Individual Parts Of A Coat Of Arms - Shield

The single most important part of any armorial achievement (coat of arms) is the shield or escutcheon. On it are the the charges, colors and divisions that allow you to uniquely identify the arms. Everything else, quite frankly, is fluff. You will find arms with every conceivable combination of helmets, mantling, supporters and crests, yet you will never find arms without a shield.

Let's start with the shape. There is no law, even in the countries that govern arms quite strictly, as to the shape of the shield. It is a matter of artistic interpretation and usually follows the design of the time period in which it is created. There are many shapes, and the current convention seems to be a return to earlier times and more traditional shapes as opposed to the overly (in my opinion) ornate shields of the Victorian era and into the early 19th century. But at the end of the day, it is the person commissioning the arms, at least in the United States, that should have the greatest say in what shape an escutcheon takes.

Shields up to the early late 12th century were often as tall as a man and shaped that way, that is, tall and skinny. At the beginning of the 13th century, the shields started to look more like the shields on which modern arms are emblazoned. By the 15th century you started to see jousting shields more often used, some with the lance rest on the dexter side. Starting in the 18th century, right up until the 19th century, they got more and more frilly to the point I would love to just erase them all. But that would be wrong of course. They are attached to the prevailing design ideals of their time.

Next time we'll discuss how a shield can be divided and colored. Until then...

Yours In Arms,

Michael Richards
Executive Director - AssumeArms.com

Components of an Armorial Achievement (Coat of Arms)

So what is a coat of arms? Originally, the heralds, who were in charge of recording and maintaining the systems of arms, wore a surcoat that had an embroidered version of what was placed on their master's shield. Surcoat is where the "coat" in coat of arms comes from. Arms were originally and still rightly just the shield and its charges. Hence, Coat of Arms. The English language, being what it is, started to use that term to include the entire Achievement.

So what is an achievement? The proper full name of what most people call a coat of arms is an armorial achievement. Armorial, pertaining to arms or armory and achievement, still holding the same meaning. It includes, the shield and all its charges, the helmet, mantling and crest, the supporters and motto (if any) and the compartment (almost exclusively unique to Scottish heraldry).

One term that is absolutely incorrect is family crest. There has never been a crest granted without an accompanying shield. A crest sits atop the helmet, period. And although an achievement may be passed to a direct descendant, usually it is modified to some extent. There is no coat of arms for the family Richards. Achievements are just that; achievements of a specific person, not a family. So family crest as a term is completely wrong.

So what we end up with is that the full, proper name is armorial achievement, or achievement for short. The most common term that is acceptable in the modern language is coat of arms or arms for short. Arms is actually more correct than coat of arms, because except for royal coronations, there aren't too many people running around wearing a surcoat. Arms also has the advantage in being short and easy and that what you will see most of the time here at AssumeArms.com, though we sometimes use coat of arms because that is far and away what most people call it here in the US.

Yours In Arms,

Michael C. Richards
Executive Director - AssumeArms.com

Our First Commissioned Coat Of Arms

Today I finalized and registered the first fully commissioned, complete Armorial Achievement for Michael Mims Roberts. You can see it here: Roberts Coat Of Arms.

I wanted to use this opportunity to talk a little about the design process and what is involved. Michael purchased the Unlimited Design Consultation and Creation package for $300 dollars and it's probably a good thing he did as we went through about 15 revisions before finalizing the design. And he had a very good idea of where he wanted to go and was very articulate. The whole process took me about 8-10 hours not including some extra design time I took to get a few things just right.

It started when he called me and asked some basic questions. I gave him the answers he was looking for and we talked about basic shield shape and colors. we tried a couple of different sets of colors and finally found one he wanted to use. He told me some of his family's history and from that we gleaned some ideas for the charges we wanted to use. This is where most of the changes took place. I would try an arrangement and we would talk about what he like and disliked. This back and forth process, sometimes by email and sometimes by phone took about a month all told.

When we were all finished, I zipped up his master files and made some common sizes for use in various mediums and emailed them to him. Sizes for print, some for email, etc. I also color laser print the final product on fine parchment paper. It is hand signed, then framed and shipped.

Michael now has a completely unique coat of arms that he can be proud of and can be passed down to the next generation and you can too...

Yours In Arms,

Michael C. Richards