Os impostos e a heráldica 2

In two or three generations the bearer of the arms established his right to a new crest, and the
heralds, to preserve the memory of the ancient honour of the family, introduced the old crest into
the coat of arms, either as a charge upon the principal ordinary, or on an unoccupied part of the
field. This will in some measure account for the variety of animals and parts of animals found in
shields of arms. When the sovereigns of Europe, to decrease the power of the great barons,
bestowed estates and titles not only for deeds of arms, but wisdom in council, superior learning, and
other qualities which the original bearers of arms thought beneath their notice, the heralds were
obliged to invent new symbols in emblazoning the arms of the modern nobility; and when arms
were granted to civic and commercial corporations, and to private individuals who had no claim to
military honours, we can easily conceive that the ingenuity of the armorists was severely tested, and
excuse the apparent confusion that prevailed in granting arms after the War of the Roses.

Anexo: Brasões indicando ordem de honra

Honourable ordinaries are the original marks of distinction bestowed by sovereigns on subjects that
have become eminent for their services, either in the council or the field of battle. Volumes have
been written upon the origin and form of the honourable ordinaries. These long and tedious
inquiries can only be interesting to antiquaries: it is sufficient for the tyro in heraldry to know that
they are merely broad lines or bands of various colours, which have different names, according to
the place they occupy in the shield; ancient armorists admit but nine honourable ordinaries—the
chief, the pale, the bend, the bend sinister, the fess, the bar, the chevron, the cross, and the saltier.