In England, a coat of arms belongs to one person and passes to that person’s legitimate descendants in the male line. There is no coat of arms for a surname. Since 1484 the heralds of the College of Arms have recorded and granted arms on behalf of the Crown, and their records, above all the heralds’ visitations of 1530 to the late 1600s, are the place to start if you think an English ancestor was armigerous. New grants are still made today, by Letters Patent.
The College of Arms, since 1484
England’s heralds became a formal corporation on 2 March 1484, when King Richard III incorporated them by royal charter. They lost their first house after his death, and on 18 July 1555 Philip and Mary re-incorporated them and gave them Derby Place, near St Paul’s Cathedral, to keep their records. The College still stands on that site; the present building dates from the 1670s, after the old one burned in the Great Fire of 1666.
The College acts under the authority of the Earl Marshal. Grants are made by its three Kings of Arms (Garter, Clarenceux, and Norroy and Ulster), supported by heralds and pursuivants. Disputes over arms belonged to the Court of Chivalry, which has had jurisdiction over the misuse of arms since the 14th century, with the Earl Marshal as sole judge from 1521. Its best-known medieval case, Scrope v Grosvenor (1385–1390), turned on two knights using the same arms, “azure, a bend or”; Scrope was held to have the prior claim.
Who could bear arms in England?
In the early Middle Ages anyone could adopt arms, as long as they did not copy someone else’s. Regulation came slowly:
- 1417: Henry V sent writs to the sheriffs of several southern counties ordering that no one should take arms without a right to them by ancestry or by grant, except the men who had fought with him at Agincourt. Historians read this as a rule for one military expedition rather than general law.
- 1530: a royal commission directed Clarenceux King of Arms to “reform all false armory and arms devised without authority”. This launched the visitations and firmly established royal control over arms.
- Today: you are entitled to arms only by inheritance, through a documented descent in the legitimate male line from someone already recorded as entitled, or by a new grant.
Arms pass through a woman only when there are no male heirs. A daughter in that position is known as a heraldic heiress. For the wider picture, see can anyone have a coat of arms? and what is a family coat of arms?
The heralds’ visitations
Between 1530 and the end of the 17th century, heralds rode out county by county under royal commission. They summoned local gentry, examined their claims and recorded both their arms and their pedigrees, with a brief to correct arms used without authority. The last commission was issued by James II on 13 May 1686; the Visitation of London began the following year and was the last of the series begun under Henry VIII.
For family historians the visitations matter twice over. They show which families were accepted as armigerous, and they preserve pedigrees written down at the time. The College of Arms holds the heralds’ official visitation records. Many were printed in the 19th and 20th centuries, notably by the Harleian Society, founded in 1869. Printed editions are easy to find in libraries, but treat them with care: the documents families showed the heralds were not always accurate, and copying errors happen.
Cadency marks: telling sons apart
Because English arms are personal, sons were expected to “difference” their father’s arms. The usual way was a small mark, or brisure, placed on the shield:
| Son | Cadency mark |
|---|---|
| 1st (eldest) | Label (used during his father’s lifetime) |
| 2nd | Crescent |
| 3rd | Mullet (a star) |
| 4th | Martlet (a stylised bird) |
| 5th | Annulet (a ring) |
| 6th | Fleur-de-lis |
| 7th | Rose |
| 8th | Cross moline |
| 9th | Octofoil, or double quatrefoil |
A small crescent or martlet on an old seal or monument can therefore tell you which branch of a family it belonged to. Bordures (borders round the shield) were also used in England to show that the bearer was not the head of the family. If you are new to the vocabulary, our guide on how to read a coat of arms walks through blazon step by step, and the heraldry symbols guide covers the charges themselves.
How a grant of arms works today
New arms are still granted in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The process, as the College of Arms describes it, runs like this:
- Petition. An officer of arms drafts a petition, called a memorial, to the Earl Marshal on your behalf.
- Eligibility. There are no fixed criteria. The College looks at things such as honours, commissions, university degrees, professional qualifications, public service and standing in national or local life, and suggests sending a CV.
- Design. If the petition is accepted, a design is agreed and the arms are blazoned.
- Letters Patent. The grant is made by Letters Patent of the Kings of Arms and recorded at the College.
Fees are set by Earl Marshal’s Warrant. As of 1 January 2026, the fee for a personal grant of arms and crest is £9,600, with higher fees for non-profit bodies and companies.
Americans are not shut out. The College states that US citizens who can show descent from a subject of the British Crown, including subjects of the Crown overseas during the period of British rule, can seek a grant of honorary arms from the Kings of Arms, and American institutions can petition for a “devisal” of arms. People domiciled in Scotland apply to the Lord Lyon and those in the Republic of Ireland to the Chief Herald of Ireland.
Burke’s General Armory: useful, but not proof
The book most people meet first is Sir Bernard Burke’s General Armory of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. It first appeared in 1842; the 1884 edition, which Burke described as “embracing… some 60,000 coats”, is the one usually reprinted. Burke, himself Ulster King of Arms, built it from the heralds’ visitations, county histories and earlier heraldic writers, and added arms seen in churches, on seals, deeds and wills, and on monuments.
That breadth is what makes it useful, and also what makes it risky. Entries are listed by surname, often with no more than a county or a single name attached, and the sources are rarely given. Heraldic bibliographers warn that the Burkes collected as many blazons as they could without always checking their origin or accuracy. A Burke entry tells you that a family of your name once used, or was said to have used, those arms. It does not tell you that you descend from them. Arthur Charles Fox-Davies took the opposite approach in Armorial Families, which included only families whose right he could prove through a visitation or a grant.
A sensible path for anyone with English roots:
- Trace your line back with ordinary records first (see how to trace your surname origin).
- Look the surname up in Burke to see which counties and families used arms.
- Check the printed visitations for those counties to find pedigrees that might connect.
- If a link looks likely, the College of Arms can search its records and, if the descent is proved, register your pedigree.
Our guide on how to verify a coat of arms covers the warning signs, and the heraldic colors guide explains what tinctures like “azure” and “or” mean when you read an old blazon.
See the arms recorded for your surname →
Sources
- College of Arms, “Granting of Arms”: https://www.college-of-arms.gov.uk/services/granting-arms
- College of Arms, “Proving a right to arms”: https://www.college-of-arms.gov.uk/services/proving-a-right-to-arms
- College of Arms, “The Law of Arms”: https://www.college-of-arms.gov.uk/resources/the-law-of-arms
- College of Arms, “FAQs: heraldry”: https://www.college-of-arms.gov.uk/resources/faqs
- College of Arms, January 2025 Newsletter (no. 77), on the last visitation: https://www.college-of-arms.gov.uk/news-grants/newsletter/item/242-january-2025-newsletter-no-77
- Survey of London, Monograph 16, “The College of Arms: Historical account to the Great Fire of 1666”, British History Online: https://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/bk16/pp1-10
- François Velde, “The Writs of 1417”, Heraldica: https://heraldica.org/topics/britain/writ1417.htm
- University of Notre Dame, Hesburgh Libraries, “Cadency Marks”: https://rarebooks.library.nd.edu/digital/heraldry/cadency.html
- Sir Bernard Burke, The General Armory of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales (London, 1884), Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/generalarmoryofe00burk
- François Velde, “An Annotated Bibliography of Heraldry”, Heraldica: https://www.heraldica.org/biblio/annotate.htm
Frequently asked questions
Is there an English coat of arms for my surname?
No. The College of Arms is clear that arms belong to specific individuals and families, not to surnames. A grant passes to the grantee’s legitimate descendants in the male line, so two families with the same surname may have different arms, or none at all.
How do I prove I am entitled to an English coat of arms?
You need a documented descent in the legitimate male line from someone already recorded at the College of Arms as entitled to arms. The heralds can examine your pedigree and register it. If you cannot prove such a descent, the alternative is to petition for a new grant.
Can an American get a coat of arms from the College of Arms?
Yes, in some cases. The College says that US citizens who can show descent from a subject of the British Crown can seek a grant of honorary arms from the Kings of Arms, and American institutions can petition for a devisal of arms.
How much does a grant of arms cost in England?
The fees are set by Earl Marshal’s Warrant. As of 1 January 2026 the College of Arms lists £9,600 for a personal grant of arms and crest, with higher fees for non-profit bodies and companies.
Is Burke’s General Armory proof that arms belong to my family?
No. Burke’s 1884 edition lists some 60,000 coats gathered from visitations, county histories, churches, seals and other sources, but it rarely says where each entry came from or who exactly used it. It is a good starting point for research, not evidence of a right to arms.