White Hart

This article is about the word. For the pub in Berkshire, see Great House at Sonning. For the pub in Essex, see White Hart, Grays. For the pub in Hertfordshire, see The White Hart, South Mimms. For the pub in London, see White Hart, Bishopsgate. For the novel, see The White Hart (novel).
White Hart as a Royal Badge of Richard II

The White Hart ("hart" being an archaic word for a mature stag) was the personal badge of Richard II, who probably derived it from the arms of his mother, Joan "The Fair Maid of Kent", heiress of Edmund of Woodstock. It may also have been a pun on his name, as in "Rich-hart".[1] In the Wilton Diptych (National Gallery, London), which is the earliest authentic contemporary portrait of an English king, Richard II wears a gold and enamelled white hart jewel, and even the angels surrounding the Virgin Mary all wear white hart badges. In English Folklore, the white hart is associated with Herne the Hunter.

The White Hart pub sign

There are still many inns and pubs in England that sport a sign of the white hart, the fifth most popular name for a pub.[2][unreliable source?]

Arthur C. Clarke wrote a collection of science fictional tall tales under the title of Tales from the White Hart, which used as a framing device the conceit that the tales were told during drinking sessions in a pub named the White Hart that existed somewhere between Fleet Street and the Embankment. This pub was fictional but was based on a real pub named the White Horse where the science-fiction community of London met in the 1940s and 1950s.

The Wilton Diptych, showing Richard venerating the Virgin and Child accompanied by an angelic host wearing Richard's white hart badge. National Gallery, London.
  1. ^ Fox-Davies, Arthur=location=London (1909). A Complete Guide to Heraldry. TC & EC Jack.
  2. ^ "Pub names: 5.White Hart". Archived from the original on 2010-06-30. Retrieved 2007-03-20.