Erasure (heraldry)

Erasure, in the language of heraldry, is the tearing off of part of a charge, leaving a jagged edge of it remaining. In blazons the concept is usually met with in the form of the adjective erased.

Erased must be distinguished from couped, which is "cut off by a straight line".[1]

John Craig's dictionary of 1854 says

In Heraldry, anything is said to be erased which appears forcibly torn off, leaving the edges jagged and uneven.[2]

One writer has referred to "the torn edge of heraldic erasure".[3]

The term is most often used of an animal's head, when the neck is depicted with a ragged edge as if forcibly torn from the body.

Forms of erasure

There are different traditions for the erasing of heads. For instance, with the head of a bear, whether couped or erased, in English heraldry the separation is done horizontally under the neck, which is not lost, whereas in Scottish heraldry it is correct for the head to be separated from the body vertically, without a neck.[4]

References

  1. ^ page heraldry01 at genealogical.biz (footnote)
  2. ^ John Craig', A new universal, technological, etymological, and pronouncing dictionary of the English language (vol. 1, 1854), p. 656
  3. ^ FITCH of Little Canfield at baronage.co.uk
  4. ^ Charles Boutell, Heraldry (F. Warne, 1950), p. 71

See also