Designing a Fun Family Coat of Arms
Armorial bearings, or coats of arms, take us back to the glamour
of the middle ages. In days of old, knights displayed heraldic
devices on their horses' caparisons, their servants' liveries,
and on their banners and shields. As war medals are awarded
today, so coats' of arms and other heraldic devices could be
awarded to knights for their service in battle. But the primary
role of coats' of arms was identification in battle - the
bright, vibrant colors and symbols identified the knight to his
men, and his flying banner was a rallying point for them.
Heraldry refers to the study of coats of arms, and takes its
name from the Heralds, who were the special ambassadors and
messengers of feudal times. They were employed by all great
lords, and by the king. Because Heralds traveled freely around
the country, they were also the armorial officials. They granted
armorial bearings. At tournaments, it was the Heralds' job to
check that no knight appeared in the tournament lists displaying
the heraldic devices of another. In battle, it was the Heralds'
job, on both sides, to identify the living and the dead, and to
declare the winner.
Many families today seek a connection with their ancestors
through their coat of arms. However, obtaining an official right
to display a true coat of arms - i.e. an armorial bearing that
was granted to your ancestor - can be a long and tedious
process. And for many people, they may not even have an ancestor
who was granted an official coat of arms in the first place.
But that doesn't mean you can't have some fun designing your own
coat of arms. Of course, it will never be recognized by any
government or College of Heralds (the folks charged with keeping
track of official armorial bearings), but it can be a fun family
project nonetheless.
If you have an artistic bent, design your own coat of arms using
art from one of the dozens of heraldic clipart libraries online.
To make your fun family coat of arms look authentic, you'll need
two basic components: the field, and the charges (also known
collectively as "the shield")
Over time, the coat of arms has come to simply mean the shield
we so often think of when imagining a classic coat of arms. The
color that the shield is painted is called "the field." Any item
which was painted onto the field of the shield was called "the
charge." Therefore, if a shield has a lion painted on it, it's
said to be "charged with a lion."
Common charges on shields included animals, mythical beasts,
birds, plants, flowers, and inanimate objects. Charge your own
coat of arms with any symbol which has meaning for you. The
Knebworth House site at
http://www.knebworthhouse.com/schools/coatofarms.htm has an
excellent brief guide to designing a coat of arms, and even
provides an outline of a coat of arms for you to print out.
More Resources for Designing Your Own Fun Coat of Arms
* The Free Heraldry Clipart site:
http://www.heraldicclipart.com/catalog/index1.html
* Need complete instructions for designing a "do it yourself"
coat of arms? A book from Dover Publications, "Design Your Own
Coat of Arms: An Introduction to Heraldry" gives you all the
information you need.
Other Resources
Don't feel like making a coat of arms from scratch? These sites
offer to put a coat of arms based on your last name on a wide
variety of products. (Note to serious genealogy researchers:
These sites should be consulted and used for entertainment only.
They shouldn't be deemed to accurately contain a coat of arms to
which you may have a legitimate claim.)
* Names.com at http://www.names.com is widely known, and sells
all kinds of fun family-name paraphernalia, with coats of arms
painted on everything from T-shirts to glassware.
* Armorial Gold Heraldry Art: http://www.heraldryclipart.com
* Coats of Arms: http://www.historicalnames.com
* Coat of Arms store: http://shop.store.yahoo.com/4crests
* House of Names: http://www.houseofnames.com