- Students will explore medieval heraldry and relate it to other knowledge developed in the unit.
- This station is worth up to 16 points.
- The directions for this station are on the website and your work may be submitted on paper, emailed, or shared through Google Drive.
LEARN THIS:
For this station you will do research on heraldry: the system of designing a coat of arms.
A coat of arms is a combination of symbols and colors which represented families, kingdoms, feudal relationships, and more. Every symbol and color on the coat of arms stood for values that the bearer felt they embodied or specific events or characteristics that defined them.
A coat of arms represented many different things but especially status. There were many rules for emblazoning (drawing the coat of arms) and blazoning (describing the coat of arms using words) that artists had to follow when creating a coat of arms. Having a coat of arms that did not follow the rules of heraldry would be quite embarrassing. Wealthier families and feudal lords could also afford better artists and better materials for their coat of arms.
The symbols on a coat of arms also communicated the relationship between feudal lords and their vassals. For example, a knight who received a fief from a particular lord would find some way to work a symbol from their lord into their own coat of arms.
Listed below are several different sites for learning more about the rules of heraldry and the symbolism of the Middle Ages:
- Full Write-Up on Heraldry
- Brief Notes on Rules of Heraldry
- Heraldry Game
- List of Symbols
- List of Mottoes
DIRECTIONS:
Use the rules of medieval heraldry rules to create your own coat of arms. Submit the following items for credit up to 16 points:
- The coat of arms.
- The blazon.
- An explanation of your coat of arms’ meaning.
- An explanation of how your coat of arms would apply to the Middle Ages. Based on what you used for your shield, where might you fit into the system of feudalism? How might you have been affected by decentralization?
My example of well done work:
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