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Inheraldry,variations of the field are any of a number of ways that afield (or acharge) may be covered with a pattern, rather than a flattincture or a simpledivision of the field.
The diminutives of theordinaries are frequently employed to vary the field.
Any of these patterns may becounterchanged by the addition of a division line; for example,barryargent and azure, counterchanged per fess orchecquyOr andgules, counterchanged per chevron.
When the field is patterned with an even number of horizontal (fesswise) stripes, this is described asbarry e.g. of six or eight, usually of a colour and metal specified, e.g.barry of sixargent andgules (this implies that the chiefmost piece is argent).[a] With ten or more pieces, the field is described asbarruly.A field with narrowpiles throughout, issuing from either the dexter or sinister side of the shield, isbarry pily.
When the field is patterned with an even number of vertical stripes (pallets), the field is described aspaly.
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When the field is patterned with a series of diagonal stripes (bendlets), running from top-left to bottom-right, the field is described asbendy. In the opposite fashion (top-right to bottom-left) it isbendy sinister (ofskarpes, the diminutive inEngland of the bend sinister); of chevronels,chevronny. An unusual example of bendy is one in which a metal alternates with two colours.[3]
In modern practice the number of pieces is nearly always even. A shield of thirteen vertical stripes, alternating argent and gules, would not bepaly of thirteen, argent and gules, butargent, six pallets gules.[b][4]One unusual design is described in part asbendy of three though, as each third is again divided, the effect is of a six-part division.[5]
If no number of pieces is specified, it may be left up to the heraldic artist, but is still represented with an even number.
An instance of afess...palySable, Argent,Bleu celeste andOr occurs in the arms of the 158th Quartermaster Battalion of theUnited States Army,[6] although this is atypical terminology and it could be argued that the fess should be blazoned asper pale, in dexter per pale sable and argent, and in sinister per pale bleu celeste and or.
In themodern arms of theCount of Schwarzburg, the quarters are divided by a cross bendy of three tinctures.
When the shield is divided by lines both palewise and bendwise, with the pieces coloured alternately like a chess board, this ispaly-bendy; if the diagonal lines are reversed,paly-bendy sinister.[7] If horizontal rather than vertical lines are used, it isbarry-bendy; and similarly, when reversed,barry-bendy sinister.
A field which seems to be composed of a number of triangular pieces isbarry bendy and bendy sinister.
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When divided by palewise and fesswise lines into achequered pattern, the field ischequy. Thecoat of arms of CroatiaChequy gules and argent is a well known example of the red and white chequy.[8] The arms of a Bleichröder, banker to Bismarck,[9] show chequyfimbriated (thechequers being divided by thin lines). The arms of the 85th Air Division (Defense) of theUnited States Air Force showa checky grid on part of the field, though this is to be distinguished fromchequy.[10] The number of chequers is generally indeterminate, though the fess in the arms of Robert Stewart, Lord of Lorn, they are blazoned as being "of four tracts" (in four horizontal rows);[11] and in arms ofToledo, fifteen chequers are specified. The number of vertical rows can also be specified. When a bend or bend sinister, or one of their diminutives, is chequy, the chequers follow the direction of the bend unless otherwise specified. James Parker cites the French termequipolle to mean chequy of nine, though mentions that this is identical to across quarter-pierced (strangely, this is blazoned asaLatin square chequy of nine in the arms of theStatistical Society of Canada).[12] He also gives the arms of Prospect as an unusual example of chequy,Chequy in perspective argent and sable;[13] which must be distinguished from cubes as a charge.[14] Chequy is not "fanciable"; that is, the lines of chequy cannot be modified bylines of partition.[15]
When the shield is divided by both bendwise and bendwise-sinister lines, creating a field of lozenges coloured like a chessboard, the result islozengy.[c] A field lozengy must be distinguished from an ordinary such as a bend which is blazoned of one tincture and calledlozengy; this means that the ordinary is entirely composed of lozenges, touching at their obtuse corners. Such arrangement is better blazoned aslozenges bendwise.[d] Inpaly bendy, the bendwise lines are supposed to be less acute than in plain lozengy.[18]
Part of the field of the arms of the 544th Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Group of the United States Air Force islozengy in perspective.[19]
A fieldfusilly can be very difficult to distinguish from a field lozengy;[e] the fusil is supposed to be proportionately narrower than the lozenge, and the bendwise and bendwise-sinister lines are therefore more steeply sloped.
A fieldmasculy is composed entirely ofmascles; that is, lozenges pierced with a lozenge shape – this creates a solid fretwork surface and is to be distinguished from a fieldfretty.
An extremely rare, possibly unique example of a fieldrustré -counterchangedrustres - occurs in Canadian heraldry in the arms of R.C. Purdy Chocolates Ltd.[20]
A shield that is divided quarterly and per saltire, forming eight triangular pieces, isgyronny. This is technically a field covered withgyrons, a rare charge in the form of awedge, shown individually in the well-known arms ofMortimer. Possibly the best-known example is in the arms of the Scottish family of Campbell:Gyronny of eight or and sable, borne most notably by theDuke of Argyll,[21] Chief of theClan Campbell. The first tincture in the blazon is that of the triangle in dexter chief.[f] Gyronny can also have a different number of pieces than eight; for example, Sir William Stokker, Lord Mayor of London, had a field gyronny of six; there may be gyronny of ten or twelve, and the arms of Clackson provide an example ofgyronny of sixteen.[g] While the gyrons of gyronny almost invariably meet in the fess point, the exact centre of the shield, the arms of theUniversity of Zululand are an unusual example of gyronny meeting in the nombril point, a point on the shield midway between the fess point and the base point.[23] Gyronny can be modified by most of the lines of partition,[24] with exceptions such as dancetty and angled[why?].Thecanting arms of Maugiron showgyronny of six, clearly deemedmal-gironné ('badly gyronny').
Any of the division lines composing the variations of the field above may be blazoned with most of the differentline shapes; e.g.palynebuly of six, or and sable. One very common use of this isbarry wavy azure and argent; this is often used to represent eitherwater or a body of water in general, or the sea in particular, though there are other if less commonly used methods of representing the sea, including in a more naturalistic manner.
When the field (or a charge) is described assemé orsemy (occasionallysemee) of asub-ordinary or othercharge, it is depicted as being scattered (literally 'seeded') with many copies of that charge. Semé is regarded as part of the field[25] and thus within the opening section of the blazon describing the field before the first comma. Thus:Azure semy-de-lis or notAzure, semy-de-lis or. A charge on top would be blazoned:Azure semy-de-lis or, a bend argent.
To avoid confusion with a simple use of a large number of the same charge (e.g.Azure, fifteen fleurs-de-lis or), the charges semé are ideally depicted cut off at the edge of the field, though in olden depictions this is often not the case. An example of this can be found in the modernCoat of arms of Denmark, which now features three lions among nine hearts, but the ancient arms depicted three leopards on asemy of hearts, the number of which varied and was not fixed at nine until 1819. There are also some exceptions to this, as in the case of some bordures blazonedsemé, which are usually depicted with a discrete number (often eight) of the charge. Thus for example the arms ofJesus College, Cambridge, which despite a blazon ofseme are invariably depicted with either eight or tencrowns golde on its bordure. A large number (usually eight) of any one charge arranged as if upon an invisible bordure is said to bein orle, anorle being a diminutive band within the bordure.[26]
Most small charges can be depicted as semé, e.g.semé of roses,semé of estoiles, and so forth. In English heraldry, several types of small charges have special terms to refer to their state as semé:
When a field semé is of a metal, the charges strewn on it must be of a colour, and vice versa, so as not to offend therule of tincture.
In Cornish heraldry, the arms granted 1764 to a Hockin family arePer fesse wavy gules and azure a lion passant gardant or, beneath his feet a musket lying horizontally proper; and semé of fleur de lysconfusedly dispersed of the third [emphasis added],[28] alluding to an incident in which the marksmanship of a Cornish young man, Thomas Hockin, caused a boatload of French coastal raiders to scatter and flee back to their ship.[29]
The 1995–2002 arms of Rogaška Slatina, Slovenia, showVert, semee of disks or decreasing in size from base to chief.[30]
The heraldicfurs of theermine family appear to be semé of the "ermine spots", but they are not counted as such except when the tinctures of the spots and the field cannot be described as one of the four fursermine,ermines,erminois, orpean.[h]
A field or ordinarymasoned shows a pattern like that of a brick orashlar stone wall. This can beproper or of a named tincture. The tincture relates to the mortar between the stones or bricks: a wall of red bricks with white mortar is thus blazonedgules masoned argent.[33]
The town ofViļāni,Latvia, has part of its field honeycombed.[34] Another example of this is in the arms ofFusagasugá,Cundinamarca,Colombia.[35]
The arms of theSpecial Troops Battalion of the 2nd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division of the United States Army has the unique fieldPer pale sable and gules with stylized folds sanguine, the sinister half of the field symbolizing a warrior's cape.
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A fieldpappellony (French:papillon, 'butterfly') shows a pattern like the wings of a butterfly, though this is categorised as a fur.[36] The number of rows of pappellony are sometimes defined, such as seven in the arms of the Aleberici Family of Bologna. The ancient arms of the French Barons de Châteaubriant wereGules papellony or. The Italian termsquamoso and the Frenchécaillé, meaning 'scaly', are similar.[37]
Used in some South African coats, this means patterned like thepiebald markings of various domesticated animals.[38] There are other examples of South African heraldry that are more elaborately blazoned.[39]
A fieldtapissé ofwheat is entirely covered (literally 'carpeted') by an interlocking stylised pattern looking like a wheat field.[40]
In English heraldry,diapering, or covering areas of flat colour with a tracery design, is not considered a variation of the field; it is not specified in blazon, being a decision of the individual artist. A coat depicted with diapering is considered the same as a coat drawn from the same blazon but depicted without diapering.
In French heraldry, diapering is sometimes explicitly blazoned.
A fieldfretty is composed of bendlets and bendlets-sinister orscarps, interleaved over one another to give the impression of a trellis. Although almost invariably the bendlets and scarpes are of the same tincture, there is an example in which they are of two different metals.[41] It is rare for the number of pieces of the fretty to be specified, though this is sometimes done in French blazon. The bendlets and bendlets sinister are very rarely anything other than straight, as in the arms of David Robert Wooten, in which they are raguly.[42] Objects can be placed in the position of the bendlets and bendlets sinister and described asfretty of, as in the arms of theMuine Bheag Town Commissioners:Party per fess or fretty of blackthorn branches leaved proper and ermine, a fess wavy azure.[43]Square fretty is similarly composed of barrulets and pallets.[44]
Trellisé appears in the arms of Luc-Normand Tellier, where it consists ofbendlets, bendlets sinister, and barrulets interlaced.[45] These are not, strictly speaking, variations of the field, since they are depicted as being on the field rather than in it.
Variations of the field present a particular problem concerning consistent spelling of adjectival endings in Englishblazons. Heraldry developed at a time when, subsequent to theNorman Conquest, English clerks wrote inAnglo-Norman French; consequently, many terms in English heraldry, as a distinct style of the craft, are of French origin, as is the practice of mostadjectives being placed afternouns rather than, as is standard in English, before. A problem arises as to acceptable spellings of French words used in English blazons, especially in the case of adjectival endings, determined in normal French usage by gender and number. It is considered by some heraldic authorities as pedantry to adopt strictly correct French linguistic usage for English blazons. E.g. Cussans (1869):[46]
... for to describe two hands asappaumées, because the wordmain is feminine in French, savours somewhat of pedantry. A person may be a good armorist, and a tolerable French scholar, and still be uncertain whether an Escallop-shell, covered withbezants, should be blazoned asbezanté orbezantée.
Cussans adopted the convention of spelling all French adjectives in the masculine singular, without regard to the gender and number of the nouns they qualify; however, as he admitted, the more common convention was to spell all French adjectives in the feminine singular form, for example:a chief undée anda saltire undée, even though the French nounschef andsautoir are in fact masculine.[46]
On an Nguni oxhide shield Sable, in the dexter flank pied at random to base Argent;"Nquthu (Local) Municipality (Kwazulu-Natal)".National Archives and Records Service of South Africa.
On a traditional oxhide shield Argent and Brunatre at random proper
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