Ordinary

In heraldry, an ordinary (or honourable ordinary) is a simple geometrical figure, bounded by straight lines and running from side to side or top to bottom of the shield. There are also some geometric charges known as subordinaries, which have been given lesser status by some heraldic writers, though most have been in use as long as the traditional ordinaries. Diminutives of ordinaries and some subordinaries are charges of the same shape, though thinner. Most of the ordinaries are theoretically said to occupy one-third of the shield; but this is rarely observed in practice, except when the ordinary is the only charge (as in the coat of arms of Austria).

The terms ordinary and subordinary are somewhat controversial, as they have been applied arbitrarily and inconsistently among authors, and the use of these terms has been disparaged by some leading heraldic authorities.^[1] In his Complete Guide to Heraldry (1909), Arthur Charles Fox-Davies asserted that the terms are likely inventions of heraldic writers and not of heralds,^[2] arguing the "utter absurdity of the necessity for any [such] classification at all," and stating that the ordinaries and sub-ordinaries are, in his mind, "no more than first charges."^[3]

Contents 1 Ordinaries 1.1 Lines of variation 2 Subordinaries 2.1 Fixed subordinaries 2.2 Mobile subordinaries 3 Diminutives 4 Cottise and cottising 4.1 The cottise 4.2 Cottising 5 Voiding 6 Notes 7 References

Ordinaries

Ordinaries (sometimes called "honourable ordinaries") are almost like partitions, but are handled like objects. Though there is some debate as to exactly which geometrical charges - with straight edges and running from edge to edge of the shield - constitute ordinaries, certain ones are agreed on by everyone. Except for the chief they are central to the shield.

• Cross: vertical/horizontal cross +, as in the arms of the City of London.

• Pale: a vertical stripe right down the middle of the shield, as in the coat of Bishop's Stortford Town Council, England.

• A variant is the Canadian pale, invented in 1964 for the new Canadian national flag: it takes up half the width of the field.

• Fess: a horizontal stripe, as in the coat of arms of Austria.

• Bar: a narrower fess (said in theory to occupy one-fifth of the field), sometimes reckoned as an ordinary in its own right. It is rarely borne singly, but an example is in the arms of Hawarden Rural District Council.

• In vexillology, a fess significantly wider than one-third of the height of the field is called a Spanish fess, after its use in the flag of Spain.

• Bend: an oblique band from the dexter chief (the bearer's upper right, viewer's upper left) to the opposite corner, as in the arms of the former grand duchy of Baden.

• Chevron: like the beams of a gable; as in the arms of Trans, Switzerland. The legs of a chevron usually form a roughly right angle; a chevron with a strongly acute angle is termed a chevron enhanced, and a chevron with an obtuse angle is termed a chevron diminished.

• Saltire or St Andrew's cross: diagonal cross × as in the Scots national banner (often referred to simply as 'the Saltire') and in the arms of Newquay Town Council, England.

• Chief: horizontal band right across the top of the shield, as in the arms of the district of Lausanne (Vaud, Switzerland).

The following are sometimes classed as ordinaries, sometimes as subordinaries (see below):^[4]

• Bordure: the boundary of the shield; often used for cadency.

• Pile: downward pointing triangle, with its top edge right at the top of the shield -- Gower Rural District Council, Wales.

• Pall or Pairle: a Y-shape, as in the Canadian coat of New Caledonia College.

• A variant is the shakefork: a pall cut short of the margins, with pointed ends. It is frequent in Scotland, owing to its prominence in the armory of Clan Cunningham.

Lines of variation

Ordinaries need not be bounded by straight lines.

a cross engrailed

a bend dancetty

three bars wavy

a bend fir-twigged and wavy

Subordinaries

Some geometric figures are not considered to be "honourable ordinaries" and are called 'subordinaries'. Very loosely, they are geometric or conventional charges that, unlike ordinaries, don’t stretch from edge to edge of the shield. There is no definitive list or definition, but they generally include:

Fixed subordinaries

• Quarter: the dexter chief quadrant of the shield, as in the arms of Weston-super-Mare Town Council, England.

• • Canton: smaller than the quarter, formally said to occupy one-ninth of the shield, as in the arms of the former Billingham Urban District Council, though sometimes drawn smaller. The canton is often said to be the quarter's diminutive, but perhaps it should be treated as a subordinary in its own right as it fulfils heraldic functions not fulfilled by the quarter, and behaves according to its own special rules - as for example in the case of the canton on which baronets in the UK may display the badges of their 'rank', which is very rarely shown occupying such a large area as the upper left third of the field, and is usually much less and very often shown not as square but as a rectangle with its longer side vertical. very occasionally a 'sinister canton' is found, this canton being over to the shield's other side - Gules, on a bend Or two cinquefoils azure, on a sinister canton argent a cross crosslet fitchy issuing out of a crescent of the first - all within a bordure of the second', Cook (Fox-Davies p 217, f 549) and the coat of 11the Field Artillery Regiment, USA.

• Flaunches, always borne in pairs: a circular arc emerging out of each flank of the shield, as in the arms of Harlow District Council, England.

• Fret: interlacing bendlet, bendlet sinister and mascle, as in the arms of the old Merton and Morden Urban District Council, England.

• Gyron: the half of a quarter cut diagonally, said to be an old charge but rare although there are modern examples - 'Vert; six barrulets dovetailed on the lower sides argent, over all the sun in his splendour Or; along with in dexter base a sixth gyron voided also Or'.^[5]

• Orle: A bordure separated from the outside of the shield as in the coat of Barnard Castle Town Council, England. Although the orle's diminutive is the tressure, there are examples of a "fillet orles" (orles narrower than usual), as in the South African coat of the Brotherhood of the Blessed Gérard (relief organisation of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta). It is often said that an orle may not have other charges charged on it, but the Scots Public Register vol 1, p 380, dating 1672-81, has the arms of Norie of Noristone, 'Parted per pale argent and sable, an orle engrailed on both sides charged with four quatrefoils, within a bordure, all counter-changed'. When a number of charges (eight unless otherwise specified) are arranged as if on a bordure, they are said to be in orle or to form an orle of, as in the English coat of Blackwell Rural District Council.
  • Tressure: a thinner version and hence diminutive of the orle, as in the Canadian coat of Calder. The most famous tressure is probably the double tressure flory counter flory in the royal coat of arms of Scotland. Tressures with other ornamentation exist, such as with maple leaves as in the coat of Churchill, Canada; elsewhere crescents, thistles, and roses can be found ornamenting double tressures.

Mobile subordinaries

• Escutcheon: a shield used as a charge, as in the former arms of Ampthill Rural District Council, England. When one escutcheon is borne in the centre of the coat, it is sometimes called an inescutcheon or an escutcheon of pretence or an escutcheon en surtout. Such centrally placed escutcheons need have no particular significance - e.g. arms of Bedlington and Wallington, Borough Council, England. But, for example, in arms of dominion an inescutcheon typically shows the dynastic arms of the prince, whose possessions are shown in the quarters of the main shield; current examples include the arms of the Danish Royal Family, with an inescutcheon of the house of Oldenburg, and the coat of arms of Spain, with an inescutcheon of the house of Bourbon-Anjou. In Scots heraldry the escutcheon en surtout serves several different purposes

• Lozenge: a rhombus with its long axis upright, resembling the diamond of playing-cards, as in the arms of Blaenavon Town Council, Wales.
  • Fusil: a lozenge very much thinner than it is long, as in the device of the US Army 72nd Signal Battalion.
  • Mascle: a voided lozenge, as in the English coat of Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council [1].
  • Rustre (very rare): a lozenge pierced with a round hole, as in the Scots coat Argent, on a saltire gules five rustres of the field [argent], in chief a lion rampant of the second [gules], for Dalrymple of Woodhead (Public Register vol 30, p 36).

• Roundel: a disc or ball, as in the arms of the Duchy of Cornwall or of the Medici.

Gallery of mobile subordinaries

Or, an inescutcheon sable	Or, three escutcheons gules	Argent, a lozenge sable	Argent, seven lozenges (four and three) sable
Gules, three lozenges argent	Gules, three mascles Or	Or, a roundel azure	Azure ten bezants in pile

Diminutives

When a coat of arms contains two or more of an ordinary, they are nearly always blazoned (in English) as diminutives of the ordinary, as follows.

• Diminutives of the pale:
  • pallet: theoretically 'half' a pale, as in the badge of the Niagara Herald Extraordinary, Canada.
  • endorse: 'half' a pallet as in Per fess gules and azure; in chief three lions rampant argent, in base an endorse argent between dexter, a stag's head cabossed, and sinister, a sun in its splendour between five mullets Or, Ross and Cromarty District Council, Scotland (Urquhart 1979, p 23); also found in pairs on either side of a pale when the term 'endorsed' is used, as in Or, on a pale endorsed, azure. a cinquefoil pierced ermine, between two martlets of the first, Hotson, Scotland (see cottise below).

• Diminutives of the fess:
  • bar, see above.
  • barrulet, narrower than both, as in the coat of the Royal Burgh of Annan Community Council, Scotland

• Diminutives of the bend:
  • bendlet, 'half' a bend, as in the coat of the Municipality of Sainte-Apolline-de-Patton , Canada .
  • ribbon or riband, 'half' a bendlet, occasionally called a cost, as in the coat, showing a bend charged with a bendlet charged with a riband, of Sinclair, Scotland, Argent, a bend vert, between a bull's head cabossed sable, horned or, in chief, and a ram's head cabossed sable, horned or, in base, charged with a bendlet wavy argent charged of a riband wavy azure; over all a cross engrailed sable (Public Register vol 44, p 78).
  • baton: a bendlet couped which doesn't reach the edges of the shield, often said to be only a bendlet sinister couped, but has certainly been used as a couped bendlet 'dexter' since the 17th century ar the latest - as in the coat of Elliot of Stobbs 'Gules, on a bend engrailed or a baton azure'(Scots Public Register vol 1, p 144) .

• Diminutive of the bend sinister:
  • bendlet sinister, 'half' a bend sinister, also very occasionally called a scarpe, as in the coat of the 7th Infantry Regiment, USA.

• Diminutive of the chevron:
  • chevronel: 'half' a chevron, as in the coat of Darlington Borough Council, England.

• Diminutive of the chief:
  • comble, 'half' a chief, as in the coat of Nairne of Meikleour Argent; three martlets sable; on a comble azure a cross or; a franc quartier azure charged with a sword argent hilted and pomelled or (4th grand quarter for Flahault) (Public Register vol 29, p 17); and in the coat of Combles, France
  • chief enhanced, again 'half' a chief, as in the [2], sometimes said not to be a diminutive, but is indistinguishable from the comble which is.
  • fillet: said, by those who do not believe in the comble or chief enhanced, to be the nearest that the chief comes to having a diminutive, which is effectively a barrulet conjoined to a chief at its bottom edge, as in the coat of the U.S.Army 121st Support Battalion; but can also appear in its own right, as in the arms of the Braemar Royal Highland Society, Scotland Per fess enhanced wavy or and argent; in chief issuant out of a fillet wavy azure four demi lions combatant, two and two gules, and in base a Scots fir tree in pale, seeded, proper, growing out of a mound purpure, between on the dexter an eagle displayed azure, armed beaked and membered gules, on its breast an antique covered cup or and charged with a three point label also gules, and on the sinister an eagle displayed sable armed beaked and membered gules

• Diminutive of the cross:
  • cross fillet (or fillet cross), somewhat less than 'half' a cross, as in the coat of Kilsyth Community Council, Scotland.

• Diminutive of the saltire:
  • fillet saltire, something less than 'half' a saltire, as in the coat of the National Cultural and Open-air Museum, South Africa Or, an ogress charged with a fillet saltire surmounted by an eight-spoked wheel, or, and ensigned of a billet sable; a chief nowy gabled, sable.

Cottise and cottising

The cottise

The cottise (the spelling varies - sometimes only one t and sometimes c instead of the s) originated as an alternative name to cost (see above) and so as a diminutive of the bend, most commonly found in pairs on either side of a bend, with the bend being blazoned either as between two cottises or as cottised. ^[6]

Cottising

Nowadays cottising is used not just for bends but for practically all the ordinaries (and occasionally collections of charges), and consists in placing the ordinary between two diminutive versions of itself (and occasionally other things):

• fesses - Smith, Canada

• chevrons - Greenwood, Canada

• palls (or pairles) - Foo, Canada; and palls (pairles) and pales merged - Norris, Canada

• crosses - Powell, Canada

• pales - don't yet seem to have been blazoned as cottised but only as endorsed

• on one edge only - Laevens, Canada

• fracted ordinaries - Regional Municipality of Niagara, Canada

• cottising without diminutives - ordinaries very occasionally get cottised by things shaped quite differently from their diminutives - St George's Society of Toronto, Canada

• cottising without ordinaries - occasionally a collection of charges in fess or in bend or in cross or etc is put between a pair of cottises - Fraser, Canada

• cottising inwardly (or to the interior) - when 'cottises' are not placed near an ordinary but actually on it, near the edges - Commemorative Distinction Gulf of St Lawrence

• colouring an ornamenting - although ordinaries and their cottisings live very close together, when it comes to colouring and ornamentation they can live completely separate lives - LeForte, Canada and Stuart USA

Voiding

Any type of charge, but probably most often the ordinaries and subordinaries, can be "voided"; without further description, this means that the charge has been "emptied" with a hole in the shape of the charge revealing the field behind it, and only a border has been left as in the coats of the Town of Lacombe, Canada [3] and the Borough of Chelsea, England [4].

It is possible, however, that the voiding, the hole, is of a different tincture than the field behind the charge, which tincture must then be specified, as in the coat of the City of Abbotsford, Canada [5].

It is also possible that the voiding is of a different shape than the voided charge, as in the arms of Newton Technical High School, South Africa, 'Quarterly gules and sable; a lozenge or voided of a quatrefoil; at its centre a cog wheel argent; the whole within a bordure or'[6].

Notes

1. ^ See "CHAPTER IX: THE SO-CALLED ORDINARIES AND SUB-ORDINARIES" in Fox-Davies (1909) A Complete Guide to Heraldry.
2. ^ Fox-Davies (1909), pp. 106-107.
3. ^ Fox-Davies (1909), p. 107.
4. ^ American Heraldic Society: An American Heraldic Primer
5. ^ Green Scotland, Scots Public Register vol 47, p 99, An ordinary of Arms vol 2, 0125.
6. ^ "Marcenaro, Scotland". http://heraldry-scotland.com/copgal/displayimage.php?album=7&pos=54. Retrieved 2009-01-04. 

References

• Boutell, Charles (1983). Boutell's Heraldry. Revised J P Brook-Little, Norroy and Ulster King of Arms. London and New York: Frederick Warne.
• Fox-Davies, Arthur Charles (1986, first published 1904). The Art of Heraldry: An Encyclopedia of Armory London: Bloomsbury Books.
• Fox-Davies, Arthur Charles (1909). A Complete Guide to Heraldry. New York: Dodge Pub. Co. ISBN 0517266431. LCCN 09-023803
• Greaves, Kevin (2000). A Canadian Heraldic Primer. Ottawa: The Heraldry Society of Canada. ISBN 0969306342. LCCN 20-01326695
• Sir Thomas Innes of Learney, Lord Lyon King of Arms (1978). Scots Heraldry. Revised Malcolm R Innes of Edingight, Marchmont Herald. London and Edinburgh: Johnston and Bacon. LCCN 79-306835
• Nisbet, Alexander (1984, first published 1722). A system of heraldry. Edinburgh: T&A Constable.
• Sir James Balfour Paul, Lord Lyon King of Arms (1969, first published 1903). An Ordinary of Arms Contained in the Public Register of All Arms and Bearings in Scotland, (2nd edition, paperback reprint). Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co.
• David Reid of Robertland and Vivien Wilson (1977). An Ordinary of Arms, volume 2 [1902-1973]. Edinburgh: Lyon Office.
• Urquhart, R M (1979). Scottish Civic Heraldry: Regional - Islands - District. London: Heraldry Today. ISBN 0900455268. LCCN 80-467758

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