Heraldic Glossary

Armiger – An individual who has been granted the right to bear arms, either by being created a Lord or Lady, or by attaining Knighthood. Such individuals are said to be armigerous.

Armorial (noun) (usually capitalized) – The listing of blazons for each heraldic device registered in the Empire, alphabetically by the first name of the registrant.

Armorial (adjective) – Of or pertaining to armory.

Armory – The Art of Visual Heraldry. This includes shield designs, banners, and sumptuary rights.

Augmentation – Any addition to a registered device that is not specifically registered. Usually, the badges of awards and Orders one may have can be used as augmentations (see Article XXI.C. above). Crowns may also choose to grant augmentations to those of their subjects for whom no other award may seem appropriate.

Award – A title bestowed by decision of the Crown or vote of the Estates; these can include Lord and Lady, and also retirement titles such as Count/ess Royal or Prince/ss.

Badge – The armorial device assigned to an individual, domain, or estate for use as the holder sees fit (usually used for marking members of an estate or domain, or for one’s vassals). While a device or coat of arms says "So-and-so is here", a badge says, "this belongs to So-and-so".

Blazon – The specialized heraldic jargon for describing armory in such a way that a device or badge can be reproduced merely from the description.

Cabochon – A way of cutting a gemstone into a rounded half-dome shape. Because faceting of gems only appears very late in the Adrian Period, use of cabochons is the easiest way to approximate a Period look. There is no restriction on the color or clarity of cabochons used in Adria.

Canton – In Heraldry, a canton is classified as a sub-ordinary, which takes the shape of the dexter chief (upper left) corner of the shield. Describing something as "in canton" means that it is in that quadrant of the shield.

Charge – Any item appearing on a device.

Coat of Arms – The armorial device assigned to an individual for their personal use, or assigned to an estate for its exclusive use.

College of Arms – Collectively, all of the heralds of the entire Empire. Also known as the College of Heralds. See Imperial College of Arms.

Color Copy – A copy of the presenter’s form which has the emblazon of their arms completely colored in. Crayola washable markers in the Classic colors (get the fat ones) are a preferred brand.

Coronet – A crown worn by anyone other than a Monarch (Emperor, Empress, King, Queen, Duke, or Duchess).

Coronet of Rank – A specific style of coronet or crown for use in armorial display. While the forms for actual crowns and coronets worn on the head may vary considerably, the style for armorial crowns, by definition, is fixed. See this article for specific examples of armorial crowns and coronets.

Crown – (1) The decorative metal band worn by the nobility during the Adrian Period. Specifically, such a headband worn only by Dukes, Duchesses, Kings, Queens, and the Emperor and Empress. The term for this headgear worn by any other rank is coronet. (2) Estate Holders may sometimes be referred to as "crowns", and the heads of Duchies, Kingdoms, and the Empire may be referred to individually or collectively as "the Crown".

Device – A coat of arms that has been registered by a non-armiger; or any coat of arms in general.

Dimidiation – One way of marshalling arms, by joining the left half of one shield with the right half of another.

Emblazon – The drawn-out picture of a device. Antonym: see Blazon.

Escutcheon – The "shield" shape. Also known by the Victorian word "heater".

Estate Holder – For the purposes of these Rules: House Sires, Barons, Counts, Marquesses, Dukes, Kings, and Emperors (and their female counterparts) are all Estate Holders. While they hold their Estates, they should not use their own arms, but display the arms of the Estate they hold. If they have to act as an individual (for instance, while getting Knighted), they may display their personal arms augmented with the appropriate coronet of rank to the Estate they hold.

Fieldless – Refers to badges which have no background. Fieldless badges are useful for households to be made into pins or other jewelry to show A famous example of a fieldless badge belongs to the Prince of Wales: Three ostrich feathers issuant from behind a scroll with the words "Ich Dien".

Fleur-de-Lis – The primary emblem of the Empire of Adria. Fleurs-de-lis take many forms: for modern-day examples, see the emblem of the NFL football team New Orleans Saints or the emblem of the Boy Scouts. There are some restrictions on fleurs-de-lis; see Article XIII.A. of this Manual for details.

Geographic Chartered Subdivision – A subdivision of the Empire directly beholden to the Imperial Crown; a Kingdom, Archduchy, Duchy, or Shire.

Goutte – A droplet shape. Gouttes have specific names in Blazon depending on their tincture: Argent = Goutte de larmes (tear drops); Or = Goutte d'or (gold); Gules = Goutte de sang (blood); Azure = Goutte d'eau (water); Vert = Goutte d'huile (olive oil); Sable = Goutte de poix (pitch); Purpure = Goutte de vin (wine).

Hatching – A way of emblazoning a device using patterns of lines for use in engraving and other non-colored representations first used in England about 1623. No longer used in Adria.

Hatchment – Specialized display of an individual’s coat of arms after their death.

Heater – A 19th Century term for escutcheon. So called because the medieval shield resembled a "heater" or iron.

Herald – One who practices heraldry. With a lower-case "h", it is a generic term meaning anyone from the most junior purusivant to the Imperial Sovereign of Arms. With an upper-case "H", it is a specific rank in the College of Arms, denoting the herald serving a Duchy or a herald who has been raised in permanent rank from Pursuivant.

Heraldry – What Heralds Do. This includes such things as Voice Heraldry (doing Court and Town Cryer) and Book Heraldry (designing coats of arms).

Impaling – One way of marshalling arms, by squeezing one coat of arms onto the left half of the sheild to make room for another.

Imperial College of Arms - The Imperial Sovereign of Arms, Imperial Deputies, and the Heralds and Sovereigns of Arms for each Geographic Chartered Subdivision

Label – A horizontal stripe with dags, used to represent the heir to a coat of arms. Married couples may marshal their arms and place a label across the whole for their children to wear.

Landscape Heraldry – An invention of the late Elizabethan period and popularized in the 18th and 19th Centuries, it is more pictorial than medieval Heraldry, and is characterized by the depiction of natural scenes rather than the medieval stylization. Also called "pictorial" or "album cover" Heraldry. It is not permitted in Adrian heraldry.

Line Drawing – A copy of the presenter’s form which is not colored in, just like a Monday – Saturday newspaper comic strip. In Heraldic terms, this is called a cartoon.

Lozenge – The "diamond" shape found in common decks of playing cards. In the 19th Century, it was thought that women should bear their arms on this shape because they didn't use weapons. In Adrian practice, anyone may display their arms on this shape if they so choose.

Marshalling – The practice of combining two or more individual devices on one banner or shield. Couples, married or not, may marshal their arms together, and Estate Holders and Ministers may marshal their arms with that of the Estate or Office they hold. See the Appendix for examples. Related terms, see Dimidiation, Impaling, and Quartering.

Order – (1) Bestowed by decision of the Crown or, in some cases, vote of the Estates, to individuals. Orders are always bestowed for specific reasons. For examples, see Article XX.A., above. Persons inducted into an Order may call themselves a "Companion" or that Order. (2) A group of individuals banded together for some stated purpose, after the manner of medieval Knightly Orders; The Order of St. Bela is one such example.

Ordinary (1) – Any of various heraldic charges, usually broad geometric stripes such as Pale, Fess, and Bend.

Ordinary (2) – (usually capitalized) A listing of blazons for each heraldic device registered in the Empire, grouped by the type of charges in the armory.

Period – The Adrian Period, defined as being from 1150 to 1603. Defining something as "Period" means that it was known in Europe during that time.

Points – When used in reference to crowns and coronets, refers to the parts that stick up over the headband. Placement of points, while fixed for armorial coronets and crowns, is left up to the individual or Estate when creating crowns and coronets for actual use.

Precedent – A ruling by the Imperial Sovereign of Arms on a particular presentation that will affect future presentations and registrations.

Presence Banner – A custom once practiced in Adria, but now generally extinct. Once only registered by Kingdoms and Duchies, these were variants of the Estate’s arms to mark whether one or both of its rulers are present at an event. For example, a Kingdom may have had a separate presence banner for its King and another for its Queen, especially if the Monarchs attended different events. Such a banner would say "The King (or whatever) is here". Some Presence Banners still remain listed in the Armorial. Today, the Kingdom or Ducal Arms are preferred, whether one or both of the Crowns are present.

Presentation – Formerly called a submission, this consists of all of the heraldic paperwork, including documentation, that is given to the College of Arms for registration.

Proper – A Heraldic term used when a particular charge appears in its default tincture, which is not necessarily its color as it appears in Nature. A lion proper, for instance, is by default tinctured or, while real lions are light brown with darker brown manes. This term may be used for any Heraldic charge which has a defined default tincture: a sword proper is by default tinctured argent hafted or.

Pursuivant – A junior herald or a herald serving a Shire or non-geographic Estate. Pronounced purse-WEAVE-ent.

Quartering – One way of marshalling arms, by dividing the shield into four pieces and arranging the two sets of arms in a checkerboard fashion. Some quarterings have more than four pieces, especially when one or more of the arms involved are themselves quartered or marshalled.

Registration – What a presentation is called once it has been approved and registered by the Imperial Sovereign of Arms.

Roll of Arms – Essentially a pictorial Armorial. Devices are emblazoned, whereas in an Armorial, they are merely blazoned.

Roundel – A circle. Roundels have specific names in Blazon depending on their tincture: Argent = Plate (silver plate); Or = Bezant (Byzantine coin); Gules = Torteau (cinammon cake); Azure = Hurt (bruise); Vert = Pomme (apple); Sable = Gunstone, Ogress, or Pellet (cannonball); Purpure = Golpe (wine in a cup).

Sovereign of Arms – The Heraldic Minister in charge of the registration of armory in a Kingdom. Individual Sovereigns of Arms may choose to use the gender-specific King of Arms or Queen of Arms at their own discretion or as local custom may dictate.

Sumptuary Laws – The laws and customs which govern armorial display and regalia for various ranks. For example, the blue belt is the sumptuary right of Knights.

Tinctures – The heraldic colors. Tinctures are divided into two groups, the Metals: Or (yellow or gold) and Argent (white or silver); and the Colors: Gules (red), Azure (blue), Vert (green), Sable (black), and Purpure (purple).