CHARGES

With tincture, partitions and lines of partition, many unique coats of arms could be created. But many coats of arms do not have partitions. Instead they have "charges" placed upon the field (or fields). Some coats of arms have partitions AND charges. Charges are shapes or objects that are located on the shield. 

Shield Points
In order to place things on the shield in specific locations, we need to know the terminology used to identify locations. First of all are the regions or relative positions of the shield. The "chief" (top), "base" (bottom), "dexter" (the left when looking at the front of the shield; dexter literally means "right" but in this case refers to the holder's right), and the "sinister" (the right, viewed from the front). From this we can name the first six shield points - "dexter chief, middle chief, sinister chief, dexter base, middle base, and sinister base". Between the middle chief and the middle base are three more points, from top to bottom they are the "honour point", the "fess point" and the "nombril point". The fess point is the centre of the shield. If the shield is partitioned or if there are more than one charge, it should be noted that different areas of the shield have different amount of value in terms of honour. The chief of the shield is considered more honourable than the base and the dexter more honourable than the sinister. This may be important when placing charges which have a significance or when combining coats of arms.

1- dexter chief      2 - middle chief      3 - sinister chief      4 - dexter base      5 - middle base      6 - sinister base      7 - honour point      8 - fess point      9 - nombril point

Diagram - Shield points


ORDINARIES

The simplest of charges are simple geometric shapes. These were so commonly used that they were called "ordinaries". There are eight main ordinaries, and some smaller versions called diminutives. Some people also include some other shapes. The eight ordinaries are: chief, pale, fess (or fesse), cross, bend, bend sinister, saltire and chevron. 

chief	pale	fess	cross
bend	bend sinister	saltire	chevron
	pallet	bar
bendlet	baton		chevonell

Diagram - Charges - ordinaries

Take note that the chief should fill the top third of the shield. Artists do not always do this, depending upon the shape of the shield.

Cottices
If a small line is placed on either side of an ordinary, they are called a "cottices" (or "cotises") and the ordinary is said to be "cotised".

a fess cotised	a chevron cotised	a pale endorsed	a fess between two costises indented

Diagram - Charges - cottices

 

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