AoA's, display of arms, and legal whatnot

[clevin@rci.ripco.com (Craig Levin)]

Poster: clevin@rci.ripco.com (Craig Levin)

> Poster: blackbow@juno.com (David H Ritterskamp)
> 
> Alfredo:
> >When an Award of Arms scroll says the recipient now has
> >"the right to bear arms", it is NOT referring to weapons,
> >but rather to a particular heraldic coat of arms, which
> 
> >-- Alfredo
> > 
> Alfredo - the above is not correct.  The custom is usually fairly well
> adhered to that people w/o AoA's are not permitted to bear arms into the
> presence of TRM's or TRH's.  Adhered to in court, anyway.  

As a matter of fact, Alfredo's correct. Arms awarded by a monarch
have certain qualities that make them different from arms that
one may assume upon the advice of the heralds. This was deduced
in the earliest text of heraldic law-that of Bartolo di Sasso
Ferrato, De Insigniis et Armiis. These qualities are:

1) The arms are of greater dignity, because they came from the
hands of the ruler.

2) In the event of you getting drawn into a dispute over the right
to use those arms-your award from the ruler gives you an
indisputable title.

3) If another person tries to assume your arms, an act which,
according to Bartolo, though not according to other heralds and
decretalists, is otherwise licit, you can make them cease and
desist.

4) Finally, you can claim a higher space on the list of
precedence than one whose arms weren't awarded, all other things
being equal. 

To return to the matter of carrying blades about in the royal
presence, I note that, in Littleton, the only ceremony in which
a participant was overtly describe as being unarmed was that of
homage. I also note that when De Warrene was called into Edward
I's court on a Quo Warranto proceeding, carrying a sword, he
wasn't hauled aside and made to disarm. My guess-and it is only
my guess, as the computer center on campus is far enough away
from the library to make it inconvenient for me to get up and
haul books off of the shelves-is that, homage aside, one would be
disarmed only when one was an ambassador or herald (who shouldn't
be bearing arms anyway) or if one is being brought in as an
accused or convicted person. 
-- 
http://pages.ripco.com:8080/~clevin/index.html 
clevin@ripco.com
Craig Levin
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