In
heraldry
Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, rank and pedigree. Armory, the best-known branch ...
, an armiger is a person entitled to use a
heraldic achievement (e.g., bear
arms
Arms or ARMS may refer to:
*Arm or arms, the upper limbs of the body
Arm, Arms, or ARMS may also refer to:
People
* Ida A. T. Arms (1856–1931), American missionary-educator, temperance leader
Coat of arms or weapons
*Armaments or weapons
**Fi ...
, an "armour-bearer") either by hereditary right, grant, matriculation, or assumption of arms. Such a person is said to be armigerous. A
family or a
clan
A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship
and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clans may claim descent from founding member or apical ancestor. Clans, in indigenous societies, tend to be endogamous, meaning ...
likewise.
Etymology
The Latin word ''armiger'' literally means "arms-bearer". In high and late medieval England, the word referred to an
esquire
Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title.
In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentlema ...
attendant upon a
knight, but bearing his own unique armorial device.
''Armiger'' was also used as a Latin
cognomen, and is now found as a rare surname in English-speaking countries.
Modern period
Today, the term ''armiger'' is well-defined only within jurisdictions, such as
Canada, the
Republic of Ireland,
Spain and the
United Kingdom, where
heraldry
Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, rank and pedigree. Armory, the best-known branch ...
is regulated by the state or a heraldic body, such as the
College of Arms, the
Chief Herald of Canada, the
Court of the Lord Lyon
The Court of the Lord Lyon (the Lyon Court) is a standing court of law, based in New Register House in Edinburgh, which regulates heraldry in Scotland. The Lyon Court maintains the register of grants of arms, known as the Public Register of All A ...
or the
Office of the Chief Herald of Ireland. A person can be so entitled either by proven (and typically
agnatic
Patrilineality, also known as the male line, the spear side or agnatic kinship, is a common kinship system in which an individual's family membership derives from and is recorded through their father's lineage. It generally involves the inheritanc ...
) descent from a person with a right to bear a
heraldic achievement, or by virtue of a grant of arms to himself. Merely sharing the same family name of an armiger is insufficient.
Most of the time, the usage of a heraldic achievement is governed by legal restrictions; these restrictions are independent of the copyright status and independent of a coat of arms depiction. A coat of arms represents its owner. Though it can be freely represented, it cannot be appropriated, or used in such a way as to create a confusion with or a prejudice to its owner.
In the
Netherlands, titles of nobility are regulated by law but heraldry is not. In
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
and
Finland the nobility has had, since 1762, the prerogative to use an open helmet, while others use a closed helmet.
Further reading
*
See also
*
*
Armigerous clan
*
*
*
References
External links
*
{{Heraldry
Heraldry