A tabard is a type of short coat that was commonly worn by men during the late Middle Ages and early modern period in Europe. Generally worn outdoors, the coat was either sleeveless or had short sleeves or shoulder pieces. In its more developed form it was open at the sides, and it could be worn with or without a belt. Though most were ordinary garments, often work clothes, tabards might be emblazoned on the front and back with a coat of arms (livery), and in this form they survive as the distinctive garment of officers of arms.
A 20th-century English herald's tabard
The Waterseller of Seville by Diego Velázquez, c. 1620, depicting a functional workman's tabard
Thomas Hawley, Clarenceux King of Arms, depicted in his tabard on a grant of arms of 1556
Gelre Herald to the Duke of Guelders, c. 1380
An officer of arms is a person appointed by a sovereign or state with authority to perform one or more of the following functions:to control and initiate armorial matters;
to arrange and participate in ceremonies of state;
to conserve and interpret heraldic and genealogical records.
Kings of arms Timothy Duke and David Vines White in 2022
Banners bearing heraldic badges of several officers of arms at the College of Arms in London
