Thelozenge inheraldry is a diamond-shapedrhombuscharge (an object that can be placed on thefield of the shield), usually somewhat narrower than it is tall. It is to be distinguished in modern heraldry from thefusil, which is like the lozenge but narrower, though the distinction has not always been as fine and is not always observed even today. Amascle is a voided lozenge—that is, a lozenge with a lozenge-shaped hole in the middle—and the rarerrustre is a lozenge containing a circular hole in the centre. Alozenge throughout has "four corners touching the border of the escutcheon".[1] A field covered in a pattern of lozenges is described as lozengy; similar fields of mascles are masculy, and fusils, fusily (seeVariation of the field). Incivic heraldry, a lozengesable is often used in coal-mining communities to represent a lump ofcoal.
Ledger slab with lozenge arms of Dorothy Neville (1605–1672),Kirby Cane, Norfolk.
A lozenge-shapedescutcheon is used to depict heraldry for a female (in continental Europe especially an unmarried woman), but is also sometimes used as a shape for mural monuments in churches which commemorate females, as a shield was considered inappropriate for women who did not generally participate in combat; for the same reason,clergymen were also sometimes given oval-shaped arms.[2][3]Funerary hatchments are generally shown within lozenge-shaped frames, for both male and female deceased.
The blasonLozengy is a form ofvariation of the field or of another charge (for examplea chevron lozengy) which consists of lozengessemée, or sown like seeds (Latin:semen, a seed), or strewn across the field, but in an organised contiguous pattern. The arms granted to the Canadian John Francis Cappucci bring an example oflozengy voided, the same as "lozengy" but with a smaller lozenge-shaped hole cut out of each segment.[6]
Lozengy or and azure (effectively a fieldazure semée with lozenges or)
Lozengy azure and or (effectively a fieldor semée with lozenges azure)
A lozengy shield
An alternativeflag of Monaco, blazoned as a field "lozengy gules and argent"
A variantflag of Bavaria, an array of 21 or more lozengesbendwise of white and blue (blazoned as a field "fusilly in bend" or sometimes "bendy lozengy").
Canadian Heraldic Authority, Public Register, with many official versions of modern coats of arms, searchable onlinearchive.gg.ca
South African Bureau of Heraldry, data on registered heraldic representations (part of National Archives of South Africa); searchable online (but no illustration),national.archsrch.gov.za
Civic Heraldry of England and Wales, fully searchable with illustrations,civicheraldry.co.uk
Heraldry Society of Scotland, members' arms, fully searchable with illustrations of bearings,heraldry-scotland.com
Heraldry Society (England), members' arms, with illustrations of bearings, searchable onlineThe Heraldry Society
Royal Heraldry Society of Canada,Members' Roll of Arms, with illustrations of bearings, searchable onlineRoyal Heraldry Society of Canada
Brooke-Little, J P, Norroy and Ulster King of Arms,An heraldic alphabet (new and revised edition), Robson Books, London, 1985 (first edition 1975); very few illustrations
Greaves, Kevin,A Canadian Heraldic Primer, Heraldry Society of Canada, Ottawa, 2000, illustrations
Moncreiffe of Easter Moncreiffe, Iain, Kintyre Pursuivant of Arms, and Pottinger, Don, Herald Painter Extraordinary to the Court of the Lord Lyon King of ArmsSimple Heraldry, Thomas Nelson and Sons, London and Edinburgh, 1953; illustrated
Friar, Stephen (ed)A New Dictionary of Heraldry Alphabooks, Sherborne, 1987; with very few illustration of attitudes
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