Inescutcheon

In heraldry, an inescutcheon is a smaller escutcheon that is placed within or superimposed over the main shield of a coat of arms, similar to a charge. This may be used in the following cases:

• as a simple mobile charge, for example as borne by the French family of Abbeville, illustrated below; these may also bear other charges upon them, as shown in the arms of the Swedish Collegium of Arms;
• in pretence (as a mark of a hereditary claim, usually by right of marriage), bearing assumed arms over one's own hereditary arms;
• in territorial claim, bearing a monarch's hereditary arms en surtout over the territorial arms of his domains.

• Escutcheons as mobile charges, as borne by the French family of Abbeville.
• Simple example of incorporating an heiress's arms as an escutcheon of pretense
• An escutcheon of pretence, as borne by the French family de Champagne-La Suze.
• Inherited arms borne en surtout over territorial arms. (Arms of Eric of Pomerania as monarch of the Kalmar Union, c. 15th century)