Have You Ever Wondered Why

... a family's heraldic symbol is called a "coat of arms"?

In medieval Europe men serving under a feudal lord in battle needed some way to identify one another. This was
particularly true during the Crusades when many nations fought together. To provide this identification, shields were
painted with brightly coloured symbols called "arms" that identified the feudal lord. Men of lower rank wore badges
showing this same symbol.

Knights usually had this symbol emblazoned on light cloth tunics or coats that they wore over their armour. This tunic
became known as a "coat of arms", and later the term came to mean the heraldic symbol itself.

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