Coat of Arms (von aves - Adobe Stock)

A coat made of arms would be tough to wear. Don’t worry. A coat of arms isn’t what it sounds like. A coat of arms is a symbol of a family that dates all the way back to the 1100s. It is a shield that is decorated with colors, shapes and animals.

The creation of a coat of arms was a big deal in the Middle Ages. Knights carried them around when they fought in battles. Because they were wearing helmets to protect their faces, people did not know who they were. The coat of arms let fellow knights and people from far away know which family they fought for. Several jobs were created just for coats of arms.

Heralds were in charge of researching coats of arms and recording new ones. They knew the meaning of each shape, color and animal used. This included traditional colors and also charges. Charges are shapes and designs added to the background of the coat of arms. Heralds also made sure that families each had their own, unique, coat of arms. Today, the royal family of the United Kingdom has a very famous coat of arms that is still seen on buildings and royal paperwork.

The High Court of Chivalry makes sure that people follow the rules about coats of arms. When two families in the Middle Ages wanted the same coat of arms, the High Court decided which family got to use it.

Sometimes two coats of arms were combined to make a new one. This is called marshalling. This usually happens when a man and a woman get married, and both families have “rights” to display their coat of arms. Creating the two equal sides is called impalement. The right side has the wife’s coat of arms. The left side has the husband’s coat of arms. As time went on, coats of arms got more complicated as different families married each other.