Search Results for: axe

Axe-head

Axe-head (Period)

Axe-head (Period)

An axe-head is the metal portion of the axe that is fitted onto the wooden haft.  It is occasionally found as a separate charge in its own right, as in the arms of Whit or White, 15th C. [DBA1 13], or the late-period depiction of the arms of von Franckenstein [Siebmacher 123].  The default form is of a single-bitted axe, edge to dexter; if another type of axe-head is intended, it should be specified.  For related charges, see fer-a-loup.

Eric Ragnarsson bears:  Counter-ermine, a double-bitted axehead within a bordure argent.

Günther Wolfferum bears:  Quarterly sable and argent, in bend two axe-heads bendwise gules.

Roland le Taillefer bears:  Argent, an axe-head azure.

Ramvoldus Kröll bears:  Per chevron sable and argent, three battle-axe heads counterchanged.

This entry was posted on November 20, 2013, in .

Axe

Battle-axe (Period); double-axe (Acceptable)

Battle-axe (Period); double-axe (Accepted)

An axe is a chopping weapon or tool.  It is an ancient charge, found in the arms of the Kings of Denmark as early as 1244 [Asp2 205].  The axe’s default orientation is palewise, with the head to chief and blade to dexter.  The haft, when blazoned “proper”, is of brown wood.

There was great variation in the forms of the axe, even for the same coat of arms in period; many strange forms are blazoned simply as an “axe”.  No difference is therefore counted between the variants.  The most common form is the “battle-axe” or “war-axe”; any axe whose form is unspecified may be safely drawn in this form.  The battle-axe is single-bladed by default.  The double-bladed form is virtually unknown in period armory – the arms of Maberger, c.1460 [GATD 19v] may be an example, though identification is uncertain – but is quite common in Society armory; this form must be specified in the blazon.  A “bearded axe” has an extended cutting edge trailing below the axe-head.

Danish axe (Period); Lochaber axe (Disallowed)

Danish axe (Period); Lochaber axe (Disallowed)

The “Danish axe” and the “Lochaber axe” are similar in form:  both have a long, curved haft and broad blade.  The Danish axe is found in the arms of the Kings of Norway:  de Bara, 1581 [234] explicitly terms it une hache dannoise.  By the end of period it was being drawn with a notch in the top of the blade [Siebmacher 2; Woodcock & Robinson, plate 19], which in modern times has become one of its defining features [Parker 29].  The Lochaber axe, as used in Scots heraldry, is similar but defined by a hook at the end [Parker 29].  The distinction between it and the Danish axe, such as it is, is considered simply a guide to the artist; pending period heraldic examples of the Lochaber axe, it is no longer registerable in the Society.

 

 

Broad axe (Period)

Broad axe (Period)

The “broad axe” was fairly common in Continental armory; modern blazons term it a doloire (cooper’s axe), as this form of axe was used for chopping barrel staves.  It had a short haft and a wide, smooth blade; the blade is exaggerated in heraldic art.  The broad axe is found as early as c.1370, in the arms of Renty [Gelre 48v; also GATD 74, on which the illustration is based]; the English term “brode axe” was used in the grant to the Worshipful Company of Coopers, 1509 [Bromley & Child 56].

Carpenter's axe (Period); woodsman's axe (Acceptable); headsman's axe (Acceptable)

Carpenter’s axe (Period); woodsman’s axe (Accepted); headsman’s axe (Accepted)

The “carpenter’s axe” has a recess behind the cutting edge for the hand to hold and guide the blade.  The form is found in period emblazons, such as the arms of von Axt, 1605 [Siebmacher 48].  The term “carpenter’s axe” is the Society’s; the charge is termed a cognée in modern French blazons, but it was unlikely to have been distinguished in period blazons.

 

 

 

Francisque (Acceptable); labrys (Acceptable)

Francisque (Accepted); labrys (Accepted)

Of axe variants unique to Society armory, there are the “hatchet” or “hand-axe”, with a plain head and a proportionally shorter haft; the “francisque”, a hand-axe with an angled head, made for throwing (used mainly for a cant); the “labrys”, a ceremonial double-bladed axe from ancient Crete; the “woodsman’s axe”, also called the “felling axe”, which is fairly plain; and the “headsman’s axe”, also called the “slaughterer’s axe”, also quite plain.

For related charges, see adze, fasces, pick, pole-arm. See also cleaver.

The Thrown Weapons Marshallate bears:  Sable, two axes in saltire surmounted by a spear Or.

Sean Ruabarua MacGillaphaidraic bears:  Vert, an axe Or.

Sefferey of Wessex bears:  Gules, three axes argent.

Richard of the Fens bears:  Per chevron vert and Or, six battle-axes counterchanged.

Adelhardt Werner bears:  Per pale purpure and Or, a double-bitted axe counterchanged.

James of Prussia bears:  Sable, a francisque palewise argent, to the sinister a dagger palewise argent.

Karl vom Acht bears:  Gules, a labrys argent bearing two horns issuant from the haft and curving to meet the blades Or.

Dynadan do Pico bears:  Quarterly Or and argent, in saltire two headsman’s axes and dependent from the junction a hangman’s noose sable, all within a bordure gules.

Roger Carpenter of Rye bears:  Or, in pale a carpenter’s axe reversed and a carpenter’s square, point to base, and on a chief azure three annulets Or.

Michel von Alterstetten bears:  Per pale sable and Or, four broadaxes two and two counterchanged.

Thorkell Óláfsson bears:  Purpure, on a pile Or a Danish axe gules.

This entry was posted on November 20, 2013, in .

Weapons

Weapons are implements designed for combat or war; unlike armor, they are understood to be primarily offensive in nature.  As medieval heraldry was originally borne by the warrior class, weapons were often used as charges.

For specific entries, see:  arrow, axe, battering ram, bow, cannon, catapult, chaine shot, crossbow, fireball, flail, gun, hammer, knife, mace, pole-arm, pole-cannon, sling, spear, staff (club), streitgabelklinge, sword, trident, vajhra, zulfikar.  See also quintain, quiver, scabbard.

This entry was posted on June 8, 2014, in .

Tools

Tools are implements to help in building or making.  The term can be applied very broadly, but is usually understood to refer to the hand tools employed in industry or artisanry.

For woodworking tools, see:  adze, awl, axe, chisel, drawknife, float, gimlet, hammer, knife, plane, saw.  See also nail, square.

For metalworking tools, see:  anvil, graver, hammer, punch, tongs.

For tools involving cloth, clothing, or thread, see:  broach, drop-spindle, hempbreak, knife, loom, shearsspinning wheel.  See also comb (wool), needle, quill of yarnshuttle, spool of thread.

For gardening or agricultural tools, see:  adze, axe, fork, harrow, hoe, plough, pruning hook, rake, scythe, sicklespade, trowel.

For tools related to food and drink preparation, see:  brewer’s scoopforkfrying pan, knife, mash rakepotspoon, strainer.  See also cleaver, oven, sieve.

For building or stoneworking tools, see:  axe, chisel, hammer, knife, level, pick, saw, trowel.  See also ladder.

For other entries, see:  brush, grozing iron, press, shave.

This entry was posted on June 5, 2014, in .

Sword: seax

Seax (Period)

Seax (Period)

The term “seax”, when used in blazon, denotes a stylized sword resembling the scimitar but with a semi-circular notch in its back.  It was attributed c.1460 to the arms of the Kings of Kent [RH]; it has more recently been used in the arms of Middlesex and Essex, presumably for the cant.

Many large knives of the Early Middle Ages, especially in England, have been termed “seaxes” by weapons historians; these do not resemble the stylized heraldic form.  In Society armory, such cases are explicitly blazoned by type, e.g., the pre-Conquest “broken-back seax”, based on an item unearthed at Sittingbourne (currently in the British Museum).

Theodric Pendar of Faulconwood bears:  Sable, upon a saltire cotised Or two seaxes in saltire sable.

Phillip of Dalarna bears:  Vert, a seax between two estoiles wavy argent.

Eadgyth æt Stæningum bears as a badge:  On a broken-back seax argent a flax stem vert flowered azure.

This entry was posted on June 3, 2014, in .

Saw

Frame saw (Period)

Frame saw (Period)

Goldsmith's framesaw (Period)

Goldsmith’s framesaw (Period)

A saw is a carpenter’s tool, used mostly for cutting wood; it has a large thin blade with a toothed edge.  The most common form of heraldic saw is more fully termed a “frame saw” or a “bow saw”.  The artifact dates from at least the 12th Century [Singer 392], but the earliest heraldic example dates from c.1550, in the canting arms (Italian sega) of Seghi [BSB Cod.Icon 278:333].  The frame saw is fesswise, cutting edge to base, by default [Parker 520].

Other saws found in Society armory were first taken from period artifacts; in many cases, they’ve since been documented as charges.  For example, the saw blazoned in the Society as a “goldsmith’s framesaw” has the shape of a modern coping saw; however, much the same form is found in period armory, in the arms of Malkas or Malckab, c.1450 [Ingeram 172].  It doesn’t seem to have a default orientation, but when fesswise, the handle is to sinister; when palewise, the handle is to base.  The illustration shows a goldsmith’s framesaw fesswise.

Two-man cross-cut saw (Period)

Two-man cross-cut saw (Period)

Handsaw (Accepted)

Handsaw (Accepted)

Likewise, the “two-man cross-cut saw”, a much larger tool used for large timbers, was originally documented from Jost Amman’s Book of Trades, 1568 [95].  It was then discovered in period armory as well, in the arms of Mistelbeckten, c.1560 [BSB Cod.Icon 390:749].  This form of saw is fesswise by default.

We also have the “handsaw”, simply a serrated blade with a handgrip.  This form, though not yet found in period armory, is found in the Bedford Book of Hours, early-15th C. [Singer plate 30]; it has been accepted for Society use.  It has the same default, or lack thereof, as the goldsmith’s framesaw; the illustration shows a handsaw palewise.

Stephen Treebane bears:  Argent, a frame saw palewise azure.

Giles of Gamph bears:  Per chevron azure and Or, an oak tree eradicated between two bearded axes and a frame saw fesswise, all counterchanged.

Konrad Lockner of Idelberg bears:  Counter-ermine, a scarpe gules, overall a wyvern displayed argent maintaining in the dexter claw a bow saw and in the sinister claw a mallet proper.

Tancred of Tangewood bears:  Argent, in pale a two-man cross-cut saw and two hammers in saltire sable all within a bordure sable semy of maple leaves argent.

Pearce Redsmythe bears:  Purpure semy of rivets Or, a goldsmith’s framesaw bendwise argent, on a chief Or three Bowen crosses sable.

Tomas y Saer bears:  Per pale gules and sable, in saltire a Lochaber axe and a handsaw both argent hafted Or, within an orle Or.

 

This entry was posted on June 2, 2014, in .

Pole-arm

Berdiche (Period); billhook (Period)

Berdiche (Period); billhook (Period)

Halberd (Period); pole-axe (Period)

Halberd (Period); pole-axe (Period)

This class of weapon is characterized by the long shaft by which damage may be inflicted at a safer distance.  Usually a sharp implement is attached to the pole’s end, and it is by this head (to chief by default) that most pole-weapons are identified.

Examples of pole-arms found in period armory include the “berdiche”, whose backswept blade is fastened to the haft at its center and bottom points, found in the arms of Kürnburg, 1548 (Vigil Raber’s Armorial of the Arlberg Brotherhood of St. Christopher, fo.48); the “billhook”, a spear with a hooked blade, found in the canting arms (Italian roncola) of Roncha or Runche, c.1555 [BSB Cod.Icon 275:119 and 276:205]; the “halberd”, with an upswept blade, and a spike on the end of the haft, as in the arms of von Griffenstein, c.1515 [BSB Cod.Icon 308:391; also von Schella, 1605, Siebmacher 43]; and the “pole-axe”, with a standard battle-axe head and a long haft, as in the canting arms of Mordaxt, 1548 (Vigil Raber’s Armorial of the Arlberg Brotherhood of St. Christopher, fo.133).  Strictly speaking, any axe on a long pole is a “pole-axe”: the pole-axes in the arms of the Worshipful Company of Butchers, granted 1540, have been depicted both as battle-axes and as nondescript “chopping” axes [Bromley & Child 34].

Bec de corbin (Accepted); corsica (Accepted); fauchard (Accepted)

Bec de corbin (Accepted); corsica (Accepted); fauchard (Accepted)

Glaive (Accepted); naginata (probable SFPP); partisan (Accepted)

Glaive (Accepted); naginata (probable SFPP); partisan (Accepted)

Other pole-arms, used as weapons and accepted for Society armory, include the “bec de corbin”, a long-handled war-hammer c.1400, with a curved point like a raven’s beak, from which it takes its name [Stone 109]; the “corsica” or “corsèque”, 15th and 16th C., with broad, branched blades joined to the main blade [Stone 374, s.v. korseke]; the “fauchard”, 16th C., with a falchion-shaped blade [Stone 226]; the “glaive”, 12th and 13th C., whose single-edged blade has a backwards-curving tip [Stone 248]; the “naginata”, a Japanese spear with a back-curving blade [Stone 463]; the “partizan” or “partisan”, 16th C., a double-edged spear with short, hooked blades at the base of the head, very like a corsica [Stone 484]; the “war-scythe”, 16th C., essentially a scythe blade mounted on a long, straight shaft [Stone 545]; and the “Swiss voulge” or “vouge”, 14th C., favored by the infantry of that tiny nation [Stone 654].

War-scythe (Accepted); Swiss voulge (Accepted)

War-scythe (Accepted); Swiss voulge (Accepted)

For related charges, see hammer, mancatcher, spear, trident.

The Baron of Bjornsborg bears: Azure, two bears rampant addorsed regardant argent, each sustaining a berdiche proper, in base a laurel wreath Or.

Andrew Mariner bears: Argent, two billhooks addorsed in saltire sable, a chief doubly enarched vert.

Shandon Yar Mohamed Gehazi Memo Hazara Khan-ad-Din bears: Per bend sinister raguly sable and Or, a sun of six greater and six lesser points and a naginata bendwise sinster counterchanged.

Christopher of Eoforwic bears: Per pale Or and sable, three glaives fesswise in pale, blades to chief, the first and third reversed, between two goblets in bend counterchanged.

Lucas Otto Gustav Oswald Stefan bears: Checky vert and argent, a partisan bendwise surmounted by a snail shell reversed Or.

Aldwin Yale of York bears as a badge: Per bend sinister sable and Or, a compass star and a corsica bendwise sinister counterchanged, within a bordure embattled gules.

Charles Greenlimb bears: Per bend embattled gules and azure, two war-scythe heads bendwise, issuant from chief the point to sinister and issuant from dexter the point in base, argent.

Johannes Kaspar Zurfluh bears: Per fess embattled argent and gules, an eagle displayed and a Swiss voulge bendwise sinister reversed counterchanged.

Alexia of Thessalonica bears:  Per bend Or and purpure, a bec de corbin bendwise vert and a whelk bendwise Or.

This entry was posted on May 24, 2014, in .

Pick

Pick (Period)

Pick (Period)

A pick is a mining tool for breaking up rock, soil, &c.  It is found in the canting arms of Pycot, 1357 [DBA2 483]; it may also be termed a “pick-axe” or “miner’s pick”.  The pick’s head was usually shown single-pointed in period emblazons; the point faced dexter by default, as in the illustration.  Double-pointed picks were seldom found in period armory, but an example is seen in the canting arms (dial. Italian ponzón, “spike”) of di Ponzo, mid-15th C. [Triv 283]; this variation of form is left unblazoned in the Society.  For related charges, see axe, hammer.

Gerwald of Devon the Miner bears:  Per chevron inverted azure and argent, in chief a pickaxe bendwise argent, a base embattled vert.

Francisco Sanchez Pancho bears:  Sable, two pickaxes in saltire argent.

James Odo bears as a badge:  A pickaxe Or.

This entry was posted on May 23, 2014, in .

Papellony

Papellony (field treatment) (Period)

Papellony (field treatment) (Period)

Papellony (fur) (Accepted)

Papellony (fur) (Accepted)

The term “papellony” may refer to either a fur or a field treatment, as they are known in the Society.  When blazoned, e.g., “argent papellony sable” (as in the first illustration), it’s a field treatment equivalent to scaly; this is the older usage, found in the arms of Sansuerre or Sancerre, c.1254 [Brault2 27; also see de Bara 55].  When blazoned “papellony argent and sable” (as in the second illustration), it’s a derivative of the vair furs, similar in appearance to plumetty [Woodward 72].  Because of the ambiguity in the term, it is best not used if an alternative term will work as well.

Egil Bloodax bears:  Papellony argent and azure, a double-bitted axe gules.

Runolfr Audsson bears:  Per chevron sable and gules, papellony argent, in chief a wolf courant to sinister argent.

This entry was posted on May 23, 2014, in .

Hood

Monk's hood (Period)

Monk’s hood (Period)

Jester's hood (Accepted)

Jester’s hood (Accepted)

A hood is an article of clothing, a covering for the head; it differs from the hat in that it completely encloses the head.  The most common form in period armory seems to be the “monk’s hood”, as in the civic arms of Güglingen, 1605 [Siebmacher 226].

Varieties unique to Society heraldry include the “jester’s hood”, with a forked top and bells; the “executioner’s hood”, which covers the face as well; and the “teaching master’s hood”, with a long tasseled end.

 

 

Executioner's hood (Accepted); teaching master's hood (Accepted)

Executioner’s hood (Accepted); teaching master’s hood (Accepted)

The executioner’s hood and jester’s hood are affronty by Society default; all other hoods face dexter by default.  For related charges, see head, helm, mantle.

William Worm bears:  Gules, a monk’s hood Or.

Alfredo el Bufón bears:  Per pale azure and argent, a jester’s belled hood of two ears affronty counterchanged.

Mark of Glastonbury bears:  Or, a fess azure, overall a lion rampant gules wearing the hood and tippet of a teaching master sable, turned up and tasselled ermine.

Telbyrne Morningstar bears:  Per chevron Or and sable, an executioner’s hood sable, fimbriated in base Or, between in chief two double-bitted axes sable.

This entry was posted on February 11, 2014, in .