Back to the Heraldry of Gilling Castle and Heraldry of Stonegrave.

Glossary of Heraldic Terms

What’s New?
Crosses page greatly improved...
Understanding Blazons page.

[Page under construction!]

Although Heraldry is primarily a visual subject, it is possible to describe or “blazon” a shield or “coat of arms” very precisely. To do this many specialist terms are used. I am (slowly) compiling the glossary below. There is a fairly comprehensive alphabetic list or dictionary at the end. If you have any suggestions, please let me know.

Most of the shields used to illustrate these pages are from the Heraldry of Gilling Castle.

The glossary is divided into:

• Basics
  • Understanding blazons
  • Colours
  • Divisions of the shield
  • Ordinaries (e.g. Fess, Bend)
  • Sub-ordinaries (e.g. canton, bordure)
• Common Charges
• Crosses
• Animals
  • Lions
  • Deer, wolves, other real animals
  • Heraldic Monsters
  • Birds
  • Fishes
  • Postures and positions
    • lions
    • deer etc.
    • birds
    • fishes
• Plants
• Marks of Difference
• Alphabetic list of miscellaneous terms

Back to the Heraldry of Gilling Castle and Heraldry of Stonegrave.

© Gill Smith 1997–2000

If you have any comments about (or ideas for) this glossary, please let us know.
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