Mount (heraldry) explained

In heraldry, a mount (also mountain, hill, hillock) is a representation of a hill or mountain as a curved terrace in base.[1] When the mount is included in the lower part of the shield, it may be considered an ordinary rather than a charge.

A trimount, also described as a mount mounted, or shapournet shapourned, is a representation of a mount with three tops.[2] For mounts with more than three tops, the number of tops is blazoned as coupeaux (e.g. a mount with six coupeaux).

The trimount (in German, Dreiberg) can be found in all heraldic traditions (Gallo-British, German-Nordic and Latin), but it is especially common in Switzerland.

A design of six hills (Sechsberg) can also be found in Swiss and Italian heraldry. In medieval German heraldry, mounts could have ten or more tops.[3] Mounts with more than three tops are blazoned as a mount of N coupeaux, e.g. German Sechsberg would be a mount of six coupeaux, German Zehnberg as a mount of ten coupeaux.[4] A mount with more than six tops can also be blazoned as Schroffen in German heraldry.

Terrace in base curved

A terrace in base curved is blazoned mount, hill or hillock when represented in vert; sometimes as a mount vert for clarity. Sometines, a terrace in base curved may be blazoned as mount even when not tinctured vert. This is mostly found in cases where the base represents a hill for one or several of the charges in the coat of arms. Classification either as an ordinary or, in many cases, as a charge, is a matter of interpretation.

Trimount

The coats of arms of Hungary and Slovakia depict a trimount with a double cross, first used in the seal of Stephen V of Hungary (r. 1270 - 1272). At first, it was only a small element at the bottom of the coat of arms, later it became regular heraldic figure. Originally it represented biblical Golgota.[5] [6] [7] Modern day Slovak interpretation is that it represents three mountain ranges of the Kingdom of Hungary: the Tatra, Fatra, and Mátra.[8] [9] [10]

The representation of three pointed mountains (not a heraldic trimount) in the 1991 coat of arms of Slovenia symbolises Triglav, the highest mountain in Slovenia.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Armorial Gold Heraldry Symbolism Library. Armorial Gold. 30 June 2013.
  2. "Mount" in: William Berry, Encyclopaedia Heraldica, Or Complete Dictionary of Heraldry (1828).
  3. Seals of the Salenstein coat of arms show a mount of twelve tops in 1264, and even one with twenty-eight in 1297.
    Ernst Herdi: Die Schenken und die Dienstmannen von Salenstein In: Thurgauische Beiträge zur vaterländischen Geschichte. Vol. 79. Year: 1943. pp 47 ff.
  4. The Coat of Arms, Volume 3, Issue 17, Heraldry Society, 1966, 36f.
  5. Web site: Štátny znak Slovenskej republiky.
  6. Web site: Byzantské korene štátneho znaku SR. 13 September 2019.
  7. Web site: Ako vznikal štátny znak. Pozrite si doteraz skryté socialistické návrhy.
  8. Web site: Úrad vlády Slovenskej republiky / Štátny znak.
  9. Betsy Dru Tecco: How to Draw Hungary's Sights and Symbols, The Rosen Publishing Group, New York, 2005 https://books.google.com/books?id=n6vV6VQHMcAC&q=%22The+three+green+hills%22
  10. Web site: Ako vznikal štátny znak. Pozrite si doteraz skryté socialistické návrhy.