HERALDRY: YOUR GETSTARTED GUIDE
Mike Bedford delves into the basics of heraldry: gen up on the jargon you need
Ihave good news for you and bad. The bad news is that you’re probably not entitled to bear a coat of arms. The good news is that you almost certainly had ancestors who were. If you find that surprising, it’s been estimated that armorial bearings have been granted to tens of thousands of individuals over the centuries. Some of those genealogical lines will have died out but, in other cases, there could have been innumerable descendants who have had a legitimate right to those arms. Given that we’re pretty much all related to each other if we go back far enough, some of these noble individuals will be your ancestors. The hard part, of course, is finding them, but that challenge also brings its rewards. Not only is there fun in the chase, but your family tree will look so much more impressive if it’s embellished with ‘a smattering of heraldic images’ – though of course, accuracy and thorough research are paramount. We are not encouraging you to flights of fancy when compiling your family tree.
Family history societies often list heraldry as an area of interest, so we’d have to assume that there’s quite some interest in the subject. Despite that, it’s a topic we really don’t read a lot about. I’ll start by taking a brief look at the history of heraldry before delving into the elements that make up a heraldic achievement, chevrons, rampant lions and all. This leads into an investigation of the bizarre language of blazon – a mixture of Norman French, Anglicised Latin and Old English – that is used to formally define a coat of arms.
While all of this is truly fascinating, for those of you who want a more hands-on experience there’s more. So I’ll give some advice for those who discover armigerous ancestors, or who are just curious about the art of heraldry. I’ll also show you where you can go to see heraldry in the flesh, in all its resplendent glory.
Heraldic origins
The main aim of this article is to help you understand and appreciate coats of arms, and help you consider where you might see them when you’re out and about. However, to put all that into context, let’s begin by taking a brief look at the origins of heraldry.
One of the first examples is found on the Bayeux Tapestry, which depicts the Battle of Hastings. But although several of the soldiers are seen bearing unique patterns on their shields, this predates the establishment of hereditary coats of arms, which didn’t come about until the mid-12th century.
Since a suit of armour made the wearer pretty much unidentifiable, knights taking part in tournaments, or fighting on the battle field, bore patterns on their shields so they could be recognised. While this was the original purpose of heraldry, in time arms took on a more social, hereditary and artistic relevance, and here I need to quash a commonly held fallacy.
Online searches reveal countless companies offering to sell you a framed copy of your coat of arms, based on your surname. The fact is, though, that there could be several different coats of arms associated with your surname and, conversely, many people of that name will not have the right to bear any of them. This is because arms were granted to individuals and are inherited through the male line of descent, although women can inherit under certain circumstances. The upshot of this is that finding armigerous ancestors involves coupling an understanding of the law of arms with a knowledge of genealogy.
Elements of heraldry
If someone is entitled to bear arms, they have the right to a so-called heraldic achievement. This comprises the coat of arms, i.e. the shield, plus several other elements. Included here could be:
• supporters who stand either side
of the shield holding it up • a compartment, which is the ground on which the supporters stand
• a motto
• a helmet on top of the shield
• mantling (drapery tied to the back of the helmet)
• a torse (a wreath on top of the helmet)
• a crest, which sits above the torse. You can see an example of a heraldic achievement on page 12, and it should be fairly simple to identify these various elements but, from now on, I’ll concentrate on the central portion, the coat of arms. This is often used without all the other parts of the achievement and is probably what you’d add to your family tree should you find an ancestor who was entitled to bear it.
First of all, the coat of arms has a so-called field, which is the background tincture or pattern. Although all the other elements we’re about to encounter can be placed on a single background tincture or pattern, and this is often the case, it’s also possible for the shield to be divided. These divisions, which each take a different tincture or pattern, have their unique names. For example, ‘party per fess’ involves dividing it in two horizontally, while ‘party per pale’ involves dividing it into two vertically. Diagonal divisions are also possible, as are divisions into three or four areas. And while the dividing lines are usually straight, various other line styles are possible – for example, the engrailed line takes the form of a
string of half circles joined together.
Next, we come to ordinaries, which are bold geometric patterns that are overlaid on the background and appear in a different colour. An ordinary spans the full height and/or width of the shield. Common ordinaries include the chevron, which is well known beyond heraldry, the chief which is a horizontal stripe at the top of the shield, and the fess, which is a horizontal stripe across the middle of the shield. As with divisions, ordinaries can have patterned lines.
And so we come to what is perhaps the best known type of heraldic element, the charges. The simplest type of charges are called sub-ordinaries and, like ordinaries, are various geometric shapes although smaller than ordinaries. Included here, for example, are roundels (circles) and lozenges (diamonds). But the type of charge many people think of are animals such as lions and eagles, and mythical creatures such as griffins and dragons. There are also plants, inanimate objects and more. Returning to animals, though, there’s lots of scope for variety. A lion, for example, can have several different so-called attitudes as an alternative to the usual rampant (rearing up with front paws raised), as shown to the left. Also the claws and/or tongue can be a different colour to the lion’s body, they can face left or right, and the head can face the viewer or even look backwards.
It may or may not be genuinely registered to anyone, but we present a coat of arms on page 14 which is perfectly legal, in the sense of adhering to the rules of heraldry, as an example that you can use to identify many of the elements that we’ve just discussed.
Blazoning
An unfamiliar term to the uninitiated, a blazon is the formal textual description of the coat of arms. The specific words and phrases that are allowed and their order are very rigorously defined, just like a computer programming language, and if you get a word wrong or in the wrong place, either the blazon won’t be recognised or it will define a completely different coat of arms. In fact, we’ve already seen some of the words and phrases that can appear in a blazon, for example ‘party per fess’ and ‘lion rampant’.
One of the aspects of a blazon which, perhaps, is most unexpected are the names for the tinctures. You’ll recall, for example, that tinctures are divided into colours, metals and furs but, in few cases are the words the normal English ones. So, red, blue, green, black and purple become gules, azure, vert, sable and purpure, while silver and gold become argent and or.
If we also point out that the elements in a coat of arms appear in the blazon in the order we covered them earlier – i.e. background or division, ordinaries and then charges, although ordinaries and charges need not both appear – we can give a very simple example of a blazon that you can probably interpret. That blazon is ‘Argent a lion gules’, and it’s the coat of arms you’ll have seen on countless pub signs, specifically those named The Red Lion, the most common pub name in England.
First of all, the coat of arms has a so-called field, which is the background tincture or pattern
Let’s now move on to a slightly trickier blazon, namely ‘Party per pale gules and vert on a chief engrailed sable three roundels argent a lion passant or langued and armed sable’. If we point out that ‘langued’ and ‘armed’ are the words used to define the tincture of a beast’s tongue and claws respectively, you can probably interpret the blazon and, in fact, it’s the blazon for the example coat of arms we presented in the previous section. Note the word ‘on’ before ‘a chief engraile’. If that word were to be omitted, the roundels wouldn’t appear on the chief but in the main part of the coat of arms together with the lion which, admittedly, looks strange.
Although this second example is quite a bit more complicated than the first, blazons can get very much more involved. You’ll probably struggle to interpret it exactly, unless you do a bit of homework, but to give you a feel for the sort of complexity that blazons can achieve, how about this one: ‘Quarterly: 1st & 4th Argent a cross sable between four eagles displayed gules, 2nd & 3rd Sable a fess between three antelopes passant or’.
Diy heraldry
Heraldry is a long-established artistic tradition and the right to bear arms is a matter that has been taken, and continues to be taken extremely seriously. As a means to help familiarise yourself with the words and phrases used in heraldry, it is both enjoyable and useful to have a go at drawing up the description you may find in a blazon.
To do this, my recommended software is the online utility Drawshield https://drawshield.net which offers a couple of ways of defining the coat of arms.
The first option is to select to ‘Create’ a shield by choosing from a menu’ on the home page. You are then asked questions in a logical sequence to build up a coat of arms. So, for example, the first question offers a choice of either a simple shield or a complex field and, if you choose the latter, you’re prompted to select either a treatment, a fur or a division. Picking a division offers countless options, and so the process goes on. If you know exactly how a coat of arms should look, this is an excellent way of drawing it.
The second option, which is ideal if you know the blazon, is to choose ‘Create and share your own shields by entering a blazon’ on the home page. This works
exactly how you might expect and, although it’s a remarkably clever bit of software, it doesn’t always get it right, but it is constantly being improved. You might like to try out our third blazon example to see if you got it right. Whichever method you choose, though, when your shield is displayed on-screen, you can download it as either a bitmap or a vector image. It’s also interesting to see that, in its latest version, Drawshield is also able to create a complete heraldic achievement.
Real world heraldry
Learning about heraldry is one thing, but discovering something in the real world is always rather special and there are no shortage of opportunities. First of all, take every opportunity to search out heraldry when you’re out and about, and test yourself on the heraldic terminology you have learned, to keep it fresh in your mind.
If you want to see heraldry at its best, and learn more about it, there are several places in the UK that would certainly warrant a visit.
• A particularly impressive display can be found in St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle. Although there’s much more, of particular note are the banners of the living Knights of the Garter which hang over the stalls in the Quire.
• The College of Arms is the official heraldic authority for England, Wales, Northern Ireland and much of the Commonwealth, including Australia and New Zealand. Based a short walk from St Paul’s Cathedral, the College is free to visit.
www.college-of-arms.gov.uk
• Since 1592 in Scotland the Lord Lyon has been responsible for the prosecution of people who bear unauthorised arms. Discover more about the Court of the Lord Lyon at: www.courtofthelordlyon.scot
• The Heraldry Society provides a wide range of articles on specific aspects of heraldry.
www.theheraldrysociety.com
About the author
Coats of arms have long been a fascination to Mike Bedford, although it’s only fairly recently that he’s appreciated them as anything other than attractive images. Given that the language of blazon, which is used to formally define a coat of arms, has been likened to computer programs, of which Mike has had quite some experience, this only adds to the appeal of heraldry.
The type of charge many people think of are animals such as lions or eagles, and mythical creatues such as griffins and dragons