Everything about Coat Of Arms totally explained
A
coat of arms or
armorial bearings (often just
arms for short), in
European tradition, is a design belonging to a particular person (or group of people) and used by them in a wide variety of ways. They were once used by knights to identify them apart from enemy soldiers. Unlike
seals and
emblems, coats of arms have a formal description that's expressed as a
blazon. In the 21st century, coats of arms still continue to be in use, in a variety of institutions, for example several universities have guidelines on how their coats of arms may be used and protect their use. The art of designing, displaying, describing, and recording arms is called
heraldry.
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, and
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 British usage (outside the royal family) is now always the mark of an
heir-apparent.
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 (for example Polish) 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 coat of arms spread from military entities to educational institutes, and other establishments.
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 coat of arms were a form of corporate logo. Museums on medieval coat of arms also point out that as
emblems they may be viewed as a pre-cursors to the corporate logos of modern society, used for group identity formation.
United Kingdom
In Scotland, the
Lord Lyon has criminal jurisdiction to enforce the laws of arms. In England, the use of arms is a matter of civil law regulate from the
College of Arms.
Today, the term "coat of arms" or "arms" is frequently applied in two different ways. In some uses, it may indicate a full achievement of arms or heraldic achievement, which includes a variety of elements — usually a
crest sitting atop a
helmet, itself sitting on a
shield; other common elements include
supporters holding up the shield and a
motto (beneath in England, above in Scotland). Some people wrongly use "coat of arms" or "arms" to refer to the
escutcheon (for example, the shield itself), or to one of several designs that may be combined in one shield. (Note that the crest is one specific part of a heraldic achievement and that "crest of arms" is a misnomer.) The "coat of arms" frequently are adorned with a device - a
motto,
emblem, or other mark used to distinguish the bearer from others. If a motto is a part of the achievement, it sometimes has some punning allusion to the owner's name. A device differs from a
badge or
cognizance primarily because it's a personal distinction, and not a badge borne by members of the same house successively.
Holy See
The
Vatican has its own coat of arms, as the
Coat of arms of the Holy See. Yet there's an at least 800-year-old tradition for personal
Papal coat of arms that goes back to
Pope Innocent III.
Some Popes have used their family shield as part of their coat of arms,but the coats of arms of Popes at times deliberately include symbols composed to indicate their ideal of life, or even elements connected with specific Pontifical programmes. A well known and widely displayed example in recent times was
Pope John Paul II's coat of arms. His selection of a large letter M (for
Mary) on his coat of arms was intended to express the message of his strong Marian
devotion.
Japan
The Japanese equivalents, called
kamon (often abbreviated "mon"), are family badges which often date back to the seventh century, and are still actively used in
Japan today. The Japanese designs are distinctly different from European formats and often use floral and abstract patterns. For instance, the mon of the powerful
Tokugawa Ieyasu simply consisted of three leaves.
Yet, even these simple designs often express an origin. An example in recent use is the logo of
Mitsubishi corporation which started as a shipping and maritime enterprise and whose emblem is based on a water chestnut derived from its maritime history with a military naval influence. The word
mitsu means the number 3 and the word
hishi meaning "water chestnut" (and also pronounced bishi) originated from the emblem of the warrior Tosa Clan. The battleships of the Tosa clan had been used in the late nineteenth century in the
First Sino-Japanese War to reach Korea and their name gave rise to the term
Tosa class battleship. The Tosa water chestnut leaf mon was then drawn as a rhombus or diamond shape in the Mitsubishi logo.
Nordic countries
In the
Nordic countries, provinces, regions, cities and municipalities have a coat of arms. These are posted to the borders and shown in official documents advertising the area.
Other European countries
At a national level, "coats of arms" were generally retained by European states with constitutional continuity of more than a few centuries, including constitutional monarchies like
Denmark as well as old republics like
San Marino and
Switzerland. Since 1989, some of the ex-Communist states, such as
Romania, have resumed their former arms, often with only the symbols of monarchy removed.
USA
The
Great Seal of the United States is often said to be the coat of arms of the
United States of America. The blazon is intentionally improper to preserve the number 13 in the symbolism. The U.S. state of
Vermont, founded as the
Vermont Republic, follows the American convention of assigning use of a seal for authenticating official state documents, but also has the
coat of arms of Vermont. Many American social
fraternities and sororities, especially college organizations, use coats of arms in their symbolism. These arms vary widely in their level of adherence to European heraldic tradition.
Other non-European countries
However, today, nearly every nation in every part of the world has its own coat of arms, in many cases emblems that don't fully conform with European heraldric traditions. Such coats of arms often combine a European form with indigenous emblems. For example the
coat of arms of Kenya features a shield in the shape of shields traditionally used by the Maasai, and a motto in
Swahili.
Flags and banners
Note that not all personal or corporate insignia are heraldic, though they may share many features. For example,
flags are used to identify ships (where they're called
ensigns), embassies and such, and they use the same colors and designs found in heraldry, but they're not usually considered to be heraldic. A country may have both a national flag and a national coat of arms, and the two may not look alike at all. For example, the
flag of Scotland (St Andrew's Cross) has a white
saltire on a blue
field, but the
royal arms of Scotland has a red lion within a double tressure on a gold field.
Gallery
Further Information
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