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The TabardA tabard is a short coat, either sleeveless, or with short sleeves or shoulder pieces, which was a common item of men's clothing in the Middle Ages, usually for outdoors. It might be belted, or not. In a form of a Surcoat, it might be emblazoned on the front and back with a coat-of-arms, and in this form they survive now as the distinctive garment of officers of arms in heraldry. (from the French tabarde)was originally a humble outer garment of tunic form, generally without sleeves, worn by peasants, monks and foot-soldiers, including Chaucer's ploughman.(Canterbury Tales: General Prologue)In the late middle ages apparels, now open at the sides and so usually belted, were worn by knights over their armour, and usually emblazoned with their arms (though sometimes worn plain). OED first records this use in English in 1450. In this meaning they were apparently distinguished from surcoat by being open at the side, and by being shorter. These became an important means of battlefield identification with the development of plate armor as the use of shields declined.A very expensive, but plain, garment described as a coat-of-arms is worn by Giovanni Arnolfini in the Arnolfini Portrait of 1434 (National Gallery, London). This may be made of silk velvet and is trimmed and fully lined with fur, possibly sable. Similarly at Queens College, Oxford, the scholars on the foundation. obviously not an emblazoned garment, which they wore. It can also be the British English word for a cobbler apron.
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