Cross
… quarterly; n pieces, chequy; quarter, canton

The cross in its simple form needs no definition, and from the first the cross was a common bearing on English shields, “Silver a cross gules” being given early to St. George, patron of knights and of England, for his arms – and adopted as an English banner.

Crosses in plenty were taken. Old writers have asserted that these crosses commemorate the badge of the crusaders, yet the fact that the cross was the symbol of the faith was reason enough.

Argent, a Cross gules — St. George

Or, a Cross gules — Burke

per fess sable and argent, a cross gules — Knights Templar

Argent, a cross sable — Order of Teutonic Knights

Argent, a cross vert — Order of St. Lazarus

Gules, a cross argent — Order of St. John of Jerusalem

Argent, on a cross v lions or — City of York

Argent, a cross gules, in dexter chief a sword gules
— City of London

Argent, on a cross gules a fleur-de-lis or — City of Lincoln

Sable, a cross gules fimbriated argent — City of Durham

Or, a voided cross gules — Crevequer of Kent

Argent, a cross of iij upright wattles sable
crossed & interwoven by iij more — Skirlaw

Skirlaw, bishop of Durham (d. 1406), was the
son of a basket-weaver! (Compare: fretty.)

In a very few cases the cross appears as a lesser charge with its ends cut off square, in which case it is blazoned as “a plain Cross”. The best-known examples of plain crosses are in the national flag of Switzerland and the symbol of the International Red Cross derived from it.

«a plain cross»

“Gules, a plain cross argent” — Switzerland

Common in the modern national flags of Scandinavian or Nordic countries is a cross with its vertical limb offset towards the hoist (dexter). This usage gives it the name of Scandinavian cross (or Nordic cross), but other crosses may be similarly offset. [Does it derive from a squarish banner with multiple “schwenkels”, the horizontal limb of the cross being continued across the middle one, and the voids later filled in?]

“Azure, a Scandanavian cross or“ — Sweden

Armorial crosses took many other shapes. Although Barron says, “the ‘crosses innumerabill’ of the Book of St. Albans and its successors may be left to the heraldic dictionary makers who have devised them”, there are too many genuine varieties to discuss here…

Parted field: quarterly

Shields or charges divided crosswise with a downward line and a line across are said to be quarterly. An ancient coat of this fashion is that of Say, who bore (13th century) “quarterly Gold and gules” #&8211; the first and fourth quarters being gold and the second and third red.

quarterly or & gules — Say; also Mandeville

quarterly argent & sable — Hohenzollern

Quarterly shields became very common from the 14th century onwards as heralds marshalled the arms of a husband and a wife who was an armigerous hier – or of two kingdoms: in 1339 the English king asserted his claim to France by quartering France’s fleurs-de-lis with England’s lions passant guardant (or leopards).

quarterly azure semy-de-lis or and gules three leopards or — England (banner)

Varied field: n pieces, chequy

With the 15th century came a fashion of dividing the shield into more than four pieces, six and nine divisions being often found in arms of that age. The heraldry books, eager to work out problems of blazonry, decide that a shield divided into six pieces should be described as party per fess with a pale counterchanged, and one divided into nine pieces as bearing a cross quarter-pierced.

«six pieces»

«nine pieces»

Fields divided into a larger, but unspecified, number of pieces are chequy or checky.

chequy or & azure — Warenne

chequy or & gules — d’Auxy

Ordinaries (and other charges) may be chequy…

Or, a fess chequy azure and argent — Stewart

Ermine, a fess checky or and gules — Arderne

… but must have at least three rows or columns of squares.

An ordinary divided into a single row or column of squares of alternating tinctures is said to be compony or gobony. When two such rows or columns counter-changed divide a field, it is compony counter-compony (or gobony counter-gobony?).

Or a bend compony argent and gules — Mahieu de Luval

Argent a bend compony counter compony or and azure
within a bordure [= fimbriated] gules — Michel de la Marche

Compony and compony counter-compony follow the angle of a bend or chevron and the edges of a bordure. In the latter case, the “squares” are elongated and distorted into a variety of quadrilateral figures!

By the end of the middle ages the border gobony tended to become a bastard’s difference in England. Before his legitimation the eldest son of John of Gaunt by Katharine Swinford is said to have borne a shield party silver and azure with the arms of Lancaster on a bend. After his legitimation in 1397 he changed his bearings to the royal arms of France and England within a border gobony of silver and azure.

Related charges: quarter, canton

The quarter is the space of the first quarter of the shield divided crosswise into four parts and is an ancient charge and a common one in mediaeval England. Its size is found to vary with the scheme of the shield’s charges, and this has persuaded those armorists who must needs call a narrow bend a bendlet to call a small quarter a canton. Writers of the 14th-century sometimes give it the name of cantel, but this word is also applied to the void space on the opposite side of the chief, seen above a bend.

Or, a quarter sable — Dasbourg

Argent, a canton sable — Sutton