Hoe inverted (Period)
Mattock (Period)
A hoe is a gardening tool, with a long handle and a flat transverse blade; it’s used for weeding, loosening soil, and so on. The hoe (called Haue or Hacke in German) is a period charge, found in the canting arms of Heügel and of Häckel zu der Altenstat, 1605 [Siebmacher 63, 95]. The hoe’s blade is to base by Society default, which appears to be the opposite of the medieval default; the illustration shows a hoe inverted.
A variant form, the short-handled “hand hoe” or “mattock” (zappa in Italian), is found in the canting arms of de Sapis, mid-15th C. [Triv 323]. For related charges, see adze, spade, trowel.
Nicholas of the North bears: Gules, three hoes inverted argent.
Arianwen verch Kynwraidd ap Aeddan bears as a badge: Vert, a hoe bendwise inverted blade to sinister Or.
Geiri Smiðsson bears: Per saltire azure and Or, in pale a mallet and a mattock both bendwise argent.