Arnaud Bunel
"Héraldique européenne"
Arnaud Bunel "Armigerous" (ahr-MIJ-ehr-us) adjective
Bearing or entitled to bear heraldic arms.
The reason the notion of a family crest was brought into the language wasthat those who were armigerous (entitled to bear arms) used to put theircrest or achievement (the full coat of arms) on their carriage, silver,etc. The stationers thought this an excellent way to sell morestationary and, in Victorian times, encouraged everybody, whetherarmigerous or not, to buy stationary with their "family crest" on it.There was no such thing of course and they used to sell it (and somestill do) on the basis that "someone in your family or someone having thesame surname as you was once granted this crest - as part of theirachievement. Thereby they sold more stationery. And engraversflourished. The Heralds, meanwhile, lost a bit of business as theirservices (awarding coats with variations because no two people can havethe same coat) were less sought after.
The Shields used are family Logos, each individual with armigerous rightshad individual full coats of arms to reflect their personal achievements.