QUARTERING, in heraldry, is the bearing of two or more coats on a shield divided by horizontal and perpendicular lines, a practice not to be found in the earlier heraldry, end little in use till the 15th century. Arms may be quartered for various. reasons. 1. To indicate dominion. A sovereign quarters the ensigns of his different states. The earliest instance of quartering in England is found in the paternal arms of Eleanor, daughter of Frederick III., king of Castile and Leon, and first wife of Edward I., as represented on her tomb in Westminster Abbey—the castle of Castile occupying the first and fourth quarters, and the lion of Leon the second and third. The arms of England and Ponthieu are similarly quartered on the same monument, and on the crosses erected to queen Eleanor's memory. The received rule regarding the quartering of the ensigns of different states is, that precedence is given to the most ancient, unless it be inferior in importance. Feudal arms are sometimes quartered in the same way by subjects. 2. Arms of augmentation or special concession accorded to a subject by his sovereign, by way of honor, are sometimes granted to be borne quarterly with the paternal arms. These generally contain a portion of the royal insignia, and have precedence of the paternal coat. 3. The most usual reason for quartering is to indicate descent from an heiress who has intermarried into the family. Where there is but one heiress, her coat occupies the second and third quarter of the shield, and the paternal arms the first and fourth. Where there are more than one, they are marshaled in the successive quarters
in the order of the intermarriages. Where more than four coats have to be marshaled, the number of vertical lines is increased, and the divisions, thoUgh more than four, are still called quarters. Where there is an odd number of coats, the last quarter is usually filled up by repeating the first. One of the quarters may itself be quartered, when the heiress was entitled to bear a quartered coat; the shield is then said to be counter quartered, and its primary quarters are called grand quarters. Quarteriugs are not allowed to be added to the paternal coat without the sanction of the heraldic authorities.
The expression "quarterings" is often loosely used for descents in cases where there is no right to quarter from representation. The eight or sixteen quarterings which are sometimes ranged round the Scottish funeral escutcheon, and which are still important for many purposes in Germany, have no reference to representation, but imply purity of blood for four or five generations; i.e., that the father and mother, the two grand mothers, and four great-grandmothers, as also in the case of sixteen quarterings, the eight great-great-grandmothers, have all been entitled to coat-armor.