ORIGIN AND HISTORY.
Arms may belong to individuals, to families, or to countries. Badges and emblems on shields and helms occurred in the earliest times. In Numbers, (chap. i: 52,) the children of Israel are enjoined to pitch their tents, "every man by his own camp and every man by his own standard," with the ensigns of his father's house. The Greek and Roman poets speak of paintings and devices on shields and helmets. These symbols were, moreover, hereditary. Thus Xenophon relates that the kings of the Medes bore a golden eagle on their shields. Suetonius asserts that Domitian had a golden beard for his coat of arms; and Tacitus says of the ancient Germans, that they marked their shields with brilliant colors, and that certain standards were borne before them in battle. Notwithstanding these traces of armorial bearings in the ancient world, our heraldry is no older than the tournaments. That armory first became common and regulated by certain rules at these solemn festivals, is corroborated by the following reasons. In the first place, we find no tomb or monument with escutcheons, older than the eleventh century. The most ancient monument of this kind is said to be the bearings of a certain Varmond, count of Vasserburg, in the church of St. Emmeran, at Ratisbon. The shield is coupé of argent and sable; over it is a lion, with the words "Anno Domini MX." On most of the other tombs, even of the eleventh century, no arms are found; and the use of them seems to have first become common in the twelfth century. The first pope who can be proved to have had a coat of arms, is Boniface VIII., who filled the papal see from 1294 to 1303. All the earlier papal arms are the fanciful inventions of later flatterers. On coins, also, no armorial ensigns are found till the thirteenth century. A second proof of our assumed origin of coats of arms is the word blason, which denotes the science of heraldry in French, English, Italian, and Spanish. This word has most probably its origin in the German word blasen, (to blow the horn;) for whenever a new knight appeared at a tournament, the herald had to sound the trumpet, and, because all appeared with close visors, to proclaim and explain the bearing of the shield or coat of arms belonging to each. Because this was performed by the herald, this knowledge was called heraldry; and because, in doing so, he blew the trumpet, it was called blazoning the arms. That this was a prevailing practice at tournaments, may be proved from the poetry of the Troubadours of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Thence it came, that those knights, whose right to appear at tournaments had already been announced by blazoning their arms, bore two trumpets on their crest. From the Germans, this custom was transmitted to the French; for there is no doubt, that tournaments were usual in Germany much earlier than in France. But the French carried to far greater perfection the tournament, and the blazon or heraldry connected with it, as they did the whole system of chivalry. Since, moreover, the French language prevailed at the court of the Norman kings in England, pure French expressions have been preserved in British heraldry. Thus the green tincture, (color,) in a coat of arms, is termed vert, (though in French sinople, which originally denoted a reddish brown;) bright red is termed gueules, probably with an allusion to the bloody revenge of wild animals, which play so conspicuous a part in heraldry; the divided shield is, moreover, called coupé; and passant, regardant, dormant, couchant, &c., are used. German heraldry, on the contrary, contains almost pure German expressions. In a coat of arms, the helm is placed upon the shield, and the latter is surrounded by the wreath. At a tournament, the mantle of the knight, with the helm and shield, was suspended in the lists. The colors or tinctures of the shields had their foundation in the custom of the most ancient Germans, of giving their shields various colors—a custom which received a tender meaning in the tournaments of the middle ages; the knight, bound to defend the honor of dames, and devote himself to their protection, wearing their colors on his shield. By degrees, the partitions or sections on shields came into use; for when, as often occurred, a knight was the champion of several ladies, he bore several colors on his shield, which had therefore to be divided into fields. When the martial youth of almost all Europe left their homes, about the end of the eleventh century, inspired with religious enthusiasm, to conquer the Holy Land, the use of arms became still more general and necessary. In order to distinguish the nations, armies, and families, the princes and commanders chose their symbols, sometimes in commemoration of the exploits and events of the campaign, or of the dignity of the commander, and sometimes from mere fancy or passing humor.