Plane

Block plane (Period)

A plane is a woodworker’s tool, designed to smooth planks: it consists of a sharp metal edge slightly extending from a block of wood or metal, and may be blazoned a “block plane” for that reason. It was used as the badge of Jean sanz Peur, Duke of Burgundy, 1406 [Laurent Hablot, “The Use of Emblems by Philip the Bold and John the Fearless”, p.83]; the illustration is taken from that badge. The block plane is shown in profile, fesswise and with the toat (handle) to dexter by default. See also drawknife, float, shave.

Aleyn Kynyd ap Rhys bears: Per bend azure and argent, a block plane and a viol bendwise counterchanged.

Robert of Sugar Grove bears: Per pale gules and azure, a block plane Or.

Pithon

Pithon erect (Period)

The pithon is a reptilian monster, essentially a bat-winged serpent. It is sometimes called an “amphiptère”, especially in French blazon. When leaping, it may also be called a “jaculus”; if the wings are feathered (bird’s) wings, rather than bat-wings, it should be blazoned a “winged serpent”. No heraldic difference is granted between the two forms.

The pithon is a period charge, found in the arms of the Portuguese poet Camões (d.1580) [Woodward 294]. Brooke-Little has shown [Her.Alph 170] that the heraldic pithon is a variant of the wyvern, and in some cases was drawn as such; thus no difference is granted in the Society between the two monsters.

Society heraldry doesn’t seem to define a default posture for the pithon; “erect” is the most common, in which posture the wings are addorsed, as in the illustration.

When the natural constrictor-type serpent is meant, the term “natural python” is used. For related charges, see dragon.

Llywela o Landaff bears: Or, a pithon erect purpure.

Reynald il Bianco bears: Per chevron inverted sable and gules, overall a winged serpent erect displayed argent.

Ilya Azhtelstinevich Gryaznie bears: Per bend sinister vert and argent, a jaculus, his wings above the line of division, counterchanged.

Pitcher; Ewer

Pitcher (Period)

Ewer (Period)

A pitcher is a vessel for dispensing liquids, with a handle and pouring spout. It’s found as early as 1300, in the arms of Monbouchier [ANA2 519].

A pitcher is typically drawn as earthenware. If the pitcher is ornate metal, it may also be termed a “ewer” or a “flagon”; if, in addition, it has a hinged lid, it may also be termed a “laverpot”, as in the arms of the Worshipful Company of Founders, 1590 [Bromley & Child 98]. All of these details are considered artistic license, and no difference is granted for them.

In all its forms, the pitcher’s spout is to dexter by default. For related charges, see amphora (jug). See also lamp, pot, tankard.

Morgan Cain bears: Per pale argent and azure, a pitcher gules.

Khadija bin Umar bears: Argent, a ewer sable.

Wolfram Gottfried von Norden bears: Per bend embowed counter-embowed sable and gules, a lymphad under sail and a laverpot argent.

Piping beast

Piping beast rampant (Disallowed)

This odd monster resembles a bat-eared, rat-like human figure, with a tail ending in a hand, and a nose like a trumpet (which it’s playing!). The piping beast was defined in the armory below; as a Society invention, its use is no longer allowed.

Padraic ui Faolin bears: Quarterly gules and azure, a piping beast rampant Or, holding in its sinister forepaw an arrow bendwise inverted and in the tail paw a trefoil argent.

Pipe

The unmodified term “pipe” was used in period blazons to refer to any of several wind instruments (e.g., the flute or the recorder). As there are other types of pipe in Society armory, the unmodified term should not be used. For specific entries, see: bagpipe, organ pipe, panpipe, smoking pipe.

Pine cone

Pine cone slipped and leaved, stem to base (Period)

New World pineapple (SFPP)

A pine cone is the fruit of the pine tree. It is a period charge, found in the canting arms of Pin c.1285 [ANA2 252]; but it seems to have no default orientation, being shown sometimes with the stem up, other times with the stem down. Because of the ambiguity, the pine cone should be explicitly blazoned; the illustration shows a pine cone slipped and leaved, stem to base.

Mundane heralds frequently blazon the pine cone as a “pineapple”. In modern parlance, this is the term for the bromeliadic fruit from South America (or, more recently, from Hawai’i). To avoid confusion, the Society does not use the unmodified term: instead, this fruit is blazoned as a “New World pineapple” in Society heraldry. This fruit has its leaves to chief by default; as New World flora, its use is considered a step from period practice.

Cedar cone potted (Period)

A specific stylization of the pine cone is found in the arms of Augsburg as early as c.1450 [Ingeram 52]. This form, said to date from Roman times, is invariably potted (or mounted on a pedestal; sources differ as to which it is) with its stem to base. German sources variously blazon this form as a “Pinienzapfen“, “Zirbelnuß“, or “Stadtpyr” [Leonhard 252]; in the Society, it’s blazoned as a “cedar cone”, to distinguish it from a pine cone. See also hops.

The Shire of Emerald Glen bears: Or, a dragon dormant, tail sufflexed sable within a laurel wreath vert, in chief three cedar cones vert, potted sable.

Morgillian of Greenbough bears: Or, a pine cone, stem to chief vert.

Marsaili inghean Domhnaill bears: Or, a New World pineapple vert, on a chief sable a sun in its splendor Or and a moon in its plenitude argent.

Pile

Pile (Period)

Three piles in point (Period)

The pile is an heraldic ordinary consisting of a triangle issuant from the chief of the shield to the base point, or almost reaching it. It seems to have derived from attempts to fit a pale onto a heater-shaped shield, with the bottom pinched together rather than cut off.

The medieval pile is about one-third the shield’s width at top, and is throughout to the base point; the Tudor pile is wider and squatter, and does not reach all the way throughout. Either form is found in Society heraldry, though the medieval form is encouraged; no heraldic difference is counted between the two, or between throughout vs. not.

Multiple piles are common in mundane and Society heraldry; no diminutives of the pile are recognized. Multiple piles with their points conjoined may be blazoned “piles in point”; this was the medieval default for multiple piles, due to their derivation from pinched pallets. If multiple piles are palewise, instead of in point, this should be explicitly blazoned.

Pile ployé (Accepted)

Piles sometimes issue from other points besides the chief: there are examples in late-period armory of piles “inverted” or issuant from base, piles issuant from dexter, and “bendwise” (issuant from dexter chief). In Society heraldry there have even been piles “in saltire”.

The pile is subject to the normal lines of division, including cotising and voiding; the “pile ployé”, with concave arched lines, is unique to Society heraldry. For related charges, see chapé, chaussé, gyron, tooth (wolves’).

The King of Artemisia bears: Sable, on a pile between two griffins combattant, each maintaining an arrow inverted Or, an ancient crown within a laurel wreath sable.

The Baron of Ruantallan bears: Azure, a pile argent, overall a laurel wreath counterchanged.

Adelindis filia Gotefridi bears: Gules, a pile Or.

Muirenn ingen Nath-í bears: Sable, three piles in point Or.

Masae Lorane bears: Or, five piles inverted in point throughout azure.

Eleanor Valentina Beota bears: Azure, on a pile ployé argent, a hummingbird hovering vert.

Pick

Pick (Period)

A pick is a mining tool for breaking up rock, soil, &c. It is found in the canting arms of Pycot, 1357 [DBA2 483]; it may also be termed a “pick-axe” or “miner’s pick”. The pick’s head was usually shown single-pointed in period emblazons; the point faced dexter by default, as in the illustration. Double-pointed picks were seldom found in period armory, but an example is seen in the canting arms (dial. Italian ponzón, “spike”) of di Ponzo, mid-15^th C. [Triv 283]; this variation of form is left unblazoned in the Society. For related charges, see axe, hammer.

Gerwald of Devon the Miner bears: Per chevron inverted azure and argent, in chief a pickaxe bendwise argent, a base embattled vert.

Francisco Sanchez Pancho bears: Sable, two pickaxes in saltire argent.

James Odo bears as a badge: A pickaxe Or.

Phoenix

Phoenix (Period)

The phoenix is a monster from Greek myth which, after living alone in the desert for half a millennium, consumed itself in fire and rose again from the ashes. It is shown as a demi-bird issuant from flames. Medieval emblazons always gave it a prominent crest atop its head, as in the illustration (taken from the standard of Ralph Verney of Pendeley, c.1510 [Walden 138; cf. Bromley & Child 184]); modern emblazons often show it as simply a demi-eagle.

The phoenix is displayed by default: even when blazoned “rising from flames”, as it often is, its posture is displayed, not the heraldic posture of rising. The flames need not be blazoned (unless their tincture must be distinguished); without flames, the monster wouldn’t be a phoenix. See also firebird.

The Baron of the Sacred Stone bears: Vert, a double-headed phoenix and in chief a laurel wreath argent.

Sarah Davies of Monmouth bears: Or, three phoenixes sable.

Eiríkr Mjoksiglandi Sigurðarson bears: Per chevron gules and Or, three phoenixes counterchanged.

Pheon; Broad-arrow

Pheon (Period)

Broad-arrow (Period)

A pheon is a steel arrow-head, used by bow hunters; its blades’ inner edges are engrailed, the better to penetrate the quarry. In actual use, the central shank is attached to a feathered shaft; in armory, the shaft is not shown. As an heraldic charge, the pheon dates from c.1295, in the arms of Egerton [ANA2 416]; but it is more famous as the arms of Sydney, Earl of Leicester, d.1586 [Wagner 70].

An artistic variant of the pheon is the “broad-arrow”, or “broadhead”, with straight inner edges; it was a English Royal badge c.1330 [H. Stanford London, “Official Badges”, Coat of Arms, IV(27), July 56, p.93]. In all other respects it is identical to the pheon. (Indeed, there was considerable confusion between them in period armory; thus they are considered negligibly different in Society armory.)

The pheon and broad-arrow have the point to chief by Continental default, and point to base by English default; the Society follows the English usage.

For related charges, see arrow, rogacina, spearhead.

Njal Olaf Hagarson bears: Per pale gules and Or, a pheon counterchanged.

Seaan McAy bears: Per fess indented argent and vert, three pheons counterchanged.

Richard Blayborne bears: Gules, six broadarrows Or.

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heraldry, illumination, and random jottings

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