The lozenge 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 branch ...

is a diamond-shaped

rhombus In plane Euclidean geometry, a rhombus (plural rhombi or rhombuses) is a quadrilateral whose four sides all have the same length. Another name is equilateral quadrilateral, since equilateral means that all of its sides are equal in length. The ...

charge Charge or charged may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * '' Charge, Zero Emissions/Maximum Speed'', a 2011 documentary Music * ''Charge'' (David Ford album) * ''Charge'' (Machel Montano album) * ''Charge!!'', an album by The Aqu ...

(an object that can be placed on the

field Field may refer to: Expanses of open ground * Field (agriculture), an area of land used for agricultural purposes * Airfield, an aerodrome that lacks the infrastructure of an airport * Battlefield * Lawn, an area of mowed grass * Meadow, a grass ...

of the shield), usually somewhat narrower than it is tall. It is to be distinguished in modern heraldry from the fusil, which is like the lozenge but narrower, though the distinction has not always been as fine and is not always observed even today. A mascle is a voided lozenge—that is, a lozenge with a lozenge-shaped hole in the middle—and the rarer rustre is a lozenge containing a circular hole in the centre. A field covered in a pattern of lozenges is described as lozengy; similar fields of mascles are masculy, and fusils, fusily (see

Variation of the field In heraldry, variations of the field are any of a number of ways that a field (or a charge) may be covered with a pattern, rather than a flat tincture or a simple division of the field. Blazoning of French adjectives Variations of the field pres ...

). In civic heraldry, a lozenge

sable The sable (''Martes zibellina'') is a species of marten, a small omnivorous mammal primarily inhabiting the forest environments of Russia, from the Ural Mountains throughout Siberia, and northern Mongolia. Its habitat also borders eastern Kaza ...

is often used in coal-mining communities to represent a lump of

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dea ...

. A lozenge shaped escutcheon 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.

Funerary hatchment A funerary hatchment is a depiction within a black lozenge-shaped frame, generally on a black ('' sable'') background, of a deceased's heraldic achievement, that is to say the escutcheon showing the arms, together with the crest and supp ...

s are generally shown within lozenge shaped frames, for both male and female deceased.

Types

* ''Lozenge'': a diamond-shaped

, usually somewhat narrower than it is tall * ''Fusil'': a thin lozenge; very much taller than it is wide. * ''Mascle'': a voided lozenge (i.e. with a largish lozenge shaped hole) * ''Rustre'' (very rare): a lozenge pierced (i.e. with a smallish round hole) File:Blason Guillaume de Haer (selon Gelre).svg, ''3 lozenges''—Gules, three lozenges argent— Guillaume de Haer (according to Gelre) File:Fusil freeman wiki.jpg, ''3 fusils''— Per fess azure and

vair Vair (; from Latin ''varius'' "variegated"), originating as a processed form of squirrel fur, gave its name to a set of different patterns used in heraldry. Heraldic vair represents a kind of fur common in the Middle Ages, made from pieces of ...

ancient; three fusils in chief and a

crescent A crescent shape (, ) is a symbol or emblem used to represent the lunar phase in the first quarter (the "sickle moon"), or by extension a symbol representing the Moon itself. In Hinduism, Lord Shiva is often shown wearing a crescent moon on his ...

in base, or; a

bordure In heraldry, a bordure is a band of contrasting tincture forming a border around the edge of a shield, traditionally one-sixth as wide as the shield itself. It is sometimes reckoned as an ordinary and sometimes as a subordinary. A bordure encl ...

engrailed argent—Freeman of Murtle, Scotland File:Blason fam fr Rohan.svg, ''9 mascles''—

Gules In heraldry, gules () is the tincture with the colour red. It is one of the class of five dark tinctures called "colours", the others being azure (blue), sable (black), vert (green) and purpure (purple). In engraving, it is sometimes depict ...

, nine mascles or—

Rohan family The House of Rohan ( br, Roc'han) is a Breton family of viscounts, later dukes and princes in the French nobility, coming from the locality of Rohan in Brittany. Their line descends from the viscounts of Porhoët and is said to trace back to ...

of France File:Rustre dalrymple wiki.jpg, ''5 rustres''—

Argent In heraldry, argent () is the tincture of silver, and belongs to the class of light tinctures called "metals". It is very frequently depicted as white and usually considered interchangeable with it. In engravings and line drawings, regions to b ...

; on a

saltire A saltire, also called Saint Andrew's Cross or the crux decussata, is a heraldic symbol in the form of a diagonal cross, like the shape of the letter X in Roman type. The word comes from the Middle French ''sautoir'', Medieval Latin ''saltator ...

gules five rustres argent, in chief a lion rampant of the second (gules)—Dalrymple of Woodhead, Scotland File:Blason ville fr Douzens (Aude).svg, "Or, a lozenge sable" File:Blason ville fr Le Faouët (Morbihan).svg, Fusils File:Blason fam fr du Puy du Fou.svg, Mascles File:Blason ville fr Montlaur (Haute-Garonne).svg, A rustre

Lozengy

The blason ''Lozengy'' is a form of

variation of the field In heraldry, variations of the field are any of a number of ways that a field (or a charge) may be covered with a pattern, rather than a flat tincture or a simple division of the field. Blazoning of French adjectives Variations of the field pres ...

or of another charge (for example ''a chevron lozengy'') which consists of lozenges ''

semée In heraldry, variations of the field are any of a number of ways that a field (or a charge) may be covered with a pattern, rather than a flat tincture or a simple division of the field. Blazoning of French adjectives Variations of the field pre ...

'', or sown like seeds (Latin: ', 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 of ''lozengy voided'', the same as "lozengy" but with a smaller lozenge-shaped hole cut out of each segment.

Examples

File:WarbeltonArms.png, ''Lozengy or and azure'' (effectively a field ''azure semée with lozenges or'') File:LozengyOrAndAzure.png, ''Lozengy azure and or'' (effectively a field ''or semée with lozenges azure'') File:Armoiries d'Ellenz.svg, A lozengy shield File:Lozenge flag of Monaco.svg, This

Monegasque flag The national flag of the Principality of Monaco (french: drapeau de Monaco) has two equal horizontal bands, of red (top) and white (bottom), both of which have been the heraldic colours of the House of Grimaldi since at least 1339. The prese ...

is "lozengy gules and argent" File:Flag of Bavaria (lozengy).svg, A variant

Flag of Bavaria There are officially two flags of Bavaria: the striped type and the lozenge type, both of which are white and blue. Both flags are historically associated with the royal Bavarian Wittelsbach family, which ruled Bavaria from 1180 to 1918. Overvie ...

, an array of 21 or more lozenges bendwise of white and blue (blazoned as a field "fusilly in bend" or sometimes "bendy lozengy"). File:Coat of Arms of Margareth of Parma Before her Marriage.svg, The personal arms of

Margaret of Parma Margaret of Parma (; 5 July 1522 – 18 January 1586) was Governor of the Netherlands from 1559 to 1567 and from 1578 to 1582. She was the illegitimate daughter of the then 22-year-old Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and Johanna Maria van der G ...

File:Coat of Arms of Infanta Isabella of Spain as Governor Monarch of the Low Countries.svg, The arms of Isabella Clara Eugenia of Spain File:Coat of Arms of Anne, the Princess Royal.svg, The personal coat of arms of

Anne, Princess Royal Anne, Princess Royal (Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise; born 15 August 1950), is a member of the British royal family. She is the second child and only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and the only sister of ...

displayed on a lozenge. File:Escut de Borredà.svg, Arms of Borredà, a municipality in Catalonia File:..Uttarakhand Flag(INDIA).png,

Emblem of Uttarakhand The Emblem of Uttarakhand is the official state seal used by the Government of Uttarakhand and is carried on all official correspondences made by State of Uttarakhand. It was adopted by the newly formed Interim Government of Uttarakhand at the e ...

, a state of India

Types

Lozengy

Examples

See also

References

Further reading