Heraldic Family Names and Coats of Arms
Since the middle ages, Heraldry was used to distinguish
people, clans and countries in battle. Usually reserved for
Royalty or Noblemen, Coats-of-Arms appeared on shields and
amorial achievements, so during medieval games or during
combat, an individual be them enemy or opponent could be
easily identified.
The trait of using an emblem has carried on through the
ages, with companies using logos, sports teams using
emblems or animals to represent them and even army
regiments using coloured and patterned shields to identify
their troop. You can see these patches sewn onto uniform
sleeves - items worn and displayed with pride as a means of
association, belonging and identification to a group.
The earliest
heraldic document, still in existence today, is the Roll of
Arms of the Barons and Knights of the Reign of Henry III.
At a later date, the granting of arms was at the perogative
of the King, but this was subject to wide scale abuse. In
the early part of the sixteenth century, important reforms
were instituted. Royal commissions were instructed to
investigate and record the use of Coat-of-Arms and to
require people to produce authority for bearing and using
Coat-of-Arms. Their decisions are recorded in documents
called Heralds Visitations, which set forth the principal
hereditary coat-of-arms.
All persons who can prove descent from an ancestor whose
armorial ensigns have been acknowledged in any one of the
Visitations are entitled to carry those arms by right of
inheritance. However, when no such descent can be shown,
the person must, if possible, prove himself to be descended
from someone whose right has been admitted from a grantee,
or he must become a grantee himself. Most people on the
whole do not have this right. Heraldic Family Names
actually supplies reproduction coat-of-arms which have been
authentically awarded to a family name. Heraldry in its
broad meaning had to do with the functions of a herald
whose duty was to announce tournaments, to carry messages
from one manor to another and to record the various
insignia borne by individuals.
Heraldry arose almost spontaneously in the 12th century,
coinciding with the development of armor, around the time
of the crusades. In battle, a knight clad in armor from
head to toe would barely recognize friend from foe. This
resulted in distinctive insignia being painted on his
shield and embroidered on his surcoat. It is generally
accepted that these innovations led to the beginnings of
heraldry.
The insignia thus adopted soon became jealously guarded and
objects of pride. A son would inherit his father’s markings
and carry them into battle with pride. After a battle or
campaign, the knight would return to his castle and the
vassal to his modest home and each would hang his shield or
helmet on the wall. The belongings of those who perished in
battle were brought back by a friend, and the scene was
repeated in every humble cottage and magnificent abode.
Heraldry, as we know it, had come into being.
The colorful medieval tournaments, which were held both for
entertainment and to give practice in the use of the lance,
provided a great stimulus to the development of heraldry. A
Marshal and Constable supervised the armorial decorations
at these tournaments and in this we find the origins of the
College of Arms. This also resulted in heraldry becoming an
organized and scientific art.
The decline of jousting in the 16th century and the
introduction of gunpowder did away with armor but did not
lead to a decline in the importance of heraldry. Arms were
displayed on seals and this was useful because many of the
nobility and common man were illiterate. Arms in stone and
on stained glass, silver and elsewhere have provided
countless clues for historians in dating and identifying
buildings and objects.
A s heraldry flourished and became regulated it was
necessary to have a language whereby a herald could
accurately describe arms and that other heralds understood
the descriptions. The language used was Norman French.
Heraldry, therefore, is first a system of personal devices
(i.e. symbols on the shield) appertaining to an individual
and continuing, with certain restrictions, for his
descendants. It is a hereditary distinction. It is also an
art.
Armorial bearings are commonly called a Coat of Arms but,
heraldically speaking, this term refers only to the
insignia borne on the shield. The full display of all the
insignia to which the armiger (legal bearer of arms) is
entitled personally or by inheritance is an Achievement of
Arms or simply an Achievement.
The Blazon of Arms and Crest described in the Family Name
History and reproduced in a variety of artistic methods by
Heraldic Family Names are found in historically accurate
armorial compendiums commonly accepted by heraldic
scholars. The Heraldic Insignia associated with our
products comply with “The Law of Arms”- responsible bodies:
The Chief Herald, Ireland, The Officer in Waiting (College
of Arms) London and The Lord Lyon King of Arms, Scotland
and Other Heraldic Colleges. Heraldic Insignia has been
granted to a person with the same family name or a variant.
In countries where Laws of Heraldry are enforced, display
of Heraldic Insignia in public may not be permitted except
by certain proven descendants of the original
bearers.