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the miscellaneous gatherings from various countries, each under 

 its separate leaders, found the necessity of having distinctive 

 signs or emblems emblazoned upon their persons, by which they 

 might be recognised. , Tasso, Ariosto, and other poets contem- 

 porary with the different periods of the Crusades have told us 

 of the splendid banners and armorial ensigns borne by the nobles 

 who participated in those expeditions. Every soldier of the 

 Cross bore the sacred emblem upon his person, each country 

 adopting a different form or colour by which they might be 

 distinguished one from the other. The leaders, however, each 

 bore in addition special ensigns which, once adopted, became 

 hereditary in his family, and the glory of his descendants. 



It was during this period that heraldry as a science may be 

 said to have taken its rise, though devices and emblems on 

 armour and on military banners and standards may be traced 

 long before that period. Thus Sir Bernard Burke — no mean 

 authority — states heraldry to be no more than an organisation 

 of the emblems and devices which had previously existed beyond 

 the memory of man. After the date of the Norman Conquest 

 (1066) heraldry made rapid progress in England, and the high 

 estimation in which it was held is attested by its union with 

 other arts, especially with painting and sculpture. Thus was 

 heraldry connected with the lasting monuments of architecture, 

 and became " the handmaid of history." The assumption of 

 devices on coat armour and the crest or cognisance on the 

 helmet were in reality a necessity, caused by the mode of warfare 

 practised in the middle ages. The defensive armour of the 

 period completely concealed the person. King James is stated 

 to have remarked "that it was an excellent invention, for it not 

 only saved the life of the wearer, but hindered him from doing 

 harm to anybody else." Mounted on his horse, the baron or 

 knight, armed cap-a-pie, could not be known to those about 

 him, hence the adoption of distinctive bearings upon coat 

 armour. In the thick of the melee the waving pennon and 

 dancing crest of the leader formed the rallying point for his 

 friends and followers. His motto, or cri de guerre, ringing 



