This  is the proper term for any assemblage of armorial elements comprising more than simply a shield. It can be made up of nothing more than a shield and a motto, or a shield and a crest. But it can also be more elaborate.

[18] In Simple Heraldry (Thomas Nelson & Sons).

[19] For the arms of other members of the Order of the Garter (living or dead), see here, here, here, here and here.

It can be a shield plus insignia of office. Moncreiffe and Pottinger [18] give the example of the Hereditary Keeper of St Fillan’s Crozier, In this illustration the arms of office of the keeper have, crossed diagonally behind the shield, a pair of croziers, or bishops’ staffs.

The medals and jewels of certain orders, and the collars of more important ones, can also appear in the assembly.

Perhaps the best-known such additament is the blue Garter which can be seen around the shield of the British royal arms (the sovereign is ex officio head of the Order of the Garter) and in the arms of the other 25 members of the Order. [19] An example of the arms of a Dame Commander of the British Empire can be seen here.

The arms of great lords, or the civic arms of large towns or cities, or important regions, can also include supporters and a compartment (the ground on which the supporters stand).

Shown at right is the achievement (also referred to informally as the arms) of Viscount Byng of Vimy. The red crescents on the shield and on the sinister crest are marks of cadency, distinguishing the viscount’s arms from those of his kinsman, Byng, Earl of Strafford.

The caption in Boutell’s Heraldry states: “The colours of the 31st Regiment of Foot in the arms, and the crest of augmentation (on the dexter side), were granted to Field Marshal Sir John Byng, first Earl of Strafford, for the ‘signal intrepidity and heroic valour displayed by him in the action at Mougerre, near Bayonne, 18 Dec. 1813′, when he personally planted these colours on the enemy’s lines.”

Note that the assemblage incorporates compartment, shield, a viscount’s coronet, two helmets (one for each crest; one with a mural crown awarded for valour, the other with the usual torse), mantling and supporters. Each supporter is charged on the shoulder with a red rose.

The dexter supporter and the sinister crest are examples of the heraldic tyger, a feature of medieval bestiaries and unconnected with the Bengal tiger which occurs in some modern arms.

Common in Continental heraldry, but rare in British varieties, is the use of a single supporter. Shown at left are the arms of the Scottish city of Perth, with a single eagle (double-headed) as supporter. For another Scottish example of a single supporter, see here.

(Note two typically Scottish elements in these arms: the agnus dei or paschal lamb supports a banner of St Andrew, and around the inner edge of the shield is a royal tressure, a mark of royal favour.)

Sometimes additional elements are added alongside the supporters, such as the lances fitted with banners in the royal arms for Scotland, or the (unnaturally large) ostrich feathers standing alongside the griffin supporters in the arms of Oudtshoorn.

A compartment can also bear further symbols such as the proteas in the arms of South Africa (the 1932 version of the arms granted in 1910). There are also the roses in the British royal arms (the English version), and the thistles in the Scottish version.

What is also found on the Continent is the use of simpler and more complicated forms of the same coat of arms, or achievement.

[20] Read about quarterings in this article.

[21] Frederik IX, *1899 †1972, King from 1947.

[22] Margarethe II, *1940, Queen since 1972.

[23] Valdemar I, *1131 †1182, King from 1157.

You have the small arms (often the shield alone [frequently a single quartering,[20] or the least possible]), with perhaps just one of the various crests that belong to this achievement.

The great arms will display the full dynastic achievement of the king or prince who rules (or formerly did) in the region, with the full quarterings (as many as dozens are known), all the possible crests, the pavilion and a crown on top.

Let’s take Denmark as an example: shown at left are the great arms as borne by King Frederik IX, [21] where the Cross of Dannebrog (around which the quarterings are arranged) is formy (slightly splayed at the ends). In the current great arms borne by Queen Margarethe II, [22] shown at the bottom of this page, the Cross of Dannebrog is straight-armed. In both versions the first quarter shows the arms of King Valdemar the Great [23] (three crowned blue lions on gold, on a field scattered with red hearts). This quartering on its own, plus the Danish crown, constitutes the small arms (as shown on the linked page), and has done for centuries.

Both versions of the great arms have Slesvig (two blue lions on gold) in the 2nd quarter, in the 3rd quarter the Union of Kalmar (above), a silver ram for the Faeroe Islands and a polar bear for Greenland. But King Frederik’s arms still incorporate, in the 4th quarter, the fictitious arms of Gothland (a blue lion above a field of hearts)and Vandalia (a golden wyvern). These are the lands from which the East Germanic invader peoples hailed before they invaded the Roman Empire at the beginning of the Dark Age – at least 600 years before the Danes adopted heraldic devices.

In Queen Margarethe’s great arms, the arms of Valdemar I take up the fourth quarter.
In the centre there is an inescutcheon bearing the royal family arms – for Queen Margarethe, Oldenburg (or, two bars gules) alone, but for King Frederik, four other quarters representing Holstein, Stormerk, Ditzmers and Lauenberg, and, in an inner inescutcheon (which in German would be called a Herzschild), Oldenburg impaling the gold cross on blue of Delmenhorst. Finally there are wild men for supporters, the chain of the Order of the Elephant, a royal pavilion and the crown over all.

Shown above at right are small arms of Sweden (the same three crowns of the Union of Kalmar that appear in the arms of Denmark). The great, middle and small arms of Sweden appear on this page. For a discussion of how Sweden’s arms of dominion are made up, see this page, and the nature of arms of dominion, see this page.

Also shown above right are the small arms of Bavaria (the lozengy bendy field of Wittelsbach) plus a Volkskrone. Click here to see the great arms of this German Land, which was a kingdom until 1918.

In between these two extremes will sometimes be found the middle arms, comprising the shield with a few extra quarterings, and if the small arms exclude a crest, a crest will be added here.

In the case of a government with a more democratic tradition, such as the cities of Hamburg or Bremen, the dynastic element is missing, but there is nonetheless a clear gradation between the simplicity of the small arms and the elaborateness of the great arms.

This page shows the great, middle and small arms of Hamburg, while this page shows the middle and great arms of Bremen (two versions of the great arms).
What’s right and left in a coat of arms?

WHEN you look at a coat of arms – and especially when you read its description – you might be confused by the Latin words dexter and sinister.

Dexter is right, not so? And sinister is left, okay? So why is my right hand opposite the part of the shield that is described as being dexter?

We’re so used to looking at a coat of arms as something that hangs on the wall: a printed piece of paper, or a painting hanging there, or perhaps a bit of architectural moulding (that might or might not be painted in the right colours) that we forget that this was something actually carried in battle.

Knights originally put designs in particular colours and shapes on their banners and their lance-pennons.

These designs were focused on the lance or the pole to which the banner was fixed. A lion, for example, would always face that way, since it would be facing forward going into battle.

Afterwards they actually wore those designs as clothing – the surcoat, a garment which covered the armour from the shoulders to the thighs.

The warrior’s most important hand was the one he wielded his sword with – more often than not, the right hand.

A great deal of positive superstition was attached to the right hand, and even more negative superstition to the left.

So the focus of the design on the surcoat was to the right hand. The lion on the knight’s breast faced the right, and so did the mirror image of the lion on his back.

And when knights began wearing armour that hid their faces, they also bore this design on the shield.

Here, also, the focus was on the right hand – the right hand of the man bearing the shield.

So as you looked at the warrior his right was on your left, and to this day the dexter (right-hand) side of the shield is on the left as you look at it.

Acknowledgement: Thanks to Mike Oettle for making this material available