Clansman's Badge

[davidlpope]

Arnot,

Here's a bit of a primer:

As have been previously stated, the clansman's badge is simply the torse and crest from the clan chief's coat of arms, encircled by a strap and buckle. The strap and buckle indicate that this crest does not belong to the wearer, rather, the wearer "belongs to" (owes loyalty to) the armiger who bears that particular crest.

Here's an example showing my chief's arms, and our clansman's badge:





When one considers heraldry, one has to disassociate oneself from certain modern notions: namely, that each element of an achievement of arms "means" something. Heraldry started as a means to identify an individual in battle. Simple heraldic charges were selected, with simple tinctures (colors) because that was easy to pick out. Imagine: "See that knight over there with the gold moon on his helm, that's Arnott.." "See that knight over there with the gold boar's head on his helm, that's the Duke of Argyll..."

Crescents in English heraldry are often used to denote second sons of a family. That being said, I suspect that meaning is much younger than the original arms of Arnot.

Sometimes associated families bear arms that are similar. Other times, the arms are a play on the name of the bearer, referred to as canting.

The best intro to heraldry is a wonderful little book titled, "Simple Heraldry, Cheerfully illustrated." From there, you can move on to other more academic guides.