CHA Tabard
Hart House
St. Bart's
Queen's Beasts
Heraldry Proficiency Program - Level 1 Syllabus
Note: Names in parentheses are the recommended reference text(s) for the topic. The capital letters accompanying each reference refer to the location of the text in the Level 1 References section. The terms or topics following the reference are those required for Level 1.
Section 1 - History of Heraldry, European and Canadian
(a) Heraldry in Europe - basic outline of how heraldry developed in Europe (Primer (G), Boutel (A)).
(b) Heraldry in Canada - brief outline of Canadian heraldry during the French regime, in the period before the CHA, and since that time (Beddoe (D), Primer (G)).
(c) The Canadian Heraldic Authority - General knowledge of the CHA, its officer titles and the process of granting arms in Canada (Primer (G), CHA website (I)).
Section 2 - The Heraldic Achievement and Tinctures
(a) The parts of an heraldic achievement - (Primer (G))
(b) The tinctures of heraldry - (Primer (G)
(c) The commoner furs - (Primer (G), Boutel (A)) - Ermine, ermines, erminois, pean, vair, potent.
Section 3 - Geometrical Figures
(a) The Ordinaries - (Primer (G), Boutel (A)) - Fess, pale, bend, bend sinister, chief, chevron, chevron reversed, cross, saltire, bordure, pall, pall reversed.
(b) Diminutives - (Boutel (A), Heraldic Dictionary (C)) - Bar, barrulet, pallet, bendlet, riband, bendlet sinister, chevonel, chevonel reversed.
(c) Sub-ordinaries - (Boutel (A)) - Inescutcheon, quarter, canton, orle, tressure and double tressure, canton, gyron, flanches, label, roundel, lozenge, mascle, fusil, fret, billet.
(d) The Roundels - (Boutel (A)) - Bezant, plate, hurt, torteau, pellet, pomme, fountain.
Section 4 - The Field
(a) Parted fields - (Boutel (A), Her. Dictionary (C)) - Quarterly, per pale, per fess, per saltire, per bend, per bend sinister, per chevron, per chevron reversed, per pall.
(b) Lines of partition - (Primer (G) - Indented, wavy, embattled, invected, engrailed, dovetailed, nebuly, rayonné, raguly, sapiné, érablé.
(c) Varied fields - (Boutel (A), Her. Dictionary (C)) - Barry, barry wavy, bendy, bendy sinister, paly, chevrony, chequy, lozengy, gyronny, compony.
(d) Semy fields - (Boutel (A), Her. Dictionary (C)) - Semy-de-lis, billety, crusily, bezanty, gutty, gutty d'or, gutty d'eau, gutty de larmes, gutty de sang, gutty de poix, gutty d'huile.
Section 5 - Crosses and Coronets
(a) The Commoner Crosses - (Boutel (A)) - Bottony, Latin, Moline, Calvary, Patriarchal, Crosslet, Patty, Fitchy, Potent, Flory, Raguly, Maltese.
(b) Crowns and Coronets - (Boutel (A)) - Royal, Duke, Marquess, Earl, Viscount, Baron, Naval, Vallary, Celestial, Astral, Mural (certain other coronets are covered in Section 9).
Section 6 - Animate Charges
(a) Animals - Attitudes and Attributes - (Boutel (A), Her. Dictionary (C)) - Addorsed, affronty, at gaze, caboshed, combatant, contourné, couchant, dormant, guardant, passant, rampant, reguardant, salient, sejant, trippant, armed, attired, couped, erased, gorged, langued, membered, queued, unguled.
(b) Birds - Attitudes and Attributes - (Boutel (A), Her. Dictionary (C)) - Close, wings elevated, wings addorsed, wings inverted, wings displayed, beaked, membered, rising, soaring, volant.
(c) Fish - (Boutel (A)) - Naiant, hauriant, urinant, escallop.
(d) Human Figures and Parts - (Boutel (A)) - Saracen's head, savage's head, blackamoor's head, appaumy, conjoined, embowed, crined, habited/vested, wreathed.
(e) Monsters - (Boutel (A)) - Dragon, wyvern, gryphon, cockatrice, unicorn, Pegasus, salamander, phoenix.
Section 7 - Inanimate Charges
(a) Armour and Weapons - (Boutel (A), Her. Dictionary (C)) - Pot or great helm, tilting helm, vizor, barred, battle-axe, vambraced, gauntleted, shafted, hilted, pommelled, fletched.
(b) Symbols of Profession, Craft or Trade - (Boutel (A)) - Caduceus, rod/staff of Aesculapeus, mitre, crosier, clerical hat, anchor, balance, book (clasped, edged, bound), bugle-horn, clarion, fetterlock, grenade, key (positions), lamp of learning, torch, spur.
(c) Trees and Flowers - (Boutel (A) ) - Couped, eradicated, issuant, fructed, acorned, hurst, slipped, leaved, fraise, rose (barbed, seeded, etc), Tudor rose, thistle, shamrock.
(d) Common Simple Figures - (Boutel (A) ) - Broad arrow, caltrap, trefoil, quatrefoil, cinquefoil, crescent, escallop, estoile, fleur-de-lis, garb, lozenge, lymphad, mullet, maunch, mill-rind, castle, spur-rowel, tower.
Section 8 - The Crest and Supporters
(a) The Crest and its Accessories - (Boutel (A), Primer(G)) - Crest - Origin; Torse - origin, no. of folds, sequence of tinctures; Mantling - origin, usual arrangement of tinctures, doubled.
(b) The Crest Coronet - (Boutel (A), Her. Dictionary (C)) - "Ducal" crest-coronet, astral, celestial, eastern (ancient), érablé, mural, sapiné, circlets set with various flowers or leaves.
(c) Supporters and Compartment - (Boutel (A)) - Origins, approx. period of origin, types of compartment, "gas-bracket".
Section 9 - Cadency and Marshalling
(a) Brisures in Britain - A general understanding of: the brisure system of cadency as used in England (Boutel (A) – pp 116,117.
(b) Brisures in Canada - Candidates should be familiar with the first five brisures used in Canada for male – Label, mullet, crescent, martlet, annulet; and female cadets – heart, ermine spot, snowflake, fir twig, chess-rook(CHA Handout (F).
(c) Other methods of differencing used in Canada - Bordures, occupational symbols, changes of tincture.
(d) Marshalling of Arms for Office - Impalement of personal arms with those of the office (Boutel (A).
Section 10 - Public Heraldry in Canada
(a) The Arms of the Sovereign in Right of Canada - (RHSC website – Armorial > Royal Arms) - Candidates should be able to blazon the shield of the Royal Arms.
(b) The Arms of the Provinces - (RHSC website) - Candidates should be able to recognize the arms of the Provinces and Territories.
(c) The Arms of Provincial Capitals - (CHA Handout (F)) - Candidates should be able to recognize the arms of the Provincial capital cities.
Section 11 - Blazonry
Candidates will be expected to blazon one or more simple shields (Basic Blazonry (H)).