Burton, Robert (1577 -1640)

Azure a fess between three talbots heads erased argent describe the arms of Burton of Coventry; Azure a fess between three talbots head erased or are the arms of Burton of Falde Hall in Staffordshire, Lindley and Bedworth in Leicestershire and Dronfield in Derbyshire. The crescent on the fess is the cadency mark of a second son. Robert Burton, the author of The anatomy of melancholy, was the second son of Ralph Burton of Lindley in Leicestershire. He was a student of Christ Church and held a college living. He left to the Bodleian Library any of his books of its choice, and the rest to Christ Church, where they have now been brought back together after dispersal throughout the library. His books usually have his name written on the titlepage, though some only have initials, and at the foot of the title a curious hieroglyphic of three rs arranged two and one sometimes with a dot between them. It has suggested that this refers to his coat of arms, the letter r being the littera canina representing the talbots heads. These books are not attributed to Robert Burton by either of the authorities on his library. The only similar arms are those of Maxey or Maxie of Bradwell in Essex and Shotley in Suffolk which are Gules a fess between three talbots heads erased argent