HERALD (Gr. ἥραυτος, Lat. fecialis, factialis, vel fetialis, Ger. herold, Fr. héraut, Span. heraldo). As the Germans were the first among modern European nations to reduce
heraldry to a system, and as we are undoubtedly of German origin, it may be safely concluded that the English word is derived from the German. Herald.
Heralds appear to have been important and prominent persons among the older Asiatic nations, as well as among the Greeks and Romans, and their privileged and almost sacred character was generally recognised. Though the herald of Nebuchadnezzar is the only one mentioned in Holy Writ,1 these officers are frequently alluded to by the Greek poets and historians, while the members of the Roman College of Heralds established by Numa were generally selected from noble families, and held in very high estimation.2 Their most ancient and most important duties were to carry messages of amity or defiance to foreign powers, and to proclaim the national will or that of the sovereign on great occasions.
In the middle ages the presence of heralds at tournaments was considered as indispensable as that of the knightly combatants themselves; and the task of instructing young knights on their installation, very generally devolved on the senior heralds or kings-of-arms.3 But their chief glory and source of wealth passed away with the days of chivalry; their ambassadorial functions have also fallen into desuetude; and now their chief occupation is to record and illustrate pedigrees, and armorial bearings (see HERALDRY), and to marshal great national solemnities.
Heralds were in high repute in Germany and France before they were known in this country. Hither, however, they came from the latter country in the days of chivalry, and soon found favour with those whose high descent and noble deeds formed their constant themes of praise.
Mention is made of Chester herald so far back as the reign of Richard II.; but the first English herald advanced to a higher dignity appears to have been William Tyndale, appointed Lancaster king-of-arms by Henry IV. In Scotland, at the coronation of Robert II. in March 1371, Lyon-king-of-arms appears to have been summoned with his attending heralds by the Lord-Marischal of Scotland, and then sworn and crowned. In England, before the institution of Heralds' College, the heralds belonged exclusively to the Royal Court as "Household Servants," though there are instances, after that period, of their being permanently attached to, or occasionally employed in the households of powerful noblemen,4 gentlemen of good estate, and dignitaries of the Church. Thus we find that the fifth Earl of Northumberland, of 1512, assigned x. marcs yearly to each of his heralds, and v. marcs to each pursuivant; and we are told by Cavendish that the pursuivant of Cardinal Wolsey carried before his lord "a great mace of silver gilt."
It may now be proper to notice in their order the three existing associations of heralds in the United Kingdom—viz., the College of Arms, or Heralds' College of England; the Lord-Lyon's Court, or Heralds' Court in Scotland; and the Office of Arms, in Ireland.