pursuivant

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pur·sui·vant

(pûr′swĭ-vənt)

1. An officer in the British Colleges of Heralds who ranks below a herald.

2. A follower or attendant.

[Middle English pursevant, attendant, from Old French poursuivant, from present participle of poursuivre, to follow, from Vulgar Latin *prōsequere; see pursue.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

pursuivant

(ˈpɜːsɪvənt)

1. (Heraldry) the lowest rank of heraldic officer

2. (Historical Terms) history a state or royal messenger

3. (Historical Terms) history a follower or attendant

[C14: from Old French, from poursivre to pursue]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

pur•sui•vant

(ˈpɜr swɪ vənt)

n.

1. a heraldic officer of the lowest class, ranking below a herald.

2. an attendant; follower.

[1350–1400; Middle English pursevant < Middle French purs(u)ivant, present participle of pursuivre to pursue, follow]

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The case has been much debated by pursuivants and kings-of-arms.

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At each of these portals were stationed two heralds, attended by six trumpets, as many pursuivants, and a strong body of men-at-arms for maintaining order, and ascertaining the quality of the knights who proposed to engage in this martial game.

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He was accompanied by the heralds, pursuivants and the herald trumpeters.

Parliament dissolved in ceremony [...]

But of course Browning, once he's actually read hard, shakes free of those pursuivants, jumps the brook, switches back and is off and running (H.

Future directions for Robert Browning studies: a virtual roundtable

Owen was a maker of priest holes, those cunningly concealed hidingplaces where Catholic families could hide a priest, when the authorities - the pursuivants - came calling.

Game of cat and mouse since time immemorial

The continuing practice of recusancy, compelling Catholics to attend Protestant services or pay a steep fine, brought about great financial hardship as "farmers and laborers who decidedly preferred the old forms of worship, were deprived of their rites and ministers, and ruined by spies, pursuivants and bad neighbours, who carded off their goods under cover of collecting recusancy fines, till one by one they gave up the struggle and conformed."

The real Guy Fawkes: the media have branded Guy Fawkes a terrorist, but the real story of the "Gunpowder Treason" plot to destroy the British Parliament is not so clear-cut as some would have it

It was no historical accident that pursuivants in Elizabethan times hunted down "massing" priests.

Letters and column

Soldiers known as "pursuivants" searched for priests and for laypeople, known as recusants, who refused to obey the anti-Catholic laws.

Christian against Christian in 16th-century England: writers draw surprising parallels with events today

Most high-ranking among the heralds were the kings of arms, who alone could grant heraldic coats of arms, while the most junior were known as pursuivants. Although a great deal is known about the functions of heralds generally, relatively little is known of the individuals themselves.

John Chester alias Wryxworth (fl. 1440s): David Grummitt introduces one of the least known Members of Parliament to have been covered in this series, but a man whose role as herald made him an important figure in mid-15th century England

I think it will have to be one of the Pursuivants. You haven't got a pursuivant?