During the Middle Ages, it was common to have a personal or family coat-of-arms. This badge or shield of heraldry allowed friends and foes to easily recognize each other during battles and tournaments. Study the unique design of Queen Elizabeth's coat-of-arms, then create your own distinguishing heraldry shield. It's royal fun! MATERIALS: Printable template, pencil, map colors or crayons. DIRECTIONS: Rules of color for shield- Use deep tones of color: red, blue, green, black and purple. Silver (white) and gold (yellow) represent metals and should never touch and are used to separate other colors. An easy way to observe this rule is to choose white or yellow as a field (background) color and to make all charges (design) out of the other colors. Symbolism: the lion – strength; the eagle – power; the stag (deer) – speed; the wolf – fierceness; castles – security and strength; battle-axes – power and might Ethnic affiliation: United States – the bald eagle; France – the fleur-de-lis; Ireland – the shamrock or harp; England – the lion; Germany, Poland and Russia – the twin-headed eagle. Mark of Cadency (Place in family): Use the pattern that represents your place in the family from the first to the sixth child. This design should be placed top center of your shield. Click here to get the blank Coat-of-Arms. Click here to get the Cadency list. The Coat of Arms and Cadency list are in PDF format. To print them, you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader software (version 4.0 or higher). If you do not have this software already intstalled, click here to download it free. Arts & Crafts Home