<span class="mw-page-title-main">Compartment (heraldry)</span>

Compartment (heraldry)

<p>In <a href="/en/Heraldry" title="Heraldry" class="wl">heraldry</a>, a <b>compartment</b> is a design placed under the <a href="/en/Shield_(heraldry)" title="Shield (heraldry)" class="mw-redirect wl">shield</a>, usually rocks, a grassy mount (<i>mount vert</i>), or some sort of other landscape upon which the <a href="/en/Supporters" title="Supporters" class="mw-redirect wl">supporters</a> are depicted as standing.<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEWoodcockRobinson1990106_1-0"><a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEWoodcockRobinson1990106-1" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 1;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[1]</span></a></span> Care must be taken to distinguish true compartments from items upon which supporters are merely resting one or more feet, or, sometimes, mere heraldic badges or pure decoration under the shield, and, conversely, care must also be taken in very unusual cases such as the <a href="/en/Coat_of_arms_of_Belize" title="Coat of arms of Belize" class="wl">coat of arms of Belize</a>, in which what may be taken to be a crest, the mahogany tree rising above the shield, is really part of the compartment.  It is sometimes said to represent the land held by the bearer.  As an official part of the blazon it is a comparatively late feature of heraldry, often derived from the need to have different supporters for different families or entities, although sometimes the compartment is treated in the <a href="/en/Blazon" title="Blazon" class="wl">blazon</a> separately from the supporters.</p>

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class="sidebar-title-with-pretitle"><a href="/en/Heraldry" title="Heraldry" class="wl">Heraldic</a> <a href="/en/Achievement_(heraldry)" title="Achievement (heraldry)" class="wl">achievement</a></th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-above">
External devices in addition to the central <a href="/en/Coat_of_arms" title="Coat of arms" class="wl">coat of arms</a></td></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content notheme" style="background-color:white; padding:0 0.5em;">
<div style="position: relative; width:250px; float:right; margin-left:12px; border:none;">
<div style="position: relative;">
<div style="position: absolute; font-size:normal; left: 84px; top: 195px; padding: 0;"><b><a href="/en/Escutcheon_(heraldry)" title="Escutcheon (heraldry)" class="wl">Escutcheon </a></b></div>
<div style="position: absolute; font-size:smaller; left: 79px; top: 160px; padding: 0;"><b><a href="/en/Field_(heraldry)" title="Field (heraldry)" class="wl">Field</a></b></div>
<div style="position: absolute; font-size:smaller; left: 5px; top: 140px; padding: 0;"><b><a href="/en/Supporter" title="Supporter" class="wl">Supporter</a></b></div>
<div style="position: absolute; font-size:normal; left: 108px; top: 25px; padding: 0;"><b><a href="/en/Crest_(heraldry)" title="Crest (heraldry)" class="wl">Crest</a></b></div>
<div style="position: absolute; font-size:smaller; left: 112px; top: 48px; padding: 0;"><b><a href="/en/Torse" title="Torse" class="wl">Torse</a></b></div>
<div style="position: absolute; font-size:smaller; left: 160px; top: 75px; padding: 0;"><b><a href="/en/Mantling" title="Mantling" class="wl">Mantling</a></b></div>
<div style="position: absolute; font-size:normal; left: 100px; top: 78px; padding: 0;"><b><a href="/en/Helmet_(heraldry)" title="Helmet (heraldry)" class="wl">Helmet</a></b></div>
<div style="position: absolute; font-size:normal; left: 100px; top: 95px; padding: 0;"><b><a href="/en/Crown_(heraldry)" title="Crown (heraldry)" class="wl">Crown</a></b></div>
<div style="position: absolute; font-size:normal; left: 78px; top: 238px; padding: 0;"><b><a href="/en/Compartment_(heraldry)" title="Compartment (heraldry)" class="wl">Compartment</a></b></div>
<div style="position: absolute; font-size:smaller; left: 125px; top: 168px; padding: 0;"><b><a href="/en/Charge_(heraldry)" title="Charge (heraldry)" class="wl">Charge</a></b></div>
<div style="position: absolute; font-size:smaller; left: 75px; top: 260px; padding: 0;"><b><a href="/en/Motto#Heraldry" title="Motto" class="wl">Motto</a></b> (or <b><a href="/en/Slogan_(heraldry)" title="Slogan (heraldry)" class="wl">slogan</a></b>)</div>
<div style="position: absolute; font-size:larger; left: 73px; top: 115px; padding: 0;"><b><a href="/en/Coat_of_arms" title="Coat of arms" class="wl">Coat of arms</a></b></div>
<span><a href="/en/File:Coat-elements.png" class="mw-file-description image media-thumb" data-hash="File:Coat-elements.png"><img loading="lazy" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6a/Coat-elements.png/250px-Coat-elements.png" decoding="async" data-file-width="609" data-file-height="731" data-file-type="bitmap" height="300" width="250" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6a/Coat-elements.png/375px-Coat-elements.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6a/Coat-elements.png/500px-Coat-elements.png 2x" alt="Coat-elements.png"></a></span></div>
</div></td>
</tr><tr><td class="sidebar-below">
<span class="noviewer"><span><img loading="lazy" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2d/Azure%2C_a_bend_Or.svg/14px-Azure%2C_a_bend_Or.svg.png" decoding="async" data-file-width="600" data-file-height="660" data-file-type="drawing" height="16" width="14" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2d/Azure%2C_a_bend_Or.svg/22px-Azure%2C_a_bend_Or.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2d/Azure%2C_a_bend_Or.svg/29px-Azure%2C_a_bend_Or.svg.png 2x" alt="Azure%2C_a_bend_Or.svg"></span></span><span>&nbsp;</span><a href="/en/Portal:Heraldry" title="Portal:Heraldry" class="wl">Heraldry<span> </span>portal</a></td></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-navbar"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1063604349" typeof="mw:Extension/templatestyles">.mw-parser-output .navbar{display:inline;font-size:88%;font-weight:normal}.mw-parser-output .navbar-collapse{float:left;text-align:left}.mw-parser-output .navbar-boxtext{word-spacing:0}.mw-parser-output .navbar ul{display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;line-height:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-brackets::before{margin-right:-0.125em;content:"[ "}.mw-parser-output .navbar-brackets::after{margin-left:-0.125em;content:" ]"}.mw-parser-output .navbar li{word-spacing:-0.125em}.mw-parser-output .navbar a>span,.mw-parser-output .navbar a>abbr{text-decoration:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-mini abbr{font-variant:small-caps;border-bottom:none;text-decoration:none;cursor:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-ct-full{font-size:114%;margin:0 7em}.mw-parser-output .navbar-ct-mini{font-size:114%;margin:0 4em}</style><div class="navbar plainlinks hlist navbar-mini"><ul><li class="nv-view"><a href="/en/Template:Heraldic_achievement" title="Template:Heraldic achievement" class="wl"><abbr>v</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-talk"><a href="/en/Template_talk:Heraldic_achievement" title="Template talk:Heraldic achievement" class="mw-redirect wl"><abbr>t</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-edit"><a rel="mw:ExtLink" href="//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Template:Heraldic_achievement&amp;action=edit" class="external text" target="_blank"><abbr>e</abbr></a></li></ul></div></td></tr></tbody></table>


In heraldry, a compartment is a design placed under the shield, usually rocks, a grassy mount , or some sort of other landscape upon which the supporters are depicted as standing. Care must be taken to distinguish true compartments from items upon which supporters are merely resting one or more feet, or, sometimes, mere heraldic badges or pure decoration under the shield, and, conversely, care must also be taken in very unusual cases such as the coat of arms of Belize, in which what may be taken to be a crest, the mahogany tree rising above the shield, is really part of the compartment.  It is sometimes said to represent the land held by the bearer.  As an official part of the blazon it is a comparatively late feature of heraldry, often derived from the need to have different supporters for different families or entities, although sometimes the compartment is treated in the blazon separately from the supporters. 