Coats of Arms: What They Mean (and What They Don't)

The Most Common Mistake in Genealogy

Walk into any gift shop in a tourist district and you will find mugs, plaques, and prints bearing "family coats of arms" -- heraldic shields labeled with surnames, sold to anyone who shares the name. The implication is clear: this is your coat of arms, because this is your name.

This is wrong. It is the single most common misconception in family history, and it is worth understanding why.

A coat of arms does not belong to a surname. It belongs to a specific individual and, under strict rules, to that individual's descendants. The "Smith coat of arms" does not exist. There are coats of arms granted to or borne by specific men named Smith -- dozens of them all different -- but sharing the name Smith gives you no right to any of them unless you can prove direct descent from the specific person to whom the arms were granted.

This is not a technicality. It is the fundamental principle of heraldry, and understanding it is the starting point for understanding what coats of arms actually mean and what they can contribute to family history research.

What Heraldry Actually Is

Heraldry is a system of visual identification that emerged in western Europe in the twelfth century. Its original purpose was military: in an era when knights fought in full armor with visors closed, a distinctive design painted on a shield (and later embroidered on a surcoat -- hence "coat of arms") allowed combatants and their followers to identify who was who on the battlefield.

The system rapidly expanded beyond the battlefield. Coats of arms became marks of status, used on seals, buildings, documents, tombs, and personal possessions. They were regulated by heralds -- officers of the crown whose job was to record, verify, and control the use of armorial bearings.

The key principles of heraldry are:

Arms are granted by authority. In England, the College of Arms (founded 1484) grants arms by letters patent. In Scotland, the Court of the Lord Lyon has statutory authority over heraldry. In other countries, similar bodies or traditions govern the granting and use of arms.

Arms are hereditary. Once granted to an individual, arms descend to that person's legitimate descendants according to specific rules. In English heraldry, the arms are differenced (modified with small marks called cadency marks) for younger sons. In Scottish heraldry, each individual bearer must matriculate (register) a unique version of the family arms with the Lord Lyon.

Arms are unique. No two people should bear identical arms simultaneously. The system of differencing ensures that each bearer's arms are distinct from every other bearer's, even within the same family.

Arms are not names. Two unrelated families named Ross may bear entirely different arms. A family named Ross with no grant of arms bears no arms at all, regardless of how ancient or distinguished the name may be.

The Language of Heraldry

Heraldic description -- called blazon -- uses a specialized vocabulary derived from Norman French. The shield is divided into areas (chief, base, dexter, sinister, fess, pale). Colors are called tinctures and are divided into metals (or/gold, argent/silver), colours (gules/red, azure/blue, sable/black, vert/green, purpure/purple), and furs (ermine, vair).

Charges -- the objects depicted on the shield -- include animals (lions, eagles, stags), geometric shapes (chevrons, bends, crosses), plants (roses, thistles, trefoils), and objects (swords, crowns, castles). Each charge carries traditional associations, though the idea that every element has a fixed symbolic meaning is overblown. A lion means the original bearer wanted a lion. The later attributions of "courage" and "nobility" are post-hoc interpretations.

The Ross clan arms, for example, bear three lions rampant on a field gules -- three golden lions on a red shield. This is the specific blazon of the chief of Clan Ross, and it belongs to the chief and (in differenced forms) to the chief's family. Other families named Ross may bear different arms or no arms at all.

What Heraldry Can Tell Genealogists

Despite the limitations, heraldry is genuinely useful for family history research -- if used correctly.

Grants of arms are documented. The records of the College of Arms and the Court of the Lord Lyon are among the oldest continuous genealogical records in existence. A grant of arms to a specific ancestor establishes that person's identity, status, and (sometimes) parentage and residence.

Heraldic visitations -- periodic tours by heralds to verify who was using arms and whether they were entitled to do so -- produced pedigrees. The English heraldic visitations of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries recorded the genealogies of armigerous (arms-bearing) families and are among the most important sources for gentry genealogy. The pedigrees are not always accurate, but they are contemporary documents created by officials with access to family records.

Funeral certificates -- documents prepared by heralds for the funerals of armigerous persons -- record the deceased's arms, parentage, marriage, and children. They survive in quantity for Ireland (at the National Library of Ireland) and for England (at the College of Arms).

Tomb heraldry -- coats of arms carved on gravestones and monuments -- can identify the deceased and their family connections, especially when the inscription has weathered away.

The Honest Approach

The honest approach to heraldry in family history is simple. If you can prove descent from a person who was granted arms, you may be entitled to bear those arms (in a differenced form, if required by the relevant heraldic authority). If you cannot prove that descent, you are not entitled to the arms, no matter what your surname is.

This does not diminish the interest of heraldry as a field of study. Understanding the heraldic system -- how it works, what the symbols mean, how grants and descents are recorded -- is valuable for anyone researching families of gentry or noble status. And the records generated by the heraldic system -- visitation pedigrees, grants, funeral certificates -- are primary genealogical sources of real importance.

What heraldry does not provide is a shortcut. There is no "family crest" waiting for you at the gift shop. There is only the patient work of tracing descent, generation by generation, from the documented past to the present. If that trail leads to armigerous ancestors, then heraldry becomes part of the story. If it does not, the story is no less worth telling.