Urgell, County of

Chequey Or and Sable.

Escudo ajedrezado de oro y sable.

Arms interpreted with: a round-topped shield shape; the chequey pattern in flat metal Or and colour Sable; and a heavily beaten metal finish.

[Avilés, J.; 1780a; page 33] writes about the application of the chequey pattern to shields, ordinaries and charges: «chequey is said of the shield, the principal ordinaries, and even some animals, such as eagles, lions, and other charges, when they are composed of alternating square pieces in the fashion of a chessboard.» On the minimum number of panes he generally specifies that «for a shield to be called chequey, it must have at least twenty chessboard panes; because if it has only nine, it is called equipoll; and if it has fifteen, it is said to be of fifteen panes of chequey» and for its application to ordinaries that «other ordinaries, such as bends, fesses, etc., must have at least two rows of chequey to be considered chequey, otherwise they would be called compony.»

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Blazon keywords: Chequey, Or and Sable.

Style keywords: Semi-circular, Plain tincture and Hard metal.

Classification: Interpreted, Civic, Coat of arms and Kingdom of Aragon.

Bearer: Urgell, County of.

Count of Urgell, Viscount of Àger, deceased in 1243.

Chequey Or and Sable.

Escudo ajedrezado de oro y sable.

Arms interpreted with: a shield shaped as a triangle with curved sides; the chequey pattern in flat metal Or and colour Sable; and a heavily beaten metal finish.

[Avilés, J.; 1780a; page 286] states that he will call «Chequey those ordinaries composed of these small squares, which alternate between metal and colour, or vice versa, just like the boards of those Games.» and he also writes regarding the usual number of panes that «it must have six ranks or rows of these squares, though it is not necessary to specify their number, or at least the shield must include more than fifteen panes; it is only required, to properly blazon it, to always observe the first square, which is in the chief dexter; so that, if this is Or, and the one that follows is Gules, it is said to be Chequey Or and Gules, and so with other colours and metals.»

Although Ponce initially proclaimed himself count of the county of Urgell without sufficient rights, the death of the legitimate heiress and his agreements and assistance to king James I of Aragon enabled him to legalise his title. During this process, the capital of the county ceased to be the municipality of Balaguer only to eventually become it once again.

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Blazon keywords: Chequey, Or and Sable.

Style keywords: Triangular curved, Plain tincture and Hard metal.

Classification: Interpreted, Personal, Coat of arms and Kingdom of Aragon.

Bearer: Ponce I of Urgell.

Count of Urgell, Viscount of Àger, deceased in 1243.

Chequey Or and Sable.

Escudo ajedrezado de oro y sable.

Arms interpreted with: a pointed and rounded shield shape; the chequey pattern enamelled in flat Or and Sable; and a heavily beaten metal finish.

Ermengol IX held the county for a very short time, as he died shortly after the death of his father Ponce I of Urgell, in that same year of 1243.

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Blazon keywords: Chequey, Or and Sable.

Style keywords: Pointed and rounded, Plain tincture and Hard metal.

Classification: Interpreted, Personal, Coat of arms and Kingdom of Aragon.

Bearer: Ermengol IX of Urgell.

Quarterly per saltire: 1 and 4 Or, four pallets Gules; 2 and 3 chequey Or and Sable.

Escudo cuartelado en sotuer: 1^o y 4^o de oro, cuatro palos de gules; 2^o y 3^o ajedrezado de oro y sable.

Arms interpreted with: a lozenge-shaped shield; all tinctures in flat Or, Gules, and Sable; and a heavily beaten metal finish.

Balaguer is the capital of the comarca of La Noguera in the province of Lleida. It was the capital of the county of Urgell under Ponce I of Urgell.

The quartering per saltire, which could also be called quartered in cross, is defined in English as «per saltire», [The Heraldry Society; 2013; page 8].

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Blazon keywords: Quarterly per saltire, Pale, Chequey, Or, Gules and Sable.

Style keywords: Tiled, Plain tincture and Hard metal.

Classification: Interpreted, Civic, Coat of arms and Kingdom of Aragon.

Bearer: Balaguer, municipality of.

Countess of Urgell, Viscountess of Ager, Lady of Alcolea de Cinca, died in 1327.

Dimidiated: 1 Or, four pallets Gules; 2 chequey Or and Sable.

Escudo dimidiado: 1^o de oro, cuatro palos de gules; 2^o ajedrezado de oro y sable.

Arms interpreted with: a round-bottom shield; all tinctures in flat Or, Gules, and Sable; and a heavily beaten metal finish.

A dimidiated coat of arms is the result of combining two shields of arms by taking the dexter half of the first and the sinister half of the second.

Dimidiation was used in the 13th and 14^th centuries to combine, for instance, the arms of two families.

Its blazoning method does not consist of describing what appears in each of the resulting quarters, but rather, by stating from the beginning that it is dimidiated, describing the original coats of arms. Thus, in this particular case of the arms of Teresa of Entenza, it is not stated that there are only two pallets in the first quarter, but that it is dimidiated and has four pallets, so the reader must know that from the four pallets, only the first two are visible due to the dimidiation.

This method of dimidiating the arms of predecessors results in very beautiful and original designs, but depending on the charges and figures involved, in other cases the result may be unrecognisable or even absurd.

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Blazon keywords: Dimidiated, Pale, Chequey, Or, Gules and Sable.

Style keywords: Semi-circular, Plain tincture and Hard metal.

Classification: Interpreted, Personal, Coat of arms and Kingdom of Aragon.

Bearer: Teresa of Entenza.

Count of Urgell, Viscount of Àger, Baron of Entença, Antillón, and Alcolea de Cinca (1340–1408).

Dimidiated: 1 Or, four pallets Gules; 2 chequey Or and Sable.

Escudo dimidiado: 1^o de oro, cuatro palos de gules; 2^o ajedrezado de oro y sable.

Arms interpreted with: the escutcheon in a pointed and rounded shape; the tinctures of the pales and the chequey rendered in flat inks Or, Gules, and Sable; and the whole finished with a highly hammered metal effect.

Peter II of Urgell (1340–1408), Count of Urgell, Viscount of Àger, and Baron of Entença, Antillón, and Alcolea de Cinca, was a prominent figure of 14^th-century Catalan nobility and grandson of Alfonso IV of Aragon.

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Blazon keywords: Dimidiated, Pale, Chequey, Or, Gules and Sable.

Style keywords: Pointed and rounded, Plain tincture and Hard metal.

Classification: Interpreted, Personal, Coat of arms and Kingdom of Aragon.

Bearer: Peter II of Urgell.

Known as the Unfortunate, Count of Urgell, Viscount of Àger, Baron of Fraga, Antillón and Alcolea de Cinca (1380–1433).

Dimidiated: 1 Or, four pallets Gules; 2 chequey Or and Sable.

Escudo dimidiado: 1^o de oro, cuatro palos de gules; 2^o ajedrezado de oro y sable.

Arms interpreted with: a shield shape of convex-sided triangles; the tinctures of the pallets and the chequey are flat gold, gules and sable; and the whole design has a heavily hammered metal finish.

James II of Urgell, 1380–1433, known as the Unfortunate, Count of Urgell, Viscount of Àger, and Baron of Fraga, Antillón and Alcolea de Cinca, was one of the main claimants to the throne after the death of Martin I of Aragon. His rejection of the Compromise of Caspe led to his defeat and imprisonment.

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Blazon keywords: Dimidiated, Pale, Chequey, Or, Gules and Sable.

Style keywords: Triangular curved, Plain tincture and Hard metal.

Classification: Interpreted, Personal, Coat of arms and Kingdom of Aragon.

Bearer: James II of Urgell.

Sigue por: Pedro IV de Aragón; 1353.