A Heraldic Primer: Field and Charges

A shield or flag usually consists of a field (= background) on which one or more distinct charges (= objects) are placed. The blazon of such a shield describes the field first, then the charges.

The field may be a single, solid tincture. In this case, it is described by simply naming the tincture. For example, the arms of Brittany consist of a field ermine with no charges on it. Thus:

• The blazon of the arms of Brittany is "Ermine."
• The emblazon of the arms of Brittany look like this:
  
  

To describe a group of charges, you usually specify at least three things:

1. the number charges in the group
2. the type(s) of charge(s) in the group
3. the tinctures of the charge(s)

For example, the following shield:

is blazoned "Sable, a mullet argent."

• The first word, "Sable" describes the field, indicating that it is entirely sable.
• The remainder of the blazon, "a mullet argent" describes a group of charges on the field:
  1. "a" indicates that there is one charge in the group
  2. "mullet" indicates that charges in the group are mullets (=stars)
  3. "argent" indicates that the tincture of the group is argent.

It is helpful to think of a shield as being painted in layers. The field constitutes the first layer, and the first group of charges is placed in a second layer on the field. The following picture may help make this clear:

The illustration shows how "Sable, a mullet argent." might look if viewed obliquely from below.

To summarize the syntax rules so far:

• field before charges
• number, then type, then tincture

• Proceed to the next lesson: Field Divisions
• Return to the Table of Contents
• Return to the previous lesson: Proper Tinctures