How to Blazon a Shield

Heraldic designs are described in a specific fashion. Use these guidelines to "blazon," or describe, a coat of arms.

Difficulty Level: average      Time Required: 15 minutes

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Here's How:

1. Familiarize yourself with heraldic partitions, tinctures and charges.
2. Get an illustrated heraldic dictionary or glossary to help you with correct terminology and to identify the more unusual elements.
3. Describe the partition of the field if any partition is used.
4. Name the tincture of the field if not partitioned. Otherwise, list the tinctures used in the partitions, in the order that they are used, from left to right or from top to bottom.
5. Name the principal charges or devices on the field, if any, followed by the tincture of the charge (so a silver star would be "a mullet argent").
6. Name any secondary charges on the field and their tinctures.
7. Name any secondary charges on the principal charges and their tinctures.
   

Tips:

1. Dexter and Sinister refer to the shield-bearer's right and left, respectively, so are reverse for an observer of the design.
2. Using these guidelines, you can make a visual representation from a crest description.
   

Related Features:

• How to Understand Field Partitions
• How to Identify Heraldic Tinctures
• How to Describe Common Charges
• Heraldry