The Component Parts Of A Coat Of Arms..

Technically the coat of arms is just the part that appears on the shield. The entire grouping should be referred to as an 'achievement', but this term is very rarely used. The grouping, which we will call the coat of arms for convenience, is usually made up of the following parts:

The Arms: The Shield and the Devises upon it.
The shield is of the greatest importance in a coat of arms. As a minimum a shield must consist of a coloured surface or background, known as the 'field', and some figure or device or design which forms the 'charge' or 'charges'. The shield is the emblem of the rank of gentility; the vehicle for the display of the particular device which is the token of the 'technical' gentility of a particular family; and the vehicle for the display of the quarterings to denote inheritance of representation to denote cadency, and to display alliance by marriage or office. The shape of the shield chosen for a pictorial representation is entirely a matter for the wearer. Strictly, however, you should be careful to chose a shield shape that fits well with the date of the coat of arms.

The Helmet.
There are certain rules that date from the seventeenth century regarding the form and position of the helmet.

• a royal helmet is gold, placed facing forwards and with the visor open but guarded by grilles or bars.
• the helmet of a peer is silver, placed in profile and with the visor open but guarded by grilles of gold.
• the helmet of a knight or baronet is of steel, placed facing forwards with the visor open, and without grilles.
• the helmet of an esquire or gentleman is of steel, placed in profile and has the visor closed.

Subject to these rules the period, shape and style of the helmet are the choice of the wearer. Again, however, you should take care not to adopt, say, a sixteenth century helmet to accompany a fourteenth century shields.

The Mantling or Lambrequin.
In wartime there would be a cloth suspended from a point on the top of the helmet and hanging down the back of the wearer. Its purpose was to save the armour from rust, to absorb the heat of the sun striking the armour and to prevent the sword of the enemy from getting a clean swipe. During battle the mantling would become cut and ragged, showing that its wearer had been in the thick of things. Heraldic artists have somewhat gone to town with this idea and representations of coats of arms have exaggerated the flowing mantling on either side of the helmet and shield.

The shape and form of the mantling are left to the artist but there are rules about colour. Throughout Europe mantling was originally of crimson cloth lined with white. This remained so in the England until around 1700, and in Scotland until almost 1900. Later, the red and white mantling gave way to a mantling of the same colour as the arms; the outside being of the colour and the lining of the metal.

The Wreath or Torse.
The wreath is the most popular way of attaching the crest to the helmet. In most pictorial representations the wreath is shown as a bar on top of the helmet and consists of six links, alternately metal and colour.

The Crest.
Coats of arms existed for a long time before there is any evidence of the use of crests. The crest is the ornament on top of the helmet. The earliest crests were almost always animals or an animal's head. At first only very high ranking families used these additions to coats of arms, but later the addition of crests became common practice.

The Motto.
Mottoes had no place in real armoury or actual warfare, and appeared only on artist impressions of a coat of arms. The first mottos appeared around 1660 and rapidly became popular after that date.

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