Knights of the old Order of St. John of Jerusalem and also of the modern Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem in England display above their personal arms a chief of the order, but this will be dealt with more fully in the chapter relating to the insignia of knighthood.
| Fig. 194.—Chief. | Fig. 195.—Chief engrailed. | Fig. 196.—Chief invecked. |
| Fig. 197.—Chief embattled. | Fig. 198.—Chief indented. | Fig. 199.—Chief dancetté. |
| Fig. 200.—Chief wavy. | Fig. 201.—Chief nebuly. | Fig. 202.—Chief raguly. |
Save in exceptional circumstances, the chief is never debruised or surmounted by any ordinary.
The chief is ordinarily superimposed over the tressure and over the bordure, partly defacing them by the elimination of the upper
part thereof. This happens with the bordure when it is a part of the original coat of arms. If, however, the chief were in existence at an earlier period and the bordure is added later as a mark of difference, the bordure surrounds the chief. On the other hand, if a bordure exists, even as a mark of difference, and a chief of augmentation is subsequently added, or a canton for distinction, the chief or the canton in these cases would surmount the bordure.
Similarly a bend when added later as a mark of difference surmounts the chief. Such a case is very unusual, as the use of the bend for differencing has long been obsolete.
| Fig. 203.—Chief dovetailed. | Fig. 204.—Arms of Peter de Dreux, Earl of Richmond (c. 1230): Chequy or and azure, a quarter ermine. (From his seal.) | Fig. 205.—Arms of De Vere, Earls of Oxford: Quarterly gules and or, in the first quarter a mullet argent. |
A chief is never couped or cottised, and it has no diminutive in British armory.
THE QUARTER
The quarter is not often met with in English armory, the best-known instance being the well-known coat of Shirley, Earl Ferrers, viz: Paly of six or and azure, a quarter ermine. The arms of the Earls of Richmond (Fig. 204) supply another instance. Of course as a division of the field under the blazon of "quarterly" (e.g. or and azure) it is constantly to be met with, but a single quarter is rare.