Search Results for: shell

Shell

Snail shell (Period)

Whelk (Period)

A shell is the hard outer covering used by some molluscs and fish for protection. The most common heraldic shell is the escallop, but others are also found: the “whelk”, with its opening to chief by default, found in the canting arms of Shelley, 1526 [Wagner 93]; and the “snail shell”, with its opening to dexter by default, found in the canting arms (German Schnecke) of Schneckhaus, 1605 [Siebmacher 72]. These are drawn in a somewhat stylized manner. Society armory also has instances of other sea-shells, such as the “nautilus shell”, “cowrie shell” and the “sand-dollar”, which are emblazoned more naturalistically.

Period heralds seem to have used whelks and escallops interchangeably; therefore, Society armory grants no difference between the various types of shell. See also snail.

Hallveig Sigrúnardóttir bears: Vert, three whelks argent.

Ealasaid an Dubhghlais bears: Gules, a fess checky sable and Or between four snail shells argent.

Ia of the Sea bears: Vert scaly argent, a nautilus shell, opening to dexter chief Or.

Amina of Songhay bears: Or, a bald Mooress’s head cabossed and on a chief sable three cowrie shells fesswise argent.

Tortoise

Tortoise (Period)

The tortoise is a slow-paced, armor-shelled reptile. It may also be blazoned a “terrapin”; it has sometimes been blazoned as a “turtle” in the Society, though the term is modern for the reptile (it referred in period to a type of dove). While the terms are zoologically distinct, they are heraldically synonymous. The tortoise is a period charge, found in the arms of Esslinger, 1605 [Siebmacher 51].

Society armory also has examples of the “natural sea-tortoise (or turtle)”, which differs from the tortoise by having flippered feet. It shares the same defaults as the tortoise, and is considered an artistic variant only. However, pending period evidence, the natural sea-tortoise may only be tergiant (or a rotation thereof) in Society armory.

The tortoise is tergiant fesswise by English default, and tergiant palewise by Continental default; Society practice follows the Continental default. The use of a tortoise rampant is deemed a step from period practice. The natural sea-tortoise may only be tergiant in Society armory, pending documentation of other postures.

Geoffrey Maynard of York bears: Per fess engrailed Or and azure, in chief a tortoise tergiant vert.

Aoife inghean Eoghain bears: Argent, three tortoises azure.

William de Grey bears: Vert, three natural sea-turtles Or.

Tarasque

Tarasque statant guardant (Accepted)

The tarasque is an amphibious monster associated with Tarascon, France. Legends of the tarasque date from the 12^th Century, frequently as part of the legend of St. Martha. It resembles a spiny-shelled tortoise with six legs; it’s often shown with a somewhat humanoid face. The tarasque is used in the modern arms of Tarascon, but no period heraldic examples have been found. The illustration shows a tarasque statant guardant.

Morgiane de Provence bears: Azure, a four-legged tarasque statant gardant contourny argent.

Spencer Alwyn bears: Quarterly azure and sable, a tarasque statant and in chief three mullets of four points argent.

Dawn Schadue bears as a badge: A tarasque passant vert vorant of two human legs clothed azure.

Snail

Snail (Period)

The snail is a slow-moving gastropod noted mainly for its shell. It is sometimes more fully blazoned a “house-snail” in period, as in the canting arms of Shelley, 1610 [Guillim1 154].

The snail faces dexter by default. As the snail has no limbs, one can hardly blazon it as “statant”, “passant”, or whatever.

Society armory also has examples of the “slug”, essentially a snail without its shell. It follows the same conventions as the snail.

Peridot of the Quaking Hand bears: Azure, a snail guardant argent.

Alana O’Keeve bears: Vert, three snails Or.

Justinian the Sluggard bears: Checky gules and argent, a slug guardant contourny sable.

Skull

Skull (Period)

A skull is the shell of bone found within a beast’s head; the default skull is a human skull, and is also called a “death’s head”, especially when drawn without the lower jaw. It’s found in the arms of Bolter, 1632 [Guillim2 161], but is more famous as the attributed arms of Death [Neubecker 222].

Period armory gives us a few examples of animal skulls, such as the “cow’s skull” in the canting arms of Capo di Vacca, c.1550 [BSB Cod.Icon 275:23]. Such animal skulls should have distinctive characteristics (e.g., horns) that permit them to be identified. Absent period evidence, they should not be depicted in profile.

Unique to Society armory is the “demon’s skull”, defined to be a human skull with horns (and optionally fangs); no difference is granted from a standard human skull.

All skulls are affronty (cabossed) by default. The field should not show through the eye and nasal cavities. For related charges, see head, skeleton.

Conrad Sturmere bears: Argent, three skulls sable.

Calam Stiùbhard bears: Per pale gules and argent, a death’s head counterchanged.

Bodo Rosti bears: Quarterly sable and gules, in bend sinister two jawless skulls argent.

Bjorn Rhys bears: Per bend sinister argent and sable, a stag’s skull caboshed sable.

Rhys ibn al-Makhdoom bears: Sable, a demon’s skull and on a chief argent three demon’s skulls gules.

Schnecke

Schnecke issuant from base (Period)

A schnecke is a highly stylized charge from German heraldry, consisting of a tapering line spiraling inward from a point on the shield’s edge to its center. The term literally translates as “snail”, as its curve resembles that of the snail’s shell; in French blazon, it’s termed un gyron gironnant, “a spiraling gyron”.

The schnecke is a period charge, found in the arms of von Rordorf, 1605 [Siebmacher 198]. We have no period examples of its being charged, or used with other charges on the field; therefore, the use of a schnecke with secondary charges is considered a step from period practice, as is its use with tertiary charges.

The point at which the schnecke enters the shield should be blazoned; whether it spirals deasil or widdershins is left to the artist. The illustration shows a schnecke issuant from base.

Schnecke issuant from base maintaining on its outer swirl three schneckes (Period)

An early-period variation on the schnecke depicts it with three smaller schneckes issuant from its outer curve. This form is found in the arms of Casteleynsche or Kestelinge, c.1370 [Gelre 110v], and appears to be unique to those arms.

For related charges, see gurges.

Peter Schneck bears: Sable, a schnecke issuant from dexter chief argent.

Leocadia de Bilbao bears: Argent, issuant from base a schnecke azure.

Marie de Blois bears as a badge: Or, a schnecke issuant from sinister base maintaining on the outer swirl three schneckes sable.

Pole-arm

Berdiche (Period); billhook (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)

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)

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.

Gauntlet; Glove

Gauntlet (Period)

A gauntlet is a piece of armor for the hand. It is a period charge, found in the arms of de Wauncy, c.1312 [ANA2 470]. The gauntlet may be of mail or plate, depending on the period and the artist’s discretion; it was frequently depicted without separated fingers (so-called “clamshell” gauntlets). In the Society, the default gauntlet is the dexter gauntlet, and its default posture is apaumy. Other postures are also found, though sometimes blazoned as, e.g., “a mailed fist” instead of “a gauntlet clenched”.

Glove (Period)

Mitten (Period)

Similar to the gauntlet is the “glove”: like the gauntlet, a covering for the hand, but an article of clothing instead of armor, made of leather or cloth instead of metal. It’s found in the canting arms (German Handschuh) of Handschuhsheim, c.1450 [Ingeram 268]. The glove follows the conventions and defaults of the gauntlet (indeed, one branch of the Wauncy family bears gloves), which are those of hands. In fact, both gauntlets and gloves are often assumed to have a hand inside them.

Finally, there is the “mitten”, a knitted (or nailbound) fingerless glove. The mitten is a period charge, used in the crest of von Lens, c.1370 [Gelre 82], and in the arms of Folderer, mid-16^th C. [NW 55]. It follows the same conventions and defaults as gloves and gauntlets.

Bumbas Curmudgeon bears: Per fess indented azure and vert, a clenched gauntlet argent.

Lisette la fauconniere d’Amboise bears: Plumetty Or and sable, a sinister glove fesswise reversed gules.

Sigrid Bríánsdotter bears as a badge: A sinister mitten vert.

Fan

Winnowing fan (Period)

Fan (Accepted)

A fan is a device for generating a current of air. In medieval heraldry, the default fan was more fully termed a “winnowing fan” or “vannet”; it was used to blow the chaff from grain. It’s a period charge, found in the canting arms of Septvans or Sevans, c.1275 [ANA2 556]; the handles are to chief, the wide part to base, by default.

In Society heraldry, the default fan is the handheld folding fan, used to cool humans. This form is open or spread, with the wide part to chief, by default. The folding fan is found in later period portraits (as in the “Ditchley” portrait of Elizabeth I, by Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger, c.1595), but no examples are known in European armory. However, a similar form, with paper covering the ribs, is found in Japanese Mon; this form (ogi) was borne by Satake Yoshinobu, 1569-1633 [Hawley 59].

Feather fan (Period)

Liturgical fan (Accepted)

Three other fans are found in Society armory. There’s the “feather fan”, with plumes attached to a handle; it’s similar to a feather-edged fan found in the arms of Hintaller, mid-16^th C. [NW 56]. There’s also the “liturgical fan”, a solid piece of stiffened fabric, used in church to keep insects away from the Host [EB X:168]. Finally, we have the “flag fan” (ventuolo) of 16^th C. Italy, a stiff vane of woven fiber or parchment on an offset handle, as seen in Boissard’s Habitus Variorum Orbis Gentium, 1581.

Flag fan (Accepted)

All of these fans are palewse, with handles to base, by default. Additionally, the asymmetrical flag fan has its vane to dexter by default; it is granted no difference from a banner (cf. flag).

Escallop

Escallop (Period)

An escallop is the shell of a bivalve mollusc; it is also called a “scallop”, “cockle” or “cockleshell”. The escallop is an ancient charge, found in the arms of Dacre c.1282 [ANA2 351]; it was used as a pilgrim’s badge in medieval times, as it was the symbol of St. James, patron of pilgrims. The escallop has its hinge to chief by default.

Karl von Kugler bears: Checky Or and sable, an escallop azure.

Nuala inghean Murchadha bears: Vert, six escallops Or.

Llywelyn ap Evan bears: Per fess azure and vair ancient, three escallops in chief argent.

Mistholme

heraldry, illumination, and random jottings