The Scots are a curious bunch. On the one hand we can be extremely egalitarian. “A Man’s a man for a’ that,” Burns’ great prophetic ode to the brotherhood of man, captures something central to our collective national character.

On the other, we are deeply attached to our history. Highlanders notably have been famously and fanatically loyal to their kings and chiefs, even when those leaders, frankly, proved unworthy of that devotion. Particularly among Scots of the Diaspora, there remains a strong identification with family and clan, a fascination with chiefs and commanders along with the mottos, badges and insignia that go with them. These cultural practices and symbols tie us together and bind us back to the land of our ancestors, the home of our hearts.

Get to Highland Games and see the proud displays in the family and clan tents; the flags and banners flying everywhere; the vendors selling everything from T-shirts, ties and sashes to mugs, key rings and who knows what with your clan tartan and insignia.

Except, of course, clans don’t have coats of arms or mottos, armigers do. An armiger is an individual with heraldic arms. A family or clan is a group of people who recognize a specific armiger as their chief or commander and wear his or her crest surrounded by a strap and buckle bearing the chief’s motto or slogan to show allegiance to the same.

In reality, it’s a bit more complicated than that. The Lord Lyon King of Arms, the supreme judge of heraldry in Scotland, may recognize the chief of a clan or the head of a family by a grant or a confirmation of the principal Arms of the clan or family in question. And for an armiger to truly be an armiger, their arms must also have been recognized by the Lyon Court and entered into the Public Register of All Arms and Bearings in Scotland, maintained since 1672. Scotland, in fact, has some of the most extensive and very precise rules governing arms and heraldic achievements in the world.

The Society of Scottish Armigers was founded with the mission to promote Scottish culture, history, and heritage through outreach and education while helping people understand these rules and avoid common mistakes. The Society serves as a valuable tool to provide information and assistance to the public on arms and heraldry for me as President and The Lyon Court, although they do not speak for us in an ‘official’ sense. Similarly, The Society serves as a conduit for communication with other entities such as the Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs (SCSC), Heraldry Society of Scotland (HSS), etc. and the public. A number of peers and prominent clan chiefs or family commanders are also members of the Society and in active communication with these organizations; however, they do not speak for them in any official sense either. You can find links to both The Lyon Court and these other websites at the ‘Useful Links’ tab. This website, then, is intended to serve many disparate groups. We want to be a forum for our members. But most of all we hope to serve the general public and be a resource for Scots all over the world, and for communities which may find themselves hosting Scottish Games or Celtic Festivals. By improving knowledge and understanding thereby helping avoid mistakes, we hope to play a part in strengthening the important ties which bind Scots including the Diaspora to the land of our ancestors. Please let us know if you find this site helpful, and what we can do to help you as well as make it better.

Sincerely,

Dr Joseph J. Morrow CVO CBE KC LLD DL FRSE
The Right Honourable Lord Lyon King of Arms