Charge (heraldry) - Common Charges

Common Charges

So-called mobile charges are not tied to the size and shape of the shield, and so may be placed in any part of the field, although whenever a charge appears alone, it is placed with sufficient position and size to occupy the entire field. Common mobile charges include human figures, human parts, animals, animal parts, mythical creatures (or "monsters"), plants and floral designs, inanimate objects and other devices. The heraldic animals need not exactly resemble the actual creatures.

A number of geometric charges are sometimes listed among the subordinaries (see above), but as their form is not related to the shape of the shield – indeed they may appear independent of the shield (i.e. in crests and badges) – they are more usefully considered here. These include the escutcheon or inescutcheon, lozenge, fusil, mascle, rustre, billet, roundel, fountain, and annulet.

• The escutcheon is a small shield. If borne singly in the centre of the main shield, it is sometimes called an inescutcheon, and is usually employed to combine multiple coats. It is customarily the same shape as the shield it is on, though shields of specific shapes are rarely specified in the blazon.
• The lozenge is a rhombus generally resembling the diamonds of playing-cards. A more acute lozenge is called a fusil. A lozenge voided (i.e. with a lozenge-shaped hole) is a mascle; a lozenge pierced (i.e. with a round hole) is a rustre.
• The billet is a rectangle, usually at least twice as tall as it is wide; it may represent a block of wood or a sheet of paper. Billets appear in the shield of the house of Nassau, which was modified to become that of the kingdom of the Netherlands.
• The roundel is a solid circle, frequently of gold (blazoned a bezant). A fountain is depicted as a roundel barry wavy argent and azure. An annulet is a roundel voided (i.e. a ring).

Several other simple charges occur with comparable frequency. These include the mullet or star, crescent and cross.

• The mullet is a star of (usually five) straight rays, and may have originated as a representation of the rowel or revel of a spur (although "spur-revels" do appear under that name). Mullets frequently appear pierced. If unpierced, it is sometimes called a "star" in Scottish heraldry, and stars also appear in English and continental heraldry under that name (often with six points). The "Spur revel" is also found in Scottish heraldry.
• A star with (usually six) wavy rays is called an estoile (the Old French word for 'star'; modern French étoile).
• The crescent, a symbol of the Moon, normally appears with its horns upward; if its horns are to dexter it represents a waxing moon (increscent), and with horns to sinister it represents a waning moon (decrescent).

One of the most frequently found charges in heraldry, if not the most, is the cross, which has developed into, some say, 400 varieties. When the cross does not reach the edges of the field, it becomes a mobile charge. The plain Greek cross (with equal limbs) and Latin cross (with the lower limb extended) are sometimes seen, but more often the tip of each limb is developed into some ornamental shape. The most commonly found crosses in heraldry include the cross botonny, the cross flory, the cross moline, the cross potent, the cross patée or formée, the cross patonce and the cross crosslet.

In English heraldry the crescent, mullet, martlet, annulet, fleur-de-lis and rose may be added to a shield to distinguish cadet branches of a family from the senior line. It does not follow, however, that a shield containing such a charge belongs to a cadet branch. All of these charges occur frequently in basic (undifferenced) coats of arms.