Ancient and modern arms

Ancient and modern are terms used in heraldry to differentiate two different coats of arms used at different periods by a family or other bearer. Reasons for changing arms have been numerous, the most famous being the 1376 change in the French royal arms by Charles V of France to show three fleurs-de-lis instead of semee de lis, possibly to symbolize the Holy Trinity. The reasons for other changes were more prosaic, for example where a court of chivalry ordered a change or differencing where two families claimed the same arms, as in the famous case of Scrope v Grosvenor. The resulting two versions of arms are referred to as "France ancient" and "France modern", "Grosvenor ancient" and "Grosvenor modern".

List of examples

Family	Ancient arms	Modern arms	Date of change	Notes
Capet			1376	See article Royal Arms of France
Portugal			1245 /1485	See article Coat of arms of Portugal
Denmark			1819	Originally the lions were heraldic leopards facing the viewer and the number of hearts was not defined and could be much larger than today. The lions were defined as heraldic lions and the number of hearts specified to nine in 1819.
Grosvenor			1389	See article Scrope v Grosvenor
Gorges			1347	See article Warbelton v Gorges
Percy			1273-1314	See article Henry de Percy, 1st Baron Percy
Talbot				See article Baron Talbot. Modern arms are of Rhys Mechyll, whose daughter Gwenllian was the wife of Gilbert Talbot, grandfather of Talbot, 1st Baron Talbot
Cantilupe			1275-1282	See article Thomas de Cantilupe
Killigrew				See article Arwenack
Scudamore
Crewe			bef. 1303	Sir Thomas de Crewe, Lord of Crewe used a seal depicting fretwork with quatrefoils filling in the spaces. His son Patrick would begin using a lion rampant, which became the modern arms of Crewe. See the 17th century portrait of Sir Ranulphe Crewe by Peter Lely for a quartered depiction of both arms.