HeraldryThe Study of Coats of Arms

is the study of the unique Coats of Arms that are associated with families and individuals, both historically and in the present day. It contains the study of the symbolism involved as well as the history that becomes attached to these coats of arms.

Heraldry,

The Coat of Arms of Canada

People mostly agree that “armory”, the term used to describe the coat of arms itself, emerged as a result of the changes in the military equipment that came into use in the late 11th century. You had all these men wearing full suits of plate mail, and with all that armor you couldn’t tell

who was under those helmets, and so a new means of identifying one another had to be established. To achieve this men began to paint emblems onto their shields.

Why does it exist?

The Republic of Macedonia Canada, 1869 Prince Edward Island

A lot of the different symbols that went into armory came from other sources, things like family seals and banners. From the banners the Armory inherited a lot of bright colors and geometric shapes, and from the seals came a number of family emblems and the tendency to make these Armorys hereditary. Seals were passed on from father to son, and so too then did Armorys.

As these Armorys began to be used in places other than the shields of men in battle and began to be placed on walls and tapestries they kept their original shapes, and so now when we see an armory it is still in the shape of a shield.

Hogwarts

Duck Hunt Tattoo

Bully

Right to Bear ArmsA lot of people think that a coat of arms could only be possessed by a member of the nobility. But that simply wasn’t true. It began with nobility, but quickly spread, first to the knights, and then on to the peasantry by the 14th century. Over time the way to establish your own coat of arms was simply to

declare, “This is my coat of arms!” The only rule was, it had to be unique, it was a crime to use anyone else’s.

Women and Armory

Traditionally of course, women didn’t go to war as men did, and yet they still had the right to have a coat of arms. Since they did not go to war

however, in most cultures they were required to place their coats of arms within the shape of a lozenge (or rhombus) instead of upon a shield.

In Canada, the restriction against women using a shield was eliminated.The Coat of arms to the left was the coat of arms of Kate Middleton prior

to her marriage, it is now used only by her sister, Pippa.

1210 - 1220 The priests now begin to use Armory

1180-1220 The practice is adopted by Knights in general.

1130 - 1160 The first Feudal Lords use Armory as a means of identification.

1220 - 1230 Now used by women.

1220 - 1260 The Squires now as well.

1230 - 1240 Whole towns.

1250 Peasants now.

1300 Religious Communities

1350 CorporationsCambridge University University of Prince Edward Island

The Meaning of Coats of Arms

Generally it is difficult to say what a Coat of Arms means. People can use whatever they want in a coat of arms, and why they

choose an image is up to them. Even when the Coat of Arms was presented to somoeone by the monarchy no one knew whether it was the recipient of the Coat of Arms or the Royal Herald who

designed the shield, so we have no way of knowing what the designer was thinking when a crest was created.

However, there are exceptions. Part of Heraldry is also knowing the legends, histories and anecdotes (sometimes even the lies) that are

associated with a Coat of Arms.

An example is the Coat of Arms of Lonueval, Coucy, and Chatillon. These were three old families from France and the story goes that

they were all involved in a great battle against the Sarrasins. They took someon’s vair-lined coat and cut it in stripes to form their coats of arms. Coucy placed his stripes horizontally,

Chatillon vertically and Longueval diagonally

Coucy

Chatillon

Many Coats of Arms include what is called a “charge”. These charges are symbols, such as an

animal or tower. These things represent a variety of different things (again, it depends on the person who designed it), but a lot of the time it is easy to figure

out. In medievel times a lot of legends attributed certain charecteristics to certain animals and so

many of these animals were adopted into the Coats of Arms.

The bear represents strength

The fox represents cunning

The Bee represents a strong work ethic

The ProjectYou are to design your own Coat of Arms. I want you to plan this out carefully though, consider the shape of the Coat of Arms, the color of

it, think about what you might want to put inside of it to represent yourself.

Each Coat of Arms will be expected to have at least three representational

elements - that is, it has to have at least three different things that mean

something.

A rough copy must be done before you get to start your good copy. The default materials will be black felt tip pens and pencil crayons,

but if you are ambitious and want to use other materials I am open to that.

When you hand this in you will also have to hand in a brief description about the meaning of your Coat of Arms. Some of you may wish to use

the Internet to research your own family name and add some historical elements to your own work.

It was in the 15th century that the idea of adding mottos to Coats of Arms developed, and you may wish to add one to yours as well. Your own mottos could be written in english, or you could have them translated on the computer into Latin (traditionally used in

Armory) or into any other language you like.