from 1565 onwards under such titles as ''The Summarie of Englyshe C ...

's ''Chronicle'', acknowledged his assistance.

Works

Camden is said to have purchased Charles's manuscript collection after his death for £90: items from it are now held in the College of Arms and the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

. They include a collection of epitaphs in the churches of London and elsewhere, with drawings of monuments and arms (British Library, Lansdowne MS 874); and a catalogue of the officers of the College of Arms ( Harley MS 5880). Richard Gough states that John Le Neve possessed a manuscript visitation of Staffordshire by Charles, and Sir John Cullum a visitation of Suffolk; but these documents appear to be lost. Charles's Huntingdonshire visitation is extant in three copies, and one, marked "C. 3 Huntingdon 1613" at the College of Arms, was edited for the

Camden Society The Camden Society was a text publication society founded in London in 1838 to publish early historical and literary materials, both unpublished manuscripts and new editions of rare printed books. It was named after the 16th-century antiquary ...

in 1849 by Sir Henry Ellis.

Family

Nicholas married Penelope, daughter of Sir William Segar,

Garter King of Arms Garter Principal King of Arms (also Garter King of Arms or simply Garter) is the senior king of arms and officer of arms of the College of Arms, the heraldic authority with jurisdiction over England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The position ha ...

, who survived him. She subsequently married Timothy Cartwright of Great Washbourne, Gloucestershire. By her second husband she was mother of the architect Thomas Cartwright.

Arms

References

;Attribution Year of birth missing 16th-century births 1613 deaths 17th-century English people English officers of arms 16th-century English people {{England-mil-bio-stub