How do you read a coat of arms, is it possible?

Question

This is the coat of arms i mean

http://www3.sympatico.ca/tricrown/tricrown/mayflower/photo3.jpg

what do the symbols dog feathers e.t.c represent

be grateful for any help

thanks :)

Answer 1

Virtue and Valour

Colours

blue - Loyalty and truth.

gold - Generosity

What you see as a dog could be a lion or a panther

Lion - Deathless courage.

Panther - As a lion may be said to signify a brave man, so may a panther a beautiful

woman, which, though fierce, is very tender and loving to her young, and will defend it

with the hazard of her life.

Feathers (usually ostrich) - Willing obedience and serenity

From http://www.digiserve.com/heraldry/symbol...

Answer 2

This coat of arms is recorded in Burke's General Armory. Peppard (Cappagh House, County Limrick). Azure two bars or, the upper charged with three fleurs-de-lis, the under with as many marlets gules on a canton of the third a cinquefoil argent.

Crest: In front of three ostrich feathers argent and azure a greyhound courant proper. Motto: Virtute et valore.

You can find the meanings of the different colors and devices here: http://www.fleurdelis.com/meanings.htm

Example: the Greyhound is said to mean - Courage, vigilance, and loyalty. Azure (blue) means - Truth and loyalty. Cinquefoils are said to mean - Hope and joy. Those meanings seem reinforced by the motto.

Sometimes the meaning is just that the grantee or the herald liked the design.

There were other very similar arms granted earlier but they were granted to Peppard females who married and are carried by other surname lineages (one is Lea another Eustace).

Answer 3

Here's a link to explain how

http://www.clan-duncan.co.uk/readarms.ht...

Answer 4

I hope you understand that coats of arms do not belong to surnames.

They were and are granted to individuals and are passed down through the legitimate male line of descent.  Actually, there might have been, for instance, 15 different men with the same surname, not all necessarily related, that were each granted their own coat of arms,all different, and some people with that same surname will not be entitled to a coat of arms at all.  The peddlers that sell them on the internet, at shopping malls, at airports, in magazines or solicit by mail won't have all 15. They don't need to in order to sell to people.  The only time they will have more than one is if more than one person from different national origins were granted one and in that case some peddlers will have one of each, when in fact there might have been several of each.

See the links below, one from the British College of Arms(they grant coats of arms and are the ultimate authority) and the other from the most prestigious genealogical organization in the U.S., The National Genealogical Society.

http://www.college-of-arms.gov.uk/Faq.ht...

http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/comconsumerp...

The surname product business is probably one of the biggest scams around.

Answer 5

Beware, most coats of arms are fake.