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. The ...

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 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, but some simil ...

, 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 ...

. 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 hatchments 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 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 ...

azure and vair ancient; three fusils in

chief Chief may refer to: Title or rank Military and law enforcement * Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force * Chief of police, the head of a police department * Chief of the bo ...

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

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 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 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 present ...

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

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 Borredà () is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of the Berguedà in Catalonia, Spain. It is situated in the upper valley of the Margençol river in the east of the ''comarca''. There are several notable houses from the 17th and 18th centuries. ...

, a municipality in Catalonia File:..Uttarakhand Flag(INDIA).png, Emblem of Uttarakhand, a state of India

Types

Lozengy

Examples

See also

References

Further reading