The
BURKE
Coat of Arms
According to legend, the Coat of arms were were given to a BURKE ancestor by Richard Couer de Lion during the Crusades. It is said a "de Burgh"was responsible for killing a saracen chief and astounded by his bravery, Richard drew a cross with the blood of the dead saracen on de Burghs golden shield and said "these be thine arms forever".
As wonderful as this legend is, It may have been propagated by an extract relating to Baldwin De Burgh in the De Burgo manuscript - Historia et Genealogia Familiae de Burgo - "and Baldwin de Burgh took the sovereignty of the saracens and shed their blood profusely, amd killed the King, and the Egyptians fell in great numbers by him".
Although people have been decorating shields for countless centuries even before christ, heraldry is much younger than that, and well after the Crusades.
Heraldry actualy dates from the second quarter of the twelfth century and is mainly attributed to the development of armour during the medieval period. It is thought that it was a method of identification in battle due to the emergence of the closed face helmets.
The most interesting part of the Burke Coat of Arms is the "Lion rampant" this was only given to sovereigns and noblemen of high rank and is one of the oldest "Charges" to be found in heraldry.