(Last updated 11/9/00)

The following is my minor research into the subject of Heraldry in Elizabethan times.  This is not meant to be a definitive explanation of everything you need to know about the subject.  However, it does prove a few tips and definitions I had trouble finding the answers to or understand when I began my research.  Also be warned that my research was quite directed at the goal of creating a symbol for use by a guilde at the Bristol Renaissance Faire, so it is very incomplete.

My first explanation is about some of what you see.  The picture with this paragraph in a rendering of the Arms of the city of Bristol, England.  (If you would like to see the picture in more detail, click on it to go to the on-line site I got it from.)  Although it contains a heraldry on the shield in the middle of the artwork, it is my understanding that only that shield contains the heraldry portion.  The Arms consists of several parts.  You will notice a ribbon with a Latin saying at the bottom.  This is known as the Motto.  Above that is the Shield which holds the Heraldry.  I'm not going to go into detail about family heraldry here.  Please see links to the heraldry sites I have set up.  Standing on the sides of the shield are what are known as the Supporters.  According to one source, supports are only used for peers.  Here, however, we see a civic arms with supporters; and these supporters do have symbolic meaning.  I am, therefore, going to consider supporters for my Guilde unless I discover otherwise.  On top of the shield is a Helmet.  I have yet to discover the symbolism of the helmet.  Those frilly, scrolly thingies coming out of the top of the helmet are called Mantling.  Again, if there is a significance to this, I have yet to find it.  Finally, on top of it all is the Crest, each portion of which has a symbolic meaning that combines into an ideal.  See the reference¹⁴ for further details.