Rackett (Accepted)
A rackett is a double-reed musical instrument, dating from the 16th Century [Grove 20:719]. It has a compact body in which multiple air columns are drilled and joined, thus achieving the low notes of a bassoon in a very small space. No examples of the rackett have been found in medieval armory. For related charges, see hautboy.
Stefan von der Heide bears: Argent semy of musical notes sable, on a pale gules a rackett Or.
Rabbit statant (Period)
The rabbit is a pacifistic beast, the medieval symbol of both timidity and sexual appetite. Heraldically, the category includes the “hare”; while the hare is held to be drawn with longer ears, the two terms are usually considered interchangeable. Other medieval terms for the beast include “coney” and “leveret” (as in the canting arms of Coningesby and Levyer, respectively). The rabbit is found in armory as early as 1320 [DBA1 294].
Rabbits and hares are sejant by default, though in period that posture was often drawn so low as to be indistinguishable from statant; they are often found couchant or salient as well. The illustration shows a rabbit statant. A “rabbit (or hare) proper” is understood to be brown.
Markus Wilhelm von Reilingen bears: Quarterly gules and azure, a rabbit sejant Or.
Donata Bonacorsi bears: Purpure, a hare sejant argent.
Ellyn Dawndelyon d’Azay bears: Or, a coney rampant to sinister sable.
Quiver with two arrows (Period)
A quiver is a container that allows for the protection of and easy access to arrows. It’s found in the arms of Loyd, 1632 [Guillim2 336]. The quiver is palewise by default. If the quiver contains arrows, the fact must be blazoned; the illustration shows a quiver with two arrows.
Tsunetomi Todomu bears: Sable, a Japanese quiver with two arrows within a bordure argent.
Elizabeth Wingfield bears: Per pale and per chevron gules and Or, a quiver holding two arrows sable.
Malcolm Hogg bears: Per chevron sable and vert, three quivers each with two arrows argent.
Quintain (Accepted)
A quintain is a target for tilting practice, consisting of a post with a pivoted crosspiece, armed with a wooden shield, and often a sandbag for counterbalance. The rider would attempt to strike the quintain with his lance as he rode by; missing the shield would leave it in the rider’s path, but striking at too slow a speed would cause the sandbag to clout the rider as it swung around! Though a period artifact, the quintain does not appear in period armory; the illustration is taken from a 14th Century psalter [Barber & Barker, Tournaments, p.27].
Lorenzo Quintain bears: Argent, a quintain armed to dexter with a sword bendwise and to sinister with a shield, gules.
Philip Rufus Kennard bears: Erminois, a quintain gules and a base nebuly vert.
Quill of yarn (Period)
Empty embroiderer’s quill (Period)
A quill of yarn is a cover for a spindle, onto which thread or yarn is wound; it can then be easily removed for use. Mundanely, it’s also known as an “embroiderer’s quill”. The blazon should include reference to yarn or embroidery, to help distinguish it from a “quill pen”.
The quill of yarn is a period charge, dating to 1558 in the arms of the Worshipful Company of Broderers [Bromley & Child 31]. It’s palewise, and wound with yarn, by default. There are instances in mundane armory of empty quills, without yarn, such as the arms of von Haren, 1605 [Siebmacher 147], but the fact is always blazoned.
Spindle (Period)
The “spindle” itself is also found, the winding piece of a spinning wheel. It’s drawn as a slender cone wound with thread or yarn; it’s found in the arms of Hobby, 1610 [Guillim1 204], where it’s blazoned as a “fusile upon a slipper”.
For related charges, see drop-spindle, lace bobbin, spool of thread. See also distaff, shuttle (weaver’s).
Katharina die Schneiderin bears: Vert, a bend wavy between two quills of yarn Or.
Molda ókristna Starradottír bears: Vert, three yarn quills argent threaded Or.
Maud verch Howell bears as a badge: Per bend sinister sable and argent, on a bend counterchanged, two spindles palewise gules and Or.
Quadrant (Accepted)
A quadrant is a period astronomical instrument used for measuring elevation from the horizon. It consists of a graduated quarter-circle (hence the name) with a movable index and a sight; an example with heraldic interest is a horary quadrant engraved with the badge of Richard II, 1399 [Marks & Payne 35]. For related charges, see astrolabe, sphere, sundial.
Iosif of Novgorod bears: Sable, on a bend sinister embattled counter-embattled argent between in chief three estoiles and in base a quadrant Or, a scarpe gules.
Christoforo Antonio Passavanti bears: Sable, a quadrant Or.
Gosfrei Kempe bears as a badge: Or, a quadrant gules.
Punner (Period)
A punner is a type of pile-driver, used to tamp and harden the dirt (e.g., around a fence post); the term is the English translation of Rammbock, the German name for the charge. It’s a period charge, found in the arms of von Auffhaim or von Aufheim, c.1450 [Scheibler 297], and of von Lintzer, mid-16th C. [NW 32]. The punner is palewise by default.
Cormac Mór bears as a badge: A punner Or.
Violet Hughes bears: Purpure, a punner argent.
Punch (Accepted)
A punch is a coiner’s tool, consisting of a solid slug of steel with a flattened end for hammering. It’s used to either shape the coin into a more circular form, or as a die to stamp the design in relief on its surface. It’s a period artifact, dating to at least 1568 [Amman 39], but no examples have been found in heraldry. See also rivet.
The Moneyers Guild of An Tir bears: Argent, a goat clymant maintaining in its dexter forehoof a hammer and in its sinister a punch sable within a bordure sable bezanty.
Triangular psaltery (Accepted)
Pig-snouted psaltery (Accepted)
A psaltery is a stringed musical instrument, of the same class as the zither, consisting of a flat sound-box with many strings stretched across it. The shape of the sound-box determined the length of the strings, which in turn determined their note; hence the most usual forms of early psaltery were triangular (as in the illustration, taken from an 11th C. manuscript) or trapezoidal. By the 14th Century, however, the “pig-snouted psaltery” or instrumento di porco had developed, as seen in the Luttrell Psalter, c.1340. All were played by plucking, with the fingers or a plectrum.
Bowed psaltery (Disallowed)
Society armory includes another form of psaltery, the “bowed psaltery”. Shaped as an isosceles triangle, it’s actually a modern folk instrument played with a musical bow. This form has been disallowed, pending evidence of its period existence.
All forms of psaltery have their strings affronty by Society default; when blazoned “proper”, the psaltery is brown, the color of wood.
Orrick of Romney bears: Azure, a wooden pig-snout psaltery inverted between three acorns proper.
Alyce Renée of Montauban bears: Per bend sinister embattled argent and azure, a frog rampant to sinister and a trapezoidal psaltery bendwise sinister counterchanged.
Eowyn nic Wie of Kincora bears: Gules, a bowed psaltery Or between two flaunches ermine and in chief a psaltery bow Or.
Pruning hook (Period)
Pruning knife (Period)
A pruning hook is an agricultural tool for trimming plants, consisting of a sickle’s blade on a long handle. It’s a period charge, found in the arms of Hegner, 1548 [Vigil Raber’s Armorial of the Arlberg Brotherhood of St. Christopher, fo.401]; Parker, p.540, also cites its use in the arms of Cutcliffe, 1586, but in that case the term may have been simply another name for the sickle.
A related charge, the “pruning knife” (French serpette), has a billhook-like blade; it’s found in the arms of von Görlitz, 1605 [Siebmacher 62]. For related charges, see scythe.
The College of Saint John of Rila bears as a badge: Two pruning knives in saltire argent.
Fedora de Mara bears as a badge: On a bezant invected a pruning hook inverted bendwise sinister sable, surmounted by a peony gules, seeded Or.