Escutcheon (heraldry)
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In heraldry, an escutcheon (/ɪˈskʌtʃən/) is a shield that forms the main or focal element in an achievement of arms. The word can be used in two related senses. In the first sense, an escutcheon is the shield upon which a coat of arms is displayed. In the second sense, an escutcheon can itself be a charge within a coat of arms.
Escutcheon shapes are derived from actual shields that were used by
Although an escutcheon can be used as a charge on its own, the most common use of an escutcheon charge is to display another coat of arms as a form of marshalling. Such escutcheon charges are usually given the same shape as the main shield. When there is only one escutcheon charge, it is sometimes called an inescutcheon.
The word escutcheon (late 15th century) is based on Old North French escuchon ('shield').[a]
Shapes
The earliest depictions of proto-heraldic shields in the second half of the 12th century still have the shape of the Norman kite shield used throughout the 11th and 12th centuries. By about the 1230s, shields used by heavy cavalry had become shorter and more triangular, now called heater shields.
Transitional forms intermediate between kite and heater are seen in the late 12th to early 13th centuries. Transition to the heater was essentially complete by 1250. For example, the shield of
The shield on the enamel monument to
Beginning in the 15th century, and even more throughout the early modern period, a great variety of escutcheon shapes develops. In the
The shape of the top, the sides and the base may be separately described, and these elements may be freely combined.
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Kite shield, 12th/13th century
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"Norman" style, 13th century
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"Heater" shape, 13th/14th century
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Square ("Old French") shape
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"Square Iberian" or Iberian style (square top, rounded base), 15th century[5]
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Bouched or bouché side ("German" or "Dutch" style), 15th century.[b]
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Scroll-eared top, lobed base, 16th century
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Square eared, nicked top, rounded base, 16th century
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"Wedge" top
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"Polish" style, 17th century [7]
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Eared top, French base
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"French" style, 17th century[c]
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Two engrailed top, 19th century[d]
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oval or "Iberian" shape
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Lozenge shape (see Lozenge section)
Lozenge
In English heraldry, the lozenge has been used by women since the 13th century[11] for the display of their coats of arms instead of the escutcheon or shield, which are associated with warfare. In this case the lozenge is shown without crest or helm. For the practical purpose of categorisation the lozenge may be treated as a variety of heraldic escutcheon.
Traditionally, very limited categories of females have been able to display their own arms, for example a female monarch—who uses an escutcheon as a military commander, not a lozenge—and suo jure peeresses, who may display their own arms alone on a lozenge even if married.[12] In general a female was represented by her paternal arms impaled by the arms of her husband on an escutcheon as a form of marshalling.
In modern Canadian heraldry, and certain other modern heraldic jurisdictions, women may be granted their own arms and display these on an escutcheon.[citation needed] Life peeresses in England display their arms on a lozenge.[12] An oval or cartouche is occasionally also used instead of the lozenge for armigerous women.
As a result of rulings of the English
Points
The points of the shield refer to specific positions thereon and are used in blazons to describe where a charge should be placed.[19]
- Chief: very top of the shield, corresponding to where the ordinary chief begins
- Dexter: right side of shield when worn (viewer's left)
- Sinister: left side of shield when worn (viewer's right)
- Base: very bottom
- Dexter Chief: top-right corner
- Middle Chief: top-middle
- Sinister Chief: top-left corner
- Honour Point: halfway between the middle chief and fess point
- Fess Point: exact middle
- Nombril Point: halfway between the base and the honour point or between the middle base and the fess point [20]
- Dexter Base: bottom-right
- Sinister Base: bottom-left
- Middle Base (seldom used): bottom-middle
Inescutcheon
An inescutcheon is a smaller escutcheon that is placed within or superimposed over the main shield of a coat of arms.
Pelta escutcheon
The current
Console
The term "console" in architecture is generally used for elements which provide support, such as corbels on a console table.[e] A console in heraldry is a decorative frame or support, generally in an architectural or illustrative context, surrounding a heraldic shield or escutcheon, which serves to add interest to and mitigate the harshness of the stark outline of the shield.
Notes
- ^ Ultimately from Vulgar Latin scūtiōn-, Latin scūtum, 'shield'.[1] From its use in heraldry, the term escutcheon can be a metaphor for a family's honour. The idiom "a blot on the escutcheon" is used to mean a stain on somebody's reputation.[2]
- jousting shields, attested (in depictions of actual shields) from the mid 14th century, occasional use as a shape of heraldic escutcheons from the mid-15th century.[6]
- ^ Used in the Armorial général de France (1696).[8] The "French" shape of the base is found earlier, in French and English heraldry, from c. 1600 ("Stuart" type).
- Swiss mediation period(1803–1815).
- ^ The term derives from the compound Latin verb consolor "to alleviate, lighten", from the verb solor, "to assuage, soothe, relieve, mitigate", plus the preposition con/com/cum, "with".[22]
References
- ^ "Escutcheon". American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th ed. Houghton Mifflin Company. 2000. Archived from the original on 8 April 2008. Retrieved 22 March 2009.
- ^ "escutcheon". Oxford English Dictionary. Archived from the original on 12 April 2020. Retrieved 19 December 2009.
- ^ Grazebrook 1890, p.38.
- ^ Grazebrook 1890, plate I.
- ^ Codex Figdor Archived 21 October 2018 at the Wayback Machine, Tiroler Landesarchiv, Innsbruck (c. 1400).
- ^ Grazebrook 1890, p31–35.
- ^ Szymański, Józef (2001) [2001]. Nauki Pomocnicze Historii. Warsaw.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ d'Hozier, Louis Pierre (1865) [1696]. Armorial général, ou Registres de la noblesse de France. Paris: Firmin Didot – via Internet Archive.
- ^ "Royal wedding: Kate Middleton coat of arms unveiled". BBC News. 19 April 2011. Archived from the original on 19 April 2011. Retrieved 19 April 2011.
- ^ Bates, Stephen (19 April 2011). "Kate Middleton family gets coat of arms". The Guardian. UK. Archived from the original on 12 February 2014. Retrieved 19 April 2011.
- ^ Grazebrook (1890), p. 20.
- ^ a b The Arms of Women (2002), paragraph 10.
- ^ Garter King of Arms; Clarenceux King of Arms; Norroy and Ulster King of Arms (Autumn 2002). "The Arms of Women, a Decree". Coat of Arms. No. 199.
- ^ The Arms of Women (2002), paragraph 6.
- ^ The Arms of Women (2002), paragraph 3.
- ^ The Arms of Women (2002), paragraph 9.
- ^ Fearn, Jacqueline (1980). Discovering Heraldry. Shire. p. 61.
- ^ Thomas Woodcock, Garter King of Arms; Patric Dickinson, Clarenceux King of Arms; H Bedingfeld, Norroy and Ulster King of Arms (29 March 2014). "The Arms of Individuals in Same-Sex Marriages". college-of-arms.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 9 July 2019. Retrieved 31 July 2019.
- ^ Boutell (1914), p. 33, figure 27; Woodward & Burnett (1892), p. 58
- ISBN 0760749752. Archivedfrom the original on 28 June 2022. Retrieved 22 June 2023.
- ^ "The Austerlitz or 'Maréchaux' Table". Archived from the original on 4 December 2021. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
- ^ Cassell's Latin Dictionary, Marchant, J.R.V, & Charles, Joseph F., (Eds.), Revised Edition, 1928
Further reading
- Boutell, Charles (1914). Fox-Davies, A.C. (ed.). The Handbook to English Heraldry (11th ed.). London: Reeves & Turner. OCLC 81124564 – via Project Gutenberg.
- Fox-Davies, Arthur Charles (1909). A Complete Guide to Heraldry: Illustrated by Nine Plates and Nearly 800 Other Designs. London: T.C. & E.C. Jack. LCCN 09023803.
- Grazebrook, George (1890). The dates of variously-shaped shields with coincident dates and examples. Liverpool: Brakell.
- Woodward, John; Burnett, George (1892) [1884]. A treatise on heraldry, British and foreign: with English and French glossaries. Edinburgh: W. & A. B. Johnson. LCCN 02020303– via Internet Archive.