Badges in English Heraldic Practice

On the one hand, badges are a well-known phenomenon, however on the other its nature is still poorly understood. It is a unique medieval sign which is extremely difficult to study due to its flexibility. There have never been any rules that would somehow regulate the application of badges: their visual form, adoption, inheritance. And consequently there have never been any lawsuits, that would leave us documents and letters that would help us understand its place in medieval society the way it is with the coats of arms. The following article is an attempt to gather what little we know about badges as specific English signs and present it to a Russian reader.