Arms | washbourn

Coats of Arms

The first evidence of medieval coats of arms is found in the Bayeux Tapestry from the 11th Century, where some of the combatants carry shields painted with crosses. Coats of arms came into general use by feudal lords and knights in battle in the 12th Century. By the 13th Century arms had spread beyond their initial battlefield use to become a kind of flag or logo for families in the higher social classes of Europe, inherited from one generation to the next. Exactly who had a right to use arms, by law or social convention, varied to some degree between countries. In the German-speaking region both the aristocracy and burghers (non-noble free citizens) used arms, while in most of the rest of Europe they were limited to the aristocracy. The use of arms spread to Church clergy, and to towns as civic identifiers, and to royally-chartered organizations such as universities and trading companies

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.

The Washbourne Coat of Arms in Wichenford Church, Worcestershire.

Undifferenced arms (or plain arms) are coats of arms which have no marks distinguishing the bearer by birth order or family position. In the Scottish and English heraldic traditions, these plain coats of arms are legal property transmitted from father to eldest male heir, and are used only by one person at any given time. The other descendants of the original bearer could bear the ancestral arms only with some difference.

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 Court of Chivalry.

The eight parts of an achievement were: (1) the shield; (2) the helmet; (3) the mantling; (4) the wreath; (5) the crest; (6) the supporters; (7) the coronets; (8) the mottoes.

A shield was considered to be the most important part of a coat of arms. Symbolic of its importance to a family’s coat of arms, a shield could appear by itself without any other part of an achievement. A helmet appeared above the shield and the type of helmet and its position indicated the rank of the owner. A mantling swept round from the top of the helmet and draped round the sides of a shield. It is thought that a mantling was meant to resemble the mantle worn by Crusader knights while in the Middle East to shield them from the sun. The wreath was a piece of twisted silk that covered the joint of the helmet. A crest in a heraldic shield was originally an object that knights used to wear attached to their helmet especially at jousts. A supporter was either a model of an animal or person that appeared to be holding up the shield. Coronets were on the achievements of peers only – dukes, earls, viscount and barons – and were symbolic of their rank. A motto was usually placed at the bottom of a shield within a scroll but occasionally it could be seen above it.

Also referred to as a family crest, a family coat of arms is essentially a graphic display of your family's name. This tradition, which goes back nearly 800 years, symbolizes the history of a family name. A family coat of arms may be unique to not only a family, but a person, corporation or state as well.

Comments of 3 parts of the arms (in bold print above : the shield, crest and motto) as they apply to the Washbourne Coat of Arms follow.

The Washbourne Coat of Arms

Crest – Harl. 1043: On a wreath with a bundle of flax argent, surmounted by another wreath .... and ...., thereon flames of fire proper.

Arms – Harl. 1043: Quarterly: 1 and 4, Argent, on a fess between six martlets gules three quatrefoils of the first; 2, Ermine, a chief bendy sinister of six or and sable; 3, Gules, a fess argent, in chief two mullets pierced of the second.

Quarterly: The shield on a coat of arms, divided into 4 quarters in this case (indicated by the numerals 1-4).

Argent: silver tincture. Gules : red tincture.

Fess: a band on a coat of arms. Martlets: A small bird; in English heraldry, a swallow.

Ermine: is a fur consisting of a white background with a pattern of black shapes representing the winter coat of the stoat.

Quatrefoil: representation of a 4-leaf clover. Mullet: representing the rowel of a spur.

Chief bendy sinister: a chief is a charge on a coat of arms that takes the form of a band running horizontally across the top

edge of the shield. Bendy sinister means the field is patterned with an even number of tripes (pallets) aligned to the left

side (viewers right side) of an escutcheon or coat of arms in heraldry.

Sources: from the Harleian Collection in the British Museum (abbreciated as Harl.) after Robert Harley (1661–1724).

Burke’s General Armory, p. 1080 –

Ar. On a fess betw. six martlets gu. three cinquefoils of the field. Crest – A coil of flax ar. surrounded with a wreath ar. and gu. thereon flames of fire ppr

Motto: Industria et probitate. [Davenport; p. xvi from Washbourne’s Book of Family Crests.]

(Energy and Integrity)

The crest

Washbourne Shield (from the Visitation of Worcestershire, 1634).