Search Results for: mace

Mace

Spiked mace (Period); flanged mace (Period)

Morningstar (Accepted); civic mace (Accepted)

A mace is a heavy club-like weapon; the metal head is often spiked, knobbed, flanged or otherwise shaped to best penetrate armor. In heraldry, if a specific shape of head is desired, it must be blazoned: e.g., the “spiked mace”, or the “flanged mace”. The spiked mace seems the more common form in heraldry; in German armory, it dates to c.1340, in the arms of Wurmlingen [Zurich 439]. The flanged mace is found in the arms of di Veccii, mid-15^th C. [Triv 362].

The mace was also a symbol of secular authority in mundane heraldry. In this form, it is termed a “civic mace”, and is so highly decorative as to be unsuitable as a weapon.

Similar to the mace is the “morningstar” or “morgenstern”, which has a spiked mace’s head attached by a chain to a handle. None of these variants carry any heraldic difference. For related charges, see flail, hammer, staff.

The Constable of the West bears: Azure, a flanged mace Or.

Heather MacTeague bears: Quarterly sable and gules, four maces argent.

Regina Gunnvor Morningstar bears: Argent ermined gules, a morningstar bendwise sinister within a bordure sable.

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.

Vair

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.

Staff

Bourdon, or pilgrim’s staff (Period)

Ragged staff (Period)

A staff is a wooden pole, which might be used as a support or a weapon. The unmodified term is rendered in Society armory as a simple, smooth pole, also known as a “rod”; but two other forms of staff are more prevalent in period armory.

The “bourdon” or “walking staff” is drawn with a handhold on its tip. It was frequently drawn with a hook as well, for carrying a bag of belongings, and might then be blazoned a “pilgrim’s staff” or “palmer’s staff”; the terms are essentially synonyms. The bourdon is found in the canting arms of Burdon, c.1285 [ANA2 221].

The “ragged staff” is a thick staff with raguly sides, like a tree trunk with the side-limbs lopped off. This form dates from c.1360, in the arms of von Lipe or Leipa [Gelre 33v], but is most famous as an element in the badge of the Earls of Warwick, 15^th C. [HB 155].

Club (Period); crutch (Period)

Ambassador’s staff (Accepted); belaying pin (Accepted)

Other types of staff in period armory include the “club” (also called a “shillelagh” in the Society), a length of wood with a burl at the top, used as a cudgel; it’s found in the arms of von Keul, 1605 [Siebmacher 72]. There’s the “crutch” or “crutchstaff” (also, poetically, called a “potent”), found in the arms of di Scanci, mid-15^th C. [Triv 331]; it comes in varying forms depending on era, with the illustration being typical.

Of the staves unique to Society armory, there are the “herald’s staff” or “ambassadorial staff”, a short staff with ribbons; the “belaying pin”, used on sailing ships to secure lines and quell mutinies; the “jester’s bauble”, a short stick with a miniature jester’s cap on its end; and the “wand”, a term implying a more naturalistic drawing, perhaps with a leaf or two.

Jester’s bauble (Accepted); wand (Accepted)

All staves are palewise by default. Their “proper” coloration is brown, the color of wood. (The exception is the jester’s bauble: when blazoned “proper”, it’s shown with a Caucasian face and a brown wooden handle; the colors of the cap must be explicitly blazoned.) For related charges, see bend (baton), caduceus, crozier, distaff, juggler’s clubs, mace, scepter, slip (branch), thyrsus, torch (firebrand). See also golf club, pole-arm, spear.

The Ambassador of Atenveldt bears: Per pale azure and argent, in canton a sun in his splendour Or, in sinister base two ambassadorial staves in saltire azure.

Ivan Dragonstone bears: Purpure, on a chief erminois a rod fesswise argent.

Addison the Wanderer bears: Potent, two palmer’s staves in saltire Or.

Bertrade Deslapins bears: Or, two ragged staves in saltire sable.

Georgis Ker bears: Or, a wooden club bendwise proper.

Catriona the Lame bears: Argent, a crutch sable within a bordure azure.

Dianna Wyndalan of Kidwelly bears: Barry wavy sable and gules, in saltire a belaying pin and a sword argent.

Quin of the Eastern Harhar bears: Argent, a jester’s bauble gules and in chief four golpes in arc.

Hammer

A hammer is a tool for striking or pounding, consisting of a blunt heavy head mounted on a handle. It’s found in the canting arms of Martel as early as 1275 [Asp2 220]. The hammer’s default orientation is palewise, head to chief, with the main striking surface facing dexter. Its “proper” tinctures are with a black metal head and a brown wooden handle.

As regarding types of hammers, there seems to be no default form of hammer in medieval armory, and certainly not in Society armory. Probably no other charge has engendered such confusion of types and terms. One type of hammer has been variously blazoned a “sledge hammer”, a “smith’s hammer”, and a “stone hammer”; the term “war hammer” has been applied to three very different types. Indeed, the unmodified term “hammer” might be emblazoned as any form of hammer; the exact variant thus counts for no heraldic difference. Except for the mallet and the Thor’s hammer, the illustrations should be considered representative samples rather than definitions.

Hammer (Period)

Two forms of mallet (both Period)

Medievally, the most common form of hammer was drawn with claws or spikes opposite the striking face, and a handle not overlong; the illustration is taken from the arms of Martel, c.1370 [Gelre 48v]. This form is also blazoned a “martel” for canting purposes; though it’s usually assumed to be a weapon, the clawed form is also found in the arms of the Worshipful Company of Blacksmiths, 1490 [Bromley & Child 22].

Another common form of hammer in period was the “mallet”, a craftsman’s tool rather than a weapon, found in the canting arms of Mailly as early as c.1275 [ANA2 483]. The mallet’s form might vary by country or century, but was predominantly depicted in one of two basic forms, as in the illustration.

War-hammer (Period); modern war-hammer (Accepted)

Thor’s hammer (Accepted)

Also in period we find the “war-hammer”, definitely intended as a weapon: it had a clawed striking face for breaking through armor. It’s found in the arms of Tusser, 1559 [Bedingfeld 50], though some modern blazons mistake it for a battle-axe. The Society has also used the term “war-hammer” for other charges, far less documentable to period.

Of the variant forms unique to Society armory, the most common is the “Thor’s hammer” or “mjolnir”, a token of the Norse thunder god. It alone among the hammers has its haft to chief by default. The illustration is a composite of Viking age mjolnir-pendants, from finds at Birka, Rømrsdal, and Skåne.

Armorer’s hammer (Accepted); bung-starter (Accepted)

Chasing hammer (Accepted); carver’s mallet (Accepted)

Society armory also gives us examples of the “armorer’s hammer”; the “bung-starter”, a long-handled bludger for breaking open a barrel of beer; the “chasing hammer”, used by jewelers; the “carver’s mallet”, used by woodcarvers; the “smith’s hammer”, sometimes called a “cross peen hammer”; the “ball peen hammer”; the “sledgehammer”; and the “stone (throwing) hammer”. Of these, the stone throwing hammer has not been documented to period, either as an artifact or as a charge; pending such documentation, the stone throwing hammer has been disallowed for Society use.

Smith’s hammer (Accepted); ball-peen hammer (Accepted)

Sledgehammer (Accepted); stone throwing hammer (Accepted)

Sledgehammer (Accepted); stone throwing hammer (Disallowed)

For related charges, see pick. See also mace, pole-arm.

Raymond of Stratford bears: Gules, a hammer bendwise argent.

Marteau de Forgeron bears: Quarterly gules and Or, a warhammer bendwise sable.

Lughaid Eamon MacDiarmid bears: Or chaussé ployé vert, a smith’s hammer sable.

Sandor Hackbrett bears: Argent, two hammers in saltire vert.

Falan Bitor bears: Per chevron argent and gules, three mallets counterchanged.

Amartine du Bon Coeur bears: Per saltire argent and azure, four ball-peen hammers in cross, handles to center counterchanged.

Ragnar the Bold bears: Quarterly sable and Or, a Thor’s hammer argent within a bordure counterchanged.

Laeghaire O Laverty bears as a badge: A carver’s mallet bendwise sinister sable.

William of Woodland bears as a badge: Gules goutty d’Or, a wooden bung-starter palewise proper.

Flail

Flail (Period)

A flail is a weight, swung from a long handle by a joint or chain. Originally used to thresh grain, it had certainly been adapted as a weapon by the 13^th Century [Stone 230]. The flail is found as a period charge, in the canting arms (German Flegel) of Pflegelberg, c.1340 [Zurich 217], and again in the arms of Ungeraten, 1605 [Siebmacher 70].

Period depictions of the flail (as in the illustration) showed the weights to be clublike; the Society’s one example uses a spherical weight attached by a chain. For related charges, see mace (morningstar).

Rurik Petrovitch Stoianov bears: Gules, a saltire vairy Or and sable between three badger’s heads cabossed argent marked sable, one and two, and in base two flails in saltire surmounted by a sword Or.

Mistholme