Editing Variation of the field (section)

== Semé ==
[[File:Blason pays fr France ancien.svg|left|150px|thumb|Medieval [[coat of arms of France]]: ''Azure semy-de-lis or'']]
When the field (or a charge) is described as '''''semé''''' or '''''semy''''' (occasionally '''''semee''''') of a [[sub-ordinary]] or other [[Charge (heraldry)|charge]], it is depicted as being scattered (literally 'seeded') with many copies of that charge. Semé is regarded as part of the field<ref>{{harvp|Fox-Davies|1909|pages=101}}</ref> and thus within the opening section of the blazon describing the field before the first comma. Thus: ''Azure semy-de-lis or'' not ''Azure, semy-de-lis or''. A charge on top would be blazoned: ''Azure semy-de-lis or, a bend argent''.

To avoid confusion with a simple use of a large number of the same charge (e.g. ''Azure, fifteen fleurs-de-lis or''), the charges semé are ideally depicted cut off at the edge of the field, though in olden depictions this is often not the case. An example of this can be found in the modern [[Coat of arms of Denmark]], which now features three lions among nine hearts, but the ancient arms depicted three leopards on a ''semy'' of hearts, the number of which varied and was not fixed at nine until 1819. There are also some exceptions to this, as in the case of some bordures blazoned ''semé'', which are usually depicted with a discrete number (often eight) of the charge. Thus for example the arms of [[Jesus College, Cambridge]], which despite a blazon of ''seme'' are invariably depicted with either eight or ten ''crowns golde'' on its bordure. A large number (usually eight) of any one charge arranged as if upon an invisible bordure is said to be ''in orle'', an [[Ordinary (heraldry)#Subordinaries|orle]] being a diminutive band within the bordure.<ref>{{cite book |url= https://archive.org/details/pimbleysdiction00pimbgoog |page=[https://archive.org/details/pimbleysdiction00pimbgoog/page/n61 49] |section=Orle |title=Pimbley's Dictionary of Heraldry |date=1908 |publisher=Pimbley |location=Baltimore |last=Pimbley |first=Arthur Francis}}</ref>

Most small charges can be depicted as semé, e.g. ''semé of roses'', ''semé of estoiles'', and so forth. In English heraldry, several types of small charges have special terms to refer to their state as semé:

*semé of cross-crosslets: ''crusily''
*semé of fleurs-de-lis: ''semé-de-lis'' or ''semy-de-lis''
*semé of [[bezant]]s: ''bezanté''
*semé of plates (roundels argent): ''platé''
*semé of torteaux (roundels gules): ''tortelly''
*semé of [[Charge_(heraldry)#Common_charges|billets]]: ''billeté''/''billetté''/''billetty''
*semé of annulets: ''annulletty''
*semé of sparks: ''étincellé''
*semé of [[goutte]]s ('drops', of liquid): ''goutté'' / ''gutté'', with variants:<ref>{{harvp|Parker|Gough|1894|p=[https://archive.org/details/aglossarytermsu08parkgoog/page/n323 291]}}</ref>
**gutté-de-sang (blood, ''gules'')
**gutté-de-poix (pitch/bitumen, ''sable'')
**gutté-d'eau (water, ''argent'')
**gutté-de-larmes (tears, ''azure'')
**gutté-d'olives or d'huile (olive oil, ''vert'')

When a field semé is of a metal, the charges strewn on it must be of a colour, and vice versa, so as not to offend the [[rule of tincture]].

In Cornish heraldry, the arms granted 1764 to a Hockin family are ''Per fesse wavy gules and azure a lion passant gardant or, beneath his feet a musket lying horizontally proper; and semé of fleur de lys {{strong|confusedly dispersed}} of the third'' [emphasis added]<!--Spelling and punctuation also normalised to modern usage per [[MOS:CONFORM]].-->,<ref>{{harvp|Parker|Gough|1894|p=[https://archive.org/details/aglossarytermsu08parkgoog/page/n465 421]}}; {{harvp|Burke|1884|p=[https://archive.org/details/generalarmoryofe00burk/page/494 494]}}</ref> alluding to an incident in which the marksmanship of a Cornish young man, Thomas Hockin, caused a boatload of French coastal raiders to scatter and flee back to their ship.<ref>{{cite book |last=Burke |first=John |author-link=John Burke (genealogist) |title=A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland |volume=II |date=1835 |location=London / Edinburgh / Dublin |publisher=R. Bentley / Bell & Bradfute / J. Cumming |at=p. 212, 2nd footnote |url= https://archive.org/details/genealogicalheral02burk/page/212/mode/2up |via=Internet Archive}}</ref>

The 1995–2002 arms of Rogaška Slatina, Slovenia, show ''Vert, semee of disks or decreasing in size from base to chief''.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://zeljko-heimer-fame.from.hr/descr/si-obc14.html#si-rs95 |website=The Flags & Arms of the Modern Era (FAME) |title=Slovenia - Communities, part 14 (Raz-Sev)}}</ref>

The heraldic [[Tincture (heraldry)#Furs|furs]] of the [[Tincture (heraldry)#Ermine and its variants|ermine]] family appear to be semé of the "ermine spots", but they are not counted as such except when the tinctures of the spots and the field cannot be described as one of the four furs ''ermine'', ''ermines'', ''erminois'', or ''pean''.{{efn|For an example of ''Vert semee of ermine spots argent'', see the coat of Wrexham County Borough Council.<ref>{{Cite web |url= http://www.civicheraldry.co.uk/wales_current.html#wrexham+cbc |title=Wales Current |website=Civic Heraldry of England and Wales}}</ref>}}