Belt, loose with buckle in chief (Period)

Belt (or garter) buckled in annulo (Period/Reserved if white)

A belt is a band worn around the waist, or over the shoulder, to hold up clothing or sword.  The type normally shown in heraldry is a leather belt, with a ring or buckle.  It is sometimes shown as in the illustration:  buckled and knotted, with the belt in annulo and the end pendant.  It may be arranged in a loose “U”, as in the arms of von Beldersheim, c.1370 [Gelre 96v, also Siebmacher 126]; or it may be shown straight, pendant from the buckle in chief, as in the quartering of the arms of Pelham c.1588 [Woodcock & Robinson 39].  In the Society, white belts and baldrics are the badge and regalia of the Order of Chivalry; their use in armory is reserved to members of that Order.

The “garter” is similar to the belt, but smaller, meant to be fastened around the leg.  The period examples found to date are always buckled in annulo or demi-annulo; otherwise, the garter and the belt are indistinguishable.  The garter is found in the arms of Bokeland or Buckland, c.1460 [RH], but it’s most famous as the regalia of England’s Order of the Garter, founded 1348 [Friar 160].

The “sash” is a cloth belt, tied rather than buckled.  No examples have been found in period armory, and there is but a single example in Society armory.

A charge encircled by a belt or garter in annulo is a method of display for Scottish Clan badges; such motifs may no longer be registered in the Society.

The Order of Chivalry bears:  A white belt or baldric.

The Order of the Garland, of the Barony of Ponte Alto, bears:  A garter buckled in annulo Or.

Alexander the Desert Dweller bears:  Lozengy sable and argent, an owl Or within a looped leather belt, buckled and knotted proper.

Stephen MacAlpine bears:  Or, a lion rampant to sinister guardant within a sash in annulo, knotted in base sable.