Herald

Herald

The early Middle Ages were when Heraldry began. Knights needed a way to identify each other. The noble families developed different patterns and symbols that they would paint on their shields. These symbols served the purpose of representing their families and also, establishing who the enemy was and who the allies was in a battle. They termed these shields, coats of arms. Any family could have a coat of arms but for them to be considered official, they had to be recognized by The College of Arms. The College was where heralds trained to read and write and memorize the existing coats of arms. Therefore they were able to identify the enemies and the allies if needed to do so.

A coat of arms, or blazon of arms, as they were sometimes called consisted of several parts. These components were the shield, the crest, the helm, the wreath and the mantle. The shield contained the symbols and their colors. The crest is what goes on top of the helmet. The helm or helmet varied in accordance with the rank of the knight, the time period, or the herald's preference. The wreath consisted of the metal and the primary color. And the design of the mantle also varied with the herald's preference.

The herald's used a variety of colors like gold, silver, red, blue, green and black on the shields. But the colors were not there for decoration. They symbolized specific meanings. For example, silver stood for peace and sincerity, whereas black stood for consistency and grief. Red was considered to be the martyr's color and blue meant truth and loyalty. But along with the colors were objects or actual symbols that represented certain meanings. There were many more symbols than there were colors. There was a symbol starting with most of the letters of the alphabet. The meanings of the different symbols were even more specific than those of the colors. For example, a hawk stood for one who does not rest until he achieves his objective. Another symbol was a battle-axe, which stood for the execution of military duty. There were probably almost a hundred, if not more, of these symbols used.