Far and away, the most import heraldic device is the Escutcheon or Shield in an armorial achievement. As a matter of fact it is the ONLY requirement to bear arms. You do not have to have supporters, mantling, crests or even a helm but you must have a shield. It is, after all, how it all started; knights distinguishing themselves by painting designs on their shields. This is what my shield looks like:

The concept of a shield is pretty straight forward so let’s not spend too much time there. It was used for protection against a mounted cavalry lance, other knight’s swords and for just battering the enemy. It was also carried high and forward facing making it a most visible location and an excellent place to put your logo, which is exactly what arms are, a person’s logo. 

Early on it was pretty simple; paint it a color (there were about 7 original ones) and put a figure (called a charge in heraldic terms) on it. As time went on the designs became more complex and rules of color came into play for reasons of high contrast visibility on the battlefield. I’ll go into colors on another post, but for now, let’s move on to the shape.

Just like all other things in life, shields followed an evolution and came in many shapes and sizes. In fact, there is NO heraldic term to describe the shape of a shield. You cannot blazon a shield asfollows: “A 16th century Italian Tournament Shield.” So if you are designing your own arms, use whatever you like. Here are just a very few samples of shield designs. They vary widely by both Country and time period, so do some research. One of my favorite parts of designing a coat of arms is that I get to delve into a person’s history and origins.

Yours In Arms,

Michael Richards+
Executive Director
AssumeArms.com

So what, exactly, is a coat of arms? It’s actually a kind of bastardization of several terms, mushed up all willy nilly. The proper name of a “Coat Of Arms” is actually an “Armorial Achievement.” But even that is a bit fluffy, so let’s start at the beginning.

As knights started to wear heavy armor and helmets there became a real need to identify them. So they started painting simple designs on their shields. As this progressed, an entire art formed around these identifications headed up by a “Herald” and that is why the study of arms is called heraldry. 

The thing that came closest to a “Coat Of Arms” was what the heralds wore, which was actually called a tabard. It consisted of a sleeveless ”Coat” that contained his master’s “Arms.” The term arms, which is quite honestly the best term for all of these things, comes from the literal bearing of “Arms” or weapons of war.

So what most people call a “Coat Of Arms” is actually just their “Arms” which consist of, at a minimum, an escutcheon (shield) with Charges. Charges are simply things placed on a shield. It can also include a crest, a torse, a helm, mantling, a compartment and/or supporters. All of which I’ll go into more detail in subsequent posts.

Yours In Arms,

Michael Richards+
Executive Director
AssumeArms.com

My name is Michael Richards and I am the Executive Director of AssumeArms.com which is a United States registry database for Armorial Achievements. What is an Armorial Achievement? It is what most people mistakenly refer to as a “Family Crest” or a “Coat of Arms.” Even though both of these terms are inaccurate and incorrect, you will notice me using them quite a bit. The reason is simple: Google. Nobody goes looking for information on armorial achievements, the go looking for family crest or coats of arms. The most recent and correct term is simply “Arms” for short. I’ll do a complete post on these terms shortly, but for now I just wanted to welcome you…

Yours In Arms,

Michael Richards
Editor In Chief