Crancelin


Crancelin is a charge in heraldry, usually seen in the bend on a shield. It depicts a band of a stylized trefoil leaves, representing a branch of common rue. It can be found in the coat of arms of Saxony.
Legend has it that at the investiture of Bernhard, Count of Anhalt and Ballenstedt, as Duke of Saxony, the then emperor, Frederick I Barbarossa, took the chaplet of rue he was wearing and placed it over the corner of Bernhard's shield. To commemorate this act, the crancelin vert was added to the Ballenstedt arms.
The French word is from the German Kränzlein.
The bearing is sometimes called "a ducal coronet in bend" or "a bend archy coronetty". It is known in German as Rautenkranz.