Coat of arms

Shield

Field

Supporter

Supporter

Motto (Scotland)

Crest

Torse

Mantling

Helm

Coronet

Compartment

Order

Ordinaries

Common

charges

Motto

Achievement elements

In heraldry, a coat of arms is, strictly speaking, a distinctive design painted on a shield, but the term is also broadly applied to the heraldic achievement, consisting of the shield and certain accessories. In either sense, the design is a symbol unique to a person, family, corporation, or state. Such displays are also commonly called armorial bearings, armorial devices, heraldic devices, or arms.

Historically, armorial bearings were first used by feudal lords and knights in the mid-twelfth century on battlefields as a way to identify allied from enemy soldiers. As the uses for heraldic designs expanded, other social classes who never would march in battle began to assume arms for themselves. Initially, those closest to the lords and knights adopted arms, such as persons employed as squires that would be in common contact with the armorial devices. Then priests and other ecclesiastical dignities adopted coats of arms, usually to be used as seals and other such insignia, and then towns and cities to likewise seal and authenticate documents. Eventually by the mid thirteenth century, peasants, commoners and burghers were adopting heraldic devices. The widespread assumption of arms led some states to regulate heraldry within their borders. However, in most of continental Europe, citizens freely adopted armorial bearings.

Despite no widespread regulation, and even with a lack in many cases of national-level regulation, heraldry has remained rather consistent across Europe, where traditions alone have governed the design and use of arms. Unlike seals and other general emblems, heraldic achievements have a formal description called a blazon, expressed in a jargon that allows for consistency in heraldic depictions.

In the twenty-first century, coats of arms are still in use by a variety of institutions and individuals; for example, universities have guidelines on how their coats of arms may be used, and protect their use as trademarks.^[1][2][3] Many societies exist that also aid in the design and registration of personal arms, and some nations, like England and Scotland, still maintain to this day the mediaeval authorities that grant and regulate arms.

Traditions and usage

The German Hyghalmen Roll, ca. late 15th century, illustrates the German practice of thematic repetition from the arms in the crest

In the heraldic traditions of England and Scotland an individual, rather than a family, had a coat of arms. In those traditions coats of arms are legal property transmitted from father to son; wives and daughters could also bear arms modified to indicate their relation to the current holder of the arms. Undifferenced arms are used only by one person at any given time. Other descendants of the original bearer could bear the ancestral arms only with some difference: usually a color change or the addition of a distinguishing charge. One such charge is the label, which in British usage (outside the Royal Family) is now always the mark of an heir apparent or (in Scotland) an heir presumptive.

Because of their importance in identification, particularly in seals on legal documents, the use of arms was strictly regulated; few countries continue in this today. This has been carried out by heralds and the study of coats of arms is therefore called "heraldry". Some other traditions (e.g., Polish heraldry) are less restrictive — allowing, for example, all members of a dynastic house or family to use the same arms, although one or more elements may be reserved to the head of the house.

In time, the use of arms spread from military entities to educational institutes, and other establishments.^[2] According to a design institute article, "The modern logo and corporate livery have evolved from the battle standard and military uniform of medieval times".^[4]

In his book, The Visual Culture of Violence in the Late Middle Ages, Valentin Groebner argues that the images composed on coats of arms are in many cases designed to convey a feeling of power and strength, often in military terms.^[5] The author Helen Stuart argues that some coats of arms were a form of corporate logo.^[6] Museums on medieval armory also point out that as emblems they may be viewed as precursors to the corporate logos of modern society, used for group identity formation.^[7][8]

When knights were so encased in armour that no means of identifying them was left, the practice was introduced of painting their insignia of honour on their shield as an easy method of distinguishing them. Originally these were granted only to individuals, but were afterwards made hereditary in England by King Richard I, during his crusade to Palestine. They may be divided into two general classes:^[9]

1. Public, as those of kingdoms, provinces, bishoprics, corporate bodies, etc.;
2. Private, being those of private families. These two classes are again separated into many subdivisions, founded mainly on the different methods by which they were granted.

Arms of Adoption

Arms borne by a person adopted by the last representative of an aristocratic family.^[9]

Arms of Alliance

Arms commemorating a marriage. To illustrate: When Gilbert Talbot (who died in 1274) married Gwenllian, heiress of the Welsh Prince Rhys ap Griffith, he laid aside his paternal coat (Bendy of 10 pieces, argent and gules) and adopted that of the lady (Gules, a lion rampant within a border engrailed Or), which is still used by the Earls of Shrewsbury.^[9]

Arms of Assumption

Arms which a person may legitimately assume.^[9]

Arms of Attribution

Fictitious arms attributed to a legendary or historic (but pre-heraldic) personage, a common practice of the heralds of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.^[10]

Almost all the older genealogists attribute coats of arms to ancestors long before they were in use. On the tomb of Queen Elizabeth are emblazoned the arms of William the Conqueror and Matilda of Flanders, and of Henry I and Matilda of Scotland, all, of course, pure inventions. It is only of very late years, since a critical spirit has found its way even into heraldry, that these absurdities have been exposed.

—Encyclopaedia Britannica, Vol XI (1902)^[11]

Arms of Community

Arms borne by corporations, religious houses, colleges, cities and boroughs, inns of court, guilds and the Cinque Ports, some of which go back to an early period.^[10]

Arms of Concession or Arms of Honour

Arms granted by a sovereign to commemorate some great deed. The heart in the Douglas arms is in memory of the mission of James Lord Douglas with the heart of Robert Bruce to the Holy Land. The families of De la Warr, Pelham, Vane and Fane bear arms in allusion to the share their ancestors had in the capture of John II of France at the Battle of Poitiers (1356).^[10]

Arms of Dominion

Arms belonging to empires, kingdoms, principalities, states, etc., officially used by the ruler de facto. The origin of some of these arms is obscure, such as the three legs conjoined in triangle of the Isle of Man and the lion of Scotland. Occasionally the arms of dominion were those of an early sovereign or governor. Thus the lions of England belonged to the Plantagenet kings. In the United States the Stars and Stripes, now so well known throughout the world, may allude to George Washington, whose English ancestors bore Argent, two bars and in chief three mullets gules. The arms of the State of Maryland are those born by Cecilius Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore, Lord Proprietary of the Colony.^[10]

Arms of Family

Arms received by some distinguished person and borne with modifications by all his descendants.^[10]

Arms of Office

Arms borne by holders of certain offices which designate that office. For instance, the ancestors of the Dukes of Ormond, being hereditary butlers of Ireland, bore three covered cups. Garter, the principal king-at-arms of England, bears Argent, a cross gules, on a chief azure a crown or, encircled with a Garter of the Order buckled and nowed between a lion of England and a lily of France.^[10]

Arms of Patronage^[10]

• Arms borne by the lesser gentry which were derived from the arms of the greater; arms on which there is some mark of subjection or dependence.
• Arms to indicate the connection between the follower and his feudal lord.
• Arms added to the family arms as a token of superiority, right or jurisdiction.

Arms of Pretension

Arms quartered by a sovereign belonging to a state over which he does not hold authority. Nearly all the earlier European sovereigns bore arms of this character. The kings of England, from Edward III until 1801, in the reign of George III, bore the lilies of France. The treaty of Amiens (January 1, 1801) stipulated that this quartering of the French arms should be abandoned.^[10]

Arms of Succession, or Feudal Arms

The arms borne by the possessors of certain lordships or estates.^[12]

Arms Royal

The personal arms borne by the sovereign of a country, as distinguished from those borne by him in his official capacity, being those of the country over which he rules. As set forth in Arms of Dominion, the personal arms of a ruler sometimes become those of the country. On the other hand, neither the arms of Baliol, Bruce nor Stuart ever became the arms of Scotland. Oliver Cromwell the Lord Protector placed his arms on an escutcheon of pretence over those of the Commonwealth of England, and William of Nassau did the same with those of England.^[10]

Allusive Arms

Arms in which the charges suggest the bearer's name; also called canting arms, and by the French armes parlantes. Thus were the castle and lion for Castile and Leon, the horseshoes (fers de cheval) of Ferrers, the raven (corbeau) for Corbet, the herons of Heron, the falcon of Falconer, the swine's head of Swinebourne, the hammers of Hammerton and the swallows (hirondelles) of Arundel. Allusive arms were treated with respect until the time of James I, when they fell into disrepute.^[10]

Assumptive Arms

Arms appropriated without proper authority. Originally, however, the term had a different meaning, as seen in the following:

... Assumptive arms are such as a person has a title to bear, by virtue of some action done or performed by him, which by birth he could not wear; as if a person that has naturally no coat should, in lawful war, take a prince or nobleman prisoner, he has from that time a right to bear the arms of such prisoner by virtue of that military law that the dominion of things taken in lawful war passes to the conqueror.

—Dych: Dict. (1758).^[13]

An example of this old usage is the Prince of Wales's feathers, originally taken by Edward, the Black Prince from the dead King John of Bohemia (whom the prince had defeated in the Battle of Crécy in 1346) and used as the heraldic badge of the incumbent Prince of Wales to this day.

Paternal Arms

In a compound coat, the arms of the most distant ancestor in the male line. Arms inherited maternally are normally not borne alone, but in combination with paternal arms.^[14]

Practice in the Near and Middle East

Egyptian coats of arms showing common motifs, namely the crescent with stars in the left image, the eagle of Saladin and the regional colours on the right.

The coats of arms in the Near and Middle East, including Arabia, are quite often found borne upon a round escutcheon or upon a cartouche, rather than the European style which depicts the arms on a shield.

The crescent moon with a star displayed between the horns is a common motif found in heraldry of the region. It was originally associated with the city of Constantinople, and subsequently with the Ottoman Empire after the city became its capital. After dominance of the empire spread the symbol became associated with the Islamic faith, which was the predominant religion of the Ottoman Empire. Several kings of successor states, as well as individuals, adopted the charges in various formats as a sign of devotion to their religion.

Another commonly seen charge is the eagle, which is a symbol attributed to Saladin, and the hawk of the Qureish. They are commonly found as supporters in the heraldic achievements of several nations in the Near and Middle Eastern region.

Seafaring charges are also quite frequently used in maritime countries, such as those of the Arabian peninsula.

Practice in Europe

United Kingdom

In Scotland, the Lord Lyon King of Arms has criminal jurisdiction to enforce the laws of arms. In England, Northern Ireland and Wales the use of arms is a matter of civil law and regulated from the College of Arms.

In reference to a dispute over the exercise of authority over the Officers of Arms in England, Arthur Annesley, 1st Earl of Anglesey, Lord Privy Seal, declared on 16 June 1673 that the powers of the Earl Marshal were "to order, judge, and determine all matters touching arms, ensigns of nobility, honour, and chivalry; to make laws, ordinances, and statutes for the good government of the Officers of Arms; to nominate Officers to fill vacancies in the College of Arms; to punish and correct Officers of Arms for misbehaviour in the execution of their places". It was further declared that no patents of arms or any ensigns of nobility should be granted and no augmentation, alteration, or addition should be made to arms without the consent of the Earl Marshal.

Nordic countries

Coat of arms of the city of Vaasa, showing the shield with the Royal House of Wasa emblem, a crown and a Cross of Liberty pendant.

In the Nordic countries, provinces, regions, cities and municipalities have a coat of arms. These are posted at the borders and shown in official documents advertising the area.

Other European countries

At a national level, "coats of arms" were generally retained by European states with constitutional continuity of more than a few centuries, including constitutional monarchies like Denmark as well as old republics like San Marino and Switzerland.

Among the states ruled by communist regimes, coats of arms resembling the Soviet design were adopted in all the Warsaw Pact states except Czechoslovakia and Poland.

Since 1989, some of the ex-Communist states, such as Romania, have resumed their former arms, often with only the symbols of monarchy removed.

Practice in the Americas

Canada

The Queen of Canada has delegated her prerogative to grant armorial bearings to the Governor General of Canada. Canada has its own Chief Herald and Herald Chancellor. The Canadian Heraldic Authority is situated at Rideau Hall.^[15][16]

United States

The Great Seal of the United States, which displays as its central design the heraldic device of the nation.

The Great Seal of the United States uses on the obverse as its central motif an heraldic achievement described as being the arms of the nation.^[17] The seal, and the armorial bearings, were adopted by the Continental Congress on 20 June 1782, and is a shield divided palewise into thirteen pieces, with a blue chief, which is displayed upon the breast of an American bald eagle. The crest is thirteen stars breaking through a glory and clouds, displayed with no helm, torse or mantling (unlike most European precedents).

Only a few of the American states have adopted a coat of arms, which is usually designed as part of the respective state's seal. Vermont has both a state seal and a state coat of arms that are independent of one another (though both contain a pine tree, a cow and sheaves of grain); the seal is used to authenticate documents, whilst the heraldic device represents the state itself.

Many American universities, colleges and social fraternities and sororities assume and use coats of arms, though some may be more adequately described as pseudo-heraldic logos, as they incorporate a shield but do not reflect the principles of heraldic design. Organizations which formed outside the United States, but which have American membership or participation, also influence American practices and displays, through traditions such as those of the Roman Catholic Church or of England's College of Arms.

Ecclesiastic practice

Catholic Church

Coat of arms of Pope John Paul II, display the Papal tiara and crossed keys of the pontifical office.

The Vatican has its own coat of arms. As the Papacy is not hereditary, its occupants display their personal arms combined with those of their office.

Some Popes came from armigerous (noble) families; others adopted coats of arms during their career in the church. The latter typically allude to their ideal of life, or to specific Pontifical programmes.^[18] A well known and widely displayed example in recent times was Pope John Paul II's coat of arms. His selection of a large letter M (for Mary) on his coat of arms was intended to express the message of his strong Marian devotion.^[19]

Roman Catholic Dioceses also are assigned a coat of arms. A Basilica, or papal church also gets a coat of arms, which is usually displayed on the building. These may be used in countries which otherwise do not use heraldic devices.

However in countries like Scotland with a strong statutory heraldic authority arms will need to be officially granted and recorded.

Similar traditions

Japan

The Japanese equivalents, called kamon (often abbreviated "mon"), are family badges which often date back to the seventh century, and are still actively used in Japan today. The Japanese designs are distinctly different from European formats and often use floral and abstract patterns. For instance, the mon of the powerful Tokugawa Ieyasu simply consisted of three leaves.

Yet, even these simple designs often express an origin. An example in recent use is the logo of Mitsubishi corporation which started as a shipping and maritime enterprise and whose emblem is based on a water chestnut derived from its maritime history with a military naval influence. The word mitsu means the number 3 and the word hishi meaning "water chestnut" (pronounced bishi in some combinations; see rendaku) originated from the emblem of the warrior Tosa Clan. The battleships of the Tosa Clan had been used in the late 19th century in the First Sino-Japanese War to reach Korea^[20] and their name was given to a modern battleship. The Tosa water chestnut leaf mon was then drawn as a rhombus or diamond shape in the Mitsubishi logo.^[21][22]

Flags and banners

Note that not all personal or corporate insignia are heraldic, though they may share many features. For example, flags are used to identify ships (where they are called ensigns), embassies and such, and they use the same colors and designs found in heraldry, but they are not usually considered to be heraldic. A country may have both a national flag and a national coat of arms, and the two may not look alike at all. For example, the flag of Scotland (St Andrew's Cross) has a white saltire on a blue field, but the royal arms of Scotland has a red lion within a double tressure on a gold (or) field.

Gallery

See also

• List of coats of arms
• Baron and Feme
• Siebmachers Wappenbuch (Coats of arms from Germany, Switzerland, Austria, etc.)

Notes

References

• Pimbley, Arthur Francis (1908). Pimbley's dictionary of heraldry. Pimbley. 

Attribution

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Pimbley's dictionary of heraldry", Arthur Francis Pimbley (1908)

External links

• College of Arms Repository of the coats of arms and pedigrees of English, Welsh, Northern Irish and Commonwealth families and their descendants.
• The Court of the Lord Lyon the statutory heraldry office for Scotland
• Free access to Burke's General Armory (incomplete, 1500 British surnames), Pimbley's Dictionary of Heraldry and Blason des familles d'Europe, Grand Armorial Universel (15,000 European surnames)
• Royal Dutch Library page for the "Wapenboek Beyeren" written by Claes Heynenzoon (around 1400). It contains over 1000 drawings of coats of arms. It's a who's who of the Middle Ages