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Heraldry - 4 reference results

heraldry, system in which inherited symbols, or devices, called charges are displayed on a shield, or escutcheon, for the purpose of identifying individuals or families. In the Middle Ages the herald, often a tournament official, had to recognize men by their shields; thus he became an authority on personal and family insignia. As earlier functions of the herald grew obsolete, his chief duties became the devising, inscribing, and granting of armorial bearings. The use of personal and family insignia is ancient (it is mentioned by Homer), but heraldry proper is a feudal institution developed by noblemen using personal insignia on seals and shields that came to be transmitted to their families. It is thought to have originated in the late 12th cent., and to have been prevalent in Germany, France, Spain, and Italy, and imported into England by the Normans. The crusades and tournaments which drew together knights from many countries caused heraldry to flourish in Western Europe and the Muslim world. The practice of embroidering family emblems on the surcoat, or tabard, worn over chain mail in the 13th cent. accounts for the term "coat of arms." The use of armorial bearings spread rapidly thereafter through all grades of feudal rank above squire. Private assumption of arms became so common that Henry V forbade it, and on the chartering of the Heralds' College in 1483 the regulations pertaining to heraldry were placed in the hands of the Garter King-of-Arms. Arms were borne by families, corporations, guilds, religious houses, inns of court, colleges, boroughs and cities, and kingdoms. In the United States the seals and insignia of colleges, cities, and the like are examples of the persistence of the heraldic tradition. For methods and conventions of displaying armorial bearings, see blazonry.

See A. R. Wagner, Heralds and Heraldry in the Middle Ages (2d ed. 1956); C. Boutell, Manual of Heraldry (1863; rev. ed. by J. P. Brooke-Little, 1970); S. Friar, The Dictionary of Heraldry (1987); T. Woodcock and J. Robinson, The Oxford Guide to Heraldry (1988).

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heraldry

Art and science of devising, displaying, and granting armorial insignia and of tracing and recording genealogies. The use of heraldic symbols as a means of identification spread throughout the European nobility in the 13th century. The principal vehicle for displaying the heraldic devices is the shield; in the full armorial achievement, the shield is augmented by the helmet, crest, mantling, crown, wreath, motto, compartment (base), and supporters. Arms are hereditary; all male descendants of the first person to whom they were granted bear the arms. As insignia of honour, they are protected by law in the European monarchies, Ireland, Switzerland, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. Seealso coat of arms; ecclesiastical heraldry.

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.

ecclesiastical heraldry

Arms associated with the administrative and collegiate bodies of a church, particularly the Anglican, Roman Catholic, and Presbyterian churches. Abbeys, priories, and dioceses have their own arms, and high ecclesiastical functionaries have always added their personal arms. Seealso coat of arms; heraldry.

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.