Esquire (heraldry)

This article is about the heraldic charge Esquire. For the heraldic charge Esquarre, see Esquarre (heraldry).
Esquire as ordinary
Base esquire, after Robson (1830)[1]

The Esquire is a heraldic charge that is classed as a subordinary in Anglophone heraldry.[2] Its form is defined as resembling the Gyron, as formed of a right triangle; but, with the difference that whereas the Gyron extends from the outer edge of the field to the center, the Esquire extends across the whole of the field, from one edge to its opposite.[3]

The Base (or Baste) Esquire is a variant of the esquire where the right angle is positioned at the lower edge.[4] Each variant is equivalent to the shape given when a square or other quadrilateral is partitioned diagonally. Some vexillologists have dubbed this charge the Triangular panel.[5]

Heraldic writers have used the term esquire to describe not only a field-spanning Ordinary-like charge but more diminutive examples as well.[6] The "chief examples” of the esquire for some writers are the Arms of Mortimer.[7] When blazoning these arms, esquire is used to describe the treatment of the corners of the bordure componée. Other heraldists have blazoned these as “gyronny”, and some writers consider the introduction of the term esquire unhelpful, favoring the term gyron instead.[8] Writers who have favored the introduction of the term esquire stress, apparently, that the triangular charge extends across the length of the bordure, rather than to its center.

  1. ^ Robson, Thomas (1830). The British Herald; Or, Cabinet of Armorial Bearings of the Nobility & Gentry of Great Britain & Ireland, from the Earliest to the Present Time: With a Complete Glossary of Heraldic Terms: to which is Prefixed a History of Heraldry, Collected and Arranged ... Vol. III. Sunderland: Thomas Robson. pp. Plate 21, fig. 63. Retrieved 28 December 2023.
  2. ^ Gough, Henry; Parker, James (1894). A Glossary of Terms Used in Heraldry (New ed.). Oxford and London: J. Parker and Co. p. xii.
  3. ^ Robson, Thomas (1830). The British Herald; Or, Cabinet of Armorial Bearings of the Nobility & Gentry of Great Britain & Ireland, from the Earliest to the Present Time: With a Complete Glossary of Heraldic Terms: to which is Prefixed a History of Heraldry, Collected and Arranged ... Vol. III. Sunderland: Thomas Robson. pp. ESC–ESQ, FAL–FES. Retrieved 28 December 2023.
  4. ^ Robson, Thomas (1830). The British Herald; Or, Cabinet of Armorial Bearings of the Nobility & Gentry of Great Britain & Ireland, from the Earliest to the Present Time: With a Complete Glossary of Heraldic Terms: to which is Prefixed a History of Heraldry, Collected and Arranged ... Vol. III. Sunderland: Thomas Robson. p. BAR-BES. Retrieved 28 December 2023.
  5. ^ "TRIANGULAR PANEL". Dictionary of Vexillology. Flags of the World. Retrieved 28 December 2023.
  6. ^ Fox-Davies, Arthur Charles (1909). A Complete Guide to Heraldry. New York: Dodge Publishing Co. p. 137.
  7. ^ Gough, Henry; Parker, James (1894). A Glossary of Terms Used in Heraldry (New ed.). Oxford and London: J. Parker and Co. p. 240.
  8. ^ Gough, Henry; Parker, James (1894). A Glossary of Terms Used in Heraldry (New ed.). Oxford and London: J. Parker and Co. p. 240.