Court of Chivalry - College of Arms

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>2010</a></li><li class="item-193"><a href="/news-grants/newsletter/2009" >2009</a></li><li class="item-194"><a href="/news-grants/newsletter/2008" >2008</a></li><li class="item-195"><a href="/news-grants/newsletter/2007" >2007</a></li><li class="item-196"><a href="/news-grants/newsletter/2006" >2006</a></li><li class="item-190"><a href="/news-grants/newsletter/2005" >2005</a></li><li class="item-189"><a href="/news-grants/newsletter/2004" >2004</a></li><li class="item-207"><a href="/news-grants/newsletter/2014" >2014</a></li></ul></li></ul></li><li class="item-159 deeper parent"><a href="/contact-us" >Contact Us</a><ul class="nav-child unstyled small"><li class="item-116"><a href="/contact-us/directory" >Directory</a></li></ul></li></ul> </div> </div> <div class="row-fluid"> <div id="content" class="span9">  <div id="system-message-container"> </div> <div class="item-page"> <div class="page-header"> <h1> Court of Chivalry </h1> </div> <p class="lead">The legal forum for disputes relating to coats of arms, and where those regarded as having transgressed the law of arms can be prosecuted, is known as the Court of Chivalry.</p> <p>This court, which has its origins in the martial law exercised by the medieval Constables and Marshals of England when on campaign, has for centuries had jurisdiction over all matters relating to coats of arms. It has had a complex and varied history, and has been used for different purposes at different times. Most of the records of the court's activities, for the post-medieval period, are held by the College of Arms.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><img src="/images/Court%20of%20Chivalry%20procs%20compressed.jpg" alt="Proceedings of the Court of Chivalry" width="336" height="447" class="caption" style="float: left;" title="An example of the proceedings of the Court of Chivalry" />A recent project by scholars from the University of Birmingham has entailed a great deal of research in these records, particularly for the seventeenth century.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">The Court of Chivalry website was created through a collaboration between the <a href="http://www.crems.bham.ac.uk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Centre for Reformation and Early Modern Studies</a> and the <a href="http://www.itsee.bham.ac.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Institute for Textual Scholarship and Electronic Editing</a>, both at the University of Birmingham, and the <a href="http://www.college-of-arms.gov.uk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">College of Arms in London</a>. This website is no longer available but the most significant content is now available on the British History Online website <a href="https://www.british-history.ac.uk/no-series/court-of-chivalry" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">Funding for the project was provided by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the research and editing of documents has been carried out at Birmingham by <a href="http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/staff/profiles/history/cust-richard.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dr Richard Cust</a> and <a href="http://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/history/people/ahopper" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dr Andrew Hopper</a>, now at the University of Leicester.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">There is a companion volume to this web site, containing an account of the court鈥檚 history and summaries of the cases for this period: R.P.Cust and A.J.Hopper (eds), <i>Cases in the High Court of Chivalry, 1634-1640</i> (<a href="http://harleian.org.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Harleian Society</a>, N.S. vol. 18, 2006).</p> </div>  </div> <div id="aside" class="span3">  <div class="well "><div class="page-header"><strong>Our Resources </strong></div><ul class="category-module mod-list"> <li> <a class="mod-articles-category-title " href="/resources/architecture">Architecture of the College</a> </li> <li> <a class="mod-articles-category-title " href="/resources/arms-of-her-majesty-queen-camilla">Arms of Her Majesty Queen Camilla</a> </li> <li> <a class="mod-articles-category-title " href="/resources/bibliography-of-present-officers">Bibliography of Present Officers</a> </li> <li> <a class="mod-articles-category-title active" href="/resources/court-of-chivalry">Court of Chivalry</a> </li> <li> <a class="mod-articles-category-title " href="/resources/crests-of-knights-of-the-garter">Crowns and Crests: Heraldry in the Round</a> </li> <li> <a class="mod-articles-category-title " 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