Pavilion

Pavilion (Period)

A pavilion is a sumptuous tent, used for shelter at medieval tournaments. As an heraldic charge, it dates at least from 1465, in the arms of the Worshipful Company of Upholders [Bromley & Child 249]; it is also called a “sperver”, or simply a “tent”. The pavilion is usually drawn with a circular floor plan and a conical roof, as in the illustration; sometimes the roof is onion-domed. The door flaps face the viewer by default, and are tied back to reveal the interior. Larger tents, with two poles, are also found, as in the arms of von Hütte zu Heuspach, 1605 [Siebmacher 93]; such variant forms are blazoned explicitly.

Mongolian yurt (SFPP)

The category includes such Society innovations as the “Mongolian yurt”, a form of tent consisting of skins or felt on a framework of poles. As a non-European artifact, its use in Society armory is considered a step from period practice. See also edifice.

Katherine of Adiantum bears: Ermine, a pavilion gules.

Richild la Gauchere bears: Or, five pavilions in saltire vert.

Ah Kum of the Ger-Igren bears: Per fess argent and vert, a Mongolian yurt azure.

Paternoster; Rosary

Paternoster (Period)

A paternoster is a closed string of beads with a small cross or tassel pendant at the bottom, used for meditation and prayer. It’s a period charge, found in the arms of Ruswörmb or Rußworm, 1605 [Siebmacher 144]. If the pendant cross hangs from a short beaded string, it may also be blazoned a “rosary” in Society armory; and this is the modern term for both forms of the charge.

The paternoster’s beads may be uniform in size, or may have larger beads at regular intervals: both forms were found as period artifacts, and it is considered an artistic detail in Society heraldry. See also jewelry.

Christian de Holacombe bears as a badge: A paternoster gules, its cross Or.

Elizabethe Alles bears: Argent, a paternoster purpure tasseled Or and on a chief dovetailed purpure three escallops argent.

Poplyr Childs bears: Or, two arrows in saltire vert within a rosary gules.

Papellony

Papellony (field treatment) (Period)

Papellony (fur) (Accepted)

The term “papellony” may refer to either a fur or a field treatment, as they are known in the Society. When blazoned, e.g., “argent papellony sable” (as in the first illustration), it’s a field treatment equivalent to scaly; this is the older usage, found in the arms of Sansuerre or Sancerre, c.1254 [Brault2 27; also see de Bara 55]. When blazoned “papellony argent and sable” (as in the second illustration), it’s a derivative of the vair furs, similar in appearance to plumetty [Woodward 72]. Because of the ambiguity in the term, it is best not used if an alternative term will work as well.

Egil Bloodax bears: Papellony argent and azure, a double-bitted axe gules.

Runolfr Audsson bears: Per chevron sable and gules, papellony argent, in chief a wolf courant to sinister argent.

Panther

Panther rampant guardant (Period)

Continental panther rampant (Period)

The unmodified term “panther” refers to a kindly monster, described in medieval bestiaries as beautiful and amiable, whose sweet breath drives away evil. Heraldically, the panther comes in two widely differing forms; current Society practice grants heraldic difference between them.

In English armory, the panther is depicted as a maneless lion, “incensed”, i.e., with flames spewing from its mouth and ears (a misrendering of its “sweet breath”), and the coat strewn with roundels (frequently multi-colored). This form is usually found guardant in period armory, as with the badge of Henry VI, d.1471 [HB 110]; the illustration shows a panther rampant guardant. This is considered the default panther in Society armory.

In Continental armory, the panther is depicted with a lion’s body and an eagle’s forelimbs; it usually has the head of a horse or bull, and occasionally has horns as well. Like the English form, it is incensed. In Society armory, this form is blazoned a “Continental panther” or “German panther”; the illustration shows a Continental panther rampant. As an heraldic charge, it dates from c.1340, in the arms of Styria [Zurich 31]. Some authors speculate that it might have been the precursor of the monster now called a “male griffin” or “keythong”.

Over the years, the Society has changed its default postures for panthers, of both sorts. Current practice is that both types of panther are not guardant by default; the guardant English panther can be so blazoned.

When blazoned a “natural panther”, the term refers to the great feline beast as found in nature; it may also be blazoned by the period term “ounce”, or the Society term “catamount”.

Elspeth Colquhoun bears: Purpure, in pale two panthers passant counter-passant guardant argent spotted of diverse tinctures and incensed proper.

Talon the Bastard bears: Pean, two panthers rampant addorsed Or spotted sable.

Alrick von Baeker bears: Or, a Continental panther passant bendwise azure incensed gules.

William the Silent bears: Or, a natural panther passant guardant sable.

Pantheon

Pantheon rampant (Period)

The pantheon is an heraldic monster with the body of a hind, the bushy tail of a fox, cloven hooves, and completely strewn with mullets or estoiles. It’s a period charge, dating from 1531 as the crest of Baynham [Dennys 159]. One period manuscript gives its “proper” tinctures as gules, with argent stars; but no proper tinctures are acknowledged for the pantheon in Society heraldry.

In terms of heraldic design, the Society treats the pantheon’s mullets or estoiles as an integral part of the monster, not as a layer of surcharges on the pantheon’s body.

The pantheon does not seem to have a default posture; the illustration shows a pantheon rampant.

Jessica of the Old Forest bears: Argent, two pantheons combatant azure, mullety argent.

Erlwin Nikolaus vom Schwarzwald bears: Per saltire pean and Or, a pantheon rampant gules, mullety of six points Or.

Katerina von Brandenberg bears: Per pale purpure and argent, two pantheons combatant mullety of six points all counterchanged.

Panpipe

Panpipe (Accepted)

A panpipe is a musical instrument consisting of a row of tubes of increasing lengths, bound together at the ends, and played by blowing across the openings; it’s sometimes more fully termed a “set of panpipes”, or on occasion a “syrinx”. It was considered a “rustic” or folk instrument in period; it’s seen in a late-14^th C. illustrated copy of the Romance of the Rose [Baines 248]. No examples of panpipes have been found in period armory.

The panpipe is palewise by Society default. The placement of the longest pipe (dexter or sinister), and the number of pipes, seem to be artist’s license; four or seven pipes are most common. For related charges, see clarion.

Franque ui Cruthnye bears: Ermine, a pale engrailed sable between a sword and a syrinx vert, on a chief engrailed sable seven estoiles argent.

Alys Chauntrey bears: Vert, three panpipes Or.

Cwen Ælfrices Dohter bears: Argent, a panpipe azure.

Pall

Pall (Period)

Pall inverted (Accepted)

The pall is an heraldic ordinary, a Y-shaped form joining the points of the shield with its center. Its width is one-third to one-fifth that of the shield. The pall is a peculiarly Scots ordinary, found in the arms of Cunningham, 1542 [Lindsay]. Like the cross, the pall has no diminutives; it is often found inverted in Society heraldry.

Shakefork (Period)

Pallium (Disallowed)

Other special terms include the “shakefork”, a pall humetty. There is also the “pallium”, a pall whose lower limb is couped and fringed; in period it was often used in archepiscopal arms (e.g., Henry de Lowndres, Archbishop of Dublin, 1215 [Michael Heenon, Coats of Arms of Magna Carta Barons, 1965, p.9]), and is therefore a disallowed charge in the Society. Unlike most ordinaries, no difference is granted between a pall (throughout) and any of the truncated palls.

It’s permitted for a pall’s limbs to be treated in the same manner as those of the cross: e.g., a “pall patonce” or a “pall formy”. The “pall nowy” is considered a step from period practice. For related charges, see fork, triskelion.

The Baron of Carolingia bears: Azure, a pall wavy and in chief a laurel wreath Or.

The Shire of Trivium bears: Gules, on a pall Or three laurel wreaths sable.

Morgan Blackshield bears: Pean, a pall Or.

Michael Gerard Curtememoire bears: Potenty argent and sable, a pall gules.

Dan of Hamildoon bears: Azure, a shakefork inverted Or.

Palette, artist’s

Artist’s palette (Accepted)

An artist’s palette is a mixing surface for pigment and other media. As an heraldic charge, it is unique to the Society, and is rendered as a conventionalized drawing of a roughly rectangular board with a thumb-hole in it.

David de Kunstenaar bears: Vert, on an artist’s palette Or a lion’s head erased to sinister vert.

Godwig Eadfrithing bears: Argent, on an artist’s palette azure an inkpot argent.

Pale

Pale (Period)

The pale is an heraldic ordinary, a vertical band down the center of the shield, occupying roughly one-third to one-fourth the shield’s width. Its diminutive is the “pallet”; Society blazonry does not recognize any other term for the pale’s diminutive.

The cotises of a pale are termed “endorses”; the whole may be blazoned a “pale endorsed” or a “pale between two endorses”.

Pale offset (Period)

Pale bevilled (Accepted)

The pale is subject to the normal complex lines: engrailed, wavy, &c. There are also some usages peculiar to the pale: The “pale offset” is divided along the fess line, with each half then shifted to dexter or sinister; an example is found in the Armorial Bellenville, c.1380, in the arms of von Zirn [Pastoureau 206]. The “pale bevilled” is divided bendwise sinister, and similarly shifted; this appears to be a Society adaptation.

For related charges, see chief-pale.

The King of Meridies bears: Argent, on a pale sable a crown of three points, above each point a mullet argent, overall a laurel wreath counterchanged.

Yñigo de Cueva bears: Or, a pale checky gules and argent.

Anne Balfour of Markinch bears: Ermine, a pale endorsed azure.

Katherine of Glastonbury bears: Vert, two pallets Or.

Angela of Rosebury bears: Gules, a pale offset between in bend sinister two mascles argent.

Padlock

Padlock (Period)

A padlock is a block of metal pierced by a keyhole, with a pivoted or hinged link to secure doors and such. It’s a period charge: a padlock Or was one of the badges of Francis, Viscount Lovel, d.1487 [HB 123]. For related charges, see fetterlock, shackle.

Randwulf Witlac bears: Sable, a padlock and on a chief argent, three wolves’ heads couped sable.

Saerthryth Seolforlocc bears: Per fess engrailed argent and azure, a padlock argent.

Rónán Ó Gobhann bears: Gules, a padlock and a chief argent.

Mistholme

heraldry, illumination, and random jottings

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