Whip

Scourge or whip of three lashes (Period)

A whip is an instrument for delivering a stinging blow, with one or more lashes set in a handle. The single-lash whip is used to drive animals. When blazoned a “scourge”, it has multiple lashes and is intended to be an emblem of martyrdom; it’s found in the arms of Eybeswaldt, 1605 [Siebmacher 37]. When drawn with distinct lashes (as in the illustration), it has three by default; it can also be drawn with more, as in the “cat-o’-nine-tails”, though the fact must be blazoned. Whips and scourges have their handles to base by default.

Deadra Colin Madoc bears: Argent, a drover’s whip bendwise sinister, lash in action sable.

Valgard Stonecleaver bears as a badge: Or, a scourge sable.

Wheelbarrow

Wheelbarrow (Accepted)

A wheelbarrow is a small handcart, with one or two wheels at one end and a pair of handles at the other, used for lifting and carrying loads (typically dirt, building materials, &c). It’s a period artifact: the illustration is taken from Agricola’s De Re Metallica, 1556. However, no period examples of its use in heraldry are known. The wheelbarrow is fesswise, with its wheel to dexter, by Society default. For related charges, see wagon.

Hannes zum Eichhorn bears: Per fess vert and Or, a wheelbarrow and an acorn counterchanged.

Wheel

Wheel (Period)

Dexter half of a wheel (Period)

A wheel is a circular spoked frame, attached to an axle by its hub and permitted to spin freely. Sets of wheels are normally found attached to wagons, but wheels are often found as charges in their own right. The default wheel is more fully blazoned a “wagon-wheel” or “cartwheel”; it’s found as early as c.1340, in the arms of Berg [Zurich 232]. The number of spokes is usually left to the license of the artist – six or eight spokes seem to be the norm – but sometimes the number is explicitly blazoned. The wheel’s “proper” coloration is brown, the color of wood.

Particularly in German heraldry, we find examples of partial wheels: a quarter-wheel, as in the arms of von Billick, 1605 [Siebmacher 71], or a half-wheel, as in the arms of Rusetzker [Siebmacher 73]. The orientation of the partial wheel (e.g., “dexter half of a wheel”, as in the illustration) must be specified in blazon.

Catherine’s wheel (Period)

Cog-wheel (Period)

Variants of the wheel include the “Catherine’s wheel”, the symbol of the martyr St. Catherine, with curved knife-blades radiating from the rim. As an heraldic charge, it’s found in the arms of Brentingham, Bishop of Exeter 1370-94 [DBA3 443]. There is the “cog-wheel”, also called a “gear-wheel” or “mill-wheel”, with an embattled outer edge, used in mechanisms from tiny clockworks to giant mill-works; it’s found in the canting arms (German Mühle, “mill”) of Mülinen c.1460 [GATD 20v].

Water-wheel (Accepted)

Finally, there is the “water-wheel”, unique to Society armory, with vanes on the outer edge to draw power from running water. See also grindstone, spinning wheel.

Cyprian of the Wheel bears: Argent, a wooden cartwheel of twelve spokes proper.

Caterine Barré de Venoix bears: Barry azure and Or, a Catherine wheel gules.

Iathus of Scara bears: Ermine, a cog wheel gules.

Patrick MacFynn bears: Per chevron vert and azure, a chevron argent between two natural dolphins embowed respectant Or and a water wheel argent.

Catherine de la Loire bears: Purpure, a Catherine’s wheel missing the dexter chief quarter between three fleurs-de-lys argent.

Whale

Whale (Period)

Narwhal haurient (Accepted)

The whale is a large sea-creature, known today as a cetacean mammal, but regarded in period as a fish; it was hunted from ships for its meat, oil and baleen. It is found in period heraldic tracts (e.g., de Bara’s Blason des Armoiries, 1581 [88]), but Your Author has not found an unarguable example from period armory.

The medieval depiction of the whale was somewhat fanciful; the illustration is taken from Gesner’s De Avibus et Piscibus, 1560. If a naturalistic depiction is desired, it must be specified as a “natural whale”, or more explicitly, e.g., a “sperm whale”. The whale is naiant by default.

In Society armory, there is also the “narwhal” or “narwhale”, a cetacean with a long unicorn-like “horn” (actually its tooth). It’s generally depicted as found in nature. The illustration shows a narwhal haurient. For related charges, see dolphin.

The Baron of Smoking Rocks bears: Argent, a whale haurient embowed sable within a laurel wreath vert.

André of Stormhold bears: Argent, a whale naiant azure.

Arinbjorn Talverri bears: Or, a narwhal haurient bendwise purpure.

Werewolf

Werewolf passant reguardant (Period)

The werewolf is a bloodthirsty monster from folklore, said to be a human who changes into a wolf during the full moon. Its heraldic depiction, as found in the crest of Kaylewaye, late-16^th C., is that of a wolf with human hands instead of feet, and human ears [Bedingfeld 92].

The werewolf has no default posture; the illustration shows a werewolf passant reguardant.

Jeanne Marie Lacroix bears as a badge: A werewolf passant reguardant vert.

Oddr Þiálfason bears as a badge: A werewolf passant sustaining over its shoulder a pole with a gonfanon dependent therefrom Or.

Well

Open well (Period)

Covered well (SFPP)

A well is a vertical shaft sunk into the earth, from which water is drawn. It’s usually depicted as the edifice built around the hole to prevent accidents: a short masonwork wall. It’s commonly round, as in the arms of Pronner von Tahlhausen, 1605 [Siebmacher 98]; but there are also period examples of square wells (in the canting arms of Hadiswell, 1586 [Bedingfeld 58]) and hexagonal wells (in the canting arms of da Fontana, mid-15^th C. [Triv 149]).

Some period arms depict wells (of all shapes) with a swape, or lever arm for drawing water.

In more modern heraldry, the well is depicted with a wooden cover or roof, and a cradle for a pail and rope [Franklyn 346]. This form of well was the first form registered in the Society; while still permitted, its use is now considered a step from period practice.

Neither form of well is the Society default. The type of well must be explicitly blazoned: either “open” or “roofless”, or “covered” or “roofed”.

Japanese well-frame (Accepted)

There is also the “Japanese well-frame” or “well-curb” (igeta), with examples dating to the 15th Century; it’s found in the 17th Century Mon of Inoue [Xavid Pretzer, O-umajirushi: A 17th Century Compendium of Samurai Heraldry, p.218; cf. Hawley 79]. The motif is formed of four laths fretted; period examples show the laths either fretted as on a delf, or as on a mascle. The latter is the Society default. As the Japanese well-frame could also be blazoned in Western European terms, it is not a step from period practice.

For related charges, see fountain.

Jon Blackwell bears: Argent, a covered well sable.

Alina Meraud Bryte bears: Per fess rayonny azure and argent, an open book argent and a roofless well gules.

Gwenllian Brighid Hertewelle bears: Vert, in pale a stag’s head cabossed Or and a roofless stone well argent.

Kameyama Kengōro bears as a badge: Argent, the kanji shu within a Japanese well-frame sable.

Weinleiter

Weinleiter bendwise (Period)

A weinleiter is a handbarrow for carrying wine barrels, consisting of two long poles with two crosspieces. It’s a period charge, found in the arms of Vasant, 1605 [Siebmacher 106]. It doesn’t seem to have a default orientation; the illustration shows a weinleiter bendwise.

Tamara Samuilova of Thamesreach bears as a badge: A weinleiter bendwise vert.

Hallr brjost Starsson bears as a badge: Per pale Or and quarterly gules and argent, a weinleiter bendwise sinister sable.

Weapons

Weapons are implements designed for combat or war; unlike armor, they are understood to be primarily offensive in nature. As medieval heraldry was originally borne by the warrior class, weapons were often used as charges.

For specific entries, see: arrow, axe, battering ram, bow, cannon, catapult, chaine shot, crossbow, fireball, flail, gun, hammer, knife, mace, pole-arm, pole-cannon, sling, spear, staff (club), streitgabelklinge, sword, trident, vajhra, zulfikar. See also quintain, quiver, scabbard.

Wave

Wave (Disallowed)

Japanese great wave (Disallowed)

A wave is a crest or swell on the surface of a body of water. Two stylizations are found in Society heraldry, one Occidental and one Oriental; neither is permitted any longer, though for different reasons.

The Occidental ocean wave may be stylized as one of the single elements of the wavy-crested line of partition; or it may be drawn naturalistically, with foam and spray. These stylizations are considered either “landscape heraldry” or intrusively modern, and are therefore disallowed.

In Japanese Mon, the nami or Great Wave employs a different stylization, as borne by Oguri [Hawley 75]; but it cannot be described using European blazonry terms. This brings it outside the Society’s domain; it is therefore disallowed.

The Society’s default for waves changed over the years; both dexter-facing and sinister-facing waves have been called the default. (Dexter-facing waves have been default more often, and both the illustrated waves face dexter.) The most recent Society practice has been to blazon the wave’s orientation explicitly. For related charges, see stream.

Genevieve du Puits bears: Azure, a wave reversed argent and in chief a sun sable, fimbriated argent.

Ryugen Morite bears: Sable, a Japanese dragon’s head issuant from a Great Wave reversed issuant from sinister increscentwise argent.

Water-bouget

Water-bouget (Period)

A water-bouget is a pair of water bags on a yoke, drawn in a highly stylized heraldic form. It is one of the most ancient of charges, dating from 1244 in the arms of de Ros (Roos, Ross, Rous) [Asp2 212]. There are several period depictions of the water-bouget; no difference is counted between them. The illustration is taken from the Garter stall plate of Sir John Bourchier, d.1474. See also bottell (leather).

Constance Grey bears: Azure, three water-bougets Or.

Elspeth of Seal Cove bears: Purpure, a water-bouget erminois.

Margaret de Mey bears: Gules, three water-bougets argent.

Mistholme

heraldry, illumination, and random jottings

Archives