A record of documented arms, meaning and origin, researched for the Basel family of Switzerland.
J. B. Rietstap, Armorial Général, Gouda: G. B. van Goor Zonen, 1884–87
Blazon (the actual original written record)“De sa.; chapé-ployé d'arg. C.: un demi-vol, aux armes de l'écu.”
The Basel arms were recorded in Switzerland, c. 1745.
Arms such as these were typically recorded in Bern.
Bern was the largest of the Swiss cantons and ran itself, with its own council and its own courts. Its governing families held office for generations, and office of that kind carried a shield with it.
This is where the arms were entered in the register. Families often moved to other parts of the country, so the same name can turn up in more than one region.
The body that granted and recorded arms in Switzerland in this period.
In Switzerland, coats of arms were not restricted to the nobility and were often adopted by common citizens and families. These symbols were passed down through generations to show family identity. When branches of a family grew, they often changed small details of the design to distinguish their own line from the original group.
The family name Basel likely originated as a locative surname, which was a common way for people in medieval Europe to identify themselves based on their place of origin. In this case, the name points toward the city of Basel in Switzerland, suggesting that the earliest ancestors of the family may have migrated from that region before establishing themselves elsewhere. By 1745, records confirm that members of the family were living and working in the city of Bern. During the eighteenth century, families in this region were often deeply integrated into the local guild systems or agricultural communities. As they moved from their ancestral home to new cities like Bern, they carried the name as a marker of their heritage, helping to distinguish their lineage within the growing urban population of the Swiss Confederation.
Derived from the Greek word for king or royal.
