Label (heraldry) - As A Mark of Difference

As A Mark of Difference

In English heraldry, the label was used to mark the elder son, generally by the princes of the royal house. Differences, or marks of cadency, are the distinctions used to indicate the junior branches (cadets) of a family. The eldest son, during the lifetime of his father, bears the family arms with the addition of a label; the second son a crescent, the third, a mullet, the fourth, a martlet, the fifth, an annulet; the sixth, a fleur-de-lis; the seventh, a rose; the eighth, a cross moline; the ninth, a double quatrefoil. On the death of his father, the eldest son would remove the label from his coat of arms and assume the unmodified arms.

The label's number of points did not necessarily mean anything, although the label of three points was supposed to represent the heir during the lifetime of his father; five points, during the lifetime of his grandfather; seven points, while the great-grandfather still lived, etc.

According to some sources, the elder son of an elder son places a label upon a label. However, A.C. Fox-Davies states that in the case of the heir-apparent of the heir-apparent "one label of five points is used, and to place a label upon a label is not correct when both are marks of cadency, and not charges."