
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 bran ...
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. Th ...
charge (an object that can be placed on the
field 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 p ...
). In
civic heraldry
Civic heraldry is heraldry used by municipality, municipalities.
Cities, towns, boroughs and other civic bodies often use heraldic arms as symbols for themselves and their authority. The traditions differ somewhat from one country to the other, ...
, 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 Kaz ...
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 stratum, rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen ...
.
A lozenge shaped
escutcheon
Escutcheon may refer to:
* Escutcheon (heraldry), a shield or shield-shaped emblem, displaying a coat of arms
* Escutcheon (furniture), a metal plate that surrounds a keyhole or lock cylinder on a door
* (in medicine) the distribution of pubic ha ...
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 supporter ...
s are generally shown within lozenge shaped frames, for both male and female deceased.
Types
* ''Lozenge'': 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. Th ...
, 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
In heraldry, the field (heraldry), field (background) of a escutcheon (heraldry), shield can be divided into more than one area, or subdivision, of different tincture (heraldry), tinctures, usually following the lines of one of the ordinary (heral ...
azure
Azure may refer to:
Colour
* Azure (color), a hue of blue
** Azure (heraldry)
** Shades of azure, shades and variations
Arts and media
* ''Azure'' (Art Farmer and Fritz Pauer album), 1987
* Azure (Gary Peacock and Marilyn Crispell album), 2013
...
and vair 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 depi ...
, nine mascles or— Rohan family 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 t ...
; 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 ''saltato ...
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 p ...
or of another charge (for example ''a chevron lozengy'') which consists of lozenges ''
semée'', 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 is "lozengy gules and argent"
File:Flag of Bavaria (lozengy).svg, A variant Flag of Bavaria, an array of 21 or more lozenges bendwise
In heraldry, a bend is a band or strap running from the upper dexter (the bearer's right side and the viewer's left) corner of the shield to the lower sinister (the bearer's left side, and the viewer's right). Authorities differ as to how muc ...
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
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
Isabella Clara Eugenia ( es, link=no, Isabel Clara Eugenia; 12 August 1566 – 1 December 1633), sometimes referred to as Clara Isabella Eugenia, was sovereign of the Spanish Netherlands in the Low Countries and the north of modern France with ...
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 Kin ...
displayed on a lozenge.
File:Escut de Borredà.svg, Arms of Borredà, a municipality in Catalonia
File:..Uttarakhand Flag(INDIA).png, Emblem of Uttarakhand, a state of India
See also
* ''
Weckeler'', an historical coin named after its depiction of a heraldic lozenge or lozenged shield
References
Further reading
*Fox-Davies, Arthur Charles (1909).
A Complete Guide to Heraldry'. New York: Dodge Pub. Co.(and the more recent editions)
*Canadian Heraldic Authority, Public Register, with many official versions of modern coats of arms, searchable onlin
archive.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, only accessible by armiger's name (though a Google site search would provide full searchability)
*Royal Heraldry Society of Canada, ''Members' Roll of Arms'', with illustrations of bearings, only accessible by armiger's name (though a Google site search would provide full searchability)
heralrdry.ca*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 Arms ''Simple Heraldry'', Thomas Nelson and Sons, London andf Edinburgh, 1953; illustrated
*Friar, Stephen (ed) ''A New Dictionary of Heraldry'' Alphabooks, Sherborne, 1987; with very few illustration of attitudes
{{Heraldry
Heraldic charges