Why are there three Coat of arms?

Question

I found some geneology print out of my family line, but i noticed beyond the main family coat of arms, there are two others... Anyone know what they represent?

i think that GenevievesMom is right on this one. I do know for a fact that the family line began with three brothers, that would explain the three different coat of arms.

Thanks

Answer 1

Through the years the concept of the "coat of arms" has become grossly misunderstood. Back in the days of knights in metal armor it became common for men of valor to be awarded a coat of arms by their monarch. But it was awarded TO THE INDIVIDUAL MAN---not to his entire family. When he died it was passed only to his oldest son. If there were 4 sons in the next generation and 3 of them were knights of great valor, the monarch might award 2 other coats of arms--the oldest son would keep his father's colors, but the next 2 sons would be granted their own. These would pass from father only to oldest son. The sons would in turn pass them to their oldest sons. If another noble in another part of the realm also proved himself worthy, he could be granted his own coat of arms and that was completely separate from the other 3. Same last name, but completely different family and different coat of arms.

Somehow this concept got intertwined with the idea of clan colors that developed in Ireland and Scotland. Clans had symbols, such as tartan plaids, that represented the entire family and were free to be used by all descendents. But they were separate from the heraldry coat of arms.

Fast forward to the 20th century and some enterprising guy in Bath Ohio resurrected the idea of the coat of arms and did some great marketing to convince people that not only did EVERY family have a coat of arms, but that he could make all sorts of tzatchkes that you just had to have. Forget that only nobles and royals had coats of arms. Forget that most of us have no link to the few nobles and royals who were granted these coats of arms. Forget that none of us had the genealogy to show that we had any claim to any of these coats of arms. There was money to be made, so these heraldry companies popped up everywhere and took off. We just HAD to have those cheap plastic coats of arms with our names on them and the falsified history of our family name. And who could live without those coffee mugs to carry around the office?

Truth be told, you probably are being shown a bunch of falsified coats of arms that look just like the coats of arms for 20 other families. There are legitimate peerage companies in Europe who have tracked the real coats of arms and have written extensive books on the history of them. The books are in good libraries that have a decent genealogy and history section. If you want to find out if you legitimately have a family coat of arms, that would be the place to look. Know too that if your ancestors were from Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, the Netherlands, Russia or any of its satellites, Austria-Hungary, China, India, SE Asia, Scandinavia or Africa, then the odds that you have a "coat of arms" is nill or next to nill. Either those countries didn't ever grant coats of arms, or the small number of families to whom they were granted never had surnames (which are a relatively new invention). Nobles in France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, the Netherlands and Russia didn't even adopt surnames until roughly the 1600s to 1800s. They used their title in place of adopting a surname, such as William of Orange or Michael of Kent. No surname...so their coats of arms aren't related to any surname at all.

I hope this clears up the confusion about why there's more than one and why they may not be in anyway legitimate.

Answer 2

it's possible they may be different clans. Without knowing more about the family line it would be really hard to tell you exactly. It may be that whoever researched the line put an incorrect coat of arms with that line. Try checking in a coat of arms book to see if your family line actually had more then one.

Answer 3

The most likely answer is that they represent nothing because none of the "coats of arms" on your chart have any basis in heraldy and reality.

"Families" do not have coats of arms, people do.