Records Heraldic visitation

thomas hawley, clarenceux king of arms, wearing tabard displaying royal arms of england; manuscripts first tour of london earliest existing records of english visitation.

the principal records emerge visitations pedigrees, recorded on loose sheets of paper, , afterwards bound notebooks. in cases, sheets include blank shields had been drawn in advance (or @ later date printed), simplify process of recording coats of arms. persons pedigrees recorded required (from 1570 onwards) certify them signature, , these original draft pedigrees have survived known originals signatures . signed copies taken college of arms, fair copies made higher standard , preserved office copies . signed copies retained @ college, in other cases, no longer considered of official interest, might pass private hands: once in general circulation, further copies made, might in turn revised or augmented. result, number of variant manuscript copies of 1 visitation record may survive, possessing varying degrees of accuracy , authority. harleian collection of british library particularly rich in such records. many visitation records have been published on years, harleian society, county record societies, , few privately (see listing below). however, because until relatively college of arms restricted access records, many of older published editions based on unofficial second- or third-generation copies in other collections, , may therefore not reliable.

from 1530s, officers of arms on visitation compiled known church notes . these fieldnotes (usually in form of sketches) of coats of arms observed on church monuments, in stained glass windows, or on display in private houses. sometimes, drawings made of non-heraldic antiquities, such medieval architectural features, views of towns, roman inscriptions , stonehenge.

the 17th-century visitations generated growing number of supplementary papers, including warrants, lists of persons disclaimed pretence arms, lists of persons summoned appear before heralds (including had not appeared), records of fees paid, , miscellaneous correspondence.