What was heraldry like in the middle ages?

Answer 1

Heraldry developed in England during the 12th century and at first it was very simple, it had few rules and little or no controls.

Earlier knights used any kind of designs on their shields, but these were not passed on to their eldest sons - a basic requirement of true heraldry, which must be hereditary through the male line. From about 1140 this passing on of heraldic designs gradually became usual.

Early heraldic designs might include "lions" on a coat of arms, but it didn't matter at all whether they were upright (rampant), walking to the left (passant) or in some other pose; the arms carried by king Richard I at first had three upright lions, changed later to three walking lions (probably because they fitted into the shield better). At this time, shields covered with diagonal stripes ("bendy") might have any number of stripes and could be different on a man's shield and flag; similarly the number of chevrons didn't really matter.

After the 12th century, more and more new coats of arms were needed and it was obvious that strict controls were needed if the system were not to descend into chaos. In fact it emerged that different knights were in some cases using the same arms, which had to be sorted out in the courts. From the mid-13th century it was established that lions were different depending on how they stood, and the number of stripes or chevrons (or other elements) was strictly governed.

By 1285 two royal "Kings of Arms" were appointed to control the issue of coats of arms; in the early 1400s the Royal College of Arms was established to maintain even tighter control. As time went on heraldry became more and more complex; it was usual in the 12th and 13th centuries to have a shield of one colour (the field) with a single design (a charge) on it, but by the 14th century shields became much more complicated.

European heraldry developed on a completely different basis and is in no way connected with English coats of arms.

The link takes you to a page of very simple 13th century English coats of arms drawn at the time by Matthew Paris: