armiger

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In heraldry, an armiger is a person entitled to use a coat of arms. Such a person is said to be armigerous.

Origin of the term

The Latin word armiger literally means "armour-bearer". In high and late medieval England, the word referred to an esquire attendant upon a knight, but bearing his own unique armorial device. ^[1]

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 the United Kingdom, Canada, Ireland, and Spain) where heraldry is regulated by the state or heraldic body (such as the College of Arms in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, the Office of the Chief Herald in Ireland or the Court of the Lord Lyon in Scotland), since anyone may use any coat of arms in jurisdictions that lack regulated heraldry, such as the United States. In The Netherlands, titles of nobility are regulated by law but heraldry is not. In Sweden the nobility has had, since 1762, the prerogative to use an open helmet, while others use a closed helmet.

A person can be so entitled either by descent from a person with a right to bear a coat of arms, or by virtue of a grant of arms to himself.

Further reading

• Coss, Peter R. "Knights, esquires and the origins of social gradation in England." Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, Sixth Series, 5 (1995): 155-78.

See also

• Women in heraldry

References

1. ^ Dictionary of Chivalry, Uden. Kestrel Books, Harmondsworth, 1968. ISBN 0722653727

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