Events Archive

LIFE AT THE COLLEGE OF ARMS SIXTY SIX YEARS AGO

Rosemary Kennedy will talk about her life at the College of Arms in the late 1950s and the Officers of Arms that she know at that time.

AGM 2023

City of Bath Heraldic Society: Heraldic Explorations, Local and National

Lecture by Ann Ballard,

A NEW MEDIEVAL ROLL OF ARMS: THE FOUNDERS’ BOOK OF TEWKESBURY ABBEY

Adrian Ailes

Autumn Dinner

The welcome return of our Autumn Dinner in London.

City of Bath Heraldic Society: The Sicily Herald and Colour Symbolism

Lecture by Roy Osborne.

Oxford University Heraldry Society: Badges of the South East Asia Command

Heraldry of Formation Badges of the South East Asia Command and its successors in India
Lecture by Neel Mishra

A NEW LOOK AT THE START OF HERALDRY: WHO, WHEN, WHERE, AND PERHAPS WHY

In the past, heraldists competed to find the earliest seals that appeared to have heraldic designs on them, and they found isolated examples scattered over a wide area of Western Europe and dating from the second quarter of the twelfth century.  However, a more fruitful approach to the start of heraldry and its family symbolism has been an investigation into individual medieval families to see when they changed from using non-heraldic seals to using seals with heraldry.

Peter G. R. Howarth
Institute for Medieval Studies, University of Leeds

Oxford University Heraldry Society: The Autobiography of Georg von Ehingen

Lecture by John Whitehead

THE HAZARDS OF HERALDRY: DISGUISE AND ANONYMITY ON THE MEDIEVAL BATTLEFIELD

Bringing a painted shield or a brightly-decorated coat onto the medieval battlefield was not just about vanity - it was a matter of life and death. Heraldry was a statement of identity, of courage in the face of danger but it also made you a target, a focus for your enemies' hatred and greed. For this reason, some combatants chose to take the field without their heraldic arms but this was not without risk either.