The coat of arms of TEMAF depicts a silver heraldic griffin on a scarlet field with the Latin motto “Unguibus et rostro atque alis armatus in hostem” – “Armed against the enemy with talons and beak and wings”. The motto has been chosen not by accident, as a comparison of fencers with battling birds was a popular metaphor. As, for example, in the description of duel between sir Hatton Cheek and sir Thomas Dutton on swords and daggers, which took place in winter 1610:

“After some brief flourishing and flashing, — the gleam of the swift clear steel playing madly in one’s eyes, — they, at the first pass, plunge home on one another; home, with beak and claws; home to the very heart!” ( “Memorials of the Duttons of Dutton in Cheshire”, Henry Sotheran, 1901, P. 51)