Heraldry: Study, or art of creating, granting, and blazoning arms and ruling on questions of rank or protocol

The study of coats of arms is also called armory. The practice of using distinct markings on a person's shield started in the Middle Ages, when a knight's helmet covered his face, making everybody look the same in battle. At first, only knights and nobility had coats of arms, but in the Middle Ages, some cities started using heraldry too. By the end of the Middle Ages, other people began using coats of arms, now called burgher arms, which means they belong to a commoner and not a member of the nobility. An official in charge of approving and recording coats of arms is called a herald. The related study of flags is called vexillology.

Heraldry is described in English using a specialised jargon called Blazon which is based on French words. Heraldry uses only bold, bright colors, called tinctures, with special names. Gold, for instance, is called Or. This word is often capitalised to distinguish it from the conjunction or. Silver and white are sometimes treated as different colors, but in English Blazon both are called argent. Some combinations of colors represent furs, and these have names that are only used in heraldry. There are a number of geometric shapes, called ordinaries, that are used in heraldry, and each of these has a special name too. The shield may be divided in a number of ways, usually following the lines of the ordinaries.

Tinctures
Examples
	Argent	Azure	Gules	Vert	Purpure	Sable
Metals			Furs
	Or	Argent		Ermine	Vair	Vairy (Or/gules)

Divisions
	Party per fess	Party per pale	Party per bend sinister	Quarterly	Quarterly with a heart

Ordinaries
	Chief	Pale	Fess	Bend	Bend sinister	Chevron
Ordinaries
	Cross	Saltire	Pall	Flaunches	Pile	Bordure

Variations
	Barry (of eight)	Paly (of eight)	Bendy (of eight)	Chevronny	Chequy	Lozengy	Gyronny

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