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Sorry haven't posted for ages and I'm by no means an expert on this subject but to answer a few points at least far as heraldry in England is concerned. And as you can tell by all the brackets etc the rules are not always hard and fast. By the way this is all from memory so apologies for any slips and the length of this post.

Firstly, there is no such thing as a 'family' coat of arms, Arms are borne by individuals and will pass down on their death to the legitimate (usually) male heir. Sons may bear their father's (usually) arms (while he/she lives) but with a mark of 'cadetship' that denotes their status, firstborn, second son etc. On death the heir assumes the arms and removes the mark of cadetship, his/her siblings may continue to bear arms (usually) as long as they are 'differenced' in some way, that is by changing some feature/features of the arms in a recognisable manner, reversing the colours or changing the stance of an heraldic beast for example. The confusion as to 'family' coats of arms has probably arisen due to the practice of 'impaling' and 'quartering' where a wife would 'impale' (splitting the shield in two down the middle) the arms of her father with those of her spouse, further arms could be included by 'quartering' (exactly what it sounds like) until a shield could depict an entire genealogy. If you ever been to a big country house there's usually one of these hanging somewhere with a family tree given below.

Similarly there is no such thing as a 'family' crest. Crest were the decoration worn on a helmet and could be different for each member although again the crest would pass to the legitimate heir as part of the 'achievement'. A full achievement contains the arms (depicted on the shield), 'supporters' (usually beasts either side of the shield), the 'helm' (above the shield, their are different forms which denote status depending on their style and the direction they face), above the helm the 'crest' rests on a 'wreath' and is usually accompanied by 'mantling' which represents the cloth trappings attached to a helmet to keep the sun off it. The wreath and mantling with usually reflect the two most prominent colours used in the arms.

Descriptions of arms and achievements are written in a form of Norman French and are termed 'blazons'. They comprise 'tinctures' (colours), 'metals' (gold and silver usually seen as white and yellow), 'furs' (neither colour nor metal but anumber of patterns representing different types of fur such as ermine), 'divisions' (fairly self evident what they do but there are a multitude of them), 'lines of partition' (ditto),'ordinaries' (devices such as crosses, crescescents etc) and finally beasts, men, fish, birds and anthing else you want to depict.

The first individual to bear identifiable arms and use them in a way that we would understand today is generally considered to be Geoffrey Count of Anjou, father of Henry II and grandfather of Richard I (hope I got the relationships right). In modern blazonry his arms were 'Gules, two lions passant guardant or' (red with two gold lions), Richard I famously added a third lion which became the arms of England. If you want a pub quiz question the lion 'passant guardant' (three feet on the floor its right front leg raised and head facing the viewer) was known in early French heraldry as a leopard so the arms of England could legitimately be described as three leopards.

As to two individuals sharing the same arms it should not happen. The best known example occurred in 1399 (I think) when two knights arrived at a tournament bearing the same arms 'azure a bend or' (blue with a gold diagonal stripe) they were obliged to joust together to decide who had the right to bear the arms. The winner's name was Scrope, the loser's Grosvenor. Grosvenor was then granted arms of 'azure, three wheatsheafs or'. The Scrope family died out sometime after the wars of the roses, the Grosvenors became the Dukes of Westminster. One Duke in the early 20th century was actually known by the nickname 'Ben Dor' after a racehorse he owned.

You can in theory at least be prosecuted in the Court of Arms at the Royal College of Arms for using someone else's arms without permission, the last time this occurred was in 1953 when the corporation of Manchester sued the Manchester Palace of Varieties for illegal use of its arms but corporate heraldry is a whole different field arguably more akin to trademarks.

Robert

Maybe a typo on your part or the Berkely archivist doesn't know his blazonry too well but the Berkely arms are 'Gules a Chevron Argent, between ten crosses patee Argent, six above, four below'. As to why the Berkeleys would add the crosses in the first place I don't know, it obviously occurs after c1252 when Maurice de Berkeley is listed as bearing 'Gules a chevron Argent' in an armorial known as 'Glover's Roll'. To hazard a wild guess (otherwise known as pure speculation based on no evidence whatsoever) the addition of the crosses may possibly be in commemoration of a significant event such as completion of a pilgrimage, to mark a charitable gift to the church or maybe in thanks for recovery from a serious illness. Alternatively (and never to be underestimated when it comes to peoples' attitudes to arms both then and now) perhaps somebody just thought it made them look more important.

I do know that when George Gregory adopted a version of the Kyme arms in the 1660's he added a further three (or possibly four, sorry this is mainly from memory) crosslets Gules to the chevron Or as a means of differencing from the Kymes.