Heraldry:

Symbol of monarchy

Hi everybody!

Heraldry concerns itself with the study, design, regulation and use of armorial bearings, commonly known as "coats of arms". A coat of arms is a form of personal identification of which the central element is a shield. Its roots are in the Middle Ages. The evidence strongly suggests that heraldry began in the early 12th century, because of the development at that time of helmets that covered the face of the warrior or knight.

At the end of the Middle Ages, a lot of important and nobles families had their coat of arms to distinguish themselves from each other, like logos or trademarks. Even nowadays, still there are families that maintain their coat of arms.

If you want to know your coat of arms from your surname, you only have to visit this webpage!

As you know, at the end of the Middle Ages and the beggining of Modern Age (XVth century), the most important person was the king, obviously. And the king had a coat of arms too. In fact,  the most important all over the kingdom. 

At this time in Europe, the coat of arms of the kings were formed with the representation or symbols of each territory that they ruled. Let's see the coat of arms of the Catholic Kings, for example:

They added other symbols:

1. The Eagle of Saint John.
2. The text "tanto monta" from the motto: "Tanto monta, monta tanto, Isabel como Fernando".
3. The yoke and the arrows, symbols of the kings. 

Since then, the coat of arms of the kings became the representation of the Spanish Monarchy  all over the world. The rest of the Spanish kings formed their heraldry adding the representation of all the new territories that they conquered or they received on inheritance.

Activities:

1. Study this differents coat of arms. You have to investigate on the Net:

• Which spanish king belongs to each one? what years ruled each king?

You will find information here, here and here

2. See this photograph. Is from Fuente del Pilar, in Montoro. Above you can see a coat of arms. Are you capable to find out which spanish king belongs to?