[MR] Speaking of Heraldry...

[Michael Houghton]

Howdy!

On Thu, May 12, 2005 at 02:53:47PM -0400, Gorm of Berra wrote:
> It depends on the division and the colors.
> 
> You almost certainly would not have an issue with, for example, a
> field that was green on the left and purple on the right, with the
> division being a nice straight line.  there's no issue there.
> 
> However, get into complex lines of division and colors which are close
> to each other (purple and red, or even black and red) and you can run
> into "It is impossible to discern the line of division" issues, which
> can lead to a return.
> 
> So, in theory, yes it is permissible.  In practice, you need to choose
> your options carefully.
> 
To be more precise:

A field divided into two parts, quarterly, or per saltire is permitted
to have poor contrast between the parts. All other divided fields must
have good contrast between the parts. 

Now, for low contrast divided fields, if the line of division is bumpity,
come combinations of tinctures are not allowed, because they have particularly
bad contrast. For example, black and blue or purple.

..so, that program that wouldn't let you have "per fess azure and gules"
was using rules different from those the SCA uses, and different from 
what one could infer from observable period practice.

yours,
Herveus
-- 
Michael and MJ Houghton   | Herveus d'Ormonde and Megan O'Donnelly
herveus at radix.net         | White Wolf and the Phoenix
Bowie, MD, USA            | Tablet and Inkle bands, and other stuff
                          | http://www.radix.net/~herveus/wwap/