Family mottos are believed to have been originated as battle cries in Medieval Times. The motto with the Bishop Coat of Arms is: "PRO DEO ET ECCLESIA" ( For God And The Church) SURNAME: Bishop appears to be occupational in origin, and is believed to be associated with the English, meaning, "one who was a menber of a bishop's entourage." The most prominent variations of Bishop are Bischope, Bishops and Bischoppe. SOURCES: Burke's General Armory & Newsletter: (Bishop Genealogy Committee, March, 1988)
Coat of Arms were developed in the Middle Ages as a means of identifing warriors in battle and tournaments. The present function of the Coat of Arms (although still one of identity) serves more to preserve the traditions that arose from its earlier use.
Heraldic artist of old developed their own unique language to describe an individual Coat of Arms. The Coat of Arms illustrated herein was drawn by an heraldic artist from information recorded in ancient heraldic archives. Our research indicates that there are often times a number of different Coats of Arms recorded for a specific surname. When possible we select the translate the Coat of Arms most representative of your surname or its variant for illustration.
The Bishop Coat of Arms hereby illustrated is officially documented in Burkes Genreal Armory, The original descriptions of the arms (sheild) is as follows:
"Ar. on a bend cottised gu. three Bezants."when translated the blazen also describes the original colors of the bishop arms as: silver, on a red diagonal bend between two red narrow diagonal bends, three gold coins." Above the shield and helmet is the crest which is described as: "an eagle's head, jagged, and divided horizontally gold and red and beaked red" Source from The World Book of Bishops, Halberts Family Heritage
