CoA William Shakespeare - Springfield, MA - Coats of Arms on Waymarking.com

One of the windows honors William Shakespear and that window has a stained glass depiction of his Coat of Arms in a circular motif. The ates of Shakespeare's birth and death are set on either side of the Coat of Arms: 1564-1616.

This website (visit link) has another image of the CoA and provides this description and history:

"The Shakespeare family made an application for the right to bear a Coat of Arms

The application cost 30 guineas

On October 20, 1596 permission from the Garter King of Arms was granted

John Shakespeare, and his children, had permission to display a coat-of-arms

The Shakespeare's were entitled to put "gentleman" after their name and the coat-of-arms could be displayed on their door and all their personal items

DESCRIPTION OF THE COAT OF ARMS

The description of the Coat of Arms grant to the Shakespeare family was as follows:

'Gold, on a bend (diagonal bar) sable (black), a spear of the first (i.e. gold), steeled argent (with a silver tip); and for his crest... a falcon his wings displayed argent (silver), standing on a wreath of his colours supporting a spear gold, steeled as aforesaid, (i.e. silver) set upon a helmet with mantles and tassles'

The motto was "Non sanz droict" or "Not without right"

The actual design of the crest design would have not formed part of the Heraldic Documentation

The Shakespeare family would have given the description and Heraldic Documentation to a designer

The designer would have then made an interpretation of the description and drawn a crest

The original crest design is not in existence so there are various interpretations of the Shakespeare Coat of Arms."

Another depiction of the CoA can be seen at (visit link)

Bearer of Coat of Arms: Noble (aristocratic) family Full name of the bearer: William Shakespeare Where is Coat of Arms installed (short description) ?: On a stained glass window at the George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum. Material / Design: Glass (painted / stained) Blazon (heraldic description): see above Address: 21 Edwards Street Springfield, MA 01103 Web page about the structure where is Coat of Arms installed (if exists): [Web Link] Web page about the bearer of Coat of Arms (if exists): [Web Link]

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Date Logged Log   06/26/2010 Metro2 visited it