Shield Shape Charges

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Illustrations:

Period:

An Ordinary of Siebmacher's Wappenbuch

• http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/heraldry/siebmacher/siebmacherordinary.html

Modern:

Pictorial Dictionary, 3rd edition:

• http://mistholme.com/pictorial-dictionary-of-heraldry

Vector Graphics:

• Viking Answer Lady - http://www.vikinganswerlady.com/Stars/Heraldry_SVG_Images/index.htm

Sources:

Academy of St. Gabriel "Medieval Heraldry Archive" - http://www.s-gabriel.org/heraldry/

Archive of St. Gabriel reports - http://www.panix.com/~gabriel/public-bin/archive.cgi

Laurel Armory Articles - http://heraldry.sca.org/laurel/armory_articles.html

New Heraldic Primer (Heraldry for Non-Heralds) - http://heraldry.sca.org/armory/newprimer/

Pictorial Dictionary of Heraldry (PicDic), 3rd Edition - http://mistholme.com/pictorial-dictionary-of-heraldry

Period Armorials

Parker's Heraldry - http://karlwilcox.com/parker/

Riestap's Armorial Général - http://www.euraldic.com/lasu/bl/bl_a_aa.html

Precedents:

Precedents of the SCA College of Arms - http://heraldry.sca.org/laurel/precedents.html

Morsulus Heralds Website - http://www.morsulus.org/ (to search the LoARs and Precedents)

Restatement Wiki - http://yehudaheraldry.com/restatement/index.php?title=Main_Page (restatements of Precedents)

Use the above links to be sure any precedents listed below haven't been superseded by newer precedents.

Definition:

(includes defaults, proper tinctures, blazoning)

June 2002 - shield-shape charges on fieldless badges registerable:

This banner is drawn like the illustration in the Pictorial Dictionary under "Flag". Such a flag can be seen in the arms of Würzburg in the Conzilium zu Constanz in 1413 or in Siebmacher's 1605 Wappenbuch f. 220.

• A blue flag is an acceptable fieldless badge. It is not a display of the arms Azure, but is merely a blue charge. As noted in the April 2002 LoAR, "A 'shield shape' which is also a standard heraldic charge will be acceptable as a fieldless badge in a plain tincture, as long as the tincture is not one of the plain tinctures that is protected armory in the SCA". Since Azure is not protected armory in this SCA, a fieldless badge consisting of a banner azure does not appear to be an independent display of arms and is acceptable.
• Please advise the submitters that it would not be heraldically correct to display this badge by making and carrying a blue flag. Such a blue flag would appear to be a display of the arms Azure. The correct way to display this badge on a flag or standard would be to paint the badge of A banner azure on a flag or standard made of some other color (or colors) of material.

http://heraldry.sca.org/loar/2002/06/02-06lar.html

April 2002 LoAR - shield-shape charges on fieldless badges not registerable:

We do not register fieldless badges which appear to be independent forms of armorial display. Charges such as lozenges, billets, and roundels are all both standard heraldic charges and "shield shapes" for armorial display. The SCA has never protected armory consisting of plain tinctures, except for two examples that are particularly famous: the (important non-SCA) arms of Brittany, Ermine, and the (important non-SCA) flag of Libya, Vert. If we do not protect, and have never protected, the arms O, we should not be concerned about the possible appearance of a display of Or by using a single lozenge Or as a fieldless badge. This is parallel to our practices concerning inescutcheons of pretense. To quote RfS XI.4, Arms of Pretense and Augmentations of Honor, "Similarly, an augmentation of honor often, though not necessarily, takes the form of an independent coat placed on an escutcheon or canton. Generally, therefore, a canton or a single escutcheon may only be used if it is both uncharged and of a single tincture." This rule demonstrates that an uncharged escutcheon shape in a single plain tincture does not appear to be a display of an independent coat of arms. Therefore, a "shield shape" which is also a standard heraldic charge will be acceptable as as a fieldless badge in a plain tincture, as long as the tincture is not one of the plain tinctures that is protected armory in the SCA. This explicitly overturns the precedent "We do not normally register fieldless badges consisting only of forms of armorial display, such as roundels, lozenges and delfs in plain tinctures, since in use the shape does not appear to be a charge, but rather the field itself" (LoAR January 1998).

Note that this does not change our long-standing policy about such "shield shape" charges used in fieldless badges if the tincture is not plain (thus, divided or with a field treatment), or if the charge is itself charged. Such armory will continue to be returned for the appearance of an independent form of armorial display. [1]

Registerability:

(Restricted, Reserved, SFPP, OOP)

Collected Precedents:

• 2nd Tenure of Elisabeth de Rossignol (April 2011 - August 2011) - Collected Armory Precedents
• 1st Tenure of Elisabeth de Rossignol (May 2005 - July 2008) - Collected Armory Precedents
• 2nd Tenure of François la Flamme (October 2004 - May 2005) - Collected Armory Precedents
• The Tenure of Shauna of Carrick Point (May 2004 - August 2004) - Collected Armory Precedents
• 1st Tenure of François la Flamme (August 2001 - April 2004) - Collected Armory Precedents
• The Tenure of Elsbeth Anne Roth (June 1999 - July 2001) - Collected Armory Precedents
• The Tenure of Jaelle of Armida (June 1996 - June 1999) - Single HTML Document
• 2nd Tenure of Da'ud ibn Auda (November 1993 - June 1996) -
  • the 1st part (Nov 1993 - June 1994) and
  • the 2nd part (July 1994 - June 1996)
• The Tenure of Bruce Draconarius of Mistholme (June 1992 - October 1993) - Collected precedents
• 1st Tenure of Da'ud ibn Auda (June 1990 - June 1992) -
  • the 1st year (June 1990 - June 1991) and
  • the 2nd year (July 1991 - June 1992)
• The Tenure of Alisoun MacCoul of Elphane (September 1986 - June 1990) - Collected Precedents
• The Tenure of Baldwin of Erebor (August 1984 - August 1986) - Single HTML Document
• The Tenure of Wilhelm von Schlüssel (August 1979 - August 1984) - Collected Precedents
• The Tenure of Karina of the Far West (December 1975 - June 1979) - Collected Precedents
• The Early Days (June 1971 - June 1975) - Collected Precedents

The Ordinary:

Billets, delfs, escutcheons, lozenges, roundels