The lines of partition used to divide and

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fields and charges in

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are by default straight, but may have many different shapes. Care must sometimes be taken to distinguish these types of lines from the extremely unusual and non-traditional use of lines as charges, and to distinguish these shapes from actual charges, such as "a mount r triple mountin base," or, particularly in

German heraldry German heraldry is the tradition and style of heraldic achievements in Germany and the Holy Roman Empire, including national and civic arms, noble and burgher arms, ecclesiastical heraldry, heraldic displays and heraldic descriptions. German her ...

, different kinds of embattled from castle walls. In

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, varied lines of partition are often used to modify a

bordure In heraldry, a bordure is a band of contrasting tincture forming a border around the edge of a shield, traditionally one-sixth as wide as the shield itself. It is sometimes reckoned as an ordinary and sometimes as a subordinary. A bordure encl ...

(or sometimes another ordinary) to difference the arms of a

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from the chief of the house.

Indented and dancetty

An ordinary ''indented'' is bounded by small zigzags like a

triangle wave A triangular wave or triangle wave is a non-sinusoidal waveform named for its triangular shape. It is a periodic, piecewise linear, continuous real function. Like a square wave, the triangle wave contains only odd harmonics. However, ...

or the teeth of a saw, with peaks on one side matching peaks on the other. An ordinary ''dancetty'' is similar, but with peaks matching troughs, so that the width is constant; it also typically has fewer points than ''indented''. In early armory these were not distinguished. In the arms of the 55th Electronic Combat Group of the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Si ...

the indented is "edged wider on the back angle (sinister) than on the face (dexter) of each angle". ''Dentilly'' is a modern invention, similar to ''indented'', but with one of the sides of the points perpendicular and the other angled, as in a

sawtooth wave The sawtooth wave (or saw wave) is a kind of non-sinusoidal waveform. It is so named based on its resemblance to the teeth of a plain-toothed saw with a zero rake angle. A single sawtooth, or an intermittently triggered sawtooth, is called ...

. ''Rayonné'' (also ''rayonne'', ''rayonny''; from French '' rayonner'') may be considered a variant of indented, but with wavy instead of straight lines, as in the conventional representation of rays of the sun. ''Rayonne palewise'' appears in the arms of the 172d Support Battalion of the United States Army. A chief enarched rayonné on a gold field appears in the arms of

Sechelt Sechelt (, Shishalh language chat'lich) is a district municipality located on the lower Sunshine Coast of British Columbia. Approximately 50 km northwest of Vancouver, it is accessible from mainland British Columbia by a 40-minute ferry tr ...

, British Columbia, forming the appearance of a sun. The arms of the Worshipful Company of Security Professionals contain an example of ''indented acute,'' a form of indented with higher peaks. The number of peaks in indented is almost never specified, but an exception is the arms of Arthur D. Stairs: ''Per bend sinister indented of six steps Gules and Sable'', and Westville, Natal, South Africa bears ''Sable, issuant from behind a fence of spears in base Argent, a fig tree in leaf Or; on a chief indented of four points to base, also Or, three lion's faces Sable''. In South Africa there are a number of examples of ''dancetty inverted''. While the number of peaks in dancetty are three unless otherwise specified, the arms of Wagland show ''dancetty of two points'' and the arms of Baz Manning show a chief "dancetty of two full points upwards". The arms of the Matroosberg Transitional Representative Council in South Africa give an example of ''dancetty… in the shape of a letter W''. The arms of the French department of Côtes d'Armor show ''émanché,'' which would be equivalent to the English ''per fess dancetty of two full points upwards.'' The arms of Baron Griffiths of Fforestfach are ''Paly of four Vert and Argent per fess enhanced indented of two points upwards each point double barbed throughout issuing in base a pile double barbed throughout all counterchanged''. The arms of Alaric John Martin Woodrow show an example of ''barry dancetty each point double barbed'', used to represent a line of fir trees as a play on the surname. The arms of the Free State in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

show "a chief dancetty, the peaks terminating in merlons", and so might be called a combination of dancetty and embattled; a similar hybrid can be seen in the arms of the Agricultural Gymnasium. Hoerskool Hangklip provide an example of ''dancetty with points flattened'', and Blouberg of ''dancetty the peaks couped.'' It is difficult to know whether to characterise the "wall-like extremity with five merlons and four embrasures" in the arms of the

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in Russia as a divided field or a charg

The arms of Ernest John Altobello show a chevron with the upper edge ''grady'' (this is identical in appearance to indented) "and ensigned of a tower Argent".

Wavy and nebuly

A line ''wavy'' (also called ''undy'') is a

sine wave A sine wave, sinusoidal wave, or just sinusoid is a mathematical curve defined in terms of the '' sine'' trigonometric function, of which it is the graph. It is a type of continuous wave and also a smooth periodic function. It occurs often in ...

, often used to represent water; a line ''

nebuly In heraldry and architecture,

'' is similar but with more exaggerated

meander A meander is one of a series of regular sinuous curves in the channel of a river or other watercourse. It is produced as a watercourse erodes the sediments of an outer, concave bank ( cut bank) and deposits sediments on an inner, convex ban ...

s, representing clouds. There are confusing, ambiguous and non-standard uses of ''a wavy'' in the military heraldry of the United States to refer to irregularly wavy lines. The wavy chief in the arms of Lord Nelson was blazoned as ''undulated''. The field of the arms of the 40th Finance Battalion of the United States Army is blazoned ''per fess wavy (in the manner of a Taeguk)'' The chief in the arms of Professor S.W. Haines is ''wavy of one crest and depressed in the centre of one point''. In ''wavy crested'' the waves appear like pointed breakers. The arms of James Hill show an example of barrulets ''wavy crested to the sinister on the upper edge''. There are examples of even greater complexity and specificity in the ''wavy'' line, such as the arms of "Baron Nolan ...

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three 'bars wavy couped composed of two troughs and a wave invected of one point on the upper edge and engrailed of one point on the lower edge'". Specification of the number of "undulations" in nebuly can be seen by Jochen Wilke's roundel, with ten. (It is uncommon for lines of partition to modify a charge other than an ordinary.)

Engrailed and invected

These lines consist of a series of circular arcs curving in the same direction, meeting at angles, forming points outward (''engrailed'') or inward (''invected''). When these terms are applied to a partition rather than to an ordinary, the first part of the field is the "interior". The arms of Liverpool Hope University include ''a Cross engrailed of one point on each limb''. The Flag of Flintshire is ''Argent a cross engrailed sable between four Cornish choughs proper''.

The arms of the Pretoria Philatelic Society show a ''chief engrailed and couped'', having the appearance of the edge of a

perforated A perforation is a small hole in a thin material or web. There is usually more than one perforation in an organized fashion, where all of the holes collectively are called a ''perforation''. The process of creating perforations is called perfor ...

postage stamp A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail), who then affix the stamp to the f ...

. The arms of Kutlwanong Dorp in South Africa provide an example both of the specification of the number of lobes in invected, and those lobes being ''trefly.''

Embattled and variants

A line ''embattled'' is a

square wave A square wave is a non-sinusoidal periodic waveform in which the amplitude alternates at a steady frequency between fixed minimum and maximum values, with the same duration at minimum and maximum. In an ideal square wave, the transitions b ...

, representing the

battlements A battlement in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (i.e., a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at interva ...

of a castle. When a fess is embattled, only the topmost edge is altered (as in the arms of Muri bei Bern). If both edges are to be embattled, the term ''embattled-counter-embattled'' (or ''counter-embattled,'' as in the arms of Sir Cecil Denniston Burney) is used. In this case the lines are parallel. If gaps face gaps, the term ''bretessé'' is used. There is at least one emblazonment suggesting that the orle is only embattled on its outer edge. Italian armory has a variant, Ghibelline battlement, with notched merlons. In a line ''raguly'' the extensions are oblique rather than orthogonal, like the stumps of limbs protruding from a tree-trunk. '' Dovetailed'' is as in carpentry. Unlike embattled, gaps face gaps. ''Potenty'' may be considered a variant in which the points are extended to ''T''-shapes ("potent" means a crutch). A line ''embattled grady'' or ''battled embattled'' consists of series of two or three steps, as if each

merlon A merlon is the solid upright section of a battlement (a crenellated parapet) in medieval architecture or fortifications.Friar, Stephen (2003). ''The Sutton Companion to Castles'', Sutton Publishing, Stroud, 2003, p. 202. Merlons are sometimes ...

has a smaller merlon atop it. Parker's glossary says that ''double-embattled'' may be the same as this. The arms of

Schellenberg Schellenberg is a municipality in the lowland area of Liechtenstein, on the banks of the Rhine. , it has a population of 1,107 and covers an area of History Early history The area was first settled by Celts, then by Rhaetians. Rome conquere ...

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein (german: link=no, Fürstentum Liechtenstein), is a German language, German-speaking microstate located in the Alps between Austria and Switzerland. Liechtenstein is a semi-constit ...

provide an example of embattled "with three battlements". The

in the arms of Boissy l'Aillerie, in Val d'Oise,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, has nine battlements (the bordure is also masoned and contains door-like openings). A very unusual occurrence of embattled occurs in the arms of the 136th Military Police Battalion of the United States Army: ''Sable, a fesse enhanced and embattled Or, overall a magnifying glass palewise rim Argent (Silver Gray), the glass surmounting and enlarging the middle crenel between two merlons, the handle Gules edged of the second bearing a mullet Argent.'' The arms of Baron Kirkwood show two chevronels ''round embattled'' (the merlons are rounded rather than squares). There are also examples of ''embattled pointed'' and ''embattled in the form of mine dumps''. James Parker cites the arms of Christopher Draisfield: "Gules, a chevron raguly of two bastons couped at the top argent." The arms of Zodwa Special School for Severely Mentally Handicapped Children show ''a chevron dovetailed, the peak ensigned with a potent issuant''. Pirkanmaa

Some examples also exist of ''urdy,'' where the line is in the shapes of the upside-down and rightside-up "shields" of vair (this is to be distinguished from ''couped urdy'', in which the couping takes a pointed form). The arms of Winfried Paul Reinhold Steinhagen are ''Per chevron, the peak in the form of a merlon round urdy of four, Gules and Or, in chief a horse forcene and a goat clymant respecting one another, Argent, and in base a bull's head Sable armed Argent; a chief per fess in the form of a wall with three watchtowers, Azure and Argent, the latter charged with a strand of barbed wire throughout, Sable''. The "unusual, if not unique" arms of Lourens Du Toit are ''Per fess of three pallets urdy Sable and Or''. The arms of the

Royal Australasian College of Dental Surgeons The Royal Australasian College of Dental Surgeons (RACDS) is a postgraduate professional education body established in 1965 to provide a broad range of activities to enhance the professional development of both general and specialist dentists thr ...

have a bordure emblazoned "dentate", although this appears to be quite similar to dovetailed.

Embowed, nowy and variants

A line ''embowed'' consists of a single arch. A line ''nowy'' contains a semicircular protuberance in the middle. A line with an angular protuberance in the middle, like a battlement, is called ''escartelly''. The arms of Laerskool Bosveld in South Africa have a field ''Per chevron embowed trefly, Azure and Argent''. The arms of Léopold-Henri Amyo

show "per fess ogivy"; this is based on the

ogive An ogive ( ) is the roundly tapered end of a two-dimensional or three-dimensional object. Ogive curves and surfaces are used in engineering, architecture and woodworking. Etymology The earliest use of the word ''ogive'' is found in the 13th c ...

pointed arch A pointed arch, ogival arch, or Gothic arch is an arch with a pointed crown, whose two curving sides meet at a relatively sharp angle at the top of the arch. This architectural element was particularly important in Gothic architecture. The earlie ...

. Chiefs, fesses and palar dividing lines are sometimes seen ''arched'' and ''double-arched'' (and there is an example of triple-arched), though there is some debate as to whether or not these are lines of partition. That arched can be combined with partition lines can be seen from th
arms
of

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. Arched can also be ''reversed''.

Rarer lines and recent inventions

The rare line ''bevilled'' modifies the bendlets in the arms of Thomas Roy Barnes and the pairle in the arms of

Rovaniemi Rovaniemi ( , ; sme, Roavvenjárga ; smn, Ruávinjargâ; sms, Ruäʹvnjargg) is a city and municipality of Finland. It is the administrative capital and commercial centre of Finland's northernmost province, Lapland, and its southern part Pe ...

, Finland. This lightning-bolt type of line with one zigzag is to be distinguished from ''angled'', in which the line takes a pair of 90° turns before continuing parallel to and in the same direction as the old line. There is a South African example of ''bevilled to sinister'', and a bend ''double bevilled'' can be seen in the arms of Philip Kushlick School. A line ''trefly'' shows protuberances in the form of trefoils. The arms of St. Paul's Cathedral in

Regina, Saskatchewan Regina () is the capital city of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The city is the second-largest in the province, after Saskatoon, and is a commercial centre for southern Saskatchewan. As of the 2021 census, Regina had a city populatio ...

contain a bordure ''its inner line looping in foils of poplar of the field within the bordure at each angle and at regular intervals between''. The arms of Carmichael show a fess "wreathy", which may or may not be strictly speaking a line of partition, but does modify the fess; the coat is not blazoned as a "wreath in fess". James Parker calls this "tortilly". The 20th century saw some innovations in lines of partition. ''Erablé'', a series of alternating upright and inverted maple leaves, is a typically

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

line of partition, though the

College of Arms The College of Arms, or Heralds' College, is a royal corporation consisting of professional officers of arms, with jurisdiction over England, Wales, Northern Ireland and some Commonwealth realms. The heralds are appointed by the British Sover ...

in London has used it in a few grants (but compare the cross ''nowy erablé'' in the arms of Katherina Fahlman Selinger Schaaf. A

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

line of partition, invented by Kaj Cajander and called , which is called ''fir-tree topped'' in Britain, and which the Canadian Heraldic Authority coined the term ''sapiné'' to blazon, resembles fir trees; in the arms of Guy Selvester this is called ''sapinage''. A line resembling fir twigs, and so called in British blazon, is called ''sapinagy'' in Canada (though there is no example of it in the online Canadian Public Register), and in Finland. Other 20th-century examples of lines, or things akin to lines, include the 1990 grant to Albersdorf-Prebuch in Austria, in which the upper line of the fess takes the form of

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in partic ...

, the bottom of vine-leaves. (It is debatable what the distinction is between such lines, and examples such as the arms of Bierbaum am Auersbach, a town in

Styria Styria (german: Steiermark ; Serbo-Croatian and sl, ; hu, Stájerország) is a state (''Bundesland'') in the southeast of Austria. With an area of , Styria is the second largest state of Austria, after Lower Austria. Styria is bordered ...

, in which three pears grow from a

pall Pall may refer to: * Pall (funeral), a cloth used to cover a coffin * Pall (heraldry), a Y-shaped heraldic charge * Pall (liturgy), a piece of stiffened linen used to cover the chalice at the Eucharist * Pall Corporation, a global business * Pall. ...

.) The South African Bureau of Heraldry has developed the line of partition ''serpentine'' (which has also been called "''ondoyant''"), which is rather like wavy, but with only one "wave", one complete cycle of a sine wave; the serpentine in the arms of the Mtubatuba Primary School is defined as "dexter to chief and sinister to base". (Similar is the German "" (snake-wise).) It has also developed the uniquely South-African lines of division (which can also form the ends of a charge) ''nowy of a Cape Town gable'' (now called just ''nowy gabled''), and ''nowy of an Indian cupola''. Similarly, the fess line in the arms of the Council for Social and Associated Workers is ''nowy of a trimount inverted'', the fess in the arms of Mossel Bay is ''nowy of two Karoo gable houses'', the chief in the arms of the Lenasia South-East Management Committee is ''nowy of an Indian cupola'', the chief in the arms of the Genealogical Society of South Africa is ''double nowy gably'' and that of Frederick Brownell is ''gably of three''. The arms of the Reyneke Bond (i.e. Reyneke Family Association) are ''Per fess, in each flank double nowy fitchy to base, Azure and Or, a lion rampant per fess of the second and Gules, a chief Or''. The plain chief identifies these as the arms of a family association. The arms of Itsokolele, South Africa include ''a chief double fitchy inverted''. ''Broad fitchy couped'' is a line of South-African origin similar in appearance to a mine-dump or escartelly with sloping sides. Chevrons can be topped with a fleur-de-lys, and ordinaries with non-straight edges (particularly if they are dancetty or engrailed) can have the points topped with demi fleurs-de-lys. It has sometimes been said that in some reference works flory-counter-flory (and flory) is treated like a line of partition, even though strictly speaking it is not – though it has been used for centuries that way in the royal arms of Scotland blazoning the double tressure (Public Register of Arms, Lyon Court, Edinburgh) and used by the College of arms in blazoning coats like that of Sutherland of Dunstanburgh Castle (Gules, a chevron flory-counterflory between in chief three mullets and in base a lymphad all or) and is used by the South African Bureau of Heraldry blazoning the coat of Huis Tankotie of the University of Pretoria (Per fess, flory counter-flory, Argent and Azure, in base within the flower an annulet Sable; a bordure counterchanged) and Emmanuel-Opleidingsentrum in the South African Bureau of Heraldry's online database. (Flory is sometimes varied with other shapes than the fleur-de-lys, when it is blazoned as ''flory of''.) A vague and unhelpful blazon of the 27th Air Division of the

provides for a "bordure of distinctive outline".

Gallery of different lines of partition

Each shield is ''Per fess _______ argent and gules'', but some of these lines have no common English name. Nyhäkoro.svg, ''invected'' Nirhakoro.svg, ''engrailed'' Sakarakoro.svg, ''embattled'' Aaltokoro.svg, ''wavy'' or ''undy'' Pilvikoro.svg, ''nebuly'' Kuusikoro.svg, ''fir-tree topped'', a recent Finnish innovation (also known as ''Sapiné'' in Canada) Havukoro.svg, ''fir-twigged'', a recent Finnish innovation (also known as ''Sapinagé'' in Canada) Sahakoro.svg, ''indented'' as it is commonly shown Hammaskoro.svg, ''dancetty'' Sudenhammaskoro.svg, ''indented'' very much deeper than is usual Kaarikoro.svg, ''enarched'' Polvikoro.svg, ''per chevron'' Apilakoro.svg, ''trefly-counter-trefly'' Ristikoro.svg, ''embattled in crosses'', Finnish heraldry Kahvakoro.svg, ''potenty'' Hakulikoro.svg, ''palissado'', Finnish heraldry Vallikoro.svg, ''bastionné'', Finnish heraldry Lehmuskoro.svg, ''spaded'' Liljakoro.svg, ''lilyous'', Finnish heraldry Kuulakärkikoro.svg, ''indented pommetty'' Kynsikoro.svg, ''rayonny'' Kaksoissakarakoro.svg, ''embattled grady'' Liekkikoro.svg, ''rayonny'' (variant) Lohenpyrstökoro.svg, ''dovetailed'' Salamakoro.svg, ''bevilled'' Okakoro.svg, ''thorny'', Finnish heraldry Oksakoro.svg, ''raguly'' Painanteinen pilvikoro.svg, ''nebuly'' Sädekoro.svg, ''rayonné'' Turkiskoro.svg, ''urdy'' Kulmakoro.svg, ''angled'' File:Thorny Line of Partition.png, ''épiné'' (''acacia thorned''), also known as ''dovetailed indented'' File:Érablé.svg, ''Érablé'', Canadian heraldry

Indented and dancetty

Wavy and nebuly

Engrailed and invected

Embattled and variants

Embowed, nowy and variants

Rarer lines and recent inventions

Gallery of different lines of partition

See also

Notes

References

External links