Warren
Administrator in Memoriam
- Joined
- Jan 22, 2005
- Messages
- 15,447
- City
- Sydney
- Country
- Australia

Heraldry
What we call today ‘heraldry’ has evolved from what was ‘armoury’ and is a consequence of the Crusades that began in the eleventh century. The large armies which went to the Holy Land were made up of disparate groups who had to be able to identify themselves to their allies on the battlefield. The development of all-encompassing armour made the need for visible recognition even greater. With the requirement that any symbol or sign had to be represented on medieval armour, in particular a battle shield, the symbols and designs and the rules governing them that we know as heraldry came into being.
As the profusion of symbols grew, emperors, kings, princes, barons and warlords relied upon a select group of people who had the skills and knowledge to recognise the range of distinctive symbols. These men were the heralds, the custodians of the heraldic records and the arbiters of the rules governing their creation and use. The records contained depictions of the symbols or arms along with the technical descriptions, known as blazons in heraldic terminology.
For England, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Commonwealth countries the College of Arms keeps the records and makes grants of arms.
For Scotland the Lyon King of Arms is the heraldic authority.
useful links
Wikipedia: Heraldry
College of Arms
Lyon King of Arms
Last edited: