Grant of arms

Coat letters are assigned to the a specific heraldic badge of a person, corporation, city, etc. formal documents. A coat of arms letter received originally from the Middle Ages non-noble knights on the right conferred by the King of Arms.

Coat of letters or crest diplomas are a sign of recognition to individuals or families of a document issued sovereigns. This coat of arms letters are not equivalent to a survey in the peerage.

Coat of arms as well as noble letters originated in the 14th century and were first exhibited and awarded by the emperor or his Hofpfalzgrafen.

The oldest known coat of arms letter was issued by Emperor Louis IV of Bavaria on February 8, 1338 for the Count Carbonesi, and the oldest nobility by the Emperor Charles IV on September 30, 1360 for the citizens of Frankfurt and Mainz clergy Wicker frog whose grave plate may be regarded in St. Catherine's Church in Frankfurt today.

The coat of arms letter gave the owner sometimes by its content then all honor and preferential rights of the nobility. If the recipient of the crest letters and their descendants did not put the word " of" before their name, corresponded to that of a former custom. When this then the beginning of the 18th century became common, it was unopposed.