Sword: claymore

Claymore (Accepted)

The “claymore” (Scots Gaelic claidheamh mór) is the traditional great sword of Scotland. In the Society, the claymore is drawn as the actual 16^th C. artifact [Stone 181], with angled quillons terminating in trefoils. The modern heraldic stylization, with a basket hilt [Parker 566], is a post-period form.

Duncan MacGregor bears: Gules, a cross and overall in saltire two claymores inverted, all conjoined Or.

Deaton Claymore bears: Vert, two claymores in saltire surmounted by a third inverted proper, enfiling a ducal coronet Or.

Sword

Sword, or broadsword (Period)

A sword is a hand weapon with a long pointed blade, which may be single or double-edged, set in a hilt. It was the primary hand weapon of the Middle Ages; as an heraldic charge it dates from c.1275, in the canting arms of Marmion [ANA2 550]. The default orientation is palewise, point to chief; if the sword is single-edged, the edge is to dexter by default. When blazoned “proper”, the sword has an argent blade and Or quillons and hilt.

There are a great many variant forms of sword, depending on the shape of the blade; many strange forms are blazoned simply as a “sword”. No difference is therefore counted between the variants. The most common form is the “broadsword” or “arming sword”: straight-bladed, double-edged, straight-quilloned. Any sword whose form is unspecified may be safely drawn in this form.

Sword curtana (Period)

$Broken sword (Period); sword fracted (Period)$

Broken sword (Period); sword fracted (Period)

The sword’s blade may be altered in some manner. The oldest such alteration is the “curtana”, or more fully, the “sword curtana”: a sword with its point blunted. The curtana, though not a charge on shields, was part of the English coronation ceremony, where it is also known as the Sword of Mercy. It was certainly in use temp. Richard III, 1483 [OED], and is described by Archbishop Cranmer as used in Edward VI’s coronation, 1547 [Pemberton, The Coronation Service, 1901, p.23].

A more severe alteration is the “broken sword”, with the blade snapped away halfway down its length [Franklyn 321]; it’s found in the crest of Ryvet or Rivett, c.1528 [Woodcock & Robinson pl.13]. This should not be confused with the “sword fracted”, which is a complete sword separated into two fragments, as seen in the arms of Kemp of Thomastoun, 1582 [Dunvegan Armorial, fo.429].

Of swords peculiar to the Society, there are the “sword of Damocles”, a broadsword hanging, point down, from a thread tied to the hilt; and the “sword of Hoflichskeit”, an obsolete Society term for a mullet of four points elongated to base, gyronny Or and sable.

The Society’s other sword variants may be classed according to blade shape: straight-bladed or curved-bladed. The Society permits many variants which, while found as artifacts or weapons in period, were not period heraldic charges.

The straight-bladed swords found in period heraldry (in addition to the standard broadsword) include:

The estoc
The rapier

The curved-bladed swords found in period heraldry include:

The cutlass
The falchion
The flamberge
The scimitar
The seax

The straight-bladed swords found as artifacts in period include:

The claymore
The gladius
The great sword

The curved-bladed swords found as artifacts in period include:

The dussack
The katana (SFPP)
The ken blade (probable SFPP)
The shamshir (SFPP)

Swords which are disallowed in the Society include:

The saber (modern cavalry saber)

For related charges, see knife, zulfikar. See also scabbard.

The Marshallate bears: Sable, two swords in saltire Or.

Peter of Stratford bears: Or, chapé checky argent and sable, a sword sable.

Donnabhán O Rothláin bears: Vert, three pairs of swords in saltire Or.

El of the Two Knives bears: Sable, two swords Curtana inverted and conjoined at the quillons within a bordure Or.

Ivan Piotrovic Pevcov bears: Per fess indented argent and gules, a broken sword bendwise proper.

Lothar of Rothenborg bears: Or, a sword fracted sable hilted gules, between two flaunches azure.

Roger von Allenstein bears: Gules, on a pile sable fimbriated argent the sword of Damocles pendant Or.

Swan

Swan (Period)

The swan is a water bird, both graceful and fierce, famed for its death song; it was said to bring good luck. It’s found in the arms of Dale as early as 1387 [DBA2 153]. The young swan was also called a “cygnet”, especially for canting, as in the arms of Synnot, c.1470 [DBA2 178].

The swan is rousant or rising by default, as in the famous badge of Bohun, later of Henry IV [HB 109]. However, it’s very frequently found naiant in Society heraldry; this too is a period posture, as in the Belgian arms of Lanchals, c.1488 [von Volborth, The Art of Heraldry, 1987, p.90].

For related charges, see goose.

The Prince of Cynagua bears: Quarterly argent and Or, a swan rousant, wings elevated and addorsed sable, maintaining in its sinister foot a laurel wreath vert.

Amina de Talavera bears: Azure, a swan naiant argent crowned Or.

Nikolai Mikhailovitch bears: Or, three swans rousant gules.

Thomas Blackswann the Lefthand bears: Argent, three swans rousant contourny sable.

Swallow

Swallow volant (Period)

The swallow is a speedy bird whose migratory habits were known to medieval naturalists. Its notable feature is its forked tail, which is exaggerated in armorial emblazons. The swallow is a period charge, found in the canting arms of Swalow, c.1395 [DBA3 371]. The illustration shows a swallow volant.

The Society also has examples of the “swift”, an heraldically indistinguishable bird. For related charges, see martlet.

Lena Vogelsang bears: Or, three swallows volant azure.

John of Ean Airgead, called the Mad Celt, bears: Vert, a chimney swift migrant palewise argent.

Myfanwy Dolwyddelan bears: Quarterly azure and vert, in bend two swallows volant Or.

Sundial

Cylindrical sundial (Accepted)

A sundial is a timepiece, whereon a gnomon casts a shadow on a graduated surface; the position of the shadow shows the time of day. There are many types of sundials; the exact form must be specified in the blazon. The illustration shows a cylindrical sundial, also called a “shepherd’s dial”; the artifact was known and used from ancient Rome to Elizabethan England [Hester Higton, Sundials: An Illustrated History of Portable Dials, 2001, pp.13-18]. No form of sundial has been found in period armory.

For related charges, see quadrant. See also astrolabe, clock, equatorium, sphere.

Manus le Dragonier bears as a badge: A cylindrical sundial argent.

Sunburst

Sunburst (Period)

A sunburst is a group of sun’s rays, issuing from clouds. It has been a Royal badge of England since Edward III [HB 96]. The sunburst has its rays to chief by default.

At one time, sunbursts Or were disallowed in Society armory, as being unique to the Plantagenets; but as sunbursts Or were later shown to have been used by others as well, they are now as permissible as sunbursts of other tinctures.

Sun

Sun in his splendor (Period)

The sun is a heavenly body, the day star around which the planets revolve. It began to be used as an heraldic charge early, in the arms of de la Hay, c.1255 [ANA2 550]. The sun is most commonly drawn as a disk with multiple rays emanating from the edge; these rays are normally drawn as alternating straight and wavy rays. However, many period depictions (especially in early period) made all the rays straight, and showed no disk; other depictions (especially on the Continent) showed only wavy rays. A sun is thus negligibly different from a mullet or estoile of many points.

A sun “in his splendor” or “in his glory” is depicted with a human face; this artistic nuance seems to have begun in the early 15^th Century and had come into common use by Tudor times. A “sun eclipsed” in mundane blazonry is simply a sun sable; in Society blazonry, a “sun eclipsed” is one whose center disk is another tincture than the rays, or whose center disk is obscured by a roundel. In early Society usage, the eclipsed disk was sable by definition; current practice is to explicitly blazon the tincture of the eclipsing. The eclipsing may be of any tincture, but eclipsing of a divided tincture is deemed a step from period practice.

Ray of the sun issuant from dexter chief (Period)

A “ray of the sun” is a demi-sun issuant from the edge of the shield, with one ray elongated to cross the field. The arms of Aldam, 1632 [Guillim2 120] explicitly state the ray’s direction, and this must be done in Society armory as well; the illustration shows a ray of the sun issuant from dexter chief (and therefore bendwise).

The King of Atenveldt bears: Azure, a sun in his splendour Or within a laurel wreath argent, in chief a crown of three greater and two lesser points Or.

The Prince of Insula Draconis bears: Per fess sable and azure, a demi-sun in splendour issuant from the line of division within a laurel wreath, in chief a crescent Or.

Wendryn Townsend bears: Azure, a sun in glory Or.

Esteban San Buenaventura bears: Or, three suns in splendor sable.

Kourost Bernard of the East Woods bears: Sable, a sun eclipsed Or [i.e., a sun Or eclipsed sable].

Gairovald Eburhard bears: Sable, issuant from dexter chief a demi-sun argent.

Pascal Brendan Merredy bears: Vert, a ray of the sun bendwise Or, in sinister chief a chalice argent.

Strike

Strike (Period)

A strike, or strake, is a matrix of tin or pewter nodules of equal weight, fastened by thin strips and attached to a handle for easy carrying; the pewterer snips off as many nodules as needed to fill a melting pot. It’s a period charge, found in the arms of the Worshipful Company of Pewterers, c.1480 and 1533 [Bromley & Child 197]. The handle is to chief by default. See also gridiron, portcullis.

Gerhart von Altenberg bears as a badge: A strike argent.

Theonis de Zeeuwe bears: Argent, three strikes sable.

Streitgabelklinge

Streitgabelklinge (Period)

A streitgabelklinge is a charge from German heraldry: the name translates to “war fork blade”. It’s the head of a war-fork, a weapon combining prongs for stabbing with blades for slicing or catching [Stone 450, s.v. military fork]. The streitgabelklinge is a period charge, found in the arms of Lynnser, mid-16^th C. [NW 22]. Its points are to chief by default. For related charges, see fork, mancatcher.

Heinrich Eberhart von Thorn bears: Sable, a streitgabelklinge argent.

Konrad Mailander bears as a badge: A streitgabelklinge Or.

Stream

Stream in base (Period)

A stream is a small river or current of water, drawn in a naturalistic style. In medieval armory, streams are usually found in combination with other charges, such as a bridge; but they are also found as charges in their own right, as in the arms of da Cabrin, mid-15^th C. [Triv 109]. The period examples of streams tend to show them in base and throughout, but nonetheless that doesn’t seem to be a default; these details are explicitly blazoned in the Society. The illustration shows a stream fesswise throughout in base.

There are also examples of ordinaries wavy (e.g., the bend wavy in the arms of von Büren, 1605 [Siebmacher 167]) which have been diapered to represent running streams. The diapering in these cases is considered artistic, worth no difference, but the intent is clear: indeed, the canting arms of Sardinha, c.1540 [Nobreza xxxv°], even charges a bend wavy, diapered as a stream, with a strewing of sardines, to make clear the watery nature of the charge.

Japanese stream (Disallowed)

A highly stylized depiction of a stream is found in Japanese Mon, as borne by Okamoto [Hawley 26]; it might be blazoned, awkwardly, as “barrulets bevilled arrondi”. The difficulty of accurately blazoning it in European heraldic terms makes the Japanese stream unregisterable in Society armory. For related charges, see base (ford), wave.

Sefa Gunnvarardóttir bears: Argent, in fess two herons and in base a stream fesswise throughout azure.

Ishiyama Namban Tadashi bears: Argent, in chief a barrulet gemel bevilled arrondi and issuant from base a wave reversed sable.

Grímr Víthfari bears: Or, atop a bridge of three arches throughout a tower, the streams transfluent gules.

Mistholme

heraldry, illumination, and random jottings

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