Rogacina doubly crossed (Period)

A rogacina is a cypher charge from Polish heraldry, resembling a broadarrow mounted on a straight shaft.  It was used in the arms of the Powała or Ogonczyk herb, c.1460 [GATD 120].  The rogacina was frequently misblazoned in Western Europe as an “arrow” or “arrowhead”.  The rogacina has its point to chief by mundane and Society default.

The shaft of the rogacina was frequently treated in some way:  singly or doubly crossed, forked, or conjoined to another charge (e.g., another rogacina, a demi-annulet, &c).  As these details can count for difference, they must be explicitly blazoned.  The illustration shows a rogacina doubly crossed.  See also letters, pheon.

Angharad Rhos Tewdwr of Pembroke bears:  Azure, a rogacina crossed and fourchy argent.

Vitus Polonius bears:  Per bend gules and sable, a rogacina doubly crossed and fourchy argent.

Vytautas Vilkas bears:  Per pale vert and sable, a rogacina bendwise sinister doubly crossed and fourchy argent.

Nefr (Accepted)

A nefr is an Egyptian hieroglyphic, signifying the “heart and windpipe”, and used by them as a good-luck symbol.  No examples are known in period armory.  See also letters.

Einar Lutemaker bears:  Vert, a nefr Or.

Musical note (Accepted)

G-clef (Accepted); C-clef (Accepted)

A musical note is a written symbol, indicating pitch and duration to the performer.  Musical notation had evolved continuously, from the “neumes” of the 10^th Century to the stemmed ovoids of modern notation.  In Society armory, the musical note is commonly represented as a lozenge with a vertical stem out of its top corner, as used in 16^th C. Italian notation [Grove 18:136].  Specific types of notes may be blazoned a “fusa”, a “(semi)minim”, or a “(semi)quaver”, depending on the period and the exact form; no heraldic difference is granted.

Though we’ve no examples of their use as independent heraldic charges, musical notes were used to embellish charges in period armory, such as the “prick-song book” in the crest of the Worshipful Company of Parish Clerks, 1582 [Bromley & Child 191].

Other musical symbols were used as period charges:  the arms of the composer Orlando di Lasso, 1570, uses the symbols “sharp”, “flat”, and “natural” as charges [Woodward 387].  Society armory also has examples of clefs, such as the “G-clef” and “C-clef”; the illustrations are taken from 16^th C. scores [Grove 6:26].  In all cases, period forms of the notation should be used.

Musical notation is exempt from the Society’s requirement that armory not consist solely of letters or similar symbols.

Quinlan of Sheare bears:  Argent, on a chevron azure three quavers palewise argent.

Vincenzio di Bartolomeo da Brescia bears:  Azure, three quavers argent.

Ivory Genevieve la Rouge bears:  Vert, on a bend sinister between a G clef and a fleur-de-lys argent an ivy vine throughout vert.

Gothic capital letter “M” (Period)

A letter is a single written glyph, symbolizing a phoneme of speech.  By default, letters are taken from the Roman alphabet, with the case and script sometimes specified in the blazon; letters from other alphabets, such as Greek and Hebrew, are also permitted.  The use of single letters as decorations on shields dates early, but as charges in actual armory, they came into use much later:  e.g., the three letters “M” in the arms of Le Marchant, 1362 [DBA2 384], or the two letters “S” in the arms of Mendoça, c.1540 [Nobreza xii].  The illustration shows a Gothic letter “M”.

Full words are also found in period heraldry:  the word “souvereyne” in the badge of Henry of Lancaster, 1385 [Hope2 167], and the word “lieb” as a charge in the arms of von Startzhausen, 1605 [Siebmacher 84].  Iberian heraldry, in particular, has examples of whole phrases used as charges:  e.g., the arms of Velaz de Medrano, mid-16^th C., with a bordure charged with the opening words of the Ave Maria [Armeria 70].

In Society heraldry, the category of letters includes such other symbols as astronomical signs, Arabic script, Norse runes, and Japanese kanji.  The use of these symbols is restricted in one way:  since any person may use a common word – and certainly may use their own initials – no Society armory may consist solely of letters, words, or their equivalents.  The armory must include some other charge as well.

Punctuation marks, being unattested in medieval armory, are not permitted in Society armory.  See also chi-rho, cypher charges, musical note, nefr, rogacina.

Franchesca MacBeth bears:  Vert, a Gothic capital letter “M” Or and a base embattled argent masoned sable.

Ottavio Corsi bears as a badge:  Argent, on a fess cotised between the Arabic script “al-mulk” and “lillah” sable, the Arabic script “abd-al-Malik Husam ibn Khalid” argent.

Dulcinea Margarita Teresa Velàzquez di Ribera bears:  Argent, three piles in point gules, overall an estoile, all within a bordure sable charged with the words “Dignidad, Vertud, Honestad” Or.

Julien Lapointe bears:  Gules, three lowercase Greek letters pi within a bordure embattled Or.

Cadell ap Hubert bears:  Argent, the astronomical sign of Sagittarius and a gore sinister azure.

Cypher charges are peculiar abstract designs, runic rather than pictorial in nature.  They were most frequently found in Polish armory, where they date from at least the 14^th Century [Gelre 54], and in German hausmarken.  In many cases, they were not (and are not) blazonable in standard Western European heraldic terminology, but may still be blazonable by their parts, conjoined:  cypher charges which can be so blazoned are permitted in Society armory.

For specific entries, see chi-rho, rogacina.  See also cross, letters.

Antek Ignatovich bears:  Azure, a cross couped of three crossbars, missing the dexter base arm, a bordure embattled argent.

Aron Niedźwiedź bears as a badge:  In pale a cross couped between and conjoined to two chevronels couped sable.

Jan Janowicz Bogdanski bears as a badge:  A horseshoe ensigned with a cross couped fitchy azure.