The International College of Arms of the Noblesse was founded in 1925 at the International Convention of the Noblesse de Race in the United States of America, by virtue of powers previously confirmed to the noblesse by Francis II, King of France and extended to French-speaking Canada. King Francis II recognized the right of the noblesse to govern themselves in all matters heraldic, which was then confirmed and extended by Ordinances of the Kings of France dated 1725 and 1744 respectively, as recognized and maintained by Articles XXXVII and XLV of the Capitulation of Montreal 1760, and guaranteed by the Quebéc-Canada Act 1774 and by Articles II and XXVI of the Treaty of Paris 1763.

At the International Convention in 1925 the College was placed under the control of Count H. Victor Cherep-Spiridovich, formerly aide-de-camp to Tsar Nicholas II of Russia. From him, it passed to the British Orthodox Archbishop Mar Frederic Harrington, and on Archbishop Harrington’s death in 1942 he was succeeded as Supreme Herald-Marshall by Mar Jacobus II, British Patriarch. In 1945, Mar Jacobus II appointed as his successor Mar Georgius, Catholicos of the West.

The College was incorporated under Act XXI of 1860 in India on 20 February 1950 (registration 5/1950) as a constituent corporation of the Catholicate of the West. In 1953, Mar Georgius separated his work from the Catholicate, abandoning the Indian incorporation, and founded a new organization. However, the Catholicate continued in existence independently from Mar Georgius and on 6 August 1977 was formally united with the headship of the Apostolic Episcopal Church in an act registered with the Secretary of State of California, USA. In February 2015, the present Prince-Abbot of San Luigi also became Presiding Bishop of the Apostolic Episcopal Church and Catholicos of the West, whereby the College became part of a common administration with the Abbey-Principality of San Luigi under the Prince-Abbot as Supreme Herald-Marshall. The College today includes the Heraldic Colleges of the Abbey-Principality of San Luigi and Royal Belarus.

The College is empowered to grant, recognize and matriculate Arms, to confirm and register nobiliary and chivalric titles, to collate titles deriving from diverse fontes honorum, and to prove the transmission of inherited honours. In general, it conducts research and maintains archives on heraldic and nobiliary matters. It is an international body, subject to no geographical constraint, save that its activities are restricted to those areas where there is no extant competent governmental heraldic body to undertake the work in question. In practice this means that it is directed primarily to those who live in countries where there is no governmental heraldic body. In countries where there is a governmental heraldic body it may undertake activities which for whatever reason are not regulated by law or undertaken officially.

The reader should note that the International College of Arms of the Noblesse has not authorized any third parties to provide commercial services under its name or to represent the same on websites. Any such offer, particularly if made in the context of unrecognized “peerages” and esoteric titles, should be regarded as fraudulent. Please see the linked Notice.

The role of the International College of Arms of the Noblesse

When a governmental heraldic authority registers arms, it has the power to grant them some measure of legal protection. A private heraldic authority cannot do this. It can only aspire to maintain a well-ordered register of arms that could at some future point potentially attain official status.

The International College of Arms of the Noblesse, in addition to its other international activities, will register personal, organizational and civic arms for those parties eligible according to its sphere of operations. It can provide advice on designing new arms in accordance with the traditional rules of heraldry, and confirm the entitlement of individuals to existing arms on the basis of genealogical proofs being supplied. It further registers the entitlement of those of noble ancestry to titles of nobility, again on receipt of appropriate proofs. In some cases, it can carry out heraldic and genealogical research.