Coat of arms: can a charge be placed over a variation of the field?

Question

Sorry, I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask this much detail about heraldic blazons.

I'm curious if traditional heraldry allows you to place a charge on top of a variation on the field. The variation of the field needs to follow the rule of tincture, so it must be made of alternating color and metal, which means any charge you put on it, whether metal or color, will violate the rule of tincture.

For instance:

Bendy of six, or and sable. A chief argent.

Whatever tincture you make the chief, it will violate the rule of tincture either because it will overlay the or (metal), or because it will overlay the sable (color).

Questions about personal coat of arms are on-topic here. However, it is best if it pertains to family history and genealogy somehow (hence the name of the site) :) . — Luke_0, Aug 19 '13 at 21:51
@Colin As an auxiliary sciences of history, heraldry is an essential part of (European) genealogy. — lejonet, Aug 20 '13 at 09:07
Downvoted because, although heraldy is on-topic, I can't see the relevance of this particular question to genealogy and family history. Maybe if some context was provided... — , Aug 20 '13 at 10:57
@ColeValleyGirl: If heraldry is on-topic, then this question is on-topic as it is quite explicitly about heraldry. I think since this site is still in beta, we need to decide as a community whether questions about heraldry in general are on topic or off topic. Personally, I think the volume for site is low enough that it could stand to have one or two closely adjacent topics like heraldry included in it, especially since these topics themselves will likely be low volume and since this is by far the most relevant site on Stack Exchange for such question. Just my opinion =). — brianmearns, Aug 20 '13 at 12:00
I didn't say it was off-topic, although perhaps you could point out which of the on-topic bullet points at http://genealogy.stackexchange.com/help/on-topic you think this falls under. I said it could be improved by demonstrating some relevance to our core subject matter. — , Aug 20 '13 at 12:46
@ColeValleyGirl: Ah, you're right, I over-interpreted "although heraldy is on-topic" =). It's kind of hard for me to describe any better how this is related to family history: heraldry almost by definition is about family history. But I don't see any bullet points that this would apply to, however, I would like to suggest that the bullet points be amended. It looks like you've already spotted my discussion on meta, but if anyone else would like to weight in: http://meta.genealogy.stackexchange.com/questions/1753/does-heraldry-as-a-general-topic-belong-on-this-site — brianmearns, Aug 20 '13 at 13:11
In matters heraldic, rec.heraldry (a usenet newsgroup) is the go-to place for expert advice. — Andy Hatchett, Aug 20 '13 at 15:17
@AndyHatchett I do think we have a role for questions on the intersection of heraldry and family history, just not for pure heraldry. — , Aug 20 '13 at 16:23
There is nothing genealogical in this question it is pure heraldry. I would have no problem with it if it included some elements of genealogy in the question. This doesn't and I think it should be rejected as off-topic. — Colin, Aug 21 '13 at 07:02

score 2 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 18 '20 at 08:30

Per Wikipedia,

Where a charge overlies a partition of the field, the rule [of tincture] does not apply.

So, a charge can be either color or metal when it is above a variation. The page on tinctures also mentions

Heraldic furs (i.e. ermine, vair and their variants) as well as "proper" (a charge coloured as it normally is in nature) are exceptions to the rule of tincture.

[...]

The rule [of tincture] also does not apply to charges placed upon party-coloured (divided) or patterned fields; a field party or patterned of a colour and metal may have a charge of either colour, metal, or party or patterned, placed on it

Coat of arms: can a charge be placed over a variation of the field?

1 Answers1