Annulet (heraldry)

In heraldry, an annulet (i.e. "little ring") is a common charge, which can be described as a roundel that has been "voided" (i.e. with its centre cut out).

Annulets as regular charges (not as a difference). Gules, three annulets in pile Argent

It may allude to the custom of prelates to receive their investiture per baculum et annulum ('by rod and ring'); or to the quintain, used in noble equestrian military training, and thus to being an adept chivaler, the lowest title of rank in the old nobility of France and the Angevin Empire.

In English and Canadian heraldry it is also used as the difference mark of a fifth son.

References

Public Domain This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chambers, Ephraim, ed. (1728). "Annulet". Cyclopædia, or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences. Vol. 1 (1st ed.). James and John Knapton, et al. p. 104.


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