Bezantee, bezantie or bezanty is an ornamentation consisting of roundels. The word derives from bezant, a gold coin from the Byzantine Empire, which was in common European use until circa 1250.
In architecture, bezantée moulding was much used in the Norman period.[1]
In heraldry the word is shorthand for semé of bezants, i.e. strewn (literally "seeded") with bezants. A bezant is a roundel whose tincture is or. In English heraldry, a field sable bezanty often alludes to the Duchy of Cornwall. An ounce (leopard) bezanty appears as a supporter in the English bearings of St Edmundsbury Borough Council; a bordure bezanty appears in the coat of Berkhamstead Town Council.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
