Arms

THE SOVEREIGN MILITARY ORDER OF THE TEMPLE OF JERUSALEM

Autonomous Grand Priory
of the United States of America

Priory of

St. Thomas a` Becket

Member's Arms

Coats of Arms

The custom of adopting artistic designs on shields or elsewhere by rulers in medieval Europe began early in the 14th century for identification and as signs of authority. Initially arms were adopted by individual nobles by proscriptive right and it was not necessary to inherit the right to display such arms.

As the custom became more popular the use of symbols to distinguish certain families grew. Because of duplication of popular designs various governments designated individuals known as Heralds to systematize, standardize and supervise the selection of colors and symbols used in family coats of arms. Like all government entities for all times these Heralds soon grew into a bureaucracy which regulated and sold the rights to fly certain designs and colors. Coats of Arms soon became associated with status or nobility. A tax was paid for the rights to a specific design.

Heraldry is the term used for the study and standardization of designs used to distinguish individuals and families.

However, from the beginning of the 15th century laws were passed by rulers in Europe forbidding anyone to display arms unless he had them by right of ancestry or by the grant of lawful authority. In England the right to display arms only by inherited right or by grant of lawful authority was established by a writ of Henry V in 1417. In England, King Richard III established the Herald's College (College of Arms) in 1484. It was this college who decided who was entitled to wear a specific coat of arms and its design. By the 16th century, it was the rule practically everywhere in western Europe that new arms could be displayed only by grant of the sovereign.

Thus the display of arms is a relic of feudalism in Christian Europe, but it continues to be a living reality through its nobility functions in modern Europe. Arms continue to have a legal status in much of western Europe, especially England where the granting of arms is regulated by the College of Arms in London. Arms (in England) can be inherited only through direct male line descent from the man who was originally granted the right to display such arms. Moreover, every individual who wishes to display arms must apply to the College of Arms and must provide rigorous proof of his direct male line ancestry, a very expensive process.

The process of obtaining the right to arms is called "matriculation". The arms must show where the petitioner comes in the family line. Consequently, the petitioner applies for the right to display "differenced" arms, where "differencing" is a way of showing where the petitioner comes in the family line.

(From the webiste: http://www.coryfamsoc.com/resources/articles/coats_of_arms.htm)