and 1220, and it is likely that they not merely encouraged the use of such cognizances
among those who took part in tournaments but played an important role in designing
them and in systematizing their use. From ca. 1250, some heralds kept books or rolls of
arms, collected from various sources, to assist them in remembering the hundreds of
distinct but often similar arms they encountered in their work, and from ca. 1300 a
growing number wrote treatises on the subject. Thus, the word “heraldry” (OFr.
herau[l]die), which designates the profession of the herald as a whole, came to be used
more narrowly to designate the arcane “science” related to the design, description,
analysis, and recognition of armorial bearings.
During the later 13th and early 14th centuries, the body of heralds gradually acquired
the character of a professional corps, with distinct ranks and jurisdictions granted by the
kings and princes who employed them. By 1276, England had been divided into
territories presided over by men with the title “king of heralds” (roi des herauts) or “king
of arms” (roi d’armes); a king of the heralds of France (in the narrow sense) is attested in
- Within his territory, or “march of arms” (marche d’armes), corresponding in
France to one of a dozen great principalities or regions, the king of heralds was
eventually given the task of overseeing all matters that touched on armorial bearings,
nobility, and chivalry. Apprentice heralds were given the title “pursuivant (of arms)”
(poursuivant [d’armes]), so that “herald (of arms)” became the special title of master
heralds who were not yet kings. Like kings of heralds, who took their style from their
march, after ca. 1330 simple heralds and pursuivants came to be given special styles at
the time of their appointment, the former typically derived from the name of a town, the
latter from some device. In 1406, the French heralds were formally united in a college
under the presidency of Montjoye, king of arms of the March of France.
Down to 1330, the heralds of all ranks continued to be concerned exclusively with
tournaments, but in the 1330s kings began to entrust heralds with diplomatic missions,
bearing letters to foreign princes or instructions to ambassadors, and from 1425 they
frequently led important embassies. As ambassadors, heralds came to enjoy important
privileges and immunities and to constitute an internationally recognized order
comparable with the clergy.
D’A.Jonathan D.Boulton
[See also: ARMS (HERALDIC)]
Adam-Even, Paul. “Les fonctions militaires des hérauts d’armes, leur influence sur le
développement de l’héraldique.” Archives héraldiques suisses 71(1957):2–33.
Galbreath, D.L., and Léon Jéquier. Manuel du blason. Lausanne: Spes, 1977.
Pastoureau, Michel. Traité d’héraldique. Paris: Picard, 1979.
Wagner, Anthony Richard. Heralds and Heraldry in the Middle Ages. London: Mitford, 1939.
HERBERT OF BOSHAM
(b. ca. 1120). Born in Bosham, Sussex, Herbert studied at Paris under Peter Lombard ca.
1150 and later edited Peter’s Magna glossatura on the Psalter and the letters of Paul.
After his studies, Herbert returned to England and entered the service of King Henry II
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