File:StewardAugmentation Inescutcheon.svg

Arms of Stewart, Hereditary Stewards of Scotland (Or, a fess chequy argent and azure), with an inescutcheon Argent, a lion rampant gules, debruised by a bend raguly or. Augmentation to the arms of "Steward" given by the French King Charles VI (1368-1422) to Sir Alexander Steward "The Fierce", son of Andrew Stewart (by his wife the daughter of James Bethe), third son of w:Alexander Stewart, 4th High Steward of Scotland (died 1283), from whose first son were descended all the Stuart monarchs of Scotland down to to Mary, Queen of Scots, and from whose second son were descended the remainder from King James I & VI), for service done by his father Andrew Steward to that king and to the king of Scots, and also to John the French king, grand-father to Charles VI.

These arms were engraved onto an ancient signet ring in the possession of w:Sir Richard Worsley, 7th Baronet (1751–1805), which at the request of w:Jeremiah Milles, Dean of Exeter and President of the Society of Antiquaries, was examined by John Charles Brooke, of the College of Arms, later Somerset Herald, who presented his report which was read in 1775 at the Society of Antiquaries, summarised below. (Source: Conjectures on Sir Richard Worseley's seal, published in Archaeologia: Or Miscellaneous Tracts Relating to Antiquity, 1777, pp.183-5[1])

Henry St George, Richmond Herald, when he conducted the Heraldic Visitation of Cambridgeshire in 1619 noted: "Charles VI, King of France, granted a patent to this Alexander, of the augmentation of his coat for service done by Andrew Steward, his father, to the said Charles and to the King of Scots, and also to John the French king, grandfather to Charles". (Clay, J. W., ed. (1897). The Visitation of Cambridge made in Anno 1575, continued and enlarged with the Visitation of the same county made by Henery St George, Richmond Herald, marshall and deputy to Willm. Camden, Clarenceulx, in Anno 1619, with many other descents added thereto. Harleian Society, 1st ser. 41. London, pp.7-11, pedigree of "Stuart" )

In "a large pedigree of the Stewards of Cambridgeshire" contained within a book in the College of Arms in London, "which deduces them regularly in a direct line from Banquo, Thane of Lochaber in the time of Duncan, King of Scotland", is written the following in Latin: (also quoted in: Clay, J. W., ed. (1897). The Visitation of Cambridge made in Anno 1575, continued and enlarged with the Visitation of the same county made by Henery St George, Richmond Herald, marshall and deputy to Willm. Camden, Clarenceulx, in Anno 1619, with many other descents added thereto. Harleian Society, 1st ser. 41. London, p.9 [2])

Alexander Styward unicus filius Andrea quem Carolus Rex Francorum auratae militiae symbola(m) (Visitation text: aurato milite symbolo) donavit una cum hoc honore ex armor(um) incremento ut tam ipse quam sui posteri in majori clypeo gentilitio aure super baram scaccatam minorem clypeum argenteum cum leone rapaci rubeo baculo aure nodofo oppressum amoris regi(a)e monumentum perpetuum deferrent sicut ex charta regia concessaria hic verbatim expresse apparet

Which may be translated:

Alexander Styward only son of Andrew whom King Charles of the French gave (a symbol of a golden knight ?) with this one honor from an incrementation of his arms that himself and his posterity likewise as him should bear as a perpetual monument of royal love just as this appears expressly verbatim from a royal charter of concession: on his large shield of gentility “a chequered bar above gold”, a smaller shield “argent with a rapacious red lion crushed by a golden knotty club”

The imagery alludes to the following event. An armed knight fought with a lion, and having broken his sword, which lay in fragments at his feet, snatched up a rude club with which he combatted the beast. In allusion to this, in some books the following crest is given to the Steward family A sword broken in two, the pieces placed in saltire on a wreath, and surmounting a ragged staff erecly or.