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Heraldry is a system of identification of individuals
and families based on hereditary devices (or
"charges") centered on the shield. The origins
of this system are as remote as they are unclear.
The practice of adopting arms, meaning a shield with
charges unique to its bearer, started in the late
1100s in Western Europe and spread rapidly. At
first only royalty and the high nobility adopted and
displayed coats of arms; but the practice was quickly
imitated by the lesser nobles, knights, prelates and
even women (unusual because arms were for warriors, by
definition men). Eventually it spread to
entities like churches, abbeys, towns and schools. |
It is
usually argued that the reason for the spread of heraldry
among the nobility, meaning the military and landowning
classes, of Europe was to facilitate identification of
leaders on the battlefield. (A minority view holds
that coats of arms on tunics and shields would quickly
become unrecognizable in the thick of battle: garments and
shields would fast become damaged or dirtied in the fray.)
Perhaps armory
(a more correct term than heraldry, which strictly means that
which pertains to heralds, although it is seldom employed and
even then mainly by academics) received its greatest impetus
from the tournament, a popular activity for knights in the
1300s through the 1500s. A tournament was a kind of
martial competition event, lasting several days, between teams
of knights who aspired to win fame and prizes through their
prowess. At these events, whose popularity coincided at
first with the cultural and literary phenomenon of courtly
romances (e.g.,
Le Morte d'Arthur) featuring chivalry, pious knights and
virtuous maidens, it was both useful and necessary to be
readily identifiable. Thus the competitors would display
arms on their shields, coat-armor (the surcoat worn over the
suit of armor), and horse covering. They might also wear
a "crest", a representational figure of some kind, on their
helmets.
Heralds -
individuals who identified knightly combatants - were
essential at tournaments. They kept the scores,
announced the winners, and - above all - could attest to the
nobility of the competitors and their eligibility to
participate. Heralds at first were personal employees of
monarchs and noblemen (there were later itinerant "freelance"
heralds with no employer), and served them in various
capacities. One typical activity was to act as
emissaries (or ambassadors) between sovereigns or field
commanders. These heralds were named after their masters
(for example, "York Herald") whose arms they bore on their
tunics ("tabards") so everyone could see and know whose agents
they were.
It is a clear
that heraldry - meaning the adoption and use of coats of arms
by individuals and families - existed before heralds and,
later still, official bodies charged with regulating armory
(such as the College of Arms in England) came into being.
Some assert that there is evidence of the existence of
heraldry in the Bayeux Tapestry, the famous visual narrative
of the Norman conquest of England in 1066, but this remains
unproven: some of the warriors depicted do appear to be
bearing personal emblems but it is not established that they
were hereditary, which is a requirement of heraldry.
Broadly
speaking, there are today two types of arms: assumed and
granted. Anyone may design and use a coat of arms (and
many have). However, granted arms, meaning arms that
have been formally conveyed to an individual by a sovereign, a
state, or a body with authority to do so, are accorded a
superior status. These arms are evidenced by formal
documents (grants), recorded in official repositories and have
legal status where arms are recognized under the law.
Another
fundamental distinction, more relevant in Continental Europe
than in the United Kingdom, is that between "noble" and
"non-noble" (or "burgher") arms. Although noble families
invariably have a coat of arms, it does not follow that a coat
of arms is a certain sign of nobility. In the old
European kingdoms, nobility often brought privileges (such as
exemption from tax) and therefore sovereigns tended to grant
it sparingly. That said, it could be acquired through
the purchase of a government or judicial office; military or
other service to the state; or purchase of a manor or noble
estate. But many non-noble families throughout
Continental Europe also had a coat of arms. Indeed, in
France, when arms were taxed by Louis XIV, the Crown forcibly
"granted" coats of arms to entire populations of villages to
increase revenues.
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Finally, a coat
of arms is granted to one individual and inherited by his
descendants who alone may bear or use his arms. This
contrasts with a prevalent, but entirely incorrect, notion
today that sharing the same name as a grantee is sufficient
basis to use his arms. It is simply wrong to assume
that, if your surname happens to be "Alford" and there exists
an Alford family coat of arms, you are entitled to bear the
Alford arms. If you are not legitimately descended
from or related to the first |
Alford to be granted those
arms, they are not your "family arms." |
Heraldry
operates on the basis of a collection of fairly simple rules
and the language called "blazon" which can be learned without
great difficulty. The aim of the rules is to ensure a
consistency and quality of design, and that of the language is
to express any design in as few words as possible but in a
manner that any heralds or interested party can understand.
The rules are more or less the same everywhere but that does
not mean that all coats of arms in Europe have the same style
and appearance. Italian arms are distinct in appearance
from German ones, for example; and crests are far more popular
in Britain than on the Continent. It can also happen
that rules are completely ignored. As a result, a system
that is simple in theory can be complex in practice.
In theory, two
persons or families cannot have the same coats of arms.
But in fact this can happen because heraldry developed in
different countries over nine centuries. A coat of arms
might well be unique in France, but the same arms -
particularly those with very simple designs - might also have
been granted to an unrelated individual in England.
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