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Line (heraldry)
Encyclopedia
The lines of partition used to divide
and vary field
s 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 [or triple 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.
An ordinary indented is bounded by small zigzags like a triangle wave
, with peaks on one side matching peaks on the other. An ordinary dancetty is similar, but with peaks matching troughs, so that the width is constant; it also typically has fewer points than indented. In early armory these were not distinguished. In the arms of the 55th Electronic Combat Group
of the United States Air Force
the indented is "edged wider on the back angle (sinister) than on the face (dexter) of each angle".
Dentilly is a modern invention, similar to indented, but with one of the sides of the points perpendicular and the other angled, as in a sawtooth wave
.
Rayonné (also rayonne, rayonny; from French rayonner) may be considered a variant of indented, but with curved instead of straight lines, as in the conventional representation of rays of the sun. Rayonne palewise appears in the arms of the 172d Support Battalion of the United States Army.
The arms of the Worshipful Company of Security Professionals contain an example of indented acute, a form of indented with higher peaks.
The number of peaks in indented is almost never specified, but an exception is the arms of Arthur D. Stairs: Per bend sinister indented of six steps Gules and Sable, and Westville, Natal, South Africa bears Sable, issuant from behind a fence of spears in base Argent, a fig tree in leaf Or; on a chief indented of four points to base, also Or, three lion's faces Sable.
In South Africa there are a number of examples of dancetty inverted. While the number of peaks in dancetty are three unless otherwise specified, the arms of Wagland show dancetty of two points and the arms of Baz Manning show a chief "dancetty of two full points upwards". The arms of the Matroosberg Transitional Representative Council in South Africa give an example of dancetty... in the shape of a letter W. The arms of the French department of Côtes d'Armor show émanché, which would be equivalent to the English per fess dancetty of two full points upwards. The arms of Baron Griffiths of Fforestfach are Paly of four Vert and Argent per fess enhanced indented of two points upwards each point double barbed throughout issuing in base a pile double barbed throughout all counterchanged. The arms of Alaric John Martin Woodrow show an example of barry dancetty each point double barbed, used to represent a line of fir trees as a play on the surname. The arms of the Free State in South Africa
show "a chief dancetty, the peaks terminating in merlons," and so might be called a combination of dancetty and embattled; a similar hybrid can be seen in the arms of the Agricultural Gymnasium. Hoerskool Hangklip provide an example of dancetty with points flattened, and Blouberg of dancetty the peaks couped.http://sahw.bravehost.com/e-des.htm It is difficult to know whether to characterise the "wall-like extremity with five merlons and four embrasures" in the arms of the Kurgan Oblast
in Russia as a divided field or a charge.http://www.heraldry.hobby.ru/eng/e.kurgan.html
The arms of Ernest John Altobello show a chevronel with the upper edge grady (this is identical in appearance to indented) "and ensigned of a tower Argent".
A line wavy is a sine wave
, often used to represent water; a line nebuly is similar but with more exaggerated meander
s, representing clouds. In early armory these were not distinguished.
The wavy chief in the arms of Lord Nelson was blazoned as undulated.http://www.baronage.co.uk/nl/nl-02-07.htm
The field of the arms of the 40th Finance Battalion of the United States Army is blazoned per fess wavy (in the manner of a Taeguk) The chief in the arms of Professor S.W. Haines is wavy of one crest and depressed in the centre of one point.http://www.college-of-arms.gov.uk/Haines.htm
In wavy crested the waves appear like pointed breakers.http://www.snodgrass-clan.com/grant.html
The arms of James Hill show an example of barrulets wavy crested to the sinister on the upper edge.http://heraldry-scotland.com/copgal/thumbnails.php?album=7&page=2 There are examples of even great complexity and specificity in the wavy line, such as the arms of "Baron Nolan... [which include] three 'bars wavy couped composed of two troughs and a wave invected of one point on the upper edge and engrailed of one point on the lower edge'"http://www.grsampson.net/AHtc.html.
Specification of the number of "undulations" in nebuly can be seen by Jochen Wilke's roundel, with ten. (It is uncommon for lines of partition to modify a charge other than an ordinary.)
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These lines consist of a series of circular arcs curving in the same direction, meeting at angles, forming points outward (engrailed) or inward (invected). When these terms are applied to a partition rather than to an ordinary, the first part of the field is the "interior".
The arms of Liverpool Hope University include a Cross engrailed of one point on each limb.http://www.college-of-arms.gov.uk/Newsletter/010.pdf
The arms of the Pretoria Philatelic Society show a chief engrailed and couped, having the appearance of the edge of a perforated
postage stamp
.
The arms of Kutlwanong Dorp in South Africa provide an example both of the specification of the number of lobes in invected, and those lobes being trefly.
A line embattled is a square wave
, representing the battlements of a castle.
When a fess is embattled, only the topmost edge is altered (as in the arms of Muri bei Bern
). If both edges are to be embattled, the term embattled-counter-embattled (or counter-embattled, as in the arms of Sir Cecil Denniston Burney) is used. In this case the lines are parallel. If gaps face gaps, the term bretessé is used. There is at least one emblazonment suggesting that the orle is only embattled on its outer edge.
Italian armory has a variant, Ghibelline
battlement, with notched merlons.
In a line raguly the extensions are oblique rather than orthogonal, like the stumps of limbs protruding from a tree-trunk.
Dovetailed
is as in carpentry. Unlike embattled, gaps face gaps.
Potenty may be considered a variant in which the points are extended to T-shapes ("potent" means a crutch).
A line embattled gradyhttp://www.armorial-register.com/arms-es/moore-sr-arms.html or battled embattledhttp://www.theheraldrysociety.com/resources/andersdaae.htm consists of series of two or three steps, as if each merlon
has a smaller merlon atop it. Parker's glossary says that double-embattled may be the same as this.
The arms of Schellenberg
, in Liechtenstein
, provide an example of embattled "with three battlements."http://www.ngw.nl/int/oveur/schellen.htm The bordure
in the arms of Boissy l'Aillerie, in Val d'Oise, France
, has nine battlements (and the bordure is also masoned and contains doorlike openings).
A very unusual occurrence of embattled occurs in the arms of the 136th Military Police Battalion of the United States Army: Sable, a fesse enhanced and embattled Or, overall a magnifying glass palewise rim Argent (Silver Gray), the glass surmounting and enlarging the middle crenel between two merlons, the handle Gules edged of the second bearing a mullet Argent.http://www.tioh.hqda.pentagon.mil/MP/136MilitaryPoliceBattalion.htm
The arms of Baron Kirkwood
show two chevronels round embattled (the merlons are rounded rather than squares). There are also examples of embattled pointedhttp://sahw.bravehost.com/e-des.htm/ and embattled in the form of mine dumps.
James Parker cites the arms of Christopher Draisfield: "Gules, a chevron raguly of two bastons couped at the top argent."
The arms of Zodwa Special School for Severely Mentally Handicapped Children show a chevron dovetailed, the peak ensigned with a potent issuant.
Some examples also exist of urdy, where the line is in the shapes of the upside-down and rightside-up "shields" of vair
(this is to be distinguished from couped urdy, in which the couping takes a pointed formhttp://www.tioh.hqda.pentagon.mil/MP/231MilitaryPoliceBattalion.htm). The arms of Winfried Paul Reinhold Steinhagen are Per chevron, the peak in the form of a merlon round urdy of four, Gules and Or, in chief a horse forcene and a goat clymant respecting one another, Argent, and in base a bull's head Sable armed Argent; a chief per fess in the form of a wall with three watchtowers, Azure and Argent, the latter charged with a strand of barbed wire throughout, Sable. The "unusual, if not unique" arms of Lourens Du Toit are Per fess of three pallets urdy Sable and Or.http://sahw.bravehost.com/p-pers2.htm
The arms of the Royal Australasian College of Dental Surgeons
http://www.racds.org/college/college_arms have a bordure emblazoned "dentate," although this appears to be quite similar to dovetailed.
A line nowy contains a semicircular protuberance in the middle.
The arms of Laerskool Bosveld in South Africa have a field Per chevron embowed trefly, Azure and Argent.
The arms of Léopold-Henri Amyothttp://www.heraldry.ca/arms/a/amyot.htm show "per fess ogivy"; this is based on the ogive
or pointed arch.
Chiefs, fesses and palar dividing lines are sometimes seen arched and double-arched (and there is an example of triple-arched), though there is some debate as to whether or not these are lines of partition. That arched can be combined with partition lines can be seen from the arms of South Lanarkshire
in Scotland
. Arched can also be reversed.
The rare line bevilled modifies the bendlets in the arms of Thomas Roy Barnes and the pairle in the arms of Rovaniemi
, Finland. This lightning-bolt type of line with one zigzag is to be distinguished from angled, in which the line takes a 90-degree upwards turn before another 90-degree turn, continuing parallel and in the same direction from the old line. There is a South African example of bevilled to sinister, and a bend double bevilled can be seen in the arms of Philip Kushlick School.
A line trefly shows protuberances in the form of trefoils.
The arms of St. Paul's Cathedral in Regina, Saskatchewan
contain a bordure its inner line looping in foils of poplar of the field within the bordure at each angle and at regular intervals between.http://www.gg.ca/heraldry/pub-reg/project-pic.asp?lang=e&ProjectID=582&ProjectElementID=2051
The arms of Carmichael show a fess "wreathy," which may or may not be strictly speaking a line of partition, but it does modify the fess; the coat is not blazoned as a "wreath in fess". James Parker calls this "tortilly."
The 20th century saw some innovations in lines of partition. Erablé, a series of alternating upside-down and rightside-up maple-leaves, is a typically Canadian
line of partition, though the College of Arms
in London has used it in a few grants (but compare the cross nowy erablé in the arms of Katherina Fahlman Selinger Schaaf.http://www.gg.ca/heraldry/pub-reg/project-pic.asp?lang=e&ProjectID=569&ProjectElementID=2003 A Finnish
line of partition, invented by Kaj Cajander and called kuusikoro, which is called fir-tree topped in Britain, and which the Canadian Heraldic Authority
coined the term sapiné to blazon, resembles fir trees; in the arms of Guy Selvester http://www.theheraldrysociety.com/resources/guyselvester.htm this is called sapinage. A line resembling fir twigs, and so called in British blazon, is called sapinagy in Canada (though sadly there is no example of it in the online Canadian Public Register), and havukoro in Finland.http://www.baronage.co.uk/2002d/appleton.pdf) Other 20th-century examples of lines, or things akin to lines, include the 1990 grant to Albersdorf-Prebuch
, also in Austria, in which the upper line of the fess takes the form of fruit
, the bottom of vine-leaves. (It is debatable what the distinction is between such lines, and examples such as the arms of Bierbaum am Auersbach
, a town in Styria, in which three pears grow from a pall
.)
The South African Bureau of Heraldry
has developed the line of partition serpentine(which has also been called 'ondoyant'), which is rather like wavy, but with only one "wave", one complete cycle of a sine wave; the serpentine in the arms of the Mtubatuba Primary School is defined as "dexter to chief and sinister to base". (Similar is the German "im Schlangenschnitt" (snake-wise).) It has also developed the uniquely South-African lines of division (which can also form the ends of a charge) nowy of a Cape Town gable (now called just nowy gabled),http://www.baronage.co.uk/2002d/appleton.pdf and nowy of an Indian cupola. Similarly, the fess line in the arms of the Council for Social and Associated Workers is nowy of a trimount inverted, the fess in the arms of Mossel Bay is nowy of two Karoo gable houses, the chief in the arms of the Lenasia South-East Management Committee is nowy of an Indian cupola, the chief in the arms of the Genealogical Society of South Africa is double nowy gably and that of Frederick Brownell is gably of three.http://sahw.bravehost.com/h-who.htm The arms of the Reyneke Bond (i.e. Reyneke Family Association) are Per fess, in each flank double nowy fitchy to base, Azure and Or, a lion rampant per fess of the second and Gules, a chief Or. The plain chief identifies these as the arms of a family association. The arms of Itsokolele, South Africa include a chief double fitchy inverted.
Broad fitchy couped is a line of South-African origin similar in appearance to a mine-dump or escartelly with sloping sides.http://sahw.bravehost.com/e-des.htm
Chevrons can be topped with a fleur-de-lys, and ordinaries with non-straight edges (particularly if they are dancetty or engrailed) can have the points topped with demi fleurs-de-lys. It has sometimes been said that in some reference works flory-counter-flory (and flory) is treated like a line of partition, even though strictly speaking it is not - though it has been used for centuries that way in the royal arms of Scotland blazoning the double tressure (Public Register of Arms, Lyon Court, Edinburgh) and used by the College of arms in blazoning coats like that of Sutherland of Dunstanburgh Castle (Gules, a chevron flory-counterflory between in chief three mullets and in base a lymphad all or) and is used by the South African Bureau of Heraldry blazoning the coat of Huis Tankotie of the University of Pretoria (Per fess, flory counter-flory, Argent and Azure, in base within the flower an annulet Sable; a bordure counterchanged)and Emmanuel-Opleidingsentrum in the South African Bureau of Heraldry's online database. (Flory is sometimes varied with other shapes than the fleur-de-lys, when it is blazoned as flory of.http://www.theheraldrysociety.com/resources/michaelmctiernan.htm)
A vague and unhelpful blazon of the 27th Air Division of the United States Air Force
http://www.afhra.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=10080 provides for a "bordure of distinctive outline".
Division of the field
In heraldry, the field of a shield can be divided into more than one area of different tinctures, usually following the lines of one of the ordinaries and carrying its name...
and vary field
Field (heraldry)
In heraldry, the background of the shield is called the field. The field is usually composed of one or more tinctures or furs. The field may be divided or may consist of a variegated pattern....
s and charges in heraldry
Heraldry
Heraldry is the profession, study, or art of creating, granting, and blazoning arms and ruling on questions of rank or protocol, as exercised by an officer of arms. Heraldry comes from Anglo-Norman herald, from the Germanic compound harja-waldaz, "army commander"...
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 [or triple mount] in base," or, particularly in German heraldry
German heraldry
German heraldry refers to the cultural tradition and style of heraldic achievements in modern and historic Germany and the Holy Roman Empire, including national and civic arms, noble and burgher arms, ecclesiastical heraldry, heraldic displays and heraldic descriptions...
, different kinds of embattled from castle walls.
In Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, varied lines of partition are often used to modify a bordure
Bordure
In heraldry, a bordure is a band of contrasting tincture forming a border around the edge of a shield, traditionally one-sixth as wide as the shield itself...
(or sometimes another ordinary
Ordinary (heraldry)
In heraldry, an ordinary is a simple geometrical figure, bounded by straight lines and running from side to side or top to bottom of the shield. There are also some geometric charges known as subordinaries, which have been given lesser status by some heraldic writers, though most have been in use...
) to difference the arms of a cadet
Cadency
In heraldry, cadency is any systematic way of distinguishing similar coats of arms belonging to members of the same family. Cadency is necessary in heraldic systems in which a given design may be owned by only one person at once...
from the chief of the house.
Indented and dancetty
Triangle wave
A triangle wave is a non-sinusoidal waveform named for its triangular shape.Like a square wave, the triangle wave contains only odd harmonics...
, with peaks on one side matching peaks on the other. An ordinary dancetty is similar, but with peaks matching troughs, so that the width is constant; it also typically has fewer points than indented. In early armory these were not distinguished. In the arms of the 55th Electronic Combat Group
55th Electronic Combat Group
The 55th Electronic Combat Group, Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, provides combat-ready EC-130H Compass Call aircraft, crews, maintenance and operational support to combatant commanders. The group is a geographically separated unit that falls under the command of the 55th Wing at Offutt AFB, NE...
of the United States Air Force
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
the indented is "edged wider on the back angle (sinister) than on the face (dexter) of each angle".
Dentilly is a modern invention, similar to indented, but with one of the sides of the points perpendicular and the other angled, as in a sawtooth wave
Sawtooth wave
The sawtooth wave is a kind of non-sinusoidal waveform. It is named a sawtooth based on its resemblance to the teeth on the blade of a saw....
.
Rayonné (also rayonne, rayonny; from French rayonner) may be considered a variant of indented, but with curved instead of straight lines, as in the conventional representation of rays of the sun. Rayonne palewise appears in the arms of the 172d Support Battalion of the United States Army.
The arms of the Worshipful Company of Security Professionals contain an example of indented acute, a form of indented with higher peaks.
The number of peaks in indented is almost never specified, but an exception is the arms of Arthur D. Stairs: Per bend sinister indented of six steps Gules and Sable, and Westville, Natal, South Africa bears Sable, issuant from behind a fence of spears in base Argent, a fig tree in leaf Or; on a chief indented of four points to base, also Or, three lion's faces Sable.
In South Africa there are a number of examples of dancetty inverted. While the number of peaks in dancetty are three unless otherwise specified, the arms of Wagland show dancetty of two points and the arms of Baz Manning show a chief "dancetty of two full points upwards". The arms of the Matroosberg Transitional Representative Council in South Africa give an example of dancetty... in the shape of a letter W. The arms of the French department of Côtes d'Armor show émanché, which would be equivalent to the English per fess dancetty of two full points upwards. The arms of Baron Griffiths of Fforestfach are Paly of four Vert and Argent per fess enhanced indented of two points upwards each point double barbed throughout issuing in base a pile double barbed throughout all counterchanged. The arms of Alaric John Martin Woodrow show an example of barry dancetty each point double barbed, used to represent a line of fir trees as a play on the surname. The arms of the Free State in South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
show "a chief dancetty, the peaks terminating in merlons," and so might be called a combination of dancetty and embattled; a similar hybrid can be seen in the arms of the Agricultural Gymnasium. Hoerskool Hangklip provide an example of dancetty with points flattened, and Blouberg of dancetty the peaks couped.http://sahw.bravehost.com/e-des.htm It is difficult to know whether to characterise the "wall-like extremity with five merlons and four embrasures" in the arms of the Kurgan Oblast
Kurgan Oblast
Kurgan Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . Its administrative center is the city of Kurgan. Population: -History:The oblast was formed on February 6, 1943, just when the Soviet Army decisively defeated Hitler's forces near Stalingrad...
in Russia as a divided field or a charge.http://www.heraldry.hobby.ru/eng/e.kurgan.html
The arms of Ernest John Altobello show a chevronel with the upper edge grady (this is identical in appearance to indented) "and ensigned of a tower Argent".
Wavy and nebuly
Sine wave
The sine wave or sinusoid is a mathematical function that describes a smooth repetitive oscillation. It occurs often in pure mathematics, as well as physics, signal processing, electrical engineering and many other fields...
, often used to represent water; a line nebuly is similar but with more exaggerated meander
Meander
A meander in general is a bend in a sinuous watercourse. A meander is formed when the moving water in a stream erodes the outer banks and widens its valley. A stream of any volume may assume a meandering course, alternately eroding sediments from the outside of a bend and depositing them on the...
s, representing clouds. In early armory these were not distinguished.
The wavy chief in the arms of Lord Nelson was blazoned as undulated.http://www.baronage.co.uk/nl/nl-02-07.htm
The field of the arms of the 40th Finance Battalion of the United States Army is blazoned per fess wavy (in the manner of a Taeguk) The chief in the arms of Professor S.W. Haines is wavy of one crest and depressed in the centre of one point.http://www.college-of-arms.gov.uk/Haines.htm
In wavy crested the waves appear like pointed breakers.http://www.snodgrass-clan.com/grant.html
The arms of James Hill show an example of barrulets wavy crested to the sinister on the upper edge.http://heraldry-scotland.com/copgal/thumbnails.php?album=7&page=2 There are examples of even great complexity and specificity in the wavy line, such as the arms of "Baron Nolan... [which include] three 'bars wavy couped composed of two troughs and a wave invected of one point on the upper edge and engrailed of one point on the lower edge'"http://www.grsampson.net/AHtc.html.
Specification of the number of "undulations" in nebuly can be seen by Jochen Wilke's roundel, with ten. (It is uncommon for lines of partition to modify a charge other than an ordinary.)
Engrailed and invected
The arms of Liverpool Hope University include a Cross engrailed of one point on each limb.http://www.college-of-arms.gov.uk/Newsletter/010.pdf
The arms of the Pretoria Philatelic Society show a chief engrailed and couped, having the appearance of the edge of a perforated
Perforation
A perforation is a small hole in a thin material or web. There is usually more than one perforation in an organized fashion, where all of the holes are called a perforation...
postage stamp
Postage stamp
A postage stamp is a small piece of paper that is purchased and displayed on an item of mail as evidence of payment of postage. Typically, stamps are made from special paper, with a national designation and denomination on the face, and a gum adhesive on the reverse side...
.
The arms of Kutlwanong Dorp in South Africa provide an example both of the specification of the number of lobes in invected, and those lobes being trefly.
Embattled and variants
Square wave
A square wave is a kind of non-sinusoidal waveform, most typically encountered in electronics and signal processing. An ideal square wave alternates regularly and instantaneously between two levels...
, representing the battlements of a castle.
When a fess is embattled, only the topmost edge is altered (as in the arms of Muri bei Bern
Muri bei Bern
Muri bei Bern is a municipality in the Bern-Mittelland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.The municipality is clearly divided into two parts, each with about 6,000 people...
). If both edges are to be embattled, the term embattled-counter-embattled (or counter-embattled, as in the arms of Sir Cecil Denniston Burney) is used. In this case the lines are parallel. If gaps face gaps, the term bretessé is used. There is at least one emblazonment suggesting that the orle is only embattled on its outer edge.
Italian armory has a variant, Ghibelline
Guelphs and Ghibellines
The Guelphs and Ghibellines were factions supporting the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor, respectively, in central and northern Italy. During the 12th and 13th centuries, the split between these two parties was a particularly important aspect of the internal policy of the Italian city-states...
battlement, with notched merlons.
In a line raguly the extensions are oblique rather than orthogonal, like the stumps of limbs protruding from a tree-trunk.
Dovetailed
Dovetail joint
A dovetail joint or simply dovetail is a joint technique most commonly used in woodworking joinery. Noted for its resistance to being pulled apart , the dovetail joint is commonly used to join the sides of a drawer to the front....
is as in carpentry. Unlike embattled, gaps face gaps.
Potenty may be considered a variant in which the points are extended to T-shapes ("potent" means a crutch).
A line embattled gradyhttp://www.armorial-register.com/arms-es/moore-sr-arms.html or battled embattledhttp://www.theheraldrysociety.com/resources/andersdaae.htm consists of series of two or three steps, as if each merlon
Merlon
In architecture, a merlon forms the solid part of an embattled parapet, sometimes pierced by embrasures. The space between two merlons is usually called a crenel, although those later designed and used for cannons were called embrasures.-Etymology:...
has a smaller merlon atop it. Parker's glossary says that double-embattled may be the same as this.
The arms of Schellenberg
Schellenberg
Schellenberg is a municipality in the lowland area of Liechtenstein, on the banks of the Rhine. , it has a population of 952 and covers an area of .-Early history:...
, in Liechtenstein
Liechtenstein
The Principality of Liechtenstein is a doubly landlocked alpine country in Central Europe, bordered by Switzerland to the west and south and by Austria to the east. Its area is just over , and it has an estimated population of 35,000. Its capital is Vaduz. The biggest town is Schaan...
, provide an example of embattled "with three battlements."http://www.ngw.nl/int/oveur/schellen.htm The bordure
Bordure
In heraldry, a bordure is a band of contrasting tincture forming a border around the edge of a shield, traditionally one-sixth as wide as the shield itself...
in the arms of Boissy l'Aillerie, in Val d'Oise, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, has nine battlements (and the bordure is also masoned and contains doorlike openings).
A very unusual occurrence of embattled occurs in the arms of the 136th Military Police Battalion of the United States Army: Sable, a fesse enhanced and embattled Or, overall a magnifying glass palewise rim Argent (Silver Gray), the glass surmounting and enlarging the middle crenel between two merlons, the handle Gules edged of the second bearing a mullet Argent.http://www.tioh.hqda.pentagon.mil/MP/136MilitaryPoliceBattalion.htm
The arms of Baron Kirkwood
Baron Kirkwood
Baron Kirkwood, of Bearsden in the County of Dunbarton, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1951 for the Scottish engineer, trade unionist, Independent Labour Party and later Labour politician, David Kirkwood...
show two chevronels round embattled (the merlons are rounded rather than squares). There are also examples of embattled pointedhttp://sahw.bravehost.com/e-des.htm/ and embattled in the form of mine dumps.
James Parker cites the arms of Christopher Draisfield: "Gules, a chevron raguly of two bastons couped at the top argent."
The arms of Zodwa Special School for Severely Mentally Handicapped Children show a chevron dovetailed, the peak ensigned with a potent issuant.
Some examples also exist of urdy, where the line is in the shapes of the upside-down and rightside-up "shields" of vair
Vair
Vair is the heraldic representation of patches of squirrel fur in an alternating pattern of blue and white. As a tincture, vair is considered a fur and is therefore exempted from the Rule of tincture . Variations of vair are laid out in different patterns, each with their own name...
(this is to be distinguished from couped urdy, in which the couping takes a pointed formhttp://www.tioh.hqda.pentagon.mil/MP/231MilitaryPoliceBattalion.htm). The arms of Winfried Paul Reinhold Steinhagen are Per chevron, the peak in the form of a merlon round urdy of four, Gules and Or, in chief a horse forcene and a goat clymant respecting one another, Argent, and in base a bull's head Sable armed Argent; a chief per fess in the form of a wall with three watchtowers, Azure and Argent, the latter charged with a strand of barbed wire throughout, Sable. The "unusual, if not unique" arms of Lourens Du Toit are Per fess of three pallets urdy Sable and Or.http://sahw.bravehost.com/p-pers2.htm
The arms of the Royal Australasian College of Dental Surgeons
Royal Australasian College of Dental Surgeons
The Royal Australasian College of Dental Surgeons or RACDS is a professional college established in 1965 that administers Fellowship Exams for both general and specialist dental practitioners in the Australasian region...
http://www.racds.org/college/college_arms have a bordure emblazoned "dentate," although this appears to be quite similar to dovetailed.
Embowed and nowy
A line embowed consists of a single arch.A line nowy contains a semicircular protuberance in the middle.
The arms of Laerskool Bosveld in South Africa have a field Per chevron embowed trefly, Azure and Argent.
The arms of Léopold-Henri Amyothttp://www.heraldry.ca/arms/a/amyot.htm show "per fess ogivy"; this is based on the ogive
Ogive
An ogive is the roundly tapered end of a two-dimensional or three-dimensional object.-Applied physical science and engineering:In ballistics or aerodynamics, an ogive is a pointed, curved surface mainly used to form the approximately streamlined nose of a bullet or other projectile.The traditional...
or pointed arch.
Chiefs, fesses and palar dividing lines are sometimes seen arched and double-arched (and there is an example of triple-arched), though there is some debate as to whether or not these are lines of partition. That arched can be combined with partition lines can be seen from the arms of South Lanarkshire
South Lanarkshire
South Lanarkshire is one of 32 unitary council areas of Scotland, covering the southern part of the former county of Lanarkshire. It borders the south-east of the city of Glasgow and contains many of Glasgow's suburbs, commuter towns and smaller villages....
in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. Arched can also be reversed.
Rarer lines and recent inventions
Rovaniemi
Rovaniemi is a city and municipality of Finland. It is the administrative capital and commercial centre of Finland's northernmost province, Lapland. It is situated close to the Arctic Circle and is between the hills of Ounasvaara and Korkalovaara, at the confluence of the Kemijoki River and its...
, Finland. This lightning-bolt type of line with one zigzag is to be distinguished from angled, in which the line takes a 90-degree upwards turn before another 90-degree turn, continuing parallel and in the same direction from the old line. There is a South African example of bevilled to sinister, and a bend double bevilled can be seen in the arms of Philip Kushlick School.
A line trefly shows protuberances in the form of trefoils.
The arms of St. Paul's Cathedral in Regina, Saskatchewan
Regina, Saskatchewan
Regina is the capital city of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The city is the second-largest in the province and a cultural and commercial centre for southern Saskatchewan. It is governed by Regina City Council. Regina is the cathedral city of the Roman Catholic and Romanian Orthodox...
contain a bordure its inner line looping in foils of poplar of the field within the bordure at each angle and at regular intervals between.http://www.gg.ca/heraldry/pub-reg/project-pic.asp?lang=e&ProjectID=582&ProjectElementID=2051
The arms of Carmichael show a fess "wreathy," which may or may not be strictly speaking a line of partition, but it does modify the fess; the coat is not blazoned as a "wreath in fess". James Parker calls this "tortilly."
The 20th century saw some innovations in lines of partition. Erablé, a series of alternating upside-down and rightside-up maple-leaves, is a typically Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
line of partition, though the College of Arms
College of Arms
The College of Arms, or Heralds’ College, is an office regulating heraldry and granting new armorial bearings for England, Wales and Northern Ireland...
in London has used it in a few grants (but compare the cross nowy erablé in the arms of Katherina Fahlman Selinger Schaaf.http://www.gg.ca/heraldry/pub-reg/project-pic.asp?lang=e&ProjectID=569&ProjectElementID=2003 A Finnish
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
line of partition, invented by Kaj Cajander and called kuusikoro, which is called fir-tree topped in Britain, and which the Canadian Heraldic Authority
Canadian Heraldic Authority
The Canadian Heraldic Authority is part of the Canadian honours system under the Queen of Canada, whose authority is exercised by the Governor General. The Authority is responsible for the creation and granting of new coats of arms , flags and badges for Canadian citizens, permanent residents and...
coined the term sapiné to blazon, resembles fir trees; in the arms of Guy Selvester http://www.theheraldrysociety.com/resources/guyselvester.htm this is called sapinage. A line resembling fir twigs, and so called in British blazon, is called sapinagy in Canada (though sadly there is no example of it in the online Canadian Public Register), and havukoro in Finland.http://www.baronage.co.uk/2002d/appleton.pdf) Other 20th-century examples of lines, or things akin to lines, include the 1990 grant to Albersdorf-Prebuch
Albersdorf-Prebuch
Albersdorf-Prebuch is a municipality in the district of Weiz in Styria, Austria....
, also in Austria, in which the upper line of the fess takes the form of fruit
Fruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
, the bottom of vine-leaves. (It is debatable what the distinction is between such lines, and examples such as the arms of Bierbaum am Auersbach
Bierbaum am Auersbach
Bierbaum am Auersbach is a municipality in the district of Radkersburg in Styria, Austria....
, a town in Styria, in which three pears grow from a pall
Pall
Pall may refer to:* Pall , a cloth used to cover a coffin* Pall , a Y-shaped heraldic charge* Pall , a piece of stiffened linen used to cover the chalice at the Eucharist* Pall Corporation, a global business...
.)
The South African Bureau of Heraldry
Bureau of Heraldry (South Africa)
The Bureau of Heraldry is the South African heraldic authority, established in Pretoria on 1 June 1963. It is headed by a National Herald and its functions are to register arms, badges, flags and seals , to keep a public register, to issue registration certificates and, since 1980, to advise the...
has developed the line of partition serpentine(which has also been called 'ondoyant'), which is rather like wavy, but with only one "wave", one complete cycle of a sine wave; the serpentine in the arms of the Mtubatuba Primary School is defined as "dexter to chief and sinister to base". (Similar is the German "im Schlangenschnitt" (snake-wise).) It has also developed the uniquely South-African lines of division (which can also form the ends of a charge) nowy of a Cape Town gable (now called just nowy gabled),http://www.baronage.co.uk/2002d/appleton.pdf and nowy of an Indian cupola. Similarly, the fess line in the arms of the Council for Social and Associated Workers is nowy of a trimount inverted, the fess in the arms of Mossel Bay is nowy of two Karoo gable houses, the chief in the arms of the Lenasia South-East Management Committee is nowy of an Indian cupola, the chief in the arms of the Genealogical Society of South Africa is double nowy gably and that of Frederick Brownell is gably of three.http://sahw.bravehost.com/h-who.htm The arms of the Reyneke Bond (i.e. Reyneke Family Association) are Per fess, in each flank double nowy fitchy to base, Azure and Or, a lion rampant per fess of the second and Gules, a chief Or. The plain chief identifies these as the arms of a family association. The arms of Itsokolele, South Africa include a chief double fitchy inverted.
Broad fitchy couped is a line of South-African origin similar in appearance to a mine-dump or escartelly with sloping sides.http://sahw.bravehost.com/e-des.htm
Chevrons can be topped with a fleur-de-lys, and ordinaries with non-straight edges (particularly if they are dancetty or engrailed) can have the points topped with demi fleurs-de-lys. It has sometimes been said that in some reference works flory-counter-flory (and flory) is treated like a line of partition, even though strictly speaking it is not - though it has been used for centuries that way in the royal arms of Scotland blazoning the double tressure (Public Register of Arms, Lyon Court, Edinburgh) and used by the College of arms in blazoning coats like that of Sutherland of Dunstanburgh Castle (Gules, a chevron flory-counterflory between in chief three mullets and in base a lymphad all or) and is used by the South African Bureau of Heraldry blazoning the coat of Huis Tankotie of the University of Pretoria (Per fess, flory counter-flory, Argent and Azure, in base within the flower an annulet Sable; a bordure counterchanged)and Emmanuel-Opleidingsentrum in the South African Bureau of Heraldry's online database. (Flory is sometimes varied with other shapes than the fleur-de-lys, when it is blazoned as flory of.http://www.theheraldrysociety.com/resources/michaelmctiernan.htm)
A vague and unhelpful blazon of the 27th Air Division of the United States Air Force
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
http://www.afhra.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=10080 provides for a "bordure of distinctive outline".