Vair-bell (Disallowed)
A vair-bell is a single segment of the vair field. As a charge, it would appear to be unique to Society armory, and is no longer registered. The vair-bell is drawn in a stylized angular manner, with the point to chief. See also bell, helm (kettle).
Ivan Brasonic bears: Sable, a vair-bell inverted argent environed of eight plates in annulo.
Catherine of Greenfields bears: Vert, a vair-bell Or, overall a raven’s quill bendwise sinister proper.
Bellows (Period)
A bellows is a device that produces a stream of air when its handles are pumped; it’s used in blacksmiths’ fires, and in pipe organs. It’s a period charge, found in the arms of von Beilentz or Bellentz, 1413 [Conz.Const. clxix]. The bellows has its spout to base by default.
Medhbh inghean Uí Eidirsceóil bears: Argent, a bellows within a bordure rayonny purpure.
Bern Bellower bears as a badge: Argent, a bellows fesswise sable.
Bell (Period)
Hawk’s bell (Period); hand bell (Accepted)
A bell is a cup-shaped musical instrument that rings when struck. The default heraldic bell is the “church bell”; it’s sometimes blazoned that way, and some Society examples show it in its stock (like the standard representation of the Liberty Bell). The bell is an ancient charge, dating from c.1295 in the allusive arms of Porter [ANA2 127].
Another bell found in armory is the “hawk’s bell”, of the type found on a hawk’s jesses. It’s found in the canting arms of Bellinkhoven, c.1370 [Gelre 102], and the arms of von Ernau, 1605 [Siebmacher 46]. The French term is grelot; Society blazons may also term it a “jester’s bell” or a “dancer’s bell”.
Cowbell (Accepted)
Of the types of bell peculiar to Society armory, we find the “hand bell”, with a handle on the top: a period artifact, the hand bell was used first as a public alarm or signal (as with town criers), but by 1300 were tuned instruments used in processionals [Grove 10:745-6]. We also find the “Oriental bell”, one of their cylindrical temple bells, drawn much as a church bell but with no flare at the rim. Finally, there’s the “cowbell”, worn by cattle to aid the cowherd in finding them – and evidently, a period folk instrument as well, documented as such in Virdung’s Musica Getutscht, 1511 [Montagu 91]. All of these bells, like the church bell, have their clappers to base by default.
For related charges, see zil. See also vair-bell.
The Baron of Carillion bears: Or, a bell within a laurel wreath sable.
Uberto Renaldi bears: Gules, three church bells argent.
Clarel Belton bears: Vert, three hawk’s bells argent.
Isabella Flora Turpin bears: Per fess vert and argent, a hand bell and a terrapin statant to sinister counterchanged.
Rosamund von Schwyz bears as a badge: On a cowbell argent a fleur-de-lys purpure.
Pair of zils (questionable)
When borne in pairs, by Society convention, zils are arranged as worn on the dancer’s fingers: in pale, the lower one inverted. For related charges, see bell, musical instrument.
Stevanna of Houghton bears: Vert, an arm embowed with hand to sinister argent, holding zils, with four armbands and entwined by a double-headed serpent, all Or.
Baraka bint Hasan al-Fahim bears: Azure, a pair of zils between two scimitars addorsed crossed at the hilts argent.
Bahita of Abu Simbel bears: Azure, a bend sinister Or between a zil bendwise and another bendwise inverted, all within a bordure argent.
Yoke, British style (Period)
Yoke, German style (Period)
The yoke is fesswise by default. The British form, when “proper”, is colored brown, as with all wooden charges.
The Shire of Belle Rive bears as a badge: An ox yoke, beamed vert, bowed argent.
Henricus Guotman bears: Per fess wavy vert and purpure, in chief an ox yoke Or.
Torse in annulo (Period)
Laurel wreath (Period/Reserved)
The term “wreath” in Society heraldry refers to a circlet of foliage, usually with leaves alone, but sometimes with flowers. (This would be termed a “chaplet” in mundane blazonry, more on which below.) Laurel wreaths are the most common form in Society heraldry, being required in (and reserved to) the arms of each territorial branch. They are also a period charge, found in the arms of von Lenberg, 1605 [Siebmacher 90]. In mundane armory, laurel wreaths were almost always drawn in an annular form (full circle), but we also find examples drawn in a penannular form (with a small opening to chief); Society armory typically uses the penannular form.
Other foliage may likewise be used to make wreaths, so long as they can be distinguished from the reserved laurel wreath. The oak wreath is found in the canting arms of Schöneiche, 1605 [Siebmacher 50]; Society armory also has examples of holly wreaths and rosemary wreaths.
Chaplets of roses (German and English) (Period/Reserved)
The chaplet may also be called a “garland” for canting purposes, as in the arms of Garlond, 1347 [DBA4 459]. In the early days of the Society, a “garland” would have many flowers conjoined in annulo with little or no foliage; a “rose chaplet” would have four roses in cross; a “rose wreath” would have multiple roses, separated by rose leaves. This distinction (such as it was) between chaplets, garlands, and flowered wreaths is granted no heraldic difference, and indeed is often ignored by artists.
Chaplet of thorn (Period)
Joscelyn (Period)
In Society armory, rose wreaths (chaplets, garlands, &c) are reserved to the arms of Queens, Princesses, and Royal Peers. Tradition grants rose wreaths (many flowers) to Queens, and rose chaplets (four flowers) to Princesses; but this is not mandatory, has never been strictly adhered to, and is left to the bearer’s discretion.
For related charges, see crown, slip.
The Society for Creative Anachronism bears: Or, a laurel wreath vert.
The Order of the Rose bears: A wreath of roses.
The Order of the Laurel bears: A laurel wreath.
The Baron of South Downs bears: Per pale sable and azure, a laurel wreath argent.
Noe College bears: Sable, three laurel wreaths Or.
The Order of the Coill’s Bells, of the Barony of Nottinghill Coill, bears: A joscelyn wreathed Or and vert with six bells Or.
Rosemary of Talmont bears: Azure, a rosemary wreath proper between three mullets of six points argent.
Corwin Blackthorn bears: Or, a chaplet of thorns sable.
Diana Wynn bears: Vert, an oak wreath fructed argent.
Ismenia Joslyn Wyndameer bears: Azure, on a pile bendwise inverted throughout argent a torse in annulo azure and Or.
Two grape vines entwined, fesswise and throughout (Period)
A vine is a long, slender slip characterized by its twisty shape; in nature, vines are too weak to stand upright, and so must entwine themselves around a support. In heraldry, the vine is shown wavy or undy, usually leaved or fructed according to its kind. Period armory has examples of “ivy vine” in the arms of Barbalonga, c.1540 [Nobreza xxviº], and “grape vines” in the arms of di Cadamosti, mid-15th C. [Triv 111].
Vines do not seem to have a default orientation – though if on an ordinary, they follow its line – so must in general be specified as palewise, &c. Unlike other slips, however, vines are often placed as ordinaries: thus, in the above examples, the arms of Barbalonga have an orle of ivy vine, while the arms of di Cadamosti have two grape vines entwined, fesswise and throughout, as in the illustration.
The Baron of Vinhold bears: Per fess wavy argent and sable, two wreaths of grape vine vert fructed proper and a laurel wreath Or.
Esobella Rowena Erwyn Ross bears: Bendy sinister argent and vert, a vine bendwise throughout wavy sable, flowered with a rose gules.
Eliška z Jihlavy bears: Argent, an ivy vine palewise between flaunches vert.
Elyna Delynor bears: Vert, a bend of two ivy vines entwined argent.
Vair, ancient (Period)
Vair, later period (Period)
Vair is one of the principal furs in heraldry, consisting of a series of panes, alternately white and blue, completely tiling the field. It was originally meant to represent squirrel-skins, sewn together with the back-fur and belly-fur alternating. There are several varieties of vair, all of which are considered mere artistic variations of one another.
The earliest depiction of vair, dating from the Matthew Paris shields c.1244, had rounded edges. Originally, the peaks didn’t touch the straight edges of the rows; by c.1400, the peaks might extend to the rows’ edges. These depictions are sometimes termed “vair ancient” in modern heraldry texts; the stylization is not blazoned in Society armory, being left to the artist. By the end of period, a more angular form of vair was used, tessellated with vair-bells; this form is the modern standard depiction. Period heraldic tracts also gave names to different patterns of arranging the panes: e.g., “counter-vair”, with the panes set base-to-base, and not alternating colors; and “vair en pointe”, with the panes staggered. There are other forms as well, some of which came to be used in post-period armory.
Potent (Period)
One style of depicting vair came to be called “potent”, because the panes resembled potents or crutches. Again, no difference is counted between vair and potent.
Vair furs may use other tinctures besides white and blue. Such cases must be explicitly blazoned: e.g., “Vairy Or and gules”, the canting arms of Ferrers, c.1244 [Asp2 222]. See also papellony, plumetty.
Kat’ryna Neblaga Volchkova bears: Vair, flaunches gules.
Gauvain Eisenbein bears: Vairy en point erminois and azure, a bordure gules.
Steven MacEanruig bears: Potent, on a pile sable a cross crosslet argent.
Tyger rampant (Period)
Bengal tiger rampant (SFPP)
The tyger is an heraldic monster, described as incredibly swift and deceitful; its body is much like that of the wolf, but it has a crest of tufts on the back of its neck, and a tusk pointing down from its nose. Medieval legend asserts that to escape a pursuing tyger, one must throw a mirror before it, so that it will be entranced by its reflection; indeed, the tyger in the arms of Sybell, 1531, is in just such a pose [Dennys 144]. The illustration shows a tyger rampant.
When blazoned a “natural tiger” or “Bengal tiger”, the term denotes a natural beast, the great cat Felis tigris: like a maneless lion, but with stripes on its coat. When blazoned “proper”, its coat is tawny, and the stripes black; this naturalistic coloring is no longer permitted in Society armory, but standard heraldic tinctures (e.g., “a Bengal tiger Or marked sable”) may still be used. The use of a Bengal tiger is considered a step from period practice. The illustration shows a Bengal tiger rampant.
The King of the East bears as a badge: A tyger passant azure.
Alia la rousse bears: Gules, in pale two tygers passant argent.
Sean Fitzwallace bears: Gules, a Bengal tiger rampant guardant proper within a bordure counter-compony argent and azure.
Trumpet (Period)
Spiral trumpet, or spiral hunting horn (Accepted)
A trumpet is a brass musical instrument with a flared end and a blaring tone. Its default form is more fully blazoned a “straight trumpet”; it was used as an heraldic charge as early as 1285, in the canting arms of Trumpington [ANA2 475]. Two straight trumpets in saltire are the symbol of the SCA College of Arms, and reserved to the College and the seals of its Sovereigns of Arms and the Principal Heralds.
Bucina, or Roman tuba (Accepted)
Baroque folded trumpet (Accepted)
Society armory also has examples of the “spiral trumpet”, also called a “spiral hunting horn“, the precursor of the modern French horn; the “baroque folded trumpet”, like a sackbut but with no moving parts (its length made a full range of notes possible); and the “Roman tuba” or “bucina”. All these trumpets have their bells to chief by default. See also cornetto, organ pipe.
The College of Arms bears: Vert, two straight trumpets in saltire, bells in chief Or.
Halla in heppna Knorsdottír bears: Purpure, in fess three straight trumpets Or.
Daven Echern bears: Azure, on a plate a horse salient to sinister sable, in base a spiral trumpet Or, all within a bordure embattled argent.
Corwyn Iain MacAern bears: Per chevron sable and argent, a griffin passant and a Roman tuba reversed counterchanged.
Lijss van den Kerckhove bears as a badge: Or, a baroque folded trumpet fesswise reversed purpure and in chief two rosemary sprigs fesswise conjoined at the stem vert.