per chief

English

Per chief gules and azure, over all a lion rampant or, arms of Robert Hastang (see quote).

Adverb

per chief (not comparable)

1. (heraldry, now nonstandard) Partitioned into two parts by a horizontal line one-third of the way down the shield. A shield of this form is now normally viewed as one colour charged with a chief instead, although this may cause it to break the rule of tincture.
   • 1845, Edward Smedley, Hugh James Rose, Henry John Rose, Encyclopaedia Metropolitana: Mixed sciences, page 602:

     Party per chief, gules and or, are the Arms of Camoyse.

   • 1882, William Wheater, The history of the parishes of Sherburn and Cawood, page 175:

     [...] which Anne bore parted per chief azure and vert, three martlets or, in the first a crescent az. for difference, but by her he had no issue.

   • 1897, William Kirkpatrick Riland Bedford, The Blazon of Episcopacy: Being the Arms Borne by Or Attributed to the Archbishops and Bishops of England and Wales with an Ordinary of the Coats Described and of Other Episcopal Arms, page 173:

     Per chief gules and sable, a lion rampant ermine (argent billetty sable). GOLDWELL,

   • 1903, Day Otis Kellogg, Thomas Spencer Baynes, The Encyclopædia Britannica: A-ZYM, page 694:

     Cromwell of Tattershall : party per chief, gules and argent, a bend azure; which might also be blazoned as gules, a chief argent, and a bend azure (fig. 16). Heraldic writers give the fillet as a diminutive of the chief.

   • 1920, Grosvenor Thomas, Maurice Drake, The Costessey Collection of Stained Glass: Formerly in the Possession of George William Jerningham, 8th Baron Stafford of Costessey in the County of Norfolk, page 19:

     Shield—Quarterly first and fourth, quarterly Gules and Argent, in the first quarter a mullet Argent (De Vere); second, Gules, a bend between six cross crosslets fitchée Argent (Howard); third, per chief Gules and Argent […]

   • 1984, Cecil R. Humphery-Smith, Anglo-Norman Armory Two: An Ordinary of Thirteenth-century Armorials:

     Per chief gules and azure, over all a lion rampant or Hastang Robert G. 162 QI . 123 .... L. 69 J. 133 E. 153 Per chief or and azure, over all a lion rampant gules Hastang Sutton Robert John FW. 176 HE . 162 L. 228 Per chief gules […]

Translations

heraldry: partitioned by a horizontal line near the top