Esquarre (heraldry)
Heraldic charge / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Esquarre (Fr., alternately escarre, esquierre;[1] as Anglo-Norman alternately esquarie, esquire, esquierre, esquerre[2]) is a name for both a heraldic ordinary[3] and a set of related mobile charges.[4] As an ordinary, the Esquarre is defined as a charge that borders a quarter (Fr. franc quartier, or a singular quarter as charge)[5] on its two interior edges abutting the field.[6] The Esquarre isolates the quarter from the rest of the field.[7] De Galway suggested that the Esquarre is employed when both quarter and field are the same tincture.[8] The shape of the ordinary is likened to a carpenter's square, a tool formed of two arms joined perpendicularly.[9] When the two arms are of unequal length, the term potence (Fr.)[10] is also used, a term likening the form of this variant to a joined post and crossbeam, or gallows/scaffold.[11]