
Today most people who posses a Coat of Arms regard it as no more than an interesting relic of an ancestral past; privately they may feel a sense of pride and satisfaction in the evidence of noble forbearers. However personal Heraldry is no longer indicative of class or privilege. The writer Stubbs has noted that in earlier times however “the coat armour of every house was a precious inheritance, which descended, under definite limitations and with distinct differences, to every member of the family: a man’s shield proved his gentle or noble birth, illustrated his pedigree, and put him on his honour not to disgrace the bearings which his noble progenitors had worn”. The Coat of Arms was the shrine of personal honor, as closely associated with its owner as own name, and a man was doubly disgraced if he suffered an armorial degradation. An armorial degradation was the stripping of ones Arms due to some heinous act. In the reign of Edward II, the two Lords Despenser were purposely dressed in their full coat of Armour before they were hanged, drawn and quartered.
