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Inescutcheon

In Heraldry, an inescutcheon is a smaller escutcheon that is placed within or superimposed over the main shield of a coat of arms, similar to a charge. This may be used in the following cases:

• as a simple mobile charge, for example as borne by the French family of Abbeville, illustrated below; these may also bear other charges upon them, as shown in the arms of the Swedish Collegium of Arms, illustrated below;
• in pretence (as a mark of a hereditary claim, usually by right of marriage), bearing assumed arms over one's own hereditary arms;
• in territorial claim, bearing a monarch's hereditary arms en surtout over the territorial arms of his domains.

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  Escutcheons as mobile charges, as borne by the French family of Abbeville.
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  Simple example of incorporating an heiress's arms as an escutcheon of pretense
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  An escutcheon of pretence, as borne by the French family de Champagne-La Suze.
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  Inherited arms borne en surtout over territorial arms. (Arms of Eric of Pomerania as monarch of the Kalmar Union, c. 15th century)

Inescutcheons as mobile charges

Inescutcheons for style in the arms of the Swedish Heraldry Society.

Inescutcheons may appear in personal and civic armory as simple mobile charges, for example the arms of the House of Mortimer, the Clan Hay or the noble French family of Abbeville. These mobile charges are of a particular tincture but do not necessarily bear further charges and may appear anywhere on the main escutcheon, their placement being specified in the blazon, if in doubt.

Inescutcheons may also be charged with other mobile charges, such as in the arms of the Swedish Collegium of Arms (Right) which bears the three crowns of Sweden, each upon its own escutcheon upon the field of the main shield. These inescutcheons serve as a basis for including other charges that do not serve as an augmentation or hereditary claim. In this case, the inescutcheons azure allow the three crowns of Sweden to be placed upon a field, thus not only remaining clearly visible but also conforming to the rule of tincture.

Inescutcheon of pretence

Arms of Birgitte, Duchess of Gloucester, who is an heraldic heiress. It depicts her father's (Asger Henriksen) arms imposed over her husband's (Richard, Duke of Gloucester).

Inescutcheons may also be used to bear another's arms in "pretence".

In English heraldry the husband of a heraldic heiress, the sole daughter and heiress of an armigerous man (i.e. a lady without any brothers), rather than impaling his wife's paternal arms as is usual, must place her paternal arms in an escutcheon of pretence in the centre of his own shield as a claim ("pretence") to be the new head of his wife's family, now extinct in the male line. In the next generation the arms are quartered by the son.

Use by monarchs and states

A monarch's personal or hereditary arms may be borne on an inescutcheon en surtout over the territorial arms of his/her domains, as in the arms of Spain, the coats of arms of the Danish Royal Family members, the greater coat of arms of Sweden, or the arms of Oliver Cromwell as Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England (1653–1659). The early Georgian kings of England bore an inescutcheon of the royal arms of Hanover on the arms of the Stuart monarchs of Great Britain, whose territories they now ruled.

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  Arms of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland (1654–1655)
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  Arms of the Commonwealth of England from 1655–1659 during the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell — The personal arms of Oliver Cromwell (Sable a Lion Rampant Argent) appears as an inescutcheon