What is the Difference Between a Family Crest & a Coat of Arms?
The practice of wearing specific colors and symbols on shields originated in the Middle Ages. It was used as a way to distinguish knights and their soldiers from the enemy.
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Coat of Arms
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Over the next few centuries, the habit was expanded to include an embroidered surcoat worn over the warrior's armor--called a coat of arms. The designs became more complicated as well, incorporating items denoting status and chronicling achievements.
Crest
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Individual knights wore crests on their helms to set themselves apart from others on the field. Crests often would incorporate the colors (called tinctures) of their coat of arms and perhaps a single element from the coat such as feathers, animal figures or arms holding weapons.
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Ownership
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According to England's College of Arms, there is no such thing as a coat of arms for a surname. The College of Arms states that unrelated families with the same surname will be entitled to completely different coats of arms and many will be entitled to no coat of arms. For any person to have a right to a coat of arms, they must either have had it granted to them or be descended in the legitimate male line from a person to whom arms were granted or confirmed in the past.
Codification
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England's King Henry V passed laws prohibiting the free design and wearing of armorial bearings, or personal coats of arms. In 1483, King Edward IV established the College of Arms--or Heralds' College--to "oversee and regulate the granting of coats of arms."
Right to Bear
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In 1998, Peter Gwynn-Jones, Garter King of Arms, wrote that, "In practice, eligibility depends upon holding a civil or military commission, a sound university degree or professional qualification, or having achieved some measure of distinction in a field beneficial to society as a whole."
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