Shield head

Coat of arms of the town of Schloß Holte-Stukenbrock : In the split shield head a golden cross in front and a golden eagle in the back.

The heraldist understands the shield head or head to be the heraldic image in heraldry, which lies above the dividing line in the upper third of the coat of arms .

Design, blazon and variants

It is to be understood as a bar moved to the upper edge of the shield , with a height of about 2/7 to 1/3 of the shield height. If the head of the shield is narrow, the blazon (description of the coat of arms) is called the gable . If the herald's image only reaches the thread width (about 1/6 shield height), it becomes a summit . In French heraldry , the head of the shield is called chef . If the head of the shield is reduced in height, it is called comble ('occupied, overfilled').

One variant is the oblique head (obliquely right and obliquely left).

As with the coat of arms , the design can accommodate all colors, shapes and figures. He can rimmed (with board provided) gestückt , flamed and even after all arms cuts be of the whole shield divided: Registered arc (dividing line the sign is a circular arc as in the coat of arms of Remmels ). If the head is arched towards the base of the shield, it is hung . As French envelope (covered, considered ') it will be described when going to the upper plate edge as a curved semi-circular section, that the upper right and left corner is cut. Many names of the main shield design are used directly as a compound word: corrugated shield head, tin shield head, flame shield head, etc. If a very narrow, differently colored bar touches the head below the shield head, it is a supported shield head . If the narrow bar is on the upper edge of the shield, it is the head of the shield .

Heraldic images and common figures are possible and frequent in the shield head (this corresponds to its purpose).

A special group of herald images arise when the head of the shield and another herald image associated with it, such as bars , stakes , rafters , slopes or flanks are without dividing line and in the same tincture in the coat of arms. The following is then blazoned : main beam, main post, main rafter, main slope or main flank . The latter with page indication left or right.

Main post (also shield main post)
Main oblique right bar
Main rafters

Usage and examples

The use is a special bronze place for pictures and figures, in the sense of a mark or a coat of arms association .

In many coats of arms, the main surface of the shield is designed in the same way to represent the belonging to a group (region / family):

With chef de France , the spruce with golden lilies in Blauschild head of the coat of arms of the French royal family of the Bourbons, just like some cities named. Shield heads of this type are widespread in Romanesque heraldry.
The ennobled officers of the Prussian Army in the war against Denmark in 1864 had two crossed swords in their red shield head.