Search Results for: altar

Altar

Altar (Period)

An altar is a stone block or pillar topped with a flame. The flame, though part of the definition of the charge, is nonetheless sometimes specified: e.g., “an altar flammant”. The heraldic altar appears to represent a Pagan altar, rather than the Christian or Jewish altars [Franklyn 7]; it’s found in the arms of Tendryngg, 1340 [DBA3 357]. See also edifice.

Arthur Glendower bears: Or, between two lions combatant azure an altar sable flammant gules.

Una MacRobert bears: Vert, an altar argent between three vols Or.

Asa Gormsdottir bears: Per chevron sable and gules, four bezants and an altar argent enflamed Or.

Needle

Sewing needle threaded (Period)

Double-pointed knitting needle palewise (Accepted)

A needle is a slender sliver of metal or bone, sharpened at the end and used for manipulating thread. In Society armory, the default needle is the “sewing needle” (often so blazoned): a metal needle with a hole in one end for thread, used for hand sewing. It’s a period charge, found in the canting arms (from dial. Italian gugela) of de Agugellis, mid-15^th C. [Triv 41]. Sewing needles are sometimes found threaded; their points are to base by Society default.

There is also the “knitting needle”, which should be double-pointed; one of the earliest representations of knitting, the Buxtehude altarpiece c.1395 [Richard Rutt, A History of Hand Knitting, p.49], shows needles in this form. Although a period artifact, the knitting needle is unattested in medieval armory. It doesn’t seem to have a default orientation in Society blazonry; the illustration shows a double-pointed knitting needle palewise.

The Shire of Mendersham bears: Azure semy of needles argent, a laurel wreath Or.

Eibhlín an Fraoich bears: Per chevron azure and argent, a sewing needle azure.

Zeresh la Tricoteuse bears: Per bend azure and sable, a unicorn’s head couped argent, armed and crined, and two double-pointed knitting needles in saltire Or.

Flame

Flame (Period)

A flame is the area of combustion which gives off heat and light in a fire. It may also, more fully, be termed “flames of fire”. A single flame is drawn rather as a gout or ball, with several tongues to chief. Flames are found in the canting arms of de la Fiama, mid-15^th C. [Triv 194], and in the arms of Wells, c.1525 [DBA2 338].

Flame “proper” is red and gold; its exact depiction in Society armory has changed over the years. At first, a “flame proper” was drawn as a “flame gules voided Or” on a light-tinctured field, and as a “flame Or voided gules” on a dark-tinctured field. Currently, flame proper is drawn with alternating tongues of red and gold, which is more in keeping with period depictions of the charge.

Anvil enflamed (Accepted)

The Society’s depiction of a “[charge] enflamed” has also changed over the years. Originally, a “[charge] enflamed” was equivalent to “on a flame a [charge]” – with the exception of candles, lamps, torches, and the like, where “enflamed” simply means “lit”. Currently, a “[charge] enflamed” is drawn as it would be in medieval armory: with spurts of flame issuant from and surrounding the charge. The illustration shows an anvil enflamed.

Charges have also been constructed of flame in the Society: e.g., the “bordure of flame”, “cross of flame”, “sword bladed of flame”, &c. This usage is no longer permissible, not only for lack of period examples, but because such charges’ identifiability is greatly reduced.

For specific charges which involve flame, see: altar, beacon, brazier, fireball, fireplace, phoenix, salamander, torch.

The Baron of Starkhafn bears: Per bend sable and checky argent and azure, in sinister chief a flame of fire proper within a laurel wreath argent.

William of Sark bears: Sable, a flame proper.

Jumana al-Zarqa’ bears: Argent, three flames sable.

Edifices

Edifices are usually made of stone, and may be drawn as masoned even when this is not explicitly blazoned. (For that reason, it needn’t be blazoned.) There was tremendous variation in the period depiction of edifices: a given emblazon might be blazoned in several ways, and a given blazon rendered with equal looseness. As a rule of thumb, those edifices with doors tended to have the door facing the viewer by default.

Some edifices, particularly castles and towers, may have special roofs which must be blazoned: a “spired tower” has a conical roof, a “domed tower” a hemispherical roof. (Sometimes the latter is drawn “onion-domed”, as found on mosques.)

For specific edifices and related charges, see: altar, arch, bridge, castle, church, column, cornice, dolmen, dome, door, drawbridge, fence, fireplace, fountain, gate, house, lighthouse, pavilion, portcullis, rastrillo, torii, tower, wall, well, windmill.

Dolmen

Dolmen (Accepted)

A dolmen is an edifice erected by the ancient Britons and Celts, consisting of a large flat stone laid across upright stones (called “menhirs”). Modern scholars still debate as to the purpose of dolmens: suggestions include tombs, monuments, altars, or observatories (probably a combination of these). We have no examples of the dolmen in period heraldry, but as a period artifact, it’s acceptable in Society armory.

The Society’s default dolmen is a trilithon: two uprights and one crosspiece. It is occasionally so blazoned, and certainly any other number of uprights or crosspieces must be explicitly blazoned. Society armory also has examples of menhirs standing alone.

For related charges, see arch, torii. See also rock.

Cadwalladyr Stone of Stonecroft bears as a badge: Vert, a dolmen of three uprights capped by two lintels argent.

Gwyneth merch Macsen bears: Sable, a dolmen and in chief a mullet of eight points argent.

Juelda of Salisbury bears: Azure, a dolmen Or and a ford proper.

Colgrym of Avebury bears: Vert, in fess a dragon Or between two menhirs argent.