On a Flame
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Discouraged, but registerable, per 1993 precedent. See below.
Glossary of Terms:[edit | edit source]
A charge completely surrounded by a flame is said to be on a flame. See also Enflamed. [[1]]
[Illustration from period source]
Pictorial Dictionary of SCA Heraldry (3rd edition):
- [[2]]
Illustration/s from Brickbat's Armorial Stash - [[3]]:
Pennsic Traceable Art Project:
Sources:[edit | edit source]
Academy of St. Gabriel "Medieval Heraldry Archive" - [[4]] Archive of St. Gabriel reports - [[5]]
Laurel Armory Articles - [[6]]
Precedents:[edit | edit source]
Precedents of the SCA College of Arms - [[7]] Morsulus Heralds Website - [[8]] (to search the LoARs and Precedents) Restatement Wiki - [[9]] (restatements of Precedents)
From the June 1993 Cover Letter: For some time now, we've been instituting a change (actually dating from Master Da'ud's tenure as Laurel) on enflamed charges: how they're considered, and how they're blazoned. In the early days of the Society, a [charge] enflamed// was depicted as a //[charge]//completely enveloped by flame --- essentially a full flame, with the [charge] entirely on the flame. In those cases, the [charge] was considered the primary charge, with the flames either an artistic detail or a complex sort of fimbriation. More recently, such designs have been blazoned //On a flame a [charge], making the flame the primary and the [charge] a tertiary. This has two effects: it brings our heraldic practice closer to that of period, and it alters the way difference is counted against such designs.
On the first point, enflamed charges weren't normally depicted in period armory as enveloped of flames. Discounting the fiery charges whose flames have a defined placement (e.g., the beacon//), a period enflamed charge would be drawn with tiny spurts of flame issuant from several points. //Mounts enflamed// were not uncommon: in addition to the examples of MacKenzie armory cited by Lady Black Stag (in her commentary on Michael McKenzie, on this LoAR), there's the //mountain couped azure enflamed proper//in the arms of MacLeod (Guillim, 1632, p.127) and the //trimount couped vert enflamed gules// in the arms of Lerchenfeld (Siebmacher, 1605, plate 95) and Nouwer (Armorial de Gelres, c.1370, fo.40). There's also the arms of Brandt (//Argent, a ragged staff bendwise sable enflamed gules//), where the enflaming is depicted in various sources (Siebmacher , Gelres, the European Armoria) as on the top end of the staff, issuant from each "ragged" portion, or issuant to chief --- but never as //On a flame gules a ragged staff sable//. The salamander is usually shown with spurts of flame, but occasionally as lying on a bed of flame (Dennys' Heraldic Imagination, p.193); but I could find no period emblazon showing the salamander as a tertiary on a flame. The enflamed towers of the arms of Dublin are drawn with spurts of fire from the battlements and windows, not as flames with tertiary towers. I could go on, but I think the point is made: in period, the normal depiction of a //[charge] enflamed showed the charge on the field, with tiny spurts of flame issuant (and also on the field).
Two consequences follow from this depiction. First, the [charge]// and the flames must both have good contrast with the field. Enflaming isn't a way to get around the Rule of Tincture; we don't permit flaming fimbriation in Society armory. Second, by the period definition of //enflaming// an enflamed //[charge]// is definitely the main charge; but by the old SCA definition, an enflamed //[charge]//is now considered a tertiary charge. We'd count Sufficient Difference, per X.2, between //a lion Or enflamed gules// and //a tower Or enflamed gules//, but no difference at all, per X.4.j.ii, between on //a flame gules a lion Or// and //on a flame gules a tower Or.
In all ways, then, it's in the submitter's best interest to render an enflamed charge in the period style, rather than as a tertiary on a flame. It's more authentic, and it reduces the chance of conflict. (24 July, 1993 Cover Letter (June, 1993 LoAR), pp. 5-6)
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The [[11]]: