A
coat of arms is, strictly speaking, a distinctive
heraldic design on a cloak used to cover and protect armour, but the term is more broadly applied to mean a full heraldic
achievement which consists of a shield and certain accessories. In either sense, the design is a symbol unique to a person, family, corporation, or state. Such displays are also commonly called
armorial bearings,
armorial devices,
heraldic devices, or
arms.
Historically, armorial bearings were first used by
feudal lords and
knights in the mid-12th century on battlefields as a way to identify allied from enemy soldiers. As the uses for heraldic designs expanded, other social classes who never would march in battle began to assume arms for themselves. Initially, those closest to the lords and knights adopted arms, such as persons employed as squires that would be in common contact with the armorial devices. Then priests and other ecclesiastical dignities adopted coats of arms, usually to be used as seals and other such insignia, and then towns and cities to likewise seal and authenticate documents. Eventually by the mid-13th century, peasants, commoners and burghers were adopting heraldic devices. The widespread assumption of arms led some states to regulate heraldry within their borders. However, in most of continental Europe, citizens freely adopted armorial bearings.
Despite no widespread regulation, and even with a lack in many cases of national-level regulation, heraldry has remained rather consistent across Europe, where traditions alone have governed the design and use of arms. Unlike
seals and other general
emblems, heraldic achievements have a formal description called a
blazon, expressed in a jargon that allows for consistency in heraldic depictions.
In the 21st century, coats of arms are still in use by a variety of institutions and individuals; for example, universities have guidelines on how their coats of arms may be used, and protect their use as trademarks.
Many societies exist that also aid in the design and registration of personal arms, and some nations, like England and Scotland, still maintain to this day the mediaeval authorities that grant and regulate arms.
Traditions and usage
In the heraldic traditions of
England and
Scotland an individual, rather than a family, had a coat of arms. In those traditions coats of arms are legal property transmitted from father to son;
wives and daughters could also bear arms modified to indicate their relation to the current holder of the arms.
Undifferenced arms are used only by one person at any given time. Other descendants of the original bearer could bear the ancestral arms only with some
difference: usually a color change or the addition of a distinguishing
charge. One such charge is the
label, which in
Britishusage (outside the
Royal Family) is now always the mark of an
heir apparent or (in Scotland) an heir presumptive.
Because of their importance in identification, particularly in seals on legal documents, the use of arms was strictly regulated; few countries continue in this today. This has been carried out by
heralds and the study of coats of arms is therefore called "heraldry". Some other traditions (e.g.,
Polish heraldry) are less restrictive — allowing, for example, all members of a dynastic house or family to use the same arms, although one or more elements may be reserved to the head of the house.
In time, the use of arms spread from military entities to educational institutes, and other establishments.
According to a design institute article, "The modern logo and corporate livery have evolved from the battle standard and military uniform of medieval times".
In his book,
The Visual Culture of Violence in the Late Middle Ages, Valentin Groebner argues that the images composed on coats of arms are in many cases designed to convey a feeling of power and strength, often in military terms.
The author Helen Stuart argues that some coats of arms were a form of corporate
Museums on medieval armory also point out that as emblems they may be viewed as precursors to the corporate logos of modern society, used for group identity formation.
When knights were so encased in armour that no means of identifying them was left, the practice was introduced of painting their insignia of honour on their shield as an easy method of distinguishing them. Originally these were granted only to individuals, but were afterward made hereditary in England by King
Richard I, during
his crusade to Palestine.
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