IDTG

There are cases when two or more sets of arms are combined into a new one. Some of these cases are:

• Combining the arms of both armigerous parents.
• Obtaining a new office, thereby combining the personal arms and the arms of the office.
• Upon marriage, combining the arms of the spouses.

There are four basic types of marshalling:

Impalement places each originating shield in its entirety on either half of the new shield.

Dimidiation is taking one half of each shield (parted vertically) and putting them together on a new shield.

Quartering is splitting the new shield into four quarters and placing arms in each of the quarters. When quartering parental arms, the arms of the father are placed in quarters 1 and 4 (top left and bottom right) and of the mother in quarters 2 and 3.

Using an inescutcheon of arms is placed on the middle of another shield to create a new one to show a union or pretense.

Sometimes, all this marshalling can combine to create an extremely complex coat of arms, such as those of Richard Temple-Grenville, Marquess of Chandos shown below. This emblazonment combines the 719 quarterings of the family and is known as the “Grenville Diptych”.