THE OLD - Old Wirral.com

HATCHMENTS AND HERALDIC PANELS
required, and they were in consequence
the " officers " of their followers. As
military officers they were obliged to carry
arms, and, as we have seen, this necessitated
the wearing of distinctive signs.
Thus Coats-of-Arms became the symbol
of the technical rank of gentility, and the
possession of Arms to-day is a matter of
hereditary privilege, one who can prove
descent from a bearer of Arms being permitted
to carry them, if he can support the
style and customs usual among gentle
people.
Naturally there have been attempts to
support Arms without proper title, and
this illegal assumption began at an early
date. In the reign of Henry VI a very
stringent proclamation was issued on the
subject ; and, in the reigns of Queen Elizabeth
and her successors, the Kings of
Arms were commanded to make perambulations
throughout the country for the
purpose of pulling down and defacing improper
Arms, of recording Arms properly
borne by authority, and of compelling
those who used Arms without authority to
obtain authority for them or discontinue
their use. These perambulations were
termed Visitations.
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