The Percies settled permanently in England from Normandy in the 11th century. Since then their charm, battle prowess and presumed notoriety has indelably marked and coloured the fabric of English history, a history that today a thousand years later is still so very much alive.
These Percy chapters reveal scenes of valour, conflict, love and religious fervour which have all auguably made a lasting impression. Whether on the landscape of Northumberland or from within the corridors of power at Court, the blood and glory of their conflicts is remembered by some of the fiercest battles ever to be fought on English soil. The Percies keeness to fight and their skill in battle was permanently etched into their makeup, it was almost as though the neccessity to protect their hard won lands, honour and power had embedded itself in their blood and it was their fierce protection and control of the Northern border with Scotland that brought them such a an envious reputation.
But their winning mood was soon to change and focus on the avaricious and jealously motivated desires of the Crown whose courtly machinations were to eventually claim its victim. The Percies were by now one of the most powerful families in England and virtually ruled the North as their own principality. They were forced though to react to these threats in a manner that was foreign to every ounce of their character. For to fight with politics and words was not a Percy way and their attempts at matching the cunning methods of their witful antaganists became their bette noir, from which they eventually paid so dearly by attainder, confisaction, imprisonment and the executioners axe.
The irony in all of this too was that the Percies were as Royal and Noble as the rulers who manifested themselves so cleverly over them, those who were directly responsible for their cousins fate. For through the Percies veins ran the very same Royal blood which gave them their inimitable right to the Crown of England, the Crown they so very nearly won.
So all this too, might tell you how they tenaciously held onto it all against the most extreme and tremendous odds, as this proud family undaunted by the fiercest of odds clawed back, maintained, sustained to grow back their power until today when the ancient banner of their most fascinating heritage can still be seen flying proudly from their magnificent castle at Alnwick in Northumberland.
THE PERCY OUT OF NORMANDY
The banner at the top of this page is a Percy standard and is similar to that which hangs in St Georges Chapel at Windsor. It is a Knights standard and dates from the 15th century. It is quarterd with the arms of Percy, Louvain or Fitz Alan and Lucy.
The small image used on the opening page as a link is a facsimile of an ancient Percy badge consisting of a crescent moon, incorporating a fetterlock or manacles and dates from a victory in battle, won against a Turkish garrison by William de Percy during the Crusades in the Holy land dated 1097. This has been used as a badge of the Percy family since that time.
