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How to read a Coat of Arms using the Arms of Martin Goldstraw as an example.

The “Blazon” (heraldic description) of the Arms is; Argent, on a chevron between three swords erect Gules, three quills erect Argent.

[It would also be correct to use the blazon: “Argent, on a chevron between three swords erect Gules, three quills erect of the first”. This avoids using the word “Argent” twice.]

Argent - The very first word always describes the colour (tincture) or metal of the shield. NOTE this is called a shield, NOT a crest. The crest is the device that sits on top of the shield (on a helmet in the full achievement). Argent is SILVER which is a metal but you will more often see Argent shown as White.

Argent, on a chevron - We now know that upon the shield is a chevron. To find out what colour the chevron is we must go to the next mentioned colour - in heraldry all things mentioned BEFORE a colour are of that colour. We note that the next mentioned colour is Gules (Red) so that is what we paint the chevron. We also note that the words “on a chevron” means that eventually there will be something or some things (charge or charges) on the chevron itself.

Argent, on a chevron between three swords erect Gules - From this we know that the chevron is between three swords and that the swords are erect (upright) and of the colour (tincture) Gules (Red).

Whenever there are three charges, unless we are told otherwise, they are always placed upon the shield two at the top (in chief) and one at the bottom (in base). Remember we know that the chevron is between the swords.  So - this is what it looks like so far but don’t forget we are still waiting for something to go on the chevron itself (Remember the “on a chevron” bit?)   

Argent, on a chevron between three swords erect Gules, three quills erect Argent. (on a chevron + three quills erect Argent)

So we place our three upright silver quills onto our chevron.             

And it all adds together to produce:

Argent, on a chevron between three swords erect Gules, three quills erect Argent.          


Let us now deal with the CREST - remember what we said earlier - this is the device that sits on top of the helmet. It is NOT the shield.
The Goldstraw Crest is described (blazoned) thus:
On a Helm with a Wreath Argent and Gules A Goose Argent beaked Or resting its dexter foot against an Oak Tree Gules fructed Or.

Helmet of a gentleman or esquire.
The blazon for the Crest starts with the words: On a Helm with a Wreath Argent and Gules This tells us that we have a helmet and upon the helmet is a Silver and Red Wreath.


      This is a "wreath"
The wreath fits on top of the helmet and it "holds" the device called the Crest onto it.

[Not mentioned in the blazon but almost always drawn is the "mantling". This is the cloth used to shade the wearer from the sun. It is sometimes drawn shredded and sometimes drawn whole.]

A Goose Argent beaked Or
= A White Goose (because geese are white and not silver but it would not be wrong to colour it silver) with a Gold beak.

resting its dexter foot against
This means our goose has got his Dexter (right) foot resting on something.     

an Oak Tree Gules fructed Or
= a Gules (Red) Oak Tree with Golden fruits (acorns). 

The art of heraldry allows us to draw the beasts and charges out of proportion to each other and this is why on our finished Crest the goose is seen to be huge in comparison to the tree.         


A Goose Argent beaked Or resting its dexter foot against an Oak Tree Gules fructed Or.    


Putting it all together we get the full achievement:
Arms: Argent, on a chevron between three swords erect Gules, three quills erect Argent.

Crest: On a Helm with a Wreath Argent and Gules A Goose Argent beaked Or resting its dexter foot against an Oak Tree Gules fructed Or.

Motto: Ab Inito Goostrey

[The arms illustrated are from the Scottish matriculation of Arms and differ from an English grant in that the motto is above the crest]

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