Genealogy Pointers

Studying Genealogy can take you on so many different roads of history. Besides learning the names of your ancestors, you learn about different time periods in history.
For example: The great Depression, Civil War, the immigration westward, and the Revolutionary War.

If you are lucky enough to take your family tree back to the original country your family came from, you probably will hit the medieval times. Medieval can open a whole new avenue for you. If you discover your family was nobility, you have opened a whole new and exciting door.

Back before surnames were ever thought of, their trade or skill of labor they performed referred to people. A geographical item, like a lake or river, called some. Stretching back further in time, people used symbols to distinguish who they were. Symbols are still used today but surnames are the way of the world now.

These symbols were and still are called Heraldry. William the Conquer established the first heraldry in the Norman Conquest of Britain in 1066. In the 12th and 13th century the popularity of the heraldry symbols grew.

Heraldry is more properly referred to armory. Heraldry is a system of identification that uses hereditary person devices portrayed on shields and later as crest, on surcoats, which were worn over armor, bardings, which was the armor and trappings for horses, and banners, personal flags throughout the Middle Ages, these symbols assisted in the identification of knights in battle and in tournaments.

These devices, marks, and colors are commonly referred to as the greater nobility, first adopted coats of arms for the display of arms on surcoats. By the mid-13th century, lesser nobility, knights, and those who later came to be known as gentlemen also used coats of arms.

The custom during the middle ages was an individual coat of arms belonged to one man only, being passed from him to his male-line descendants. Basically, it is one man, one arms, and reminder of the origin of heraldry as a means of instant recognition the battle.

This is very important to genealogist because the coat of arms is descended through the families. This proves evidence of family relationships. The sons in each generation inherited the original shield, but they had to alter is slightly in a tradition known as cadency, an addition of some mark which was perpetuated in their branch of the family. Upon the death of the eldest son’s father, the original paternal coat of arms was now his.

When families were joined by marriage, the coat of arms was combined. This was known as marshalling, it’s the art of arranging several coats of arms in one shield, for denoting the alliances of a family. Several methods were used, placing the arms of the husband and wife side by side on the shield, this was called impaling; escutcheon of pretense, placing the arms of the wife’s father on a small shield in the center of the husband’s shield; and to display the children, the arms of their parents, wit the father’s arms in the first and fourth quarters, and their mother’s in the second and third, this was called quartering.

You might often here that women did not have arms, well they could and did. They were able to inherit their fathers and to receive grants of coats of arms. They were only allowed to pass theirs to their children if they had no brothers. They were called heraldic heiresses if they did this. Since women usually did not wear armor in the Middle Ages, it became convention to display the coat of arms of her father in a lozenge (diamond) shaped field, rather than a shield, if widowed or unmarried. If married, a woman could bear the shield of her husband upon which her arms are marshaled.

To understand the Coat of Arms you have to know the six basic parts, which is the traditional method of displaying the coat of arms, and it is called an achievement of arms.

1. Shield
The escutcheon or field, which is, placed the bearings in coats of arms in known as the shield. This comes from the medieval times when the shield was borne on the arm of a knight and was ornamented with various devices in order to be identified to his friends in the midst of battle. This is also known as heater, the shield displays the unique colors and charges (lions, designs, etc. that appears on the shield). The shapes varied according to their geographical origin as well as the time period.

2. Helm
Helm or helmet was used to indicate the rank of the bearer of the arms from the gold full-faced helm of royalty to the steel helmet with closed visor of a gentleman.

3. Crest
By the end of the 13th century many nobles and knights had adopted a secondary hereditary device called a crest. It was commonly made of feathers, leather, or wood; the crest was used to help distinguish the helm, similar to the device on the shield.

4. Mantle
A mantle was originally intended to shield the knight from the heat of the sun and to ward off the rain, it was a piece of cloth placed over the helmet, draping down the back to the base of the helm. The mantle was often embellished with the coat of arms to give prominence to the arms and crest, and was usually presented as ribbons over the helm.

5.Wreath
The wreath was a twisted scarf used to cover the joint where the crest is attached to the helmet. Today the heraldry depicts the wreath as if two colored scarves had been braided together, the colors showing alternately. These colors are the same as the first named metal and the first named color in the blazon, and are known as “the colors.”

6. The Motto
This is the writing you see underneath the coat of arms. A motto or phrase incorporates the basic philosophy of the family or an ancient war cry. It doesn’t have to be present on the individual coat of arms.

You can still be granted a coat of arms to day. Coat of arms are granted by the Kings of Arms in England, the six counties of Northern Ireland, the Court of the Lord Lyon King of Arms in Scotland, and the Chief Herald of Ireland in the Republic of Ireland. The College of Arms holds the official register of all coats of arms or heraldry in England and Wales. The United States, Sweden, and Australia also maintain records of and allow people to register coats of arms, though no official restrictions or laws are imposed on the bearing of arms.

I’m one of the luck ones and was able to trace my family back to William the Conquer and before. I was able to find the original coat of arms for my family that William the Conquer presented to William de Warenne (Warren). Now you have a reason to start your family tree and see all that you can discover.