The coat of arms of the knight and the motto. Were the mottos of medieval knights?

The era of knights has always attracted special attention. The romantic image and honest duels of the Middle Ages continue to exist in literature, cinema, and in the new subculture of the role-players.

An integral part of any knight was the coat of arms. It depicted various animals, plants, objects. His main task was to provide information about the knight who holds it. What did the coat of arms of the knight mean and the motto written on it?

How the knight's arms appeared

The custom of choosing a distinctive sign and placing it on its own shield appeared in ancient times. This helped to recognize their own during the battle.

Each people had their own signs on the arms:

• The Franks depicted the cross over the circle;
• Angles - a mythical dragon, a cross with a ball or birds;
• The Danes are crows;
• Saxons - a lion or a rose.

The appearance of a special heraldic symbolism is connected with the crusade of knight campaigns. Signs-symbols have become a special kind of writing. With their help it was possible to find out the knight, chained in iron armor.

Symbols placed on the shield had to speak about the character and life path of a person. For example, the one who first went on a crusade, portrayed small migratory birds. This he showed that he does not have a home and constantly wanders.

Crusades also contributed to the fact that the boards began to paint in different colors, including blue. At that time in Europe there was no dye of this shade, it was brought from the East.

Over time, the crest of the knight and the motto began to be placed not only on the shield, but also on the helmet. He became a special distinction, a modern analogue of identity cards or business cards.

The role of heraldry at the time of the knights

The more emblems appeared, the greater the need for their systematization. There were arches of rules for the compilation of arms. Thus there was a new science - heraldry. Her task was to describe and study the knight's insignia.

People who were engaged in this science, began to be called heralds. They lived at the courts of nobles and knights and were closely associated with knight tournaments. Were the mottos of medieval knights? Of course, there were. They were placed on a shield and announced before the start of the fight.

Developing for centuries, heraldry became more and more complicated and confusing. By the 15th century special treatises began to appear that were difficult to understand because of the multitude of symbols and signs intertwined with each other.

About tournaments

Knight competitions were back in the time of Charlemagne. This is known from the chronicle of 844 of the historian Nitgart ("The Song of Beowulf").

It is believed that the first rules for fights established in the 11th century the French knight Gottfried de Prelius. By the 12th century, tournaments had spread to England.

Contribution to their promotion introduced by King Richard the Lionheart. He allowed to conduct competitions in five counties and himself took part in them. During their conduct, the arms, mottos and war cries were everywhere.

For the knight, participation in the tournament played a big role. Everyone found their own benefit in it:

• Boast of armor and noble birth;
• To declare to everyone about their military qualities;
• To win the favor of a lady of the heart;
• To take possession of the armor and the horse of the enemy;
• Get a cash ransom for the armor won.

To participate in the tournament it was necessary to prove his noble origin. It had to be confirmed in two generations by both mother and father. The proof was the hereditary coat of arms of the knight and the motto on the shield and helmet.

The church for a long time struggled with the holding of tournaments, but they lasted until the 16th century. They were banned in 1559, when a French king died because of an accidental fragment of a spear. Along with the competition, the heralds were no longer needed.

At the same time, there were mottoes and a war cry on the shields. Knights of the century spent in the battles, but in the end they were replaced by a new kind of troops. The knight's coat of arms eventually transformed into signs of shops, cities and states.

Classification of arms

It has already been mentioned that heraldry is a very complicated science. It divides all arms and slogans into separate genera. Chivalry could have any of them:

1. State - represent the emblem of the lands, which are united in one state. As a rule, the ruler used the same coat of arms.
2. Local - assigned to cities, bishoprics.
3. Communities - belonged to workshops, scientific institutions, spiritual and secular organizations.
4. Family (ancestral) - passed on by inheritance to representatives of one kind.
5. Personal - existed in Western Europe as the emblem of a particular higher clergyman, for example a bishop.
6. Allied (marriage) - were obtained by combining the emblems of those who married.
7. Claims - consists of the emblem of one state and the signs of another, whose land is planned to be added.
8. Awards (patronage) - the tsar grants another family for certain merits a sign from his coat of arms.

An interesting example is the story of the coat of arms of Aragon. Initially it was in the form of a golden shield. In one of the battles the king was struck by the courage of Gottfried Aragon. After the battle, he went to the warrior and, wetting his fingers in his wound, carried them through the shield. So on the golden coat of arms of the family of Aragon began to depict four vertical scarlet pillars.

What was painted on the billboards

The shield consisted of honorary heraldic figures: a head, a belt, an extremity, a pole, a rim, rafters, sashes, crosses. There were also minor heraldic figures, for example posts, belts, diamond fields.

The most numerous group was non-heraldic. It included natural, artificial and fantastic elements. It could be animals, plants, people, body parts, weapons, mythical animals, natural phenomena.

Heraldic mottoes

The arms of the knight and the motto were one. A short saying was to explain the idea of the emblem.

What can the coat of arms tell

Medieval heraldry can be compared with the architecture of that time. Therefore, it is quite easy to determine to which state the coat of arms belongs.

For example, the French are very fond of luxury, so their symbols of the nobility are decorated with a lot of precious metals and furs. The Burgundian emblems were dominated by red color due to imitation of the dukes of Burgundy.

All countries of Western Europe had their own peculiarities in heraldry. This allows you to learn about how the boundaries of states were altered, about conquered lands, prisoners or dissolved unions and other important events of that time.