Osprey Men-at-Arms №099. Terence Wise. Medieval Heraldry

Osprey Publishing, 1980. — 48 p. — ISBN: 0850453488.Coats of arms were at first used only by kings and princes, then by their great nobles, but by the mid-13th century arms were being used extensively by the lesser nobility, knights and those who later came to be styled gentlemen. In some countries the use of arms spread even to merchants, townspeople and the peasantry.