Fieldless Armory

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Illustrations:

[Illustration from period source]

[Illustration from PicDic]

Illustration/s from Brickbat's Armorial Stash - [[1]]:

Pennsic Traceable Art Project:

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Glossary of Terms:

A badge with no specified field tincture; such badges may be displayed on any appropriate background. Badges without fields should be designed as a single unit, with the charges all connected in some way as if they were cast out of metal in a mold. Devices may not be fieldless. See also: Badge. [[2]]

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Precedents:

Precedents of the SCA College of Arms - [[3]] Morsulus Heralds Website - [[4]] (to search the LoARs and Precedents) Restatement Wiki - [[5]] (restatements of Precedents) Use the above links to be sure any precedents listed below haven't been superseded by newer precedents.

#x--Precedents:-Registerability:Registerability:

December 2013 LoAR - eggs = cartouche

#5Jehan le Blanc. Badge. (Fieldless) On an egg argent a rapier inverted sable. By long-standing precedent, we do not register fieldless badges that appear to be independent forms of armorial display. Charges such as roundels, cartouches, escutcheons, billets, hearts, lozenges, and so forth are all both standard heraldic charges and "shield shapes" for armorial display. Commenters discussed whether or not an egg was also a form of armorial display; if so, this is equivalent to Argent, a rapier inverted sable. Eggs, while certainly rare, are period armorial charges. We have no evidence that they were ever considered interchangeable with roundels. However, the situation is less clear with regard to cartouches, and in fact the eggs depicted in Siebmacher in the arms of Die Iaworsker on p.75 (found at http://www.wappenbuch.de/pages/wappen_75_Siebmacher.htm) are decidedly oval in shape. Therefore at this time we will not consider an egg and a cartouche to be different. As an egg can be drawn identical to a cartouche, and a cartouche is a form of armorial display, we much consider this to be a form of armorial display as well. This badge is then returned for conflict with the device of Fynlay maccrimmon, Argent, a sword inverted and winged sable. There is a DC for removing the wings, but nothing else... http://heraldry.sca.org/loar/2013/12/13-12lar.html#5

May 2013 LoAR - shapes of heraldic display:

Talitha of Avalon. Badge. (Fieldless) A heart argent charged with three musical notes two and one sable. This badge is returned for using a charged heart as a fieldless badge. As a heart is considered a medium for heraldic display, this must be considered the same as Argent, three musical notes sable. The submitter should be made aware that at the current time that armory appears to be clear of conflict. If the heart is important to the submitter, giving the design a field would also resolve the issue. http://heraldry.sca.org/loar/2013/05/13-05lar.html#53

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

#182Trimaris, Kingdom of. Badge. (Fieldless) A banner azure. > #182This 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:

#30Solveig Throndardottir. Badge. (Fieldless) A lozenge Or. "The lozenge was originally blazoned as fesswise, but, as noted in the February 2002 LoAR, "Because lozenges could be drawn with various proportions in period, including a square set on its corner (which can be neither fesswise nor palewise), it does not make sense to distinguish different proportions of lozenge in blazon." #30We 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 //Or//, 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. #30Therefore, 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). #30Note 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.

http://heraldry.sca.org/loar/2002/04/02-04lar.html

April 2002 LoAR - demi-animals not supporters:

#1Æthelmearc, Kingdom of. Badge. (Fieldless) A demi-greyhound rampant couped contourny argent collared gules sustaining a torteau charged with an escarbuncle argent. "There were some concerns that this armory might appear to be a display of a supporter holding an independent coat of arms. Supporters by nature stand or balance on lower extremities (hind legs, or a tail) on the compartment ("ground") under the achievement. A demi-animal cannot do this. No evidence has been presented, and none was found, for supporters in period armory consisting of demi-animals. Therefore, a demi-animal cannot be mistaken for a supporter." http://heraldry.sca.org/loar/2002/04/02-04lar.html

May 1992 LoAR - ordinaries:

[{Fieldless} a bendlet crossed by two scarpes] "It is not possible to have ordinaries or diminutives of ordinaries on a fieldless badge. Blazoning them as couped will normally permit this; however, these cannot be blazoned as couped due to the unusual nature of the couping (horizontally.)" (LoAR 5/92 p.24). [[6]]

#x--Precedents:-Conflict:Conflict:

November 2004 LoAR - no CD for location:

"There is [no CD] for location on the field against a fieldless badge." [2004 LoAR]

Collected Precedents:

Tenure of Elisabeth de Rossignol (May 2005 - July 2008) - [and TINCTURELESS] The 2nd Tenure of François la Flamme (October 2004 - May 2005) - [and TINCTURELESS ARMORY] The Tenure of Shauna of Carrick Point (May 2004 - August 2004) - The Tenure of François la Flamme (August 2001 - April 2004) - The Tenure of Elsbeth Anne Roth (June 1999 - July 2001) - The Tenure of Jaelle of Armida (June 1996 - June 1999) - The 2nd Tenure of Da'ud ibn Auda (November 1993 - June 1996) - The Tenure of Bruce Draconarius of Mistholme (June 1992 - October 1993) - The 1st Tenure of Da'ud ibn Auda (June 1990 - June 1992) - The Tenure of Alisoun MacCoul of Elphane (September 1986 - June 1990) - The Tenure of Baldwin of Erebor (August 1984 - August 1986) - The Tenure of Wilhelm von Schlüssel (August 1979 - August 1984) - The Tenure of Karina of the Far West (December 1975 - June 1979) - The Early Days (June 1971 - June 1975) -

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