Vair

Vair is a fur, or a pattern on a shield or object in heraldry.^[1]

Furs are patterns in heraldry. They are based on animal furs. This one is based on the fur of the Squirrel. Unlike Ermine where the connection is obvious. In Vair the pattern comes from many squirrel bellies connected together.^[2]

The word vair, comes from Middle English which comes from Old French which comes from Latin varius ("varied"),^[3] because the pattern varies in color.

The original form called vair ancien had a wavy pattern that looked more like squirrel coats. The modern form is has more angles. The default modern pattern blue (azure) and white (argent). Since blue is a color and white is a metal, this means it follows the Rule of tincture and is visible from a long distance.

• Eurasian red squirrel
  (S. vulgaris)
• Squirrel bellies on a rack
• Vair ancien the old curvy version
• Vair plain the modern version

As with other heraldry. It is written with a type of special language called Blazons which is part French part English. This is why some shield descriptions are hard to understand.

• Vair ancien inverted
• Vair inverted from the Tichborne arms in Winchester Castle
• The same arms at St Andrew's, Tichborne
• Coat of arms of Jane Seymour at Hampton Court Palace
• Vairy or and azure
• Vairy ermine and gules
• Checked vairy
• Counter-vair
• Vair in pale
• Vairy in bend
  or and azure
• Vair in pointe
• Alternate vair

• Tincture (heraldry)
• Fur (heraldry)

• Boutell, Charles; Arthur Charles Fox-Davies (1914), The Handbook to English Heraldry, London: Reeves & Turner.
• Fox-Davies, Arthur Charles (1909), A Complete Guide to Heraldry, London: T.C. & E.C. Jack.
• Veale, Elspeth M. (2005), The English Fur Trade in the Later Middle Ages (2nd ed.), London: London Folio Society, ISBN 0-900952-38-5.
• Woodward, John; George Burnett (1892), A Treatise on Heraldry British and Foreign with English and French Glossaries, Edinburgh: W. & A.K. Johnston.