Heraldry

Heraldry begins with a practical problem. By the middle of the twelfth century a knight in full harness was covered head to foot, and the great helm hid his face. On a field of identically armoured men, nobody could tell friend from enemy. The shield was the answer: broad, flat, carried high, and already turned toward whoever needed to read it.

The device did not stay on the shield. It went onto the cloth surcoat worn over the mail, which is where coat of arms comes from, a garment six hundred years out of use and still the name we give the emblem. It went onto the horse's trapper, the pennon on a lance, and the banner a standard-bearer carried on a pole above the fighting, so a man could find his own side.

The heralds came last and gave the thing its name. They ran the tournaments, announced each combatant and vouched that he was entitled to fight, which meant knowing every device in the region on sight. The system is named after the men who had to read it, not the men who wore it.

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