The granting and designing of pictorial devices (arms) originally used on the shields of knights in armour to identify them in battle. In the early 12th-c these devices became hereditary in Europe through the male line of descent, though with occasional modifications. The science of describing such devices is blazonry. Arms are regarded as insignia of honour, and their unauthorized display is subject to legal sanction in most European countries. It is regulated by the College of Arms in England and by the Court of the Lord Lyon King of Arms in Scotland (whose heraldic rules are by no means the same as England's).
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Heraldry in its most general sense encompasses all matters relating to the duties and responsibilities of officers of arms. To most, though, heraldry is the practice of designing, displaying, describing and recording coats of arms and badges. The origins of heraldry lie in the need to distinguish participants in combat when their faces were hidden by iron and steel helmets. Eventually a structured system of rules developed into the modern form of heraldry.
The system of blazoning arms that is used today was developed by the officers of arms since the dawn of the science. An understanding of these rules is one of the keys to sound practice of heraldry.
Though heraldry is nearly 900 years old, it is still very much in use. Many cities and towns in Europe and around the world still make use of arms. Personal heraldry, both legally protected and lawfully assumed, has continued to be used around the world.
Origins and history
At the time of the Norman Conquest of England, modern heraldry had not yet been developed. The knights in the Bayeux Tapestry carry shields, but there appears to have been no system of hereditary coats of arms. By this time, coats of arms were being inherited by the children of armigers across Europe.
In the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance, heraldry became a highly developed discipline, regulated by professional officers of arms. As its use in jousts became obsolete coats of arms remained popular for visually identifying a person in other ways—impressed in sealing wax on documents, carved on family tombs, and flown as a banner on country homes.
From the beginning of heraldry, coats of arms have been executed in a wide variety of media, including on paper, painted wood, embroidery, enamel, stonework and stained glass. For the purpose of quick identification in all of these, heraldry distinguishes only seven basic colors and makes no fine distinctions in the precise size or placement of charges on the field. Coats of arms and their accessories are described in a concise jargon called blazon. This technical description of a coat of arms is the standard that must be adhered to no matter what artistic interpretations may be made in a particular depiction of the arms.
The idea that each element of a coat of arms has some specific meaning is unfounded.
Changes in military technology and tactics made plate armor obsolete and heraldry became detached from its original function. This brought about the development of "paper heraldry" that only existed in paintings. The 20th century's taste for stark iconic emblems made the simple styles of early heraldry fashionable again.
The rules of heraldry
Shield and lozenge
The main focus of modern heraldry is the armorial achievement, or coat of arms. The central element of a coat of arms is the shield. In general the shape of shield employed in a coat of arms is irrelevant. These almost invariably occur in non-European contexts such as the coat of arms of Nunavut and the former Republic of Bophuthatswana.
Traditionally, as women did not go to war, they did not use a shield. Instead their coats of arms were shown on a lozenge—a rhombus standing on one of its acute corners. In Canada the restriction against women bearing arms on a shield has been completely eliminated.
Tinctures
Tinctures are the colors used in heraldry. Since heraldry is essentially a system of identification, the most important convention of heraldry is the rule of tincture. Like any rule, this admits exceptions, the most famous being the arms chosen by Godfrey of Bouillon when he was made King of Jerusalem.
The names used in English blazon for the tinctures come mainly from French and include Or (gold), Argent (white), Azure (blue), Gules (red), Sable (black), Vert (green), and Purpure (purple).
Besides tinctures, certain patterns called furs can appear in a coat of arms.
Heraldic charges can also be displayed in their natural colors.
Divisions of the field
The field of a shield in heraldry can be divided into more than one tincture, as can the various heraldic charges. Many coats of arms consist simply of a division of the field into two contrasting tinctures.
Ordinaries
In the early days of heraldry, very simple bold rectilinear shapes were painted on shields.
There is also a separate class of charges called sub-ordinaries which are of a geometrical shape subordinate to the ordinary.
Ordinaries may appear in parallel series, in which case English blazon gives them different names such as pallets, bars, bendlets, and chevronels.
Charges
A charge is any object or figure placed on a heraldic shield or on any other object of in an armorial composition.
Animals are found in various stereotyped positions or attitudes. Another frequent position is passant, or walking, like the lions of the coat of arms of England.
In English heraldry the crescent, mullet, martlet, annulet, fleur-de-lis, and rose may be added to a shield to distinguish cadet branches of a family from the senior line. All of these charges occur frequently in basic undifferenced coats of arms.
Marshalling
Marshalling is the art of correctly arranging armorial bearings. Two or more coats of arms are often combined in one shield to express inheritance, claims to property, or the occupation of an office. This involves using one shield with the arms of two families or corporations on either half. One might also place a small inescutcheon of a coat of arms on the main shield.
When more than four coats are to be marshalled, the principle of quartering may be extended to two rows of three (quarterly of six) and even further.
Helm and crest
In English the word "crest" is commonly used to refer to a coat of arms—an entire heraldic achievement. In most heraldic traditions a woman does not display a crest, though this tradition is being relaxed in some heraldic jurisdictions.
When the helm and crest are shown, they are usually accompanied by a mantling. Typically in British heraldry, the outer surface of the mantling is of the principal color in the shield and the inner surface is of the principal metal.
Clergy often refrain from displaying a helm or crest in their heraldic achievements.
Mottoes
An armorial motto is a phrase or collection of words intended to describe the motivation or intention of the armigerous person or corporation. In Scottish heraldry where the motto is granted as part of the blazon, it is usually shown on a scroll above the crest.
Supporters and other insignia
Supporters are human or animal figures placed on either side of a coat of arms as though supporting it.
If the armiger has the title of baron, hereditary knight, or higher, he or she may display a coronet of rank above the shield. In Britain this is usually below the helmet, though it is often above the crest in Continental heraldry.
Another addition that can be made to a coat of arms is the insignia of an order of knighthood. When the arms of a knight and his wife are shown in one achievement, the insignia of knighthood surround the husband's arms only, and the wife's arms are customarily surrounded by a meaningless ornamental garland of leaves for visual balance.
National styles
The emergence of heraldry occured across western Europe almost simultaneously.
German-Nordic heraldry
Coats of arms in Germany, the Scandinavian countries, the Baltic states, and northern Switzerland generally change very little over time. One of the most striking characteristics of German-Nordic heraldry is the treatment of the crest. The crest cannot be used separately as in British heraldry, but can sometimes, especially in southern German-speaking regions, serve as a mark of difference between different branches of a family.
Gallo-British heraldry
The use of cadency marks to difference arms within the same family and the use of semy fields are distinctive features of Gallo-British heraldry. In Britain, the style is notably still controlled by royal officers of arms. French heraldry also experienced a period of strict rules of construction under the Emperor Napoleon. English heraldry makes greater use of supporters than other European countries.
Latin heraldry
The heraldry of southern France, Iberia, and Italy is characterized by a lack of crests and shields of unique shape. Iberian heraldry occasionally introduces words to the shield of arms, a practice frowned upon in British heraldry. Italian heraldry, in particular, is dominated by the Roman Catholic church with many shields and achievements bearing some reference to the church.
Eastern heraldry
Eastern heraldry is the tradition that developed in Croatia, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, and Russia. Often, entire villages or military groups were granted the same coat of arms irrespective of family relationships. In Poland, nearly six hundred unrelated families are known to bear the same arms of a horseshoe enclosing a cross.
Modern heraldry
Heraldry continues to flourish in the modern world. Institutions, companies, and individuals continue to use coats of arms as forms of pictorial identification. In the British Isles, the College of Arms, Lord Lyon King of Arms, and the Chief Herald of Ireland continue to make grants of arms. There are also heraldic authorities in Spain, Canada and South Africa that grant or register coats of arms.
Heraldic societies abound in the world today in Africa, Australasia, the Americas, and in Europe. Some people who have interests in heraldry as a hobby participate in the Society for Creative Anachronism and other medieval revivals or in micronationalism. Many more people see heraldry as a part of their national, and even personal, heritage, as well as a manifestation of civic and national pride. Today, heraldry has ceased to be an expression of aristocracy throughout the world and is simply a form of identification.
Authorities
Canada—The Canadian Heraldic Authority England, Wales, and Northern Ireland—The College of Arms Flanders—Flemish Heraldic Council Ireland—The Office of the Chief Herald of Ireland Netherlands—High Council of Nobility Scotland—The Court of the Lord Lyon South Africa—Bureau of Heraldry Sweden—National Board of Heraldry, The National ArchiveSocieties
The Academy of Heraldic Science Czech Republic The American College of Heraldry The American Heraldry Society The Board for Heraldic and Genealogical Studies of The Center for Research of Orthodox Monarchism Bulgarian Heraldry and Vexillology Society Genealogical Society of Ireland Heraldry Australia Inc. The Heraldry Society The Heraldry Society of Scotland The Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies The International Association of Amateur Heralds Lancashire Heraldry Group Macedonian Heraldry Society New England Historic Genealogical Society Committee on Heraldry The Royal Heraldry Society of Canada The Russian College of Heraldry Serbian Heraldic Society Societas Heraldica Scandinavica Societas Heraldica SlovenicaHeraldry-generating software
Puncher Heraldry ProgramOther
Heraldica International Civic Heraldry Rietstap's Armorial General A Display of Heraldrie by John GuillimExtended bibliography
General heraldry
Fox-Davies, A.C.. The Art of Heraldry: an Encyclopedia of Armory. An Ordinary of Arms Contained in the Public Register of All Arms and Bearings in Scotland. Anthony Wood) London: Heraldry Today, 1971.| The Heraldry Series |
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Blazon • Cadency • Canting arms • Coat of arms • Officers of Arms Badge • Crest • Compartment • Mantling • Mon • Quartering • Shield • Supporters |
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