Tabard

'' by Diego Velázquez, , depicting a functional workman's tabard A tabard (from the French tabarde) was originally a humble outer garment of tunic form, generally without sleeves, worn by peasants, monks and foot-soldiers. In this sense, the earliest citation recorded in the Oxford English Dictionary dates from . By the second half of the 15th century, tabards, now open at the sides and so usually belted, were also being worn by knights in military contexts over their armour, and were usually emblazoned with their arms (though sometimes worn plain). The Oxford English Dictionary first records this use of the word in English in 1450. At The Queen's College, Oxford, the scholars on the foundation were called tabarders, from the tabard (not in this case an emblazoned garment) which they wore. A surviving garment similar to the medieval tabard is the monastic scapular. This is a wide strip of fabric worn both front and back of the body, with an opening for the head and no sleeves. It may have a hood, and may be worn under or over a belt. ==British heraldry==

, Clarenceux King of Arms, depicted in his tabard on a grant of arms of 1556 By the end of the 16th century, the tabard was particularly associated with officers of arms. The shift in emphasis was reported by John Stow in 1598, when he described a tabard as: In the case of Royal officers of arms, the tabard is emblazoned with the coat of arms of the sovereign. Private officers of arms, such as still exist in Scotland, make use of tabards emblazoned with the coat of arms of the person who employs them. In the United Kingdom the different ranks of officers of arms can be distinguished by the fabric from which their tabards are made. The tabard of a king of arms is made of velvet, the tabard of a herald of arms of satin, and that of a pursuivant of arms of damask silk. The oldest surviving English herald's tabard is that of Sir William Dugdale as Garter King of Arms (1677–1686). It was at one time the custom for English pursuivants to wear their tabards "athwart", that is to say with the smaller ("shoulder") panels at the front and back, and the larger panels over the arms; but this practice was ended during the reign of James II and VII. The derisive Scots nickname of "" for John Balliol ( – 1314) may originate from either an alleged incident where his arms were stripped from his tabard in public, or a reference to the Balliol arms which are a plain shield with an orle, also known as an inescutcheon voided. ==Canadian heraldry==

A tabard for the Chief Herald of Canada to wear on special occasions was unveiled in May 2012 by David Johnston, the then Governor General of Canada. The tabard weighs and is coloured in royal blue, a colour emblematic of the governor general. The tabard is made up of four sections that include several symbols. Its body is embroidered with stripes of alternating maple leaves with raven-bears at the body's centre. The raven-bears are derived from the supporters of the arms of the Canadian Heraldic Authority, and were designed in the emblematic tradition of Coast Salish and Kwakwakaʼwakw nation. Unlike traditional tabards, the coat of arms of Canada is embroidered on the tabard's sleeves. ==Gallery==

Herald Gelre of the Duke of Gueldres.jpg|Gelre Herald to the Duke of Guelders, JoanBeaufortandJames.jpg|James I, King of Scotland 1406–1437, and his wife Joan Beaufort Rubbing of the Denys funerary brass, Saint Mary the Virgin, Olveston, Gloucestershire, England.jpg|Tabards displaying quartered coats of arms on front and sleeves: the Denys brass of 1505, Olveston, Gloucestershire Pompa funebris Albert Ardux - Heravlts de Flandria.jpg|Heraldic tabards worn at the funeral of Albert VII, Archduke of Austria, in Brussels in 1622 Lelyvanda.jpg|A pursuivant wearing his tabard "athwart". A drawing by Peter Lely from the 1660s. St_John_the_Baptist_Wearing_the_Red_Tabard_of_the_Order_of_St_John_-_Mattia_Preti.jpg|St John the Baptist Wearing the Red Tabard of the Order of St John (1671) by Mattia Preti Peter O'Donoghue.jpg|Peter O'Donoghue, Bluemantle Pursuivant, photographed in 2006 Baker's wife.jpg|A modern protective tabard worn by a bakery worker Manx grand prix 2010 1823.JPG|Orange high-visibility tabards worn by competitive motorcyclists ==Cultural allusions==

A tabard was the inn sign of the Tabard Inn in Southwark, London, established in 1307 and remembered as the starting point for Geoffrey Chaucer's pilgrims on their journey to Canterbury in The Canterbury Tales, dating from about the 1380s. In E. C. Bentley's short story "The Genuine Tabard", published in his collection Trent Intervenes in 1938, a wealthy American couple purchase an antique heraldic tabard, having been told that it was worn in 1783 by Sir Rowland Verey, Garter King of Arms, when proclaiming the Peace of Versailles from the steps of St James's Palace. The amateur detective Philip Trent is able to point out that it in fact bears the post-1837 royal arms. ==See also==