Heraldry is the system of hereditary emblems that began in the twelfth century as a practical solution to a battlefield problem: how to identify a man encased in armour. Painted designs on shields and surcoats did the job, they became hereditary, and a body of law grew up around them that is still in force.
Still regulated, still enforceable
This surprises people. Heraldry in Britain is not decorative tradition but a live legal system.
- England, Wales and Northern Ireland — the College of Arms, founded 1484, grants arms on behalf of the Crown. Its officers hold ancient titles: Garter King of Arms, Clarenceux, Norroy and Ulster, and heralds named Windsor, Chester, York and Lancaster.
- Scotland — the Court of the Lord Lyon, which is a genuine court of law with a judge, jurisdiction and the power to prosecute. Using arms in Scotland to which you are not entitled is a criminal offence, and the Lord Lyon has acted on it.
The family crest myth
The single most common misconception. Arms belong to a person, not a surname. A grant of arms is made to one individual and passes to their legitimate direct descendants; it does not attach to everybody who happens to share the name.
The souvenir trade in “your family coat of arms” — plaques, mugs, scrolls sold on the basis of a surname — has no heraldic standing whatsoever. Both the College of Arms and the Lord Lyon have said so repeatedly and it makes no difference at all.
A “crest”, strictly, is not the whole design either. It is the specific device worn on top of the helmet, one component of a full achievement of arms.
The language
Arms are described in blazon, a compressed technical language derived from Norman French, in which colours and positions have fixed terms:
- Or gold, argent silver or white, gules red, azure blue, vert green, sable black, purpure purple.
- Rampant — reared on hind legs. Passant — walking. Couchant — lying down.
- Dexter and sinister — right and left from the bearer’s point of view, so reversed for the viewer.
The point of blazon is precision: a description in words is definitive, and any competent herald painter should be able to reproduce the arms from it exactly.
Getting a grant
You can still apply. A petition to the College of Arms, supported by evidence of good standing, costs several thousand pounds and takes months. Arms are granted to individuals, corporations, universities, cities and regiments, and new grants are made regularly — this is not a closed system.
Where to see it
Everywhere, once you start looking: on church memorials and tombs, in the stained glass of cathedrals, over the doors of livery companies, on the stalls of Garter knights at Windsor, on regimental colours, and on the gates of any Oxford or Cambridge college. Reading a wall of arms in a parish church is a genuinely enjoyable way to spend twenty minutes, and it tells you exactly who mattered locally and when.