Coat Of Arms Design Studio Pro Torrent
Leocricia Flinchum
The Norwegian Parliament enacted in 2017 the merging of several counties all over the country. In western Norway this will result in the merger of Hordaland and Sogn og Fjordane to the new Vestland county the first of January 2020. Being the home of 43 municipalities and over 600 000 people, the new county needed a unifying coat of arms, which we were appointed to design.The goal of the motive was to be both relevant and unifying for the whole county, while still retaining a timeless and independent design that can live and work far into the future. The visual attributes should be based on the old rules of heraldry, following the tradition of other Norwegian coat of arms.
Learn about the history of coats of arms, including the royal coat of arms, and how the designs were used to show who they represented. Then use our guide to the heraldic code and simple downloadable template to design your own coat of arms to represent you or your family!
A coat of arms is the name for the colourful decoration that noble families used to represent themselves, and they date all the way back to the 1100s. When they went into battle or competed in tournaments, knights and royalty wore their coats of arms on their shields and as part of their outfits, so they could tell who was who.
In the United Kingdom, the monarch has their own coat of arms, which is used to represent them. It can also be found on public buildings like courts, and on products with royal warrants that are bought by the royal household.
The coat of arms has changed over time, and each element is an important symbol. In the four sections of the shield are the Royal emblems of England (three lions), Scotland (single lion) and Ireland (harp). On each side, the two supporters holding the coat of arms represent England (the lion) and Scotland (the unicorn). The special position of Wales as a Principality, represented by His Majesty King Charles III's eldest son the Prince of Wales, meant that it was not included in the Royal Arms. Instead the Prince of Wales has a separate coat of arms which includes the arms of Wales at its centre. The plants of the United Kingdom are also often included under the shield. If you look carefully, you should be able to spot the English rose, Scottish thistle, Welsh leek and Irish shamrock.
Discover the medieval names and meanings for the different colours, shapes and animals used on coats of arms. When heraldry began to be used, knights and their families spoke Norman French, and the elements used in coats of arms had special names in this language.
A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design[1] on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its whole consists of a shield, supporters, a crest, and a motto. A coat of arms is traditionally unique to the armiger (e.g. an individual person, family, state, organization, school or corporation). The term "coat of arms" itself, describing in modern times just the heraldic design, originates from the description of the entire medieval chainmail "surcoat" garment used in combat or preparation for the latter.
Rolls of arms are collections of many coats of arms, and since the early Modern Age centuries, they have been a source of information for public showing and tracing the membership of a noble family, and therefore its genealogy across time.
Burgher arms were used in Northern Italy in the second half of the 14th century, and in the Holy Roman Empireby the mid 14th century.In the late medieval period, use of arms spread to the clergy, to towns as civic identifiers, and to royally chartered organizations such as universities and trading companies. The arts of vexillology and heraldry are closely related.
The term coat of arms itself in origin refers to the surcoat with heraldic designs worn by combatants, especially in the knightly tournament, in Old French cote a armer. The sense is transferred to the heraldic design itself in Middle English, in the mid-14th century.[4]
Despite no common, enforceable widespread regulation,[citation needed] heraldry has remained consistent across Europe, where tradition alone has governed the design and use of arms.[5][citation needed] Some nations, such as England and Scotland, still maintain the same heraldic authorities which have traditionally granted and regulated arms for centuries and continue to do so in the present day. In England, for example, the granting of arms is and has been controlled by the College of Arms. Unlike seals and other general emblems, heraldic "achievements" have a formal description called a blazon, which uses vocabulary that allows for consistency in heraldic depictions. In the present day, coats of arms are still in use by a variety of institutions and individuals: for example, many European cities and universities have guidelines on how their coats of arms may be used, and protect their use as trademarks as any other unique identifier might be.[6][7] Many[citation needed] societies exist that also aid in the design and registration of personal arms.
The French system of heraldry greatly influenced the British and Western European systems. Much of the terminology and classifications are taken from it. However, with the fall of the French monarchy (and later Empire) there is not currently a Fons Honorum (power to dispense and control honors) to strictly enforce heraldic law. The French Republics that followed have either merely affirmed pre-existing titles and honors or vigorously opposed noble privilege. Coats of arms are considered an intellectual property of a family or municipal body. Assumed arms (arms invented and used by the holder rather than granted by an authority) are considered valid unless they can be proved in court to copy that of an earlier holder.
In the heraldic traditions of England and Scotland, an individual, rather than a family, had a coat of arms. In those traditions coats of arms are legal property transmitted from father to son; wives and daughters could also bear arms modified to indicate their relation to the current holder of the arms. Undifferenced arms are used only by one person at any given time. Other descendants of the original bearer could bear the ancestral arms only with some difference: usually a colour change or the addition of a distinguishing charge. One such charge is the label, which in British usage (outside the Royal Family) is now always the mark of an heir apparent or (in Scotland) an heir presumptive. Because of their importance in identification, particularly in seals on legal documents, the use of arms was strictly regulated; few countries continue in this today. This has been carried out by heralds and the study of coats of arms is therefore called "heraldry". In time, the use of arms spread from military entities to educational institutes, and other establishments.[6]
In Scotland, the Lord Lyon King of Arms has criminal jurisdiction to control the use of arms. In England, Northern Ireland and Wales the use of arms is a matter of civil law and regulated by the College of Arms and the High Court of Chivalry.
In reference to a dispute over the exercise of authority over the Officers of Arms in England, Arthur Annesley, 1st Earl of Anglesey, Lord Privy Seal, declared on 16 June 1673 that the powers of the Earl Marshal were "to order, judge, and determine all matters touching arms, ensigns of nobility, honour, and chivalry; to make laws, ordinances, and statutes for the good government of the Officers of Arms; to nominate Officers to fill vacancies in the College of Arms; to punish and correct Officers of Arms for misbehaviour in the execution of their places". It was further declared that no patents of arms or any ensigns of nobility should be granted and no augmentation, alteration, or addition should be made to arms without the consent of the Earl Marshal.
In the Nordic countries, provinces, regions, cities, and municipalities have coats of arms. These are posted at the borders and on buildings containing official offices, as well as used in official documents and on the uniforms of municipal officers. Arms may also be used on souvenirs or other effects, given that an application has been granted by the municipal council.
At a national level, "coats of arms" were generally retained by European states with constitutional continuity of more than a few centuries, including constitutional monarchies like Denmark as well as old republics like San Marino and Switzerland.
In Italy the use of coats of arms was only loosely regulated by the states existing before the unification of 1861. Since the Consulta Araldica, the college of arms of the Kingdom of Italy, was abolished in 1948, personal coats of arms and titles of nobility, though not outlawed, are not recognised.
Coats of arms in Spain were generally left up to the owner themselves, but the design was based on military service and the heritage of their grandparents. In France, the coat of arms is based on the Fleur-de-lys and the Rule of Tinctures used in English heraldry as well.
The monarch of Canada's prerogative to grant armorial bearings has been delegated to the Governor General of Canada. Canada has its own Chief Herald and Herald Chancellor. The Canadian Heraldic Authority, the governmental agency which is responsible for creating arms and promoting Canadian heraldry, is situated at Rideau Hall.[10][11]
The Great Seal of the United States uses on the obverse as its central motif a heraldic achievement described as being the arms of the nation.[12] The seal, and the armorial bearings, were adopted by the Continental Congress on 20 June 1782, and is a shield divided palewise into thirteen pieces, with a blue chief, which is displayed upon the breast of an American bald eagle. The crest is thirteen stars breaking through a glory and clouds, displayed with no helm, torse, or mantling (unlike most European precedents). Only a few of the American states have adopted a coat of arms, which is usually designed as part of the respective state's seal. Vermont has both a state seal and a state coat of arms that are independent of one another (though both contain a pine tree, a cow and sheaves of grain); the seal is used to authenticate documents, whilst the heraldic device represents the state itself.
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