Knights looked the same when clad in full armour. So, to ensure they were not attacked by their own men, or so that they could be easily identified at a tournament, the knights decorated their shield, armour—and sometimes even their horse—with the distinctive design of their own noble family, called arms. The surcoat a knight wore over his armour became known as his coat of arms. The design was contained within the shape of a shield. The system used for designing and recording these coats of arms was called heraldry.

Rules of heraldry

Complex patterns, such as furs and semés, were also used. Pictorial symbols, called charges, were frequently added. They often had meanings associated with the person who bore the arms. A rule of heraldry was that a metal charge could only be placed on a tincture field (background), or a tincture charge on a metal field. When noble families became linked by marriage, the escutcheon (the heraldic shield) was divided between the two coats of arms. When their children married, the shield was divided again, or quartered.

Heralds

Heralds were originally messengers sent by kings or noblemen to convey proclamations, such as announcing an attack on a baron’s castle. They also ran and scored tournaments, and so became experts at recognizing different coats of arms. They started to keep records of these, in books called armorials, and soon acquired the responsibility for designing new ones.