Mount (heraldry)

In heraldry, a mount (also mountain, hill, hillock) is a representation of a hill or mountain as a curved terrace in base.[1] When the mount is included in the lower part of the shield, it may be considered an ordinary rather than a charge.

A trimount, also called a mount mounted, shapournet shapourned, or (in German) Dreiberg, is a representation of a mount with three tops.[2] The trimount can be found throughout heraldic traditions (Gallo-British, German-Nordic, and Latin), but it is especially common in Switzerland.[3]

A design of six hills (Sechsberg) can also be found in Swiss and Italian heraldry. For mounts with more than three tops, the number of tops is blazoned as coupeaux, e.g. German Sechsberg would be a mount of six coupeaux, and German Zehnberg as a mount of ten coupeaux.[3] A mount with more than six tops can also be blazoned as Schroffen in German heraldry. In medieval German heraldry, mounts could have more than ten peaks.[4]

  1. ^ "Armorial Gold Heraldry Symbolism Library". Armorial Gold. Retrieved 30 June 2013.
  2. ^ "Mount" in: William Berry, Encyclopaedia Heraldica, Or Complete Dictionary of Heraldry (1828).
  3. ^ a b The Coat of Arms, Vol. 3, No. 17; Heraldry Society; 1966; pp. 36 ff. [full citation needed]
  4. ^ Seals of the Salenstein coat of arms show a mount of twelve tops in 1264, and even one with twenty-eight in 1297.
    Herdi, Ernst (1943). "Die Schenken und die Dienstmannen von Salenstein". Thurgauische Beiträge zur vaterländischen Geschichte (in German). 79: 47 ff.