What is a coat of arms?

What is a coat of arms?

A coat of arms is a device using various heraldic symbols that show you, or rather the bearer, whom they are related to. They evolved out of the middle ages when knights would wear them to identify them in battle and they show allegiance to a greater lord. They were gradually taken down through the male line of the eldest male of the family and pass from generation to generation. Occasionally, if you married into an important female family you would import some of their heraldic devices as well and this is why coats of arms would change over the centuries.