The right to bear arms was an important status symbol in the Middle Ages and the early modern period. Then, as now, many people displayed the arms of someone who just happened to have the same surname or even created their own design without any authority to do so. In order to police the use of arms, at various stages in the 16th and 17th centuries heralds appointed by the Crown would visit a county, requiring those concerned to justify their right to bear arms. The information gathered including illustrations of the coats of arms and associated family trees were recorded in manuscripts which have, for much of England, since been published.
The heralds travelled to Northamptonshire to conduct their "visitations" in 1564, 1618-19 and 1681-82. The records created on those occasions can be found in the two books that are now available online by following these links:
- Visitations of Northamptonshire 1564 & 1618-19 with pedigrees edited by Walter C Metcalfe [1887]
- Visitation of the County of Northampton 1681 edited by Henry Isham Longden [1935]
Both books have indexes of people. The later one also features an index of all the places that are mentioned in its text. They are therefore of great value to family and local historians alike.
As with all historical records, those from the heralds' visitations should be read with a critical eye. Wishful thinking and fraud may have escaped scrutiny. Human error and forgetfulness are the most likely to emerge in the longer pedigrees. Nevertheless, these books are important sources of information and not only about people in the upper ranks of society. The family trees often contain details of individuals, such as the husbands of daughters of the gentry, who came from or whose descendants ended up in less exalted positions. For instance, by the 19th century some of the descendants of people recorded by the Visitation in 1681 were inmates of Brixworth workhouse.
For more about the subject and how to use these records, it is well worth reading Heralds' visitations and the College of Arms, published on the excellent Notes on Medieval Genealogy site.
The Earl Marshall is the officer of arms who supervises the activities of the College of Heralds. The following article is about a holder of this office who was connected with Northamptonshire: