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History of Heraldry in Ireland
Heraldry is the study and description of coats of arms,
and of the rights of indiviuals and families to bear arms. It began in the first half of the twelth century, as a result
of developements in medieval weaponry and armour in continental Europe. The old coats of chain-and-link mail, with long
shields, gave way to full-body plate armour and helmets encasing the entire head, with smaller triangular shields. Individual
knights thus became completely anonymous. The necessity for markings on their shields to identify themselves in battles
and in tournaments is self-evident.
At first, this military necessity was the determining factor. Large, clearly identifiable
patterns, involving two or three colours divided into a number of compartments related to the physical construction of the
shield make up the earliest arms. Later, when animals and other symbols were added, the necessity for easy, quick recognition
again meant that a large degree of stlyised convention was used, so that the heraldic lion, for instance,
bears only a slight resemblance to the real thing.
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The military origin of arms is also the most likely explanation for their emergence
at almost exactly the same time in England, France, germany and Italy. The eight Christian crusades against Islam between
1096 and 1271 involved knights from all of these countries, and, combined with the changes in armour, provided a context in
which a system of military recognition was essential. The endurance of heraldry is no doubt
partly due to the fact that it spread over the whole of Europe virtually simultaneously. Crosses and fleurs-de-lis,
Christian symbols par excellence, also take their origins in heraldry from the Crusades.
But heraldry would long ago have died out completely
if the only need it met was military. Individual recognition and family identity powerful and universal human needs.
And towards the end of the thirteenth century, a further change came about as the social and non-military aspects of heraldry evolved and it was established that coats of arms were personal and hereditary.
The symbols used could now relate to the name, the office or the territory of the bearer, and were dictated less by the imperative
of immediate recognition. One of the results from this period on was the creation of so-called "canting" arms, based
on a pun on the name - in Ireland, the arms of the Aherne family, displaying three herons, are an example. The main
non-military use of arms was on seals, as a means of proving the authenticity of documents, and the practice of using birds
or animals to fill empty space around the arms on these seals gave rise to "supporters", now regarded as part of the arms
of peers. Eventually, arms were also used on tombs, and then on works of art and possessions.
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The symbols used in heraldry have a variety of origins
: in the Christian nature of the crusades, in the (supposed) character of the individual or family itself, in some event which
is identified with the family. there is no strict attachment of significance to particular symbols, although the reasons
for some symbols are self-evident ; the lion is conventionally regal, the unicorn is a symbol of purity, the boar is a symbol
of endurance and courage, and so on.
As arms proliferated, a natural need arose for rules to prevent different individuals
and families using the same or similar symbols and arrangements of symbols. The first result was the evolution of the
peculiar technical vocabulary used in describing arms, a highly stylised and extremely precise mixture of early French, Latin
and English, still used in heraldry today. Then came the creation of the offices of King of
Arms or King of Heralds throughout most of Europe in the fourteenth century. The principal funtions of these were the
recognition of arms, the recording of the possession of arms, the granting of arms and adjudication in disputes between bearers
of arms. By the end of the fifthteenth century, since the right to bear arms depended on family and ancestry, they had
also become genealogists.
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