Armiger
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- Armiger may also refer to the AGM Armiger anti-radiation missile.
An armiger is a person entitled to use a coat of arms. Such a person is said to be armigerous.
Originally an armiger was an Armour-Bearer or Esquire, attendant upon a Knight, but bearing his own unique armorial device. [1]
The term "armiger" is well-defined only within jurisdictions (such as the United Kingdom, Canada, Ireland, and Spain) where heraldry is regulated by the state or heraldic body (such as the College of Arms in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, the Office of the Chief Herald in Ireland or the Court of the Lord Lyon in Scotland), since anyone may use any coat of arms in jurisdictions, such as the United States, which lack regulated heraldry. In the Netherlands titles of nobility are regulated by law but heraldry is not.
A person can be so entitled either by descent from a person with a right to bear a coat of arms, or by virtue of a grant of arms to him or herself.
Armiger was also used as a Latin cognomen, and is now found as a rare surname in English-speaking countries.
[edit] References
- ^ Dictionary of Chivalry, Uden. Kestrel Books, Harmondsworth 1968 ISBN 0722653727
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