Abatement (heraldry) - Breaking or Erasing Charges

Breaking or Erasing Charges

As another form of abatement, some coats of arms were reportedly modified through breaking or cutting, reversing, or altogether erasing some existing charges, at least as they occur in patents, though the armiger's actual display of these defaced arms has not been documented and is unlikely.

In French heraldry the term diffamé is used to denote a lion or other animal whose tail is cut off, or may refer more broadly to arms which have been altered to signify loss of honor. A lion with its tail between its hind legs is termed "couard" (coward), and has also been cited as a mark of infamy.

Though lions are traditionally depicted with male genitals, a recent trend toward omitting the genitals has been controversial, prodding claims that emasculated lions have also been an historical form of abatement. Commenting on the newly castrated lion in the arms of the Nordic Battle Group in 2007, Vladimir Sagerlund, heraldic artist at the Swedish National Archives since 1994, was critical of the politically motivated decision, stating, "once upon a time coats of arms containing lions without genitalia were given to those who betrayed the Crown." The Times in London, however, noted a growing recent trend toward heraldic "castration", pointing to the lions passant on the royal coat of arms of England, as well as the lions rampant on those of Norway, Finland, Belgium, Luxembourg and Scotland, all of which have recently been depicted without genitals; in conclusion, The Times wrote, "some crests are ambiguous, but the message remains clear: the lions are supposed to display courage and nothing else." While such arms are clearly not intended as an abatement in modern times, no known examples of castrated lions have been found in medieval heraldry.