All About Heraldic Badges

January 9, 2024

Heraldic badges, emblems, or personal devices are worn to identify people loyal to a family or individual or property owned by that family or individual. Badges are sometimes included in a person or family's coat of arms. However, while a coat of arms has a complex design and can only be used by one specific person, a badge is generally much simpler in design and can be worn by a person's supporters or members of their household. Badges came into common use in the late Middle Ages, especially in England. Today, historical badges are often found in the names and logos of British pubs.

Medieval Use

During the reign of King Edward III (1327-77), heraldic badges came into use, and these emblems became more widely adopted throughout the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries. Followers and retainers of powerful people would wear their badges to indicate their affiliation. These badges often came from elements used in the owner's coat of arms or symbols of the person's family, accomplishments, or home territory. Some even used wordplay, deriving from a rebus of the person's name. A person or family could have multiple badges, and some people combined multiple badges to create one unique design.

Badges were very common in the 1400s, perhaps most famously used during the Wars of the Roses. In this tumultuous period, supporters of the House of Lancaster's claim to the throne wore red roses, while supporters of the House of York wore white roses. In the end, a distant relative of the Lancastrians, Henry Tudor, won the throne, becoming King Henry VII. He then married Elizabeth of York, uniting the two factions and their badges; the House of Tudor would be represented by a red and white rose.

Renaissance and Early Modern Badges

During the Renaissance, heraldic badges transformed into "personal devices," often paired with mottoes that reflected the bearer's character or aspirations. Many of these badges had no relationship with the owner's coat of arms; plenty of people who used them didn't even have coats of arms. There were even emblem books published to help people choose a symbol that suited them.

By the late 16th century, the badge craze had incorporated mottoes that made some of them into puzzles, relying on a combination of the words and the image to convey a meaning that couldn't be derived without both parts. Nobles were not exempt from the trend of using personal badges, with French kings creating famous examples such as the emblem of King Louis XVI, the Sun King.

Famous English Badges

Bear and Ragged Staff: Badges used in combination by the Beauchamp earls of Warwick and later adopted by descendants such as Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester
Bohun Swan: Badge of the de Bohun family and their descendants, including members of the royal House of Lancaster
Prince of Wales's Feathers: The heir's badge comes from the design of a shield used by Edward the Black Prince.
Stafford Knot: A distinctive knot originally worn by the dukes of Buckingham that's now featured on the Staffordshire coat of arms
Tudor Rose: King Henry VII's badge, combining the White Rose of York and Red Rose of Lancaster, the feuding sides in the Wars of the Roses
White Boar: The badge of King Richard III when he was duke of Gloucester
White Hart: The badge of King Richard II

Badges of English Royals

William II: A five-petaled flower
Stephen: A seven-petaled flower, the symbol for Sagittarius, or an ostrich plume
Henry II: A carbuncle or a sprig of broom
Richard I: A gold star and crescent or a sprig of broom
John: A gold star and crescent or a sprig of broom
Henry III: A spring of broom
Edward I: A gold rose with a green stem or a sprig of broom
Edward II: The castle of Castile or a sprig of broom
Edward III: A gold fleur-de-lis, a leopard, a sword, a falcon, a griffin, a tree stump, or a sunburst emerging from a cloud
Richard II: A white hart, a tree stump, a falcon, or a sun
Henry IV: A crowned eagle, a swan, a red rose, a columbine, a fox tail, a panther, or a white swan
Henry V: A flaming beacon, a chained swan, a red rose, or a chained antelope
Henry VI: Crossed silver and gold ostrich feathers, a red rose, a chained antelope, or a spotted panther
Edward IV: A white rose, a shining sun, a black bull, a white lion, a hart, or a shackled falcon
Edward V: A white rose or a shackled falcon
Richard III: A white boar, a white rose, or a shining sun
Henry VII: A Tudor rose (red and white), a gold portcullis, a gold fleur-de-lis, a red dragon, a greyhound, or a cipher containing the letters "HR" under a hawthorn bush
Henry VIII: A Tudor rose (red and white), a gold portcullis, a red dragon, a greyhound, a gold fleur-de-lis, a gold harp, or a flower that is half Tudor rose and half pomegranate
Edward VI: A Tudor rose or a shining sun
Mary I: A pomegranate or a flower that is half Tudor rose and half pomegranate
Elizabeth I: A Tudor rose, a crowned falcon holding a scepter, or a phoenix
James I: A Tudor rose, a thistle, a gold fleur-de-lis, a gold harp, or a flower that is half Tudor rose and half thistle
Charles I: A Tudor rose, a thistle, a gold fleur-de-lis, a gold harp, or a flower that is half Tudor rose and half thistle
Charles II: A Tudor rose, a thistle, a gold fleur-de-lis, a gold harp, or a flower that is half Tudor rose and half thistle
James II: A Tudor rose, a thistle, a gold fleur-de-lis, a gold harp, or a flower that is half Tudor rose and half thistle
William III: A Tudor rose, a thistle, a gold fleur-de-lis, a gold harp, or a flower that is half Tudor rose and half thistle
Anne: A Tudor rose, a thistle, a gold fleur-de-lis, a gold harp, or a split flower stem with a Tudor rose growing from one side and a thistle from the other

When the House of Hanover ascended to the throne in 1714, British royals mostly stopped using personal badges, replacing them with royal ciphers. However, the House of Windsor does have its own badge that members of the current royal family may use.

Revival

In 1906, the College of Arms spearheaded a revival of heraldic badges by incorporating them into new grants of arms alongside the traditional coat of arms. For recipients of these grants, having a badge designed and included was optional, requiring them to pay an additional fee. When a badge is granted, it is illustrated on the official letters patent bestowing the arms.

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