Escudo de Castilla y León

Aragon

Or, four pallets Gules.

Or, four pallets Gules.

Escudo de oro, cuatro palos de gules.

Recreated coat of arms of Aragón in the following manner: the escutcheon shape is pointed and rounded; the field is rendered in flat Or; the pallets are illuminated; and the whole has a parchment-like finish.

This rendition of the coat of arms is based on [Portolés, J.; Molino, M. del; 1590].


Blazon keywords: Without divisions, Or, Four, Pale and Gules.

Style keywords: Pointed and rounded, Illuminated and Parchment.

Classification: Interpreted, Civic, Coat of arms and Kingdom of Aragon.

Bearer: Aragon.

Separador heráldico
Escudo de Castilla y León Unicornio saltante sobre la divisa, criterio.

Chequey, chequy or checky

Chequey Or and Gules.

Chequey.

Chequey Or and Gules.

Escudo ajedrezado de oro y gules.

I have encountered several ways of writing the term «chequey» in English, such as «chequy», removing one «e», or «checky», and even other variants like «checkered», «checkie», «chequered», «cheque», «cheques» or «checquy».

[The Heraldry Society; 2013; pages 8 and 11] uses the term «chequey», and that is the one I strive to use.


Categories: Criterion, Tiled, Plain tincture, Hard metal, Chequey, Or and Gules.

Separador heráldico
Escudo de Castilla y León

Urgell, County of

Chequey Or and Sable.

Chequey Or and Sable.

Escudo ajedrezado de oro y sable.

Arms interpreted with: a round-topped shield shape; the chequey pattern in flat metal Or and colour Sable; and a heavily beaten metal finish.

[Avilés, J.; 1780a; page 33] writes about the application of the chequey pattern to shields, ordinaries and charges: «chequey is said of the shield, the principal ordinaries, and even some animals, such as eagles, lions, and other charges, when they are composed of alternating square pieces in the fashion of a chessboard.» On the minimum number of panes he generally specifies that «for a shield to be called chequey, it must have at least twenty chessboard panes; because if it has only nine, it is called equipoll; and if it has fifteen, it is said to be of fifteen panes of chequey» and for its application to ordinaries that «other ordinaries, such as bends, fesses, etc., must have at least two rows of chequey to be considered chequey, otherwise they would be called compony.»


Blazon keywords: Chequey, Or and Sable.

Style keywords: Semi-circular, Plain tincture and Hard metal.

Classification: Interpreted, Civic, Coat of arms and Kingdom of Aragon.

Bearer: Urgell, County of.

Separador heráldico
Escudo de Castilla y León

Ponce I of Urgell

Chequey Or and Sable.

Count of Urgell, Viscount of Àger, deceased in 1243.

Chequey Or and Sable.

Escudo ajedrezado de oro y sable.

Arms interpreted with: a shield shaped as a triangle with curved sides; the chequey pattern in flat metal Or and colour Sable; and a heavily beaten metal finish.

[Avilés, J.; 1780a; page 286] states that he will call «Chequey those ordinaries composed of these small squares, which alternate between metal and colour, or vice versa, just like the boards of those Games.» and he also writes regarding the usual number of panes that «it must have six ranks or rows of these squares, though it is not necessary to specify their number, or at least the shield must include more than fifteen panes; it is only required, to properly blazon it, to always observe the first square, which is in the chief dexter; so that, if this is Or, and the one that follows is Gules, it is said to be Chequey Or and Gules, and so with other colours and metals.»

Although Ponce initially proclaimed himself count of the county of Urgell without sufficient rights, the death of the legitimate heiress and his agreements and assistance to king James I of Aragon enabled him to legalise his title. During this process, the capital of the county ceased to be the municipality of Balaguer only to eventually become it once again.


Blazon keywords: Chequey, Or and Sable.

Style keywords: Triangular curved, Plain tincture and Hard metal.

Classification: Interpreted, Personal, Coat of arms and Kingdom of Aragon.

Bearer: Ponce I of Urgell.

Separador heráldico
Escudo de Castilla y León

Ermengol IX of Urgell

Chequey Or and Sable.

Count of Urgell, Viscount of Àger, deceased in 1243.

Chequey Or and Sable.

Escudo ajedrezado de oro y sable.

Arms interpreted with: a pointed and rounded shield shape; the chequey pattern enamelled in flat Or and Sable; and a heavily beaten metal finish.

Ermengol IX held the county for a very short time, as he died shortly after the death of his father Ponce I of Urgell, in that same year of 1243.


Blazon keywords: Chequey, Or and Sable.

Style keywords: Pointed and rounded, Plain tincture and Hard metal.

Classification: Interpreted, Personal, Coat of arms and Kingdom of Aragon.

Bearer: Ermengol IX of Urgell.

Separador heráldico
Escudo de Castilla y León

Balaguer, municipality of

Quarterly per saltire: 1 and 4 Or, four pallets Gules; 2 and 3 chequey Or and Sable.

Quarterly per saltire: 1 and 4 Or, four pallets Gules; 2 and 3 chequey Or and Sable.

Escudo cuartelado en sotuer: 1o y 4o de oro, cuatro palos de gules; 2o y 3o ajedrezado de oro y sable.

Arms interpreted with: a lozenge-shaped shield; all tinctures in flat Or, Gules, and Sable; and a heavily beaten metal finish.

Balaguer is the capital of the comarca of La Noguera in the province of Lleida. It was the capital of the county of Urgell under Ponce I of Urgell.

The quartering per saltire, which could also be called quartered in cross, is defined in English as «per saltire», [The Heraldry Society; 2013; page 8].


Blazon keywords: Quarterly per saltire, Pale, Chequey, Or, Gules and Sable.

Style keywords: Tiled, Plain tincture and Hard metal.

Classification: Interpreted, Civic, Coat of arms and Kingdom of Aragon.

Bearer: Balaguer, municipality of.

Separador heráldico
Escudo de Castilla y León

Teresa of Entenza

Dimidiated: 1 Or, four pallets Gules; 2 chequey Or and Sable.

Countess of Urgell, Viscountess of Ager, Lady of Alcolea de Cinca, died in 1327.

Dimidiated: 1 Or, four pallets Gules; 2 chequey Or and Sable.

Escudo dimidiado: 1o de oro, cuatro palos de gules; 2o ajedrezado de oro y sable.

Arms interpreted with: a round-bottom shield; all tinctures in flat Or, Gules, and Sable; and a heavily beaten metal finish.

A dimidiated coat of arms is the result of combining two shields of arms by taking the dexter half of the first and the sinister half of the second.

Dimidiation was used in the 13th and 14th centuries to combine, for instance, the arms of two families.

Its blazoning method does not consist of describing what appears in each of the resulting quarters, but rather, by stating from the beginning that it is dimidiated, describing the original coats of arms. Thus, in this particular case of the arms of Teresa of Entenza, it is not stated that there are only two pallets in the first quarter, but that it is dimidiated and has four pallets, so the reader must know that from the four pallets, only the first two are visible due to the dimidiation.

This method of dimidiating the arms of predecessors results in very beautiful and original designs, but depending on the charges and figures involved, in other cases the result may be unrecognisable or even absurd.


Blazon keywords: Dimidiated, Pale, Chequey, Or, Gules and Sable.

Style keywords: Semi-circular, Plain tincture and Hard metal.

Classification: Interpreted, Personal, Coat of arms and Kingdom of Aragon.

Bearer: Teresa of Entenza.

Separador heráldico

Sigue por: Peter II of Urgell.

 

Dr. Antonio Salmerón y Cabañas,
,
Paseo de la Castellana 135, 7th floor,
28046 Madrid, Spain.