Roundel (heraldry)

The arms of Courtenay, dating from the start of the age of heraldry and still in use by the Earl of Devon today, display roundels of tincture gules: Or, three torteaux

A roundel is a circular charge in heraldry. Roundels are among the oldest charges used in coats of arms, dating from the start of the age of heraldry in Europe, circa 1200-1215.

Because of their long use and simple outline, roundels are accorded status as a subordinary charge by most heraldic authorities.

Different roundels

Roundels in British heraldry have different names depending on their tincture.^[1] Thus, while a roundel may be blazoned by its tincture, e.g., a roundel vert (literally "a green roundel"), it is more often described by a single word, in this case pomme (literally "apple", from the French) or, from the same origins, pomeis — as in "Vert; on a cross Or five pomeis" (Scottish Public Register vol. 32, p. 26).

Metals		Colours
bezant coin	plate plate	hurt berry	torteau cake	pellet pellet	pomme apple	golpe wound	orange orange	guze eye

A pellet may also be called an ogress.^[2]

In French blazonry, a roundel of either metal (or or argent) is a besant, and a roundel of any colour (dark tincture) is a torteau, with the tincture specified.

Special roundels

A fountain

Fountain

One special example of a named roundel is the fountain, depicted as a roundel barry wavy argent and azure, that is, containing alternating horizontal wavy bands of blue and silver (or white). Because the fountain consists equally of parts in a light and a dark tincture, its use is not limited by the rule of tincture as are the other roundels. Another name for the fountain is the syke (Northern English for "well").^[3][4] One of the most well-known and ancient uses of the fountain is in the arms of the Stourton family.

Gurges

Another special roundel is the gurges or whirlpool, most famously the canting arms of the Anglo-Norman Gorges family Argent, a gurges azure, from the Latin noun gurges -itis, a "whirlpool, eddy, abyss", from the root gar, "to swallow".^[5] In modern heraldry it is used in the arms of the former James Watt College as representing the force of steam within a Watt steam engine. Because the chief was azure, the gurges was displayed as an Archimedes' Spiral^[6] drawn using the polar equation $r=a*theta$, which in the official blazon is referred to as a spiral argent.

The gurges also features in Scottish heraldry, filled with a double spiral of contrasting tinctures, usually drawn as a symmetric parabolic spiral such as Fermat's Spiral^[7] using the polar equation $r^2=a^2*theta$, although any variety of spiral form may be displayed. The gurges derives from ancient and prehistoric spirals which represented tripartite power: sovereignty, force and fecundity. The spiral can be seen in many aspects of nature such as the arrangement of leaves along a stem or florets within a composite flower head.^[8]

Semy

In their earliest uses, roundels were often strewn or sown as seeds (Latin: semen -itis, a seed) upon the field of a coat of arms, blazoned as semée/semy, an arrangement with numerous varieties. For example, a field semy of plates (i.e. roundels argent) could be blazoned platy; a field semy of pellets (i.e. roundels sable) could be blazoned pellety. The precise number and placement of the roundels in such cases were usually left to the discretion of the artist.

See also

• Annulet (heraldry)

References

1. Fox-Davies, Arthur Charles (1909). A Complete Guide to Heraldry. p. 151.
2. Woodcock, Thomas; Robinson, John Martin (1988). The Oxford Guide to Heraldry. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 204. ISBN 0-19-211658-4.
3. Fearn, Jacqueline (1980). Discovering Heraldry. Shire. p. 25.
4. Scottish National Dictionary of 1700: syke
5. Cassell's Latin Dictionary
6. "Archimedes' Spiral". Wolfram MathWorld.
7. "Fermat's Spiral". Wolfram MathWorld.
8. Wade, David (October 17, 2006). Symmetry: The Ordering Principle. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 28.