Kitley Heritage - Reynell impaling Fortescue

39/ Masonry argent a chief indented sable Impaling Azure a bend engrailed argent plain cotised or on the bend a crescent of the second within a crescent gules for cadency – Reynell impaling Fortescue

George Reinell of Malston, great grandson of Walter (q.v. shield 38), married Joane, daughter of Thomas Fortescue of Valepit, c1550. It was his granddaughter, Alice, who married John Bastard of Gerston (q.v. shield 40).

From the same period as this marriage, another Fortescue of Valepit, Sir John, Knight, had become tutor in languages to Queen Elizabeth I, and was later appointed Lord High Chancellor by her. He died on his Buckinghamshire Estate in 1608. His grandson, Sir Faithful Fortescue, fought in the Battle of Edgehill. In the three centuries from 1422 to 1716, no less than eleven Fortescues were Sheriffs of Devon, more than any other family. Another was Lord Lieutenant during the Napoleonic Wars. The line can be traced back through Sir Henry Fortescue, who fought in France under King Henry V, to a William Fortescue who held estates in and around Modbury &c during the time of King John, and ultimately to Sir Richard le Fort, from whom the name derived. He arrived in this country with William of Normandy in 1066, and was afterwards christened Fort Escu, meaning “strong child” after having protected William with his shield at the Battle of Hastings – some early chroniclers suggest that he was in fact the shield-bearer for Willam the Conqueror.