A chatty coat of arms? According to the French, it is. Known as arms parlant or ‘canting’ arms, these shorthand emblems of identification play a visual pun on the family surname. It is up to the ...

During the Fiesta de Santa Fe every summer, many attendees might notice wooden, shield-shaped objects hanging from the outsides of buildings around the Plaza. These objects are known as coats of arms ...

In Great Britain, the granting of a coat of arms to a family is a significant, respected process. In fact, prominent families of "eminence or good standing in national or local life" must appeal to ...

Bartelomeo Colleoni was a well known Italian military captain in the 15th century. Although "Colleoni" doesn't directly translate to "balls" in English, an Italian homophone (soundalike word) matching ...

There are a couple of thousand different Polish coats of arms. You might expect that these would all include images of some lofty or knightly character but that isn’t always the case. Many are ...

Researching your family history can reveal all sorts of fascinating and unexpected things about your ancestors - from where they lived and how they worked, to secret siblings and long lost cousins. As ...

The Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, has just spent £37,000 of taxpayers’ money having his portrait painted, and having a coat of arms drawn up. I am sure that in these straitened ...

Here is a look at the spiritual motto and coat of arms for each of the bishops who will become cardinals at the Dec. 7 consistory: Shown with their coats of arms: Top row: L to R: Cardinals-elect ...

Now ubiquitous in public life, heraldry was born out of necessity. Today, it is still everywhere, from the coats of arms of town councils to the shields on school blazers and even in private exchanges ...

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or ...