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File:Dimidiation demo.svg, Example of two coats dimidiated
File:Impalement demo.svg, The same two coats impaled
File:Dimidiation, worse case demo.svg, When the ''dexter'' half of a ''bend sinister'' is dimidiated with the ''sinister'' half of a ''bend'', the result would look like a ''chevron''
File:Isabella of Scotland Arms.svg, ''Tressure'' does not continue down the line of impalement
File:Armes anne pisseleu.png, Coat of arms of Anne de Pisseleu, Countess of Penthièvre, Duchess of E'tampes
In heraldry
Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, rank and pedigree. Armory, the best-known bran ...
, dimidiation is a method of marshalling (heraldically combining) two coats of arms
A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in i ...
.
For a time, dimidiation preceded the method known as impalement
Impalement, as a method of torture and execution, is the penetration of a human by an object such as a stake, pole, spear, or hook, often by the complete or partial perforation of the torso. It was particularly used in response to "crimes aga ...
. Whereas impalement involves placing the whole of both coats of arms side by side in the same shield, dimidiation involves placing the ''dexter
Dexter may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Dexter, the main character of the American animated series '' Dexter's Laboratory'' that aired from 1996 to 2003
* Dexter, a fictional character in the British web series ''Diary of a Bad Man''
* Dext ...
'' half of one coat of arms alongside the ''sinister
Sinister commonly refers to:
* Evil
* Ominous
Sinister may also refer to:
Left side
* Sinister, Latin for the direction "left"
* Sinister, in heraldry, is the bearer's true left side (viewers' right side) of an escutcheon or coat of arms; see de ...
'' half of the other. In the case of marriage, the ''dexter'' half of the husband's arms would be placed alongside the ''sinister'' half of the wife's arms.
The practice fell out of use because the result was not always aesthetically pleasing (sometimes creating strange hybrids), and also because in some cases, it would have resulted in a shield that confusingly looked like one coat of arms rather than a combination of two. For instance, a '' bend'' combined with a ''bend sinister'' might result in a combination that simply looked like a ''chevron
Chevron (often relating to V-shaped patterns) may refer to:
Science and technology
* Chevron (aerospace), sawtooth patterns on some jet engines
* Chevron (anatomy), a bone
* '' Eulithis testata'', a moth
* Chevron (geology), a fold in rock la ...
'', thus hiding the fact that two coats of arms had been combined.
In order to avoid these drawbacks, it became customary to use more than half of each coat of arms when combining them through dimidiation. Once this practice had begun, the logical progression was to include the whole of both coats of arms in the new shield, so that in effect, impalement replaced dimidiation as a method of combining coats of arms.
A general rule which carries over from dimidiation to impalement is that if a coat of arms with a '' bordure'' (or ''tressure
In heraldry, an orle is a subordinary consisting of a narrow band occupying the inward half of where a bordure would be, following the exact outline of the shield but within it, showing the field between the outer edge of the orle and the edge o ...
'', ''orle Orle may refer to:
Places
* Orle, Grudziądz County, a village in Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, north-central Poland
* Orle, Nakło County, a village in Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, north-central Poland
* Orle, Radziejów County, a villag ...
'', etc.) is impaled, the ''bordure'' should not continue down the line of impalement.
Gallery
See also
{{commons category, Dimidiation in heraldry *Division of the field
In heraldry, the field (background) of a shield can be divided into more than one area, or subdivision, of different tinctures, usually following the lines of one of the ordinaries and carrying its name (e.g. a shield divided in the shape of a c ...
* Frisian eagle
References
Sources
* Arthur Charles Fox-Davies, ''A Complete Guide to Heraldry'' (1909), pp. 182, 523-525. Online texts at https://archive.org/details/completeguidetoh00foxduoft or http://www7b.biglobe.ne.jp/~bprince/hr/foxdavies/index.htm . ja:マーシャリング (紋章学) Heraldry