Heraldry is the system of visual identification of rank and pedigree which developed in the European High Middle Ages.Fox-Davies, A Complete Guide to Heraldry, pp. 1–18. It was closely associated with the courtly culture of chivalry, Latin Christianity, the Crusades, feudal aristocracy, and monarchy of the time. Heraldic tradition fully developed in the 13th century, and it flourished and developed further during the Late Middle Ages and the Early Modern period. Originally limited to nobility, heraldry is adopted by wealthy commoners in the Late Middle Ages (Burgher arms). Specific traditions of Ecclesiastical heraldry also develop in the late medieval period. Coats of arms of noble families, often after their extinction, becomes attached to the territories they used to own, giving rise to municipal coats of arms by the 16th century.
Western heraldry spread beyond its core territory of Latin Christendom in the 17th century, Western heraldic traditions being adopted in the Russian Empire. With colonialism, the use of heraldry has spread to other continents, e.g. Africa and the Americas.
While some concepts associated with heraldry, such as nobility and monarchy, have declined in favour of Republicanism in the 19th to 20th centuries, heraldry as a whole continues to flourish, with the art form today enjoying greater prevalence than ever in countries with strong heraldic traditions. Even elsewhere, elements inherited from heraldic tradition are frequently used in national flags and emblems around the world.
Precursors
Traditions of field signs, personal emblems or seals go back to at least the Bronze Age. The ekphrastic description of shield designs in particular is found as a topos in classical literature.Fox-Davies, A Complete Guide to Heraldry, pp. 6–10. Units of the Roman army were sometimes identified by distinctive markings on their shields.Notitia Dignitatum, Bodleian Library
Heraldry developed in the high medieval period, based on earlier, "pre-heraldic" or "ante-heraldic", traditions of visual identification by means of seals, field signs, emblems used on coins, etc. Notably, lions that would subsequently appear in 12th-century coats of arms of European nobility have pre-figurations in the animal style of ancient art (specifically the style of Scythian art as it developed from c. the 7th century BC)."significant pre-figuration of medieval heraldry" John Onians, Atlas of World Art (2004), p. 58.
Western heraldry is an innovation of the 12th century. Certain members of the high nobility began to display animals, especially lions, on their shields beginning in c. the 1140s. Prior to this, western military shields of the 11th to early 12th century did sometimes show simple decorations, but not apparently tied to the personal identification of the bearer.
The Bayeux Tapestry, illustrating the Norman invasion of England in 1066, and probably commissioned about 1077, when the cathedral of Bayeux was rebuilt, depicts a number of shields of various shapes and designs, many of which are plain, while others are decorated with dragons, crosses, or other typically heraldic figures. Yet no individual is depicted twice bearing the same arms, nor are any of the descendants of the various persons depicted known to have borne devices resembling those in the tapestry.John Woodward and George Burnett, A Treatise on Heraldry: British and Foreign, W. & A. K. Johnson, Edinburgh and London (1892), vol. 1, pp. 29–31.Fox-Davies, A Complete Guide to Heraldry, pp. 14–16. Frankish or German round shields of the 11th century (Ottonian, Salian) are sometimes depicted with simple geometric ornamentation, but not with figurative emblems.Round Shield Designs (vikingage.org): "chequered" (11th c., Biblio. Mun. Avranches MS50), "flared cross" (c.1000-1050 Arras, BM MS 559 (435), vol. 1), "spirals" (c.1000-1050 Arras, BM MS 559 (435), vol. 1), "spirals with dots" (c.1000-1020 Bamberg MS A. II. 42 Bamberg Apocalypse).
Similarly, an account of the French knights at the court of the Byzantine emperor Alexius I at the beginning of the twelfth century describes their shields of polished metal, utterly devoid of heraldic design. A Spanish manuscript from 1109 describes both plain and decorated shields, none of which appears to have been heraldic.Woodward and Burnett, vol. 1, p. 26. The Abbey of St. Denis contained a window commemorating the knights who embarked on the Second Crusade in 1147, and was probably made soon after the event; but Montfaucon's illustration of the window before it was destroyed shows no heraldic design on any of the shields.Woodward and Burnett, vol. 1, p. 31.
Proto-heraldry (12th century)
The 12th-century tradition is mostly preserved in the form of the equestrian seals popular at the time which show the nobleman as a fully armed warrior on horseback. Early equestrian seals show plain shields. From the mid 12th century, proto-heraldic designs are sometimes shown, but the shield is shown naturally, as part of the knight's armament, and is often seen in profile or partially obscured. The equestrian seal of Enguerrand (Ingelram), count of Saint-Pol (1130s or 1140s) still shows a plain shield, but what would later become heraldic charges (in this case, sheaves of corn) are shown arranged around the horse."le blason fait son apparition dans les dernières années du XIIe siècle, brusquement, sans transition. Mais il est d’autres types plus anciens où les pièces des armoiries existent, s’annonçant pour ainsi dire avant de passer dans l’écu. Le sceau d’Enguerran, comte de Saint-Pol, antérieur à l’année 1150, est de ce nombre. Il offre déjà plusieurs gerbes dispersées dans le champ." G. Demay, Le Blason d’après les sceaux du Moyen-Âge (1877), p. 6. Seals displaying actual heraldic shields appear by the very end of the 12th century or the early years of the 13th century.
Seals with elements of a distinctly heraldic character begin to appear in the second third of the 12th century. A number of seals dating from between 1135 and 1155 appear to show the adoption of heraldic devices in England, France, Germany, Spain, and Italy.Thomas Woodcock & John Martin Robinson, The Oxford Guide to Heraldry, Oxford University Press, New York (1988), p. 1. A notable example of an early armorial seal is attached to a charter granted by Philip I, Count of Flanders, in 1164. Seals from the latter part of the eleventh and early twelfth centuries show no evidence of heraldic symbolism, but by the end of the twelfth century, seals are uniformly heraldic in nature.Wagner, Heraldry in England, p. 8.
Among the oldest equestrian seals with armorials are those of Henry the Lion of the House of Welf, duke of Saxony (1142–1180) and Bavaria (1156–1180). A total of seven seals of Henry's are known. Of these, only the second shows a recognizable lion displayed on his shield. This seal is attached to two documents dated to 1146. It is possible that the lion was also on the first seal (c. 1142), but it is no longer recognizable.Xenja von Ertzdorff, Rudolf Schulz, Winfried Baumann, Die Romane von dem Ritter mit dem Löwen (1994), p. 175, citing Schmidt-Phiseldeck, Die Siegel des herzoglichen Hauses Braunschweig und Lüneburg, nr. 1–4. An equestrian seal of similar antiquity is that of Ottokar III of Styria, dated 1160, with an early form of the Styrian panther on his shield.
The oldest extant depiction of a coloured armoury can be seen on the tomb of Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou, who died in 1151.Fox-Davies, A Complete Guide to Heraldry, p. 62. An enamel, probably commissioned by Geoffrey's widow between 1155 and 1160, depicts him carrying a blue shield decorated with six golden lions rampant. He wears a blue helmet adorned with another lion, and his cloak is lined in vair. A medieval chronicle states that Geoffrey was given a shield of this description when he was knighted by his father-in-law, Henry I, in 1128; but this account probably dates to about 1175.C. A. Stothard, Monumental Effigies of Great Britain (1817) pl. 2, illus. in Anthony Wagner, Richmond Herald, Heraldry in England, Penguin (1946), pl. I. The earliest evidence of the association of lions with the English crown is a seal bearing two lions passant, used by the future King John during the lifetime of his father, Henry II, who died in 1189.Woodward and Burnett, vol. 1, p. 32.Fox-Davies, A Complete Guide to Heraldry, pp. 173–174. Since Henry was the son of Geoffrey Plantagenet, it seems reasonable to suppose that the adoption of lions as an heraldic emblem by Henry or his sons might have been inspired by Geoffrey's shield. John's elder brother, Richard the Lionheart, who succeeded his father on the throne, is believed to have been the first to have borne the arms of three lions passant-guardant, still the arms of England, having earlier used two lions rampant combatant, which arms may also have belonged to his father.Pastoureau, p. 59. Richard is also credited with having originated the English crest of a lion statant (now statant-guardant).Woodward and Burnett, p. 37.
Early mention of heraldic shields in Middle High German literature also dates to the 12th century. Shield designs are described in the Kaiserchronik (c. 1150–1170), such as the boar carried by the Romans, as well as, in isolated cases, in the Rolandslied (c. 1115), König Rother (c. 1150), Veldecke's Eneas (c. 1170), and Hartmann's Erec (c. 1185). These appear in the larger context of describing an armed protagonist, and are not yet tied to the bearer's pedigree."With the exception of several heraldic shields that appear in the Kaiserchronik, such as the boar carried by the Romans—the oldest heraldic insignia in medieval German epic literature, according to Zips [Wappenwesen, 1966]—most of the precourtly and even courtly epics up to 1200 contain very few decorated shields at all. Several isolated coats of arms are mentioned in the German Rolandslied, König Rother, Veldecke's Eneas, and Hartmann's Erec—mostly related to the protagonists." Wandhoff (2016), (p. 57).
At least two distinctive features of heraldry are generally accepted as products of the Crusades: the surcoat, an outer garment worn over the armor to protect the wearer from the heat of the sun, was often decorated with the same devices that appeared on a knight's shield. It is from this garment that the phrase "coat of arms" is derived.Fox-Davies, A Complete Guide to Heraldry, pp. 17–18. Also the lambrequin, or mantling, that depends from the helmet and frames the shield in modern heraldry, began as a practical covering for the helmet and the back of the neck during the Crusades, serving much the same function as the surcoat. Its slashed or scalloped edge, today rendered as billowing flourishes, is thought to have originated from hard wearing in the field, or as a means of deadening a sword blow and perhaps entangling the attacker's weapon.Fox-Davies, A Complete Guide to Heraldry, pp. 17–18, 383.
Medieval heraldry
Terminology
The origin of the term heraldry itself (Middle English heraldy, Old French hiraudie), can be placed in the context of the early forms of the knightly tournaments in the 12th century. Combatants wore full armour, and identified themselves by wearing their emblems on their shields. A herald (Old French heraut, from a Frankish "commander of an army") was an officer who would announce the competitors.
Originally a type of messenger employed by noblemen, heralds assumed the responsibility of learning and knowing the rank, pedigree, and heraldic devices of various knights and lords, as well as the rules and protocols governing the design and description, or blazoning of arms, and the precedence of their bearers.Fox-Davies, A Complete Guide to Heraldry, pp. 27–29. As early as the late thirteenth century, certain heralds in the employ of monarchs were given the title "King of Heralds", which eventually became "King of Arms."