Line (heraldry)
The lines of partition used to divide and vary fields and charges in heraldry are by default straight, but may have many different shapes. Care must sometimes be taken to distinguish these types of lines from the extremely unusual and non-traditional use of lines as charges, and to distinguish these shapes from actual charges, such as "a mount in base," or, particularly in German heraldry, different kinds of embattled from castle walls.
In Scotland, varied lines of partition are often used to modify a bordure (or sometimes another ordinary) to difference the arms of a cadet from the chief of the house.
Read more about Line (heraldry): Indented and Dancetty, Wavy and Nebuly, Engrailed and Invected, Embattled and Variants, Embowed and Nowy, Rarer Lines and Recent Inventions, Gallery of Different Lines of Partition
Famous quotes containing the word line:
“We are apt to say that a foreign policy is successful only when the country, or at any rate the governing class, is united behind it. In reality, every line of policy is repudiated by a section, often by an influential section, of the country concerned. A foreign minister who waited until everyone agreed with him would have no foreign policy at all.”
—A.J.P. (Alan John Percivale)