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Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, rank and pedigree. [1] [2] Armory, the best-known branch of heraldry, concerns the design and transmission of the heraldic achievement.
In the heraldry of the Holy Roman Empire, the cross is comparatively rare in the coats of arms of noble families, presumably because the plain heraldic cross was seen as an imperial symbol (for the same reason, the eagle was rarely used as a charge because it represented the empire), but in the 14th century the plain cross is used in the seals ...
A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design [1] on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its whole consists of a shield, supporters, a crest, and a motto.
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 ...
There are many meanings attached to this symbol, and it was introduced in France in the early 1760s as the emblem of the Knight Kadosh degree. [ 29 ] The martlet , a stylized swift or swallow without feet (sometimes incorrectly, at least in the Anglophone heraldries these days, said to have no beak), is a mark of cadency in English heraldry ...
In early heraldry or proto-heraldry of the 12th century, however, the eagle as a heraldic charge was not necessarily tied to either imperial or biblical symbolism. The Anglo-Norman L'Aigle family, who held Pevensey castle and the Borough of Pevensey, used the eagle as an emblem in an instance of canting arms.
A crest is a component of a heraldic display, consisting of the device borne on top of the helm. Originating in the decorative sculptures worn by knights in tournaments and, to a lesser extent, battles, crests became solely pictorial after the 16th century (the era referred to by heraldists as that of "paper heraldry").
It is a common charge in the heraldry of many countries, regions and cities: e.g. the bearings of Armstrong family in Canada; [7] the Sun in Splendour appears superimposed on the Cross of St. George and behind the White Rose of York on the flag of the West Riding of Yorkshire; and on the arms of Banbury Town Council, [8] England.