HERALDRY

Like many children, I grew up with a fascination for knights, chivalry, and the crusades.  This lead to my interest in heraldry.  This interest was peaked during my last year of high school while I was in an advanced medieval literature class.  The teacher, wanting us to better understand the literature and the general mindset of the times, explained some general rules of heraldry and assigned us to each create a coat of arms for ourselves.  I took this assignment seriously and created Sable, a sword palewise, point to base, winged expansed Argent. 

I joined a local SCA group a few years later and continued to use these arms.  After realizing that I desired a more serious study of history than the SCA could provide, I quit but continued to study history and heraldry on my own.  In 2001, many powerful events occurred in my life, changing it completely.  To represent these permanent changes I reversed the tinctures of my arms to what I bear now.  I joined the American Heraldry Society in 2005 and currently serve as the Director of Education.  That same year, I joined the International Association of Amateur Heralds and am currently an Associate Fellow.  My arms are registered with the US Heraldic Registry, registration number 20051229M.

My arms are as follows:

One question that I get asked about heraldry all the time is “what does a certain color or symbol mean?”  My normal answer is “it depends.”  Many people in the past have tried to attribute specific meanings to colors, objects, and even positions of objects within heraldry.  The problem with this is that each item does not hold a universal meaning; instead those items represent something specific to their armiger.  For example, a person with a plain blue coat of arms may have chosen that color because he is “blue” all the time, enjoys listening to or playing blues music, or is a sailor, or an aviator, or lives near an ocean, lake, or river, has blue eyes, is very calm, his favorite color is blue, he just simply looks good in blue, or a myriad of other reasons.  Just because his coat of arms is blue does not mean anything except to the armiger behind the shield.

The second most common question I get asked about heraldry is “what do your arms mean?”  So before you ask, here goes:

The sword represents my law enforcement interests and the idea of service—to God, my family, my friends, and my community.  The wings represent protection united with a sense of holiness.  Combined, the winged sword symbolizes the Sword of the Spirit.  When I first created the arms in 1994, the winged sword was originally argent (silver), surrounded by the "blackness" of sin.  To symbolize some major changes in my life in 2001 I decided to reverse the colors. The winged sword had become a symbol of myself, surrounded by the argent light of Christ. The horse in the crest is a canting of my first name, Philip, which means "lover of horses." The motto, Beati Pacifici, comes from the Latin Vulgate translation of the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 5, meaning "blessed are the peacemakers."

If you would like to learn more about heraldry in America, please read An American Heraldic Primer.

Please note that the graphics and their descriptions, or blazons, displayed here are copyrighted and permission must be obtained from the owner before any use is made of them.  Please also be aware that if your last name is Blanton, you do not necessarily have permission to use these arms.  They are registered to me and are for my use and that of my spouse and our direct descendants.

Copyright © 2006-2010 Philip Blanton.  All rights reserved.