Marshalling is the manner and method of conjoining divers arms upon one shield according to heraldic precedent and usage; it is an exact process.
The marshalling of the many family coats which may be inherited through marriages with heraldic heiresses is often a very elaborate and difficult matter. The rules, however, for such marshalling are well known and logical. A very good summary of this important part of a herald's duty can be found in Mr. A. C. Fox Davies's Art of Heraldry, in the chapter on Marshalling. A coat-of-arms is, however, sometimes found with many quarterings which only show the successive alliances, but in such a case the facts should always be stated. In default of such explanation the existence of the proper heraldic heiress rights must always be presumed.
When a man quarters the coat-of-arms of an ancestral heiress, he has also the right to use the crest belonging to it. The right of bearing a crest, although not allowed to ladies, seems to be latent in them, as it can be inherited through them, if heiresses, by their male descendants. But in ordinary English usage it is usual only to use one crest, except in the case of an assumption by Royal Licence of an additional surname, coat-of-arms, and crest. In German heraldry such quartered coats are usually accompanied by all their respective crests, which are placed along the top of the coat in an arched line, each on its proper helmet, and all facing inwards.
Distinctive personal marks on English shields are few; the commonest is the Ulster hand which is used as an augmentation by Baronets. The rank of Baronet, which is hereditary, was instituted by James I. in 1611. By the original Statutes of the Order, Baronets in order to qualify for the rank had to maintain "thirty soldiers three years at eightpence a day in the Province of Ulster in Ireland." A Baronet had to prove that he was a gentleman by birth and to possess property to the value of £1000 per annum.
The arms of Ulster are a red left hand appaumé on a silver ground, and the origin of this curious coat is said to be that on an Irish expedition for the acquisition of new territory in ancient days, the ancestor of the O'Neiles, finding that an adversary was reaching the coveted shore more quickly than he was, cut off his left hand, and threw it ashore, thereby establishing a "first landing" claim to the new territory. The claim was allowed, and so the successful chieftain became the first king of Ulster and the ancestor of the succeeding kings.
The Ulster hand, either with or without its silver shield, usually shows either on the honour point in the centre of a shield, in the dexter chief, or in the centre chief, but there is no definite rule as to its position.
In 1625 a similar hereditary rank was instituted for Nova Scotia in North America, but since 1801 all Baronets have been "of the United Kingdom." The Baronets of Ulster and of the United Kingdom both use the Ulster hand as their symbol, borne upon their shield, but the Baronets of Nova Scotia indicate their rank in another way. The badge of a Baronet of Nova Scotia hangs from the base of his shield, suspended by a tawny ribbon; the badge is oval, and shows "argent, a saltire azure, thereon an inescutcheon of the arms of Scotland ensigned with an Imperial Crown, the whole encircled by a fillet on which are the words 'FAX MENTIS HONESTAE GLORIA.'"
Concerning the Knights of the English Langue of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Guillim says that they may wear "their Paternal coat armour insigned with this cross on the chief of their Paternal Coat." The cross he speaks of is, he says, that of Amadeus, Earl of Savoy (Gu., a cross argent), who fought in company with the Knights of St. John at the Siege of Acre in the thirteenth century, and, the Grand Master being slain, put on his dress and demeaned himself so gallantly that he was asked to allow the Order to adopt his coat-of-arms.
In the Charter of Incorporation of this Order granted by Queen Victoria in 1888, it is ordained that "Knights of Justice may bear the Arms of the Order, viz. Gules, a cross argent embellished alternately in each of the principal angles with a Lion guardant and a Unicorn, both passant or," as a chief on their coat-of-arms. The lion and the unicorn were added to the then existing arms of the English Langue of the Order by George IV.
Knights of other Orders and Knights Bachelors do not, as such, use any augmentations on their shields.