Shield and sword symbol of justice. Shield encyclopedia signs and symbols

No state can exist without its own symbols by which it will be recognized. If you think about it, in the modern world, flags and coats of arms play a very, very significant role, since they combine the characteristics of the country, its spirit and main features.

This applies to an even greater extent to the state emblem. The science of heraldry pays special attention to their study. We will turn to her.

What kind of science is this?

Despite the intricate name, the essence of the science is quite simple. Heraldry studies the meaning of the symbols and colors used to create a coat of arms. This kind of knowledge may seem useless at first glance, but you shouldn’t

Heraldry originated during the Crusades and over time absorbed many traditions of chivalry and reflected the life and culture of feudal Europe.

A coat of arms can tell a lot about its owner: strengths and weaknesses, motto, his and even social status. All that is needed in order to understand all this is just to turn to the knowledge accumulated over many centuries of study.

Coat of arms and its owner

Before moving on to a more specific consideration of certain symbols, let us determine who may own the coat of arms. In the understanding of modern people, this word is associated primarily with the state. In Russia, for example, the double-headed eagle acts in this capacity.

However, as heraldry says, the meaning of symbols and colors can be important not only to a country, but also to a city, a specific territory, or even a specific clan. By the way, it was the last option that was previously the most common.

The significance of color

It is easy to guess that even the smallest, seemingly insignificant detail is important in the execution of the coat of arms, without which the meaning of the heraldic symbol will change radically. Heraldry considers the meaning of symbols and colors both in aggregate and separately from each other. It can be assumed that only the very first images that began to be placed on flags and armor were of a random nature. However, in the Middle Ages, when fascination with the mystical characteristics of certain phenomena and creatures was widespread, in an era when people tried to discern hidden meaning and some kind of divine revelation in the world around them, symbols and colors began to be given special meaning.

The importance of flowers in heraldry is especially great, since it is to them that attention is first drawn. In addition, the color additionally characterizes the owner of the coat of arms. Heraldry uses seven colors: two metals and five enamels. Initially, only four colors were used, but over time the palette expanded: furs - ermine and squirrel - are considered a separate type of heraldic color.

So, let's look at the basic meaning of flowers in heraldry.

Gold

Most often, of course, gold is used in coats of arms. In addition to the usual evidence of luxury and wealth, this color also carries other information.

The use of gold in the coat of arms initially testified to belonging, if not to a royal family, then to a very rich family.

Heraldry interprets the meaning of symbols and colors very clearly, so attention is paid to every detail. Thus, the presence of golden elements in the coat of arms often indicated the presence of a solar component, which was considered a sign of sublimity, majesty of the clan or territory.

Silver

If in the previous case there was an obvious reference to sunlight, then the soft silvery shade represents the luminary of the night in the coat of arms. In addition, this color speaks of the purity of the family, its high origin and special trust from its superiors. Silver has always spoken of being chosen.

Scarlet

Representatives of militant families loved scarlet coats of arms and shields. It was the shades of red that spoke of the courage, steadfastness and power of the bearers. It's powerful. By the way, in Slavic culture there was even a custom of scarlet shields before battle by sprinkling them with their own blood. This not only frightened enemies, but also provided powerful protection for the wearer himself.

The Spartans were guided by approximately the same principle when choosing the shade of their attire.

Blue

The predominance of blue in symbolism spoke of the wearers’ commitment to the eternal ideals of beauty.

The azure hue on shields and coats of arms was supposed to indicate clarity of judgment, impeccability and elitism.

Black

This color of shields speaks not only of mourning, but also of the thoughtfulness, prudence, and nobility of the wearer. As a rule, this color is applied in perpendicular lines over the entire surface. Shields in heraldry are studied especially closely.

Why were shields decorated?

The tradition of placing various distinctive signs on the shield dates back to the times of the Crusades. In the heat of battle, it was extremely difficult to distinguish one’s brothers-in-arms from the enemy, because knightly armor looked approximately the same, and combat formations constantly changed during the battle. Even banners and banners could not always serve as distinctive features. That is why noble knights began to place various symbolic images on their shields that distinguished their personal valor and served on the battlefield.

Very often, animals are depicted on shields and coats of arms, whose distinctive features were supposed to tell others about the character of the knight. Among the animals that are most often found on heraldic symbols, it is worth noting the lion, leopard, and eagle. The meaning of animals in heraldry usually comes down to identifying the strong-willed and heroic qualities of the knight who decorated his regalia with them.

Animals on the shield

So, for example, a lion in heraldry is traditionally considered a symbol of courage, bravery and generosity. An alternative to a lion is often a leopard. Most often, a lion is depicted on a coat of arms or shield, but sometimes you can find images of several animals. Such lions are considered to be lion cubs.

The eagle is also a very common heraldic symbol; one can even say that after the dominant position in terms of numbers of the lion, the eagle occupies a second, no less confident place.

Heraldic flora

Plants in heraldry are no less important than animal images. The use of various plants in heraldry has a long history. The most common image among plants is the rose symbol. The Queen of Flowers often takes pride of place on the coats of arms of various noble families. According to the laws of heraldry, only members of the royal family can afford to decorate their coat of arms with a wreath or a garland of roses. Another popular plant symbol is the lily. It symbolizes purity, holiness, innocence.

The figures were usually borrowed from folklore or mythology.

Among this kind of images, the most often found on coats of arms are griffins, a phoenix bird, mermaids, the famous basilisks, and, of course, Pegasus. In this case, they could not do without fire-breathing dragons.

The statement that exclusively fantastic creatures were used in heraldry would be incorrect. Eagles, antelopes, horses and salamanders, panthers and deer, wolves and lions were often found on the coats of arms of houses and states.

This symbol is one of 24 presented at the exhibition “Labyrinth. The Dragon. Unicorn. What do the symbols say?
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The most important virtues of the Spartans were courage and loyalty, and their greatest vice was cowardice. The Spartans did not impose any punishment on a warrior who lost his helmet or armor in battle, but a warrior who lost his shield was punished by deprivation of civil rights, because the helmet and armor are worn to protect himself, and the shield serves to protect the entire formation.

Achilles - one of the great heroes of the Trojan War - had a magic shield forged by Hephaestus. Hephaestus depicted the entire universe on his shield. No one had such a shield: neither the Trojan and Achaean warriors, nor the deities descending from Olympus. Using his shield, Achilles could find any place on earth and in the sky.

No mortal could break through it.

In Slavic myths, the sun was a fiery golden sparkling shield of Dazhdbog. Thanks to its radiance, there is light and warmth on the earth. Dazhdbog protects and preserves the world from dark forces.

The teardrop-shaped shield is the weapon of heroes from Russian fairy tales; the same shields were often depicted in chronicles. Their red color, the color of fire and strength, as well as solar symbolism, calls on the forces of light for help.

Thanks to his courage, the warrior is not alone in battle; his shield is a symbol of divine protection.

Warriors swear on their shield. The shield in Rus' becomes a symbol of the hero, his honor.

In knightly traditions, the shield symbolizes the purpose of the knight himself: like a shield, it should serve as a defense for all noble causes. That is why the knight's coat of arms was depicted on the shield. The coat of arms on the shield represented the knight before God and people.

In Renaissance allegorical painting, the shield belongs to a number of virtues.

On the shield of Fortitude, a lion reared up - a symbol of courage and the inability to retreat. Purity and chastity are guarded by two royal lions with golden shields. Golden shields and lions are symbols of the power inherent in a pure soul, and at the same time the protection of heaven.

The shield is the main defensive weapon of the ancient and medieval warrior, which reliably covered him from enemy arrows, spears, swords and sabers, a symbol of protection, victory, glory and military honor. The mother of a Spartan hoplite, seeing off her son to war, admonished him with laconic words: “With a shield or on a shield,” equivalent to the later proud motto: “Victory or death!” The Spartan returned home either with a shield, i.e. with victory and glory, or the lifeless body of a fallen soldier was carried on a shield by his comrades with honor. There was no third choice, since the fearless sons of Lakonika did not retreat under any circumstances. In this regard, we should remember the glorious feat of King Leonidas and 300 Spartans who valiantly fought in the Thermopylae Gorge (480 BC) against the Persian army of Xerxes of many thousands. Doomed to death, the Spartan heroes released their allies, and they themselves remained to defend the mountain pass leading to Central Greece, and every single person died, covering themselves with immortal glory. In fairness, it must be added that at the other end of the gorge, 700 Thespians died the death of the brave, who also refused to retreat.

A hanging shield is a sign of victory and possession. Having burst into an enemy city, the knight hung a battle shield on the gate of the house he liked, thereby making it clear to his comrades that the house had now found its new owner. This is what Prince Oleg, the legendary founder of the Old Russian state, did in 907, who ordered his shield to be hung on the gates of Constantinople, which he conquered. True, Constantinople has not since become the patrimony of the victorious prince, but the frightened Greeks hastened to pay a large indemnity to the Russian army and sign an unfavorable agreement for themselves, which granted all Russians the right of free residence and duty-free trade on the territory of the empire, as well as the unheard-of privilege of free bathing in magnificent Byzantine baths.
The knight's shield displayed on the lists testified to the readiness of its owner to accept the challenge of any opponent. In challenging, the opponent struck the shield with a spear. If this blow was delivered with the blunt end of a spear, it means that the knight invited the owner of the shield to measure their strength with a blunt tournament weapon; if with the tip of a spear, the fight was to the death.

Negative symbolism may also be associated with the shield. Thus, a shield thrown in battle symbolized defeat, and one overturned or broken into pieces was a humiliating sign of indelible dishonor and shame. Nowadays, when all these symbolic nuances have long been forgotten, the ancient weapon retains only its basic, most obvious meaning, sounding in the words: “protection”, “defender”, “client”, “shield”, etc.

In mythology, the shield faithfully served both immortal celestials and mortal heroes. The military attribute of each of them, like a knight's coat of arms, had its own characteristic features: on the shield of Neith, the divine patroness of the Egyptian city of Sais, crossed arrows were depicted; the shield of Huitzilopochtli, the supreme god of the Aztecs, was distinguished by five fur balls; his compatriot, the “Salt Woman” Huixtocihuatl, owned a dazzling white leather shield, and the Slavic Dazhdbog used the sun itself as a golden shield. And yet the most remarkable mythical shield, the aegis, was owned by the ruler of the Olympian gods. The shield of Zeus was covered with the skin of the goat Amalthea, who once fed the future Thunderer with her milk. Even after death, the horned nurse took touching care of her pupil - her fur made the aegis impenetrable. Instead of an um-bon, Zeus placed in the center of the shield the head of the terrible snake-haired Gorgon Medusa, which brought confusion and awe even to immortals. Having pacified all the gods and titans, the ruler of Olympus gave the aegis to his warlike daughter Athena. The symbolism of the extraordinary shield of Zeus is still alive today: the modern expression “to be under the auspices” hints at high patronage and reliable protection.

If you believe the Greek myths, people invented the shield in the Cretan-Mycenaean period, more precisely, during the war of the twin brothers Acrisius and Pretus for power in Argolid. In any case, the Homeric heroes who besieged the “fortified” Troy were already all armed with shields. And what kind! The strongman Ajax Telamonides covered himself in battle with a huge seven-skin shield sheathed in copper. The Trojans, as soon as they saw the giant shield of Ajax, rising above the plain like a tower, fled in panic from the battlefield. Another magnificent shield belonged to the most famous hero of the Achaeans, the fleet-footed Achilles. This shield of five strongest metal sheets was forged for the fearless son of Peleus by the god Hephaestus himself. No mortal could break through it. But the value of the Achilles shield lay not only in this: the divine blacksmith covered its surface with wondrous paintings, turning the weapon into the greatest work of art. Hephaestus depicted the earth, sea and sky on his shield. The sun, the moon, and the constellations of Orion, Pleiades and Ursa Major shone in the sky. Two cities were depicted on the ground in every detail: in one a public meeting and a wedding procession are taking place, and in the second, besieged by enemies, a bloody battle is raging.

The great master, who respected ordinary workers, presented on the shield numerous scenes of peasant labor: plowmen walking behind the plow, harvesting grain and harvesting grapes, as well as cheerful dances of villagers after a hard day. Around the entire shield, Hephaestus depicted the majestic Ocean, which, according to the Greeks, flows around the entire earth.

The most diverse and amazing shields appear in the myths and tales of many peoples. Perseus, avoiding the deadly gaze of the Gorgon Medusa, followed her reflection in the mirror shield. Athena built a shield from the skin of the titan Pallantus, whom she slain. The ancient Russian fairy-tale knight Eruslan Lazarevich entered into single combat with the Green Tsar, the owner of a fiery shield. The Chinese ancestor Zhuan-xu was spared the need to obtain military equipment for himself - he was born, although not in a shirt, but with a shield and a spear on his head.

Shields found interesting uses in Roman mythology. During the siege of Rome by the Sabines, Tarpeia, the unworthy daughter of the Roman centurion Spurius, who was defending the Capitol, appeared in the enemy camp and offered her services to King Titus Tatius. Seduced by the shine of gold, she promised the king to open the gates of the fortress if she received as a reward “what his soldiers wear on their hands” (gold bracelets). The delighted king swore by all the gods to fulfill her condition, and Tarpeia secretly led the Sabines into the fortress at night, and then demanded the promised payment. Titus Tatius, who despised the corrupt Roman woman, nevertheless kept his word. At his sign, the Sabine warriors immediately gave Tarpeia what they were wearing on their arms - they gladly threw their shields at the traitor.

In the religion of pagan peoples, a special cult shield was revered as a sacred sign of divine protection. The Romans, for example, kept 12 such shields at once in the royal sanctuary. One of them, according to ancient legend, fell from the sky, becoming a clear guarantee of the invincibility of Rome, and the other 11 were its exact copy. These copies were made by the most skilled blacksmith Mamurri, commissioned by the wise king Numa Pompilius, who feared that enemies might steal the priceless relic. After the death of the king and the blacksmith, who knew the secret of the divine shield, no one could find the original among the duplicates, so all 12 shields were recognized as equally sacred. A special board of 12 Salii priests was responsible for their safety. In March and October, on the days of national festivals, the Salii solemnly carried sacred shields out of the temple, performed special ritual dances with them and sang hymns in honor of the guardian gods of the Eternal City. Before a campaign, Roman commanders always visited the sanctuary and, touching the precious shields with their hands, cried out to the god of war, Mars, to grant victory over their enemies.

Other peoples also had their own sacred shields. The Urartians dedicated the main temple, the so-called “House of the Shield,” to the supreme god of the sky, Khaldi. The inhabitants of Minoan Crete, judging by the numerous images in the Knossos Palace, revered a special double shield - with an interception, in the shape of a figure eight. The Baltic Slavs kept on the wall of the sanctuary in Wolgast a shield with gold plaques that once belonged to the warlike god Yarovit. In the days of the mirakshit Yarovit it was forbidden to touch, and in case of war, the priests carried it in front of the troops. Christians who worshiped the snow-white shield of Joseph of Arimathea, on which the saint inscribed a cross with his own blood - the emblem of the Resurrection, also had a similar relic.

In the allegorical painting of the Renaissance, the shield, on one basis or another, belongs to a number of personifications. The Allegorical Warrior covers himself with a shield from the enemy’s striking arrows, and Chastity bashfully hides behind a shield from Cupid’s love-feathered arrows. On the shield of Courage reared a lion - an emblem of fearlessness and courage, while the figure of the Iron Age raised a snake with a human head on his shield - a vicious symbol of deceit. Experienced Rhetoric has armed herself with a shield and a sword: with the first she parries any arguments of her opponent, and with the second she delivers brilliant and irresistible retaliatory blows.
In the military affairs of the period of antiquity, one or another type of shield gave the name to an entire combat unit. Thus, Greek lightly armed infantrymen were called peltasts because they wore a round leather shield (Greek: “river”). In the Macedonian army, infantry units were also called and distinguished by the type of shield: Leucaspides, warriors of the famous Macedonian phalanx, were armed with shields made of white tanned leather; the Chalcispids covered themselves in battle with bronze shields; Argyraspides, detachments of the heavily armed infantry guard of Alexander the Great, who followed him on the distant Eastern campaign, were distinguished by beautiful silver-plated shields.

In the history of knightly symbolism, the shield, which was the field for the coat of arms, played the most important role. The shield was something like a track record, open to everyone, since all the merits and misdeeds of its owner were reflected on it. For accomplished feats and significant services to the homeland and the king, some honorary signs were added to the coat of arms on the shield, and for certain misdemeanors and crimes appropriate punishments followed. If a knight boasted and ranted about his imaginary exploits, then the right side of the head of the coat of arms was shortened on the braggart’s shield. If a cruel knight killed a prisoner, the head of the coat of arms on his shield was also shortened, rounded at the bottom. If an undisciplined knight, without a command, rushed headlong into battle and thereby harmed his army, a crowd was depicted at the bottom of his shield. For lies and perjury, the head of the coat of arms on the shield of the unworthy knight was covered with red, erasing the signs that were there. For a knight who did not keep his word, a quadrangle was drawn in the center of the coat of arms. A knight caught in cowardice and fleeing the battlefield had his coat of arms dirty on the left side of his shield.

So, in the knight’s shield, as if in a mirror, all the sins of its owner were reflected. Any parts of the coat of arms or the entire coat of arms were erased from the shield; the symbols of dishonor listed above were applied to him; tied upside down to the pillory; and for the most serious crimes of the knight, the executioners publicly broke his shield into pieces.
In heraldry, the shield serves as the basis for the coat of arms. Heraldic shields, which originate from real, historical shields, differ in shape. Classic heraldic shields include the following:
Amazonian - semicircular shield with two notches on top;
eastern - round shield;
Varangian - triangular, tapering downward;
Early Gothic - triangular, with rounded upper edges, elongated downwards;
Italian - oval shield;
Spanish - square, with a curved and rounded bottom edge;
French - square, with a heart-shaped bracket at the bottom;
Polish - square, differs from French only in beveled upper corners and smooth notches on the sides of the shield;
German - a beautiful figured shield with deep grooves and curls;
Russian - almond-shaped shield, currently used in personal coats of arms and in corporate heraldry.

In modern heraldry, other, non-canonical forms of the shield also appear: rhombic (in the coats of arms of some African states), triangular (Nicaragua and El Salvador), rectangular (Haiti), pentagonal (Czechoslovakia), etc.

In classical heraldry, a heart shield is also used - a small shield that repeats the shape of the main shield and is superimposed on its central part. This shield contains the most important and honorable element of the coat of arms - its heart.

Another important element of the coat of arms are the shield holders - paired figures located on the sides of the coat of arms. The shield holders are people (Moors, monks, women, savages with clubs, etc.), all kinds of heraldic animals, birds, fish and fantastic creatures (angels, dragons, griffins, unicorns, phoenixes, etc.).

In European urban heraldry, the shield emblem is often found in the field of the shield. Its symbolic interpretation may be different. In the coat of arms of Olonetsk (Karelia), a blue shield is located in the right hand of God emerging from a cloud, which symbolizes God’s patronage of the region, and in the coat of arms of the city of Tetyushi (Tatarstan) two round silver shields lie among crossed silver spears as a sign of the military valor of the local residents.

Origin of coats of arms

Coats of arms go back to very ancient times. These are a special kind of symbolic signs by which a leader, tribe, or people were recognized during a battle. The coats of arms were not invented out of vanity alone; they can be considered nothing more than a fair reward for personal merit. These special symbolic signs distinguished both individuals and tribes, cities, kingdoms, and peoples; coats of arms distinguished the noble from the ignoble, the noble from the ignorant. But most of all, especially during hostilities, coats of arms served to distinguish our own from strangers; According to the coats of arms, scattered troops gathered in one designated place.

Symbolism of coats of arms

But symbolic military signs, often used as symbols or as decorations, were not exactly what they used to call coats of arms, that is, permanent distinctions of the noble origin of a person and the heritage granted to one or another family. This meaning of coats of arms is an institution of a later date, which, according to Marchangy (in his “Gaule poetique”), can be attributed to the time of the Crusades.
Ladies always had special respect for the bravery and courage of men, and to express their wonder and respect, they embroidered various glorious and expressive symbols not only on the furniture of their castles, but also on the robes of their fathers, brothers and husbands. On the fences there were also images of these symbolic signs; they were painted on ceilings and walls, on shields and on grave monuments, they were consecrated in churches; during celebrations they served as the best decoration of the feast hall; they were worn on their robes by squires, pages, warriors and all persons of the knight's castle. All these various signs of knightly deeds formed a special hieroglyphic language.

A simple, double, entwined, jagged, jagged, chopped cross, a cross made of flowers was displayed everywhere in various forms and was a symbol of the holy purpose for which the crusades were undertaken. Lacepede in his “History of Europe” says: “The palm tree resembled Idumea; arch - a bridge taken or defended; tower - a castle taken by storm; helmet - the weapon of a formidable and brave enemy; star - night battle in the light of the moon and stars; sword - ordinary battle; crescent - defeat of a Muslim; a lance, a bandage, a fence, two stripes converging at an angle - taken and destroyed barriers; lion or tiger - undaunted valor; eagle - high valor and courage. This is where the system of origin of coats of arms began.”

Such coats of arms, approved and granted by the sovereign, were never changed and became the inalienable property of the family and clan. There were a special kind of people whose duties included studying these differences and especially monitoring the implementation of the established rules regarding the integrity and immutability of coats of arms; such people were called heralds, and the knowledge necessary to perform such a duty was called heraldry.

For coats of arms on shields, two metals were used (gold - yellow in color - and silver - white in color), four paints or colors (blue, green, red and black), two furs (ermine and squirrel). In addition, heraldry assigns special names and meanings to flowers. So, blue is called azure and means air, green - jasper, red - fire and black - earth. Some writers have also assigned symbolic meaning to these metals and colors. In their opinion, gold is an emblem of wealth, strength, loyalty, purity, constancy; silver - innocence, purity; blue color is an emblem of greatness, beauty, clarity; red - courage, courage, fearlessness; green - hope, abundance, freedom; black - modesty, education, sadness. The field of the coat of arms was divided into several sections by horizontal, vertical and diagonal lines; paints and symbols were placed in these compartments; they sometimes matched each other and were wavy, notched, chopped, tied, intertwined, entwined, and so on. Other figures were depicted outside the field of the coat of arms; There were three types of decorations: decorations at the top, on the sides and around.

Above the coat of arms were depicted crowns, hats, helmets, mantles, crests, sometimes a motto or war cry and burelets. The latter come from the French word le bourrelet - it was a flagellum made of fabric stuffed with wool, which was placed on a helmet. It was painted in the same colors as the shield; in the coats of arms of ordinary untitled nobles, such a burelet, or flagellum, was called a fresco. Helmets and cones were painted on coats of arms either in profile or in front with a lowered, half-open or completely raised visor and with a greater or lesser number of bars on it, depending on the dignity and antiquity of the origin of the family. The topmost part of the decoration of the coats of arms was the crest; it was made up of all kinds of flowers, figures and feathers, animals, trees and other things. It was also customary to place mottos and a cry above the coat of arms. On the sides there were images of angels, people, gods, monsters, lions, leopards, unicorns, trees and other objects; such figures were called shield holders. There were also other decorations assigned to famous titles and denoting special virtues.

In order to correctly explain the coat of arms, it is necessary to study its background, on which the figures are engraved or drawn, and then the figures themselves. In heraldry, the background is called the field, and the figures are called signs. The field of the coat of arms is always covered with one of metals, furs or colored ones; Next comes the main figure, or main sign; The colors or paints of the signs are the same as the color or paint of the field, except only in the case where a natural color is required.

Coats of arms of Prussia and Mecklenburg

The basis of heraldry is the following rule: if the field is covered with some kind of paint or fur, then the figures or signs must be covered with metal; and vice versa, if the field is covered with metal, then the figure or sign is covered with paint or fur. This rule is explained as follows: you cannot put metal on metal and paint on paint. To do otherwise would be to completely pervert the science of heraldry.

Coat of arms of Margrave Joseph Schwarzenberg

The upper part in the coat of arms is called the head (le chef), and the lower part is called the foot (la pointe). Everything placed in the coat of arms includes the following: firstly, all kinds of weapons; secondly, not only all kinds of animals, but even birds, fish and insects - in a word, from an elephant to an ant; thirdly, all kinds of plants, from oak to the simplest wild flower; fourthly, everything shiny - from the heavenly bodies to the metals and stones that are in the bowels of the earth; fifthly, all mythical and fantastic creatures, for example, monsters, vultures, phoenixes, double-headed eagles and so on. If animals are depicted on coats of arms, they always look to the left.

Arma Carlo Alberto

In addition, symbols of religion are also depicted on coats of arms; but most often the cross is depicted in a variety of forms, as mentioned above. Reading coats of arms means explaining coats of arms. To do this, you must first name the field, then the sign and its color, and use a well-known formula. Coats of arms represent the greatest variety, and, of course, each sign has its own symbolic meaning.

Experts in heraldry divided coats of arms into several categories so as not to get confused in this labyrinth of all kinds of coats of arms. Let's look at these categories in order.

1) Ceded coats of arms (armoiries de concession).Often, as a reward for some special feats, sovereigns bestowed their coat of arms on the person who distinguished himself or added new honorary emblems to his previous coat of arms.

3) Coats of arms of corporations (armoiries de communaute).These are the coats of arms of various institutions in Western Europe: archbishoprics, bishoprics, chapters, universities, societies, companies and corporations.

4) Protective coats of arms (armoiries de patronage).Often, officials who governed regions, knightly castles and the like added various emblems to their family coats of arms as a sign of their advantage, their rights and the dignity they received from their patrons.

5) Family coats of arms (armoiries de famille).Such coats of arms are inherited and serve to distinguish one house or one surname from another.

6) Coats of arms by marriage (armoiries de d'alliance).These are coats of arms when additional attributes are inserted into the main coat of arms to indicate family ties, when one surname through marriage becomes related to another family.

7) Coats of arms by succession (armoiries de succession).
In addition to the transfer of coats of arms along the direct line of inheritance, coats of arms could be assigned to a person who is a complete stranger or who does not have direct inheritance rights; these coats of arms passed to such persons either completely, or were combined with their original coat of arms; but this always required permission from the supreme authority.

8) Coats of arms of choice (armoiries de choix).Persons who received nobility for special services to the state, of course, did not have their own coat of arms and therefore chose a special kind of emblem that reminded them of the type of activity or occupation in which they acquired this distinction.

But heraldic symbols also come from a thousand other reasons. Sometimes they serve as a designation of merit; Then, there were also such signs that meant either a pledge of zealous compassion, or memories of a journey to holy places, or a vow, or symbols of virtues, talents and pleasures; two hands shaking each other meant agreement and fidelity, a pillar and an anchor - unshakable hope, a ball or loaves - charity, a honeycomb - church holidays and hospitality.

The original signs of tenderness and love in French heraldry were the following: two cranes holding a ring or a myrtle branch in their beaks; heart pierced by an arrow; rings, a rose with or without thorns, a tree entwined with ivy branches, and similar symbolic signs.”

Cities borrowed their coats of arms and emblems from their inherent characteristics. For example, Friesland, a low-lying country, had water lily leaves and wavy bands in its coat of arms. Bologna, where there are many swans on the waters, placed this bird on its coat of arms. As you know, the center of Paris has the shape of a ship, and therefore the coat of arms of the French capital depicts a ship with open sails under a sky dotted with lilies.liveinternet.ru/users/elena_karl ovskaya/post228970019/

Emblems in coats of arms in Western Europe especially multiplied during internecine strife and crusades. The struggle that took place between the Yorks and Lancasters gave rise to two rivals - a white and a scarlet rose. The times of the League and the Fronde gave rise in France to a lot of emblems in the coats of arms of the French nobility. In the countries of Eastern Europe, incl. and Russia, were not slow to adopt the best traditions of heraldry. But thanks to the Crusades, many allegorical signs were introduced into coats of arms. A significant number of Crusader coats of arms include crosses, shells, birds without legs or beaks, and all kinds of coins. But the cross, which was depicted on the clothes of the participants in the crusades as a symbol of the holy purpose for which the campaign was undertaken, was depicted in most coats of arms and served as a kind of memory of these religious wanderings.
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