HERALDRY BASICS
Heraldry: your get started guide
Mike Bedford delves into the basics of heraldry, and suggests where to see coats of arms when you’re out and about
Mike Bedford
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.
A full heraldic achievement can include much more than a coat of arms as you can see from this achievement of Herbert Earl of Carnarvon
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