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In 1586, Robert Cooke, Clarenceux King of Arms, granted the new Company heraldry which is still in use today. The lower part of the shield shows the same pavilion between two robes. However the Lamb of God has been replaced by the lion of England. The lion referred to the Royal patronage which in 1503 had granted the Company its charter as Merchant Taylors. The religious image of the Virgin and Child on the crest, was replaced by the symbol of the Lamb, with its religious banner removed, surrounded by sunbeams.
Robert Cooke’s original grant of arms of 1586 is still kept in the Muniment Room at the Hall. This document explains that the old coat of arms was replaced because they were ‘overmuch intricate, with confused mixtures of too many things in one shield’. All Cooke did was move the Holy Lamb from the chief to the crest, remove the religious banner, and place a lion of England in the chief instead. Some other livery companies were happy to keep pre-Reformation religious symbolism in their heraldry.
The question is then, did the Merchant Taylors get new arms in order to avoid the wrath of the Crown after the Reformation, or did they try to simplify their heraldry to make it easier to embroider, paint or carve on their decorative objects?