Coat of Arms & Family Crests Store
  Wilden Coat of Arms / Wilden Family CrestThe surname of WILDEN was a locational name from a place so called in County Bedfordshire. There is also a place in Worcestershire, from where the original bearer may have taken his name. The name was originally rendered in the Old English form WILD-DENU, literally meaning the dweller in the willow valley. Most of the place-names that yield surnames are usually of small communities, villages, hamlets, some so insignificant that they are now lost to the map. A place-name, it is reasonable to suppose, was a useful surname only when a man moved from his place of origin to elsewhere, and his new neighbours bestowed it, or he himself adopted it. The earliest of the name on record appears to be WILDENE (without surname) who was listed in the Domesday Book of 1086. Most of the European surnames were formed in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The process had started somewhat earlier and had continued in some places into the 19th century, but the norm is that in the tenth and eleventh centuries people did not have surnames, whereas by the fifteenth century most of the population had acquired a second name. WILLEDENE (without surname) was recorded in 1167, County Bedford, and WIVELDON (without surname) appears in 1299. It has long been a matter of doubt when the bearing of coats of arms first became hereditary and it was not until the Crusades that Heraldry came into general use. Men went into battle heavily armed and were difficult to recognise. It became the custom for them to adorn their helmets with distinctive crests, and to paint their shields with animals and the like. Coats of arms accompanied the development of surnames, becoming hereditary in the same way. At first the coat of arms were a practical matter which served a function on the battlefield and in tournaments. With his helmet covering his face and armour encasing the knight from head to foot, the only means of identification for his followers, was the insignia painted on his shield, and embroidered on his surcoat, the draped and flowing garment worn over his armour. The lion depicted in the arms is the noblest of all wild beasts which is made to be the emblem of strength and valour, and is on that account the most frequently borne in Coat-Armour. |
Orders over $90 qualify for Free Shipping within the U.S. |
