heraldry

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heraldry is a system of identification based on armorial insignia. When armoured knights participated in battles, sieges, and tournaments, easy methods of recognition were necessary. Hence, beginning in the 12th century, distinctive markings were placed on shields, pennants, surcoats, helments, and crests. These insignia were subsequently transferred onto seals; ‘supporters’ were added at the sides and mottoes, originally derived from family battle cries, below. Since heraldry indicated not only one's family but also one's position within it, pedigrees were crucial. By the end of the Middle Ages, when the right to bear arms was still the mark of a gentleman, a coat of arms was a desideratum. Institutions, originally corporate families, also adopted coats of arms as marks of status. The system was regulated by heralds (in Ireland the Ulster king of arms) who had originally been liveried messengers and official pronouncers.

As an integral part of the feudal system, Anglo‐Norman Ireland rapidly adopted armorial insignia, many of which are extant as carvings on medieval tombs and gravestones. Use of heraldry amongst the Gaelic Irish is more debatable. From the 13th century some Gaelic Irish had seals with heraldic insignia, most famously the silver seal of Donal O'Neill (d. 1325). This development may reflect attempts to establish lineal successions. In 1542 two heraldic standard‐bearers were captured in Ulster and later, when Gaelic and Gaelicized lords conformed to the procedure of surrender and regrant, many affixed armorial seals.

The Ulster king of arms (established 1552) mostly confirmed existing insignia and created new coats of arms for the rising New English planter families and for the many knights made by English lord deputies. Ironically native Irish demand for heraldry increased just as official interest began to wane. From the 1690s foreign armies required coats of arms and attested pedigrees from Irishmen seeking promotion. Between 1690 and 1725, James Terry, the exiled Athlone pursuivant, serviced the Jacobites, and Roger O'Feral drew up Linea antiqua (1708), with coats of arms of most native families.

More recently, the historian Edward Mac‐Lysaght created coats of arms for the ‘chiefs of the name’ whom he authenticated as chief herald. In 1961 the Republic presented the visiting American president, John F. Kennedy, with a coat of arms. Since the 1980s insignia have been much sought after by status‐conscious families, institutions, and companies.

Hiram Morgan

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 .

Bibliography: 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).

heraldry. The use of personal distinguishing marks on shields and banners seems to have developed in England and Scotland in the second half of the 12th cent. and in Wales in the 13th cent., initially as a way of telling men apart in battle and tournament. Such devices rapidly became consistent and hereditary, and were used in a wide range of contexts, such as seals, surcoats, architectural features, and stained glass. The original purpose of identification was never lost, but the bearing of arms developed a further, social significance in denoting those of noble or gentle birth and status; by the later Middle Ages merchants and men who had never seen military service had coats of arms. By the mid-13th cent. armorial bearings had developed complex systems of description—preserving the (by then) rather archaic forms of Anglo-Norman French—and of differencing (i.e. modification in design to denote a family or feudal relationship), cadency (i.e. to distinguish younger sons), and marshalling (i.e. combining arms, often as a result of marriage). Such a complicated and socially sensitive subject required increasing scrutiny; this was provided by heralds, who make their first official appearance in English royal records under Edward I. Their duties expanded and became more fully defined over the course of the next two centuries. The office of Lord Lyon in Scotland appears in 1318, and that of Garter king-of-arms in 1417, with the full incorporation of the College of Arms by Richard III in 1484. Tudor and Stuart heralds embarked upon visitations of counties ‘to remove all false arms’, and ‘to take note of descents’. Arms are still granted today by the College of Arms (for England, Wales, and Northern Ireland), and by Lord Lyon Court (for Scotland). See also genealogy.

Anne Curry

heraldry The study of coats of arms worn for individual identification, and of the accessories of crests, badges, mottoes, and flags that accompanied them. Its origins are military. Soldiers in armour and helmets could not easily be identified in battle and so the practice evolved of displaying a sign or device on the shield and on the linen surcoat worn over the armour (from which the terms ‘coat-of-arms’ and ‘court armoury’ derive). The first heraldic designs may have been worn by the Crusaders, but their use became widespread in Europe in the 12th century. A similar system also emerged in Japan during the 12th century.

By the 13th century heraldry had so developed that it had its own terminology, based on Old French. Its colours are called ‘tinctures’ of which there are two metals – gold (or) and silver (argent) – and five colours – blue (azure), black (sable), green (vert), purple (purpure), and red (gules). In England heralds were formed into the College of Arms (1484), which still controls the grant of arms. Scotland has its Court of the Lord Lyon (1592).

heraldry The use of personal distinguishing marks on shields and banners seems to have developed in England and Scotland in the second half of the 12th cent. and in Wales in the 13th cent. Such devices rapidly became consistent and hereditary, and were used in a wide range of contexts, such as seals, surcoats, architectural features, and stained glass. The original purpose of identification was never lost, but the bearing of arms developed a further, social significance in denoting those of noble or gentle birth and status. Such a complicated and socially sensitive subject required increasing scrutiny; this was provided by heralds, who make their first official appearance in English royal records under Edward I. The office of Lord Lyon in Scotland appears in 1318, and that of Garter king‐of‐arms in 1417, with the full incorporation of the College of Arms by Richard III in 1484. Tudor and Stuart heralds embarked upon visitations of counties ‘to remove all false arms’, and ‘to take note of descents’.

her·ald·ry / ˈherəldrē/ • n. the system by which coats of arms and other armorial bearings are devised, described, and regulated. ∎  armorial bearings or other heraldic symbols. ∎  colorful ceremony: all the pomp and heraldry provided a splendid pageant. DERIVATIVES: her·ald·ist / ˈherəldist/ n.

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Fosbury •strawberry • Salisbury •crowberry, snowberry •chokeberry •Rosebery, Shrewsbury •blueberry, dewberry •Dewsbury • Bloomsbury • gooseberry •blubbery, rubbery, shrubbery •Sudbury • mulberry • huckleberry •Bunbury • husbandry • loganberry •Canterbury • Glastonbury •Burberry, turbary •hatchery • archery •lechery, treachery •stitchery, witchery •debauchery • butchery • camaraderie •cindery, tindery •industry • dromedary • lapidary •spidery • bindery • doddery •quandary • powdery • boundary •bouldery • embroidery •prudery, rudery •do-goodery • shuddery • thundery •prebendary • legendary • secondary •amphorae • wafery •midwifery, periphery •infantry • housewifery • spoofery •puffery • sulphury (US sulfury) •Calgary •beggary, Gregory •vagary •piggery, priggery, whiggery •brigandry • bigotry • allegory •vinegary • category • subcategory •hoggery, toggery •pettifoggery • demagoguery •roguery • sugary •buggery, skulduggery, snuggery, thuggery •Hungary • humbuggery •ironmongery • lingerie • 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pulsatory, purificatory, reificatory, revelatory, rotatory •natatory • elucidatory • castigatory •mitigatory • justificatory •imprecatory • equivocatory •flagellatory • execratory • innovatory •eatery, excretory •glittery, jittery, skittery, twittery •benedictory, contradictory, maledictory, valedictory, victory •printery, splintery •consistory, history, mystery •presbytery •inhibitory, prohibitory •hereditary • auditory • budgetary •military, paramilitary •solitary • cemetery • limitary •vomitory • dormitory • fumitory •interplanetary, planetary, sanitary •primogenitary • dignitary •admonitory, monitory •unitary • monetary • territory •secretary • undersecretary •plebiscitary • repository • baptistery •transitory •depositary, depository, expository, suppository •niterie •Godwottery, lottery, pottery, tottery •bottomry • watery • psaltery •coterie, notary, protonotary, rotary, votary •upholstery •bijouterie, charcuterie, circumlocutory •persecutory • statutory • salutary •executory 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slavery, wavery •thievery •livery, quivery, shivery •silvery •ivory, salivary •ovary •discovery, recovery •servery • equerry • reliquary •antiquary • cassowary • stipendiary •colliery • pecuniary • chinoiserie •misery • wizardry • citizenry •advisory, provisory, revisory, supervisory •causerie, rosary