Lozenge (Period)

Mascle (Period)

A lozenge is a rhomboid shape.  It’s an ancient charge, dating from at least 1275, in the arms of Bautersem or Baunstersein [Asp2 220].  The lozenge is usually drawn with one axis longer than the other; that axis is palewise by default.  It may also be found occasionally as a delf saltirewise.  The exact proportions are determined by the composition of the armory, and are left to the artist’s license.

Rustre (Period)

Lozenge pometty (Period)

Variants of the lozenge include the “mascle”, a lozenge voided, found in the arms of the Earls of Winchester c.1285 [ANA2 485]; the “masculyn”, a mascle flory at the points, found in the arms of Henry Pay, d.1419 [DBA4 200]; the “rustre”, a lozenge pierced with a circular hole [de Bara 47]; the “lozenge pometty”, found in the arms of van der Vliet, c.1370 [Gelre 85]; and the “lozenge ployé”, the Society’s term for the “napkin” (buqja), found in the arms of Qasrauh b. ‘Abdallah, 1413 [Mayer 185].

Lozenge ployé, or Arabic napkin (Period)

Masculyn (Period)

A red mascle has been adopted as the symbol of the International Red Crystal:  its use on argent backgrounds is not permitted in Society armory.

The lozenge is considered a shape upon which arms may be borne; thus, like the escutcheon, when used as a fieldless badge it must not itself be charged.

Some texts cite the fusil as a “skinnier” variant of the lozenge.  This error was common until the last few decades, when thorough heraldic research disproved it.  The medieval fusil was a segment of an indented ordinary:  e.g., a “bend indented” and a “bend of fusils conjoined” were interchangeable blazons. The fusil had no existence outside that usage, and its dimensions were not necessarily skinny.  By contrast, the lozenge was an independent charge like any other.

For related charges, see polygon.  See also vêtu.

The Shire of Black Diamond bears:  Or, a lozenge within a laurel wreath sable.

Mathild de Lilburne bears:  Sable, three lozenges argent.

Teceangl Bach bears:  Sable, seven mascles conjoined three, three and one argent.

Anna Malakina bears:  Or, three rustres gules.

‘Ayisha bint Mujir bears:  Argent, a fess and in base a goblet azure charged with a lozenge ployé argent.

Coryn of the Wode bears:  Sable, a pine tree eradicated and on a chief Or three lozenges pometty gules.

Amabilia Thexton bears:  Azure, a masculyn argent.

Label (Period)

Label couped (or dovetailed) (Period)

The label is an ancient charge, dating from early heraldic records, c.1244 [Asp2 220].  It consists of a horizontal stripe with several short dags (called “points”) dependent from its lower edge.

By default the label is in chief, throughout, and of three points.  This form of label, the label throughout, was the earliest form of the charge, and remains the most common.  However, the label’s form varied as time passed, with the points sometimes being drawn splayed, and sometimes with the label not throughout.  This more compact form has been blazoned in the Society as a “label dovetailed” or a “label couped”.  Current Society practice is to treat both forms of label as artistic variation, and to not blazon the precise form.

The label was recognized throughout Europe as the brisure of the eldest son.  However, there are examples (in both period and Society armory) of its use as an independent charge, with no cadency intended:  e.g., the arms of Woldenberg, c.1370 [Gelre 45v].

Seamus Ruadh bears:  Gules ermined Or, a label argent.

Cei Myghchaell Wellinton bears:  Per pale Or and bendy gules and ermine, a label sable.

Valentino da Siena bears:  Per pale sable and Or, in pale three labels couped counterchanged.

Weaver’s knot (Disallowed)

The “weaver’s knot” is a Society invention; while weavers certainly used knots in period, we’ve no evidence of this knot being particularly associated with weaving, and no period heraldic examples have been adduced.  Pending documentation, the weaver’s knot has been disallowed for Society use.

Margaret Johanna van Artevelde bears:  Per pale potenty argent and vert, in bend a weaver’s knot sable and a woad plant Or, stalked and leaved argent.

Wake knot (Period)

The “Wake knot” or “Ormonde knot” was the badge of John Wake in 1439 [Siddons II.2 305].  In modern terms, it’s equivalent to the “carrick bend”.

Gavin MacPherson bears:  Azure, in pale three Wake knots Or.

Knot of two hearts voided and braced (Period)

The term “knot of two hearts voided and braced to form a single cord” is the Society’s blazon for a knot found in the arms of Schulthaf, 1548 [Vigil Raber’s Armorial of the Arlberg Brotherhood of St. Christopher, fo.130].

Elisabetta Camilla di Raffaello bears:  Or, a knot of two hearts voided and braced to form a single cord azure.

Trefoil knot (Accepted)

The “trefoil knot” is a closed loop with three lobes; it’s a more rounded variant of a triquetra.  Its blazon is a simple description of its form; no examples have been found of its use in period armory.

Bruce Draconarius of Mistholme bears as a badge:  Two trefoil knots braced.

Suffolk knot (Period)

The “Suffolk knot” was the badge of John de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk, d.1491 [HB 147; Siddons II.2 232].

Aelia Musa bears as a badge: A Suffolk knot Or.

Violet Hughes bears as a badge: A Suffolk knot purpure.