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{{short description|Person entitled to bear a coat of arms}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2022}}
{{Heraldic achievement}}

In [[heraldry]], an '''armiger''' is a (natural or [[juridical person |juridical]]) person entitled to use a [[achievement (heraldry)|heraldic achievement]] (e.g., bear [[Coat of arms|arms]], an "armour-bearer") either by hereditary right, grant, matriculation, or assumption of arms. Such a person is said to be '''armigerous'''; a [[family]] or a [[clan]] likewise.

==Etymology==
The Latin word {{lang|la|armiger}} literally means "arms-bearer". In high and late medieval England, the word referred to an [[esquire]] attendant upon a [[knight]], but bearing his own unique armorial device.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Uden |first=Grant |title=Dictionary of Chivalry |publisher=Kestrel Books |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V_EdQAAACAAJ |year=1968 |isbn=0-7226-5372-7 |location=Harmondsworth}}</ref>

{{lang|la|Armiger}} was also used as a Latin [[cognomen]], and is now found as a rare surname in English-speaking countries.{{cn|date=July 2009}}

==Modern period==
Today, the term ''armiger'' is well-defined only within jurisdictions, such as [[Canada]], the [[Republic of Ireland]], [[Kenya]], [[South Africa]], [[Malta]], [[Spain]], and the [[United Kingdom]], where [[heraldry]] is regulated by the state or a heraldic body, such as the [[College of Arms]], the [[Chief Herald of Canada]], the [[Court of the Lord Lyon]] or the [[Office of the Chief Herald of Ireland]]. A person can be so entitled either by proven (and typically [[agnatic]]) descent from a person with a right to bear a [[heraldic achievement]], or by virtue of a grant of arms to himself. Merely sharing the same family name of an armiger is insufficient.{{cn|date=July 2009}} British armigers are considered [[Gentleman|gentlemen]] and equated to [[British nobility|untitled nobility]] by organisations such as the [[CILANE]] and the [[Sovereign Military Order of Malta|Order of Malta]], a grant of arms confirms or confers such [[Gentry|gentle]] (untitled noble) status. This is not the case for Continental armigers, who may bear noble or merely [[burgher arms]] with the latter according no social precedence.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Grande-Bretagne – CILANE |url=https://cilane.eu/index.php/what-is-cilane/member-associations/associations-list/grande-bretagne/ |access-date=2025-02-10 |language=en-GB}}</ref>

The usage of a heraldic achievement is usually governed by legal restrictions; these restrictions are independent of the [[copyright]] status and independent of a coat of arms depiction. A coat of arms represents its owner. Though it can be freely represented, it cannot be appropriated, or used in such a way as to create a confusion with or a prejudice to its owner.{{cn|date=July 2009}}

In the [[Netherlands]], only the heraldry of noble families is regulated.

In [[Sweden]] and [[Finland]] the nobility has had, since 1762, the prerogative to use an open helmet, while others use a closed helmet.{{cn|date=July 2009}} In Britain, the untitled nobility uses closed helmets.<ref name=":0" />

In the [[Spain|Spanish]] nobility, ''armígero'' was a low specific rank to which a certain group of untitled nobles were entitled. In modern heraldry, the term ''blasonado'' is also used.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://dialnet.unirioja.es/descarga/articulo/6159199.pdf |title=ELENCO DE GRANDEZAS Y TITULOS NOBILIARIOS ESPAÑOLES 2017. Page 303 |access-date=9 January 2024}}</ref>

==Further reading==
* {{Cite book |last=Coss |first=Peter R. |chapter=Knights, esquires and the origins of social gradation in England |title=Transactions of the Royal Historical Society |year=1995 |series=Sixth Series |pages=155–78 |issue=5|publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521552004 | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=HKjJKo7WtnEC&dq=Knights,+esquires+and+the+origins+of+social+gradation+in+England.+Transactions+of+the+Royal+Historical+Society&pg=PA155}}

==See also==
* {{annotated link|Achievement (heraldry)|Heraldic Achievement}}
* [[Armigerous clan]]
* {{annotated link|Heraldry}}
* {{annotated link|Law of heraldic arms}}
* {{annotated link|Women in heraldry}}

==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
*{{wiktionary-inline|armiger}}

{{Heraldry}}


[[Category:Heraldry]]
[[Category:Heraldry and law]]