Portal:Heraldry/Selected article/A/18

The shield of the Portuguese town of Castello Rodrigo, inverted for the town's treachery in the 1383–1385 Crisis

An abatement is a modification of a coat of arms, representing a less-than honorable augmentation, imposed by an heraldic authority (such as the Court of Chivalry in England) or by royal decree for misconduct. An example is inverting the entire escutcheon of an armiger found guilty of high treason. Recorded instances of abatements of arms include disarmed lions and reversed or erased charges. As many heraldic writers note, the use of arms is not compulsory, so armigers are likely to relinquish a dishonored coat of arms than to advertise their dishonor. (more...)