Helmet, helmet, chain mail and armor collection

At the turn of the XIᵉ century, as battlefields plunged combatants under uniform armor, an urgent need for identification arose. According to heraldist Adrian Strickland, it was the tragic confusions of the Battle of Hastings (1066), between unrecognizable Saxons and Normans, that precipitated the appearance of coats of arms.
One of the earliest known examples is Geoffroy Plantagenet, Count of Anjou, whose shield around 1090 bore a lion cub semé, an emblem still visible in Le Mans Cathedral.
These distinctive signs, initially utilitarian, quickly evolved into hereditary symbols, proudly worn on shields, banners, garments and seals. Tournaments and lineages spread them throughout feudal Europe. From there, heraldry became a visual language of class and identity, appropriated by clerics, bourgeois and guilds alike.
Much more than an ornament, the coat of arms became the first form of personal logo, rooted in history... and still present in our modern symbols.