Mask

Mask of comedy (Accepted); mask of tragedy (Accepted)

Commedia dell’arte mask (Accepted)

A mask is an item of clothing that covers the face, usually to hide the wearer’s identity. Though period artifacts, masks don’t seem to have been known to period armory.

In Society armory, common forms of mask include the “masks of comedy and tragedy” or “Thespian masks”, from ancient Greek theatre; the “domino mask” from the Italian Renaissance; and the “half-face mask” or “commedia dell’arte mask”, worn by commedia players in the late 16^th Century.

Domino mask (Accepted); Pierrot mask (Disallowed)

The Society also has examples of the full-face “Pierrot mask”. However, the character of Pierrot didn’t exist until the late 17^th Century, and no examples of his mask have been found from before the 19^th Century. The Pierrot mask is thus no longer registerable as a charge.

Masks in general are guardant by Society default; the exception is the commedia dell’arte mask, which is shown in profile by default, the better to show its grotesque features.

For related charges, see eyeglasses, head (human’s), hood.

Marc Phillippe bears: Or chapé gules, a domino mask pean.

Hal of the Mask bears: Sable, a tragic mask Or, featured sable.

Gino di Palcoscenico bears: Or, a commedia dell’arte mask in profile reversed sable, hatted and plumed gules.

Edwyn the Player bears: Per pale gules and azure, a partisan spear Or, overall a Pierrot mask argent, orbed and capped sable, with lips gules.

Laurentina of Atenveldt bears: Per bend sinister wavy azure and argent, a mask of comedy and a mask of tragedy within a bordure invected all counterchanged.

Mash rake

Mash rake (Accepted)

A mash rake is a tool used by brewers, with a long handle and cross-barred tines. It was used to churn the mash and keep it well mixed while steeping. The mash rake was the attribute of St. Arnold of Soissons: the illustration was taken from a mid-15^th C. image of the saint, in the Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent. A similar artifact, possibly a mash rake, is found in the arms of Meilenhofter, mid-16^th Century [NW 47]. For related charges, see fork.

The Baron of Mordenvale’s Company of Brewers bears: Per chevron vert and gules, two mash rakes in saltire Or.

Iago Cabrera de Cadiz bears: Sable, a mash rake Or.

Giles Ballard bears: Gules, a mash rake argent.

Martlet

Martlet (Period)

The martlet is an heraldic bird, in many ways a stylized and generic bird. Blazoned as a merle, merlette, or merlotte (“blackbird”), it was found in French armory as early as c.1185, in the canting arms of Mello [Pastoureau 150]. In English armory, the French term quickly became conflated with the martinet, a type of swallow or swift [Brault 241], and soon became highly stylized in form. The martlet is found as early as c.1244, in the arms of the Earls of Pembroke [ANA2 210]. It remained a popular charge through the end of our period: of the birds, only the eagle was more frequently used.

While the martlet’s exact form varied throughout period, by far the most common trait was its lack of legs: small tufts of feathers take their place. (This is due to the legend that the martlet was always airborne, never lighting on the ground.) For purposes of Society blazonry, this lack of legs is the martlet’s defining characteristic. The martlet was sometimes drawn without a beak (especially in France); post-period depictions (especially in England) gave it the forked tail of the swallow. The illustration is taken from the arms of Sir Geoffrey Luttrell, in the Luttrell Psalter, mid-14^th C.

In the English system of cadency, the martlet is the brisure of the fourth son. The martlet is close by default.

Éadaoin na Slebhte bears: Gules, three martlets Or.

Tamsin Wylde bears: Barry vert and argent, six martlets Or.

Lie de Camurac bears: Per chevron vert and azure, three martlets argent.

Man-tyger

Man-tyger passant guardant (Period)

The man-tyger is a monster, consisting of a lion with a human head; sometimes the feet have been replaced by human hands. It’s been suggested [Dennys 116] that the monster is an heraldic representation of the baboon of nature: the cant with Babyngton, who used the man-tyger as a badge in 1529, supports this theory. The man-tyger is very similar to the manticore, and may be considered an artistic variant.

The man-tyger doesn’t seem to have a default posture, so this must be explicitly blazoned; the illustration shows a man-tyger passant guardant. For related charges, see lamia. See also sphinx.

Godfrey of Inwood bears: Vert, a bat-winged man-tyger sejant guardant within a bordure argent.

Beathach mu Saoileachedainn bears: Azure, a winged man-tyger salient guardant within a tressure wreathed Or.

Mantle

Mantle (Period)

A mantle is an article of clothing, a long outer garment draped over the shoulders, covering one’s clothes. Originally meant to provide warmth and protection, the mantle became an item of regalia for chivalric orders, such as the Order of the Garter. It’s found as a charge in its own right, however, as in the arms of the Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors, 1481 [Bromley & Child 174]. The mantle is affronty, slightly open, by default; it is frequently edged or lined of another tincture, and often shown with long cords in front for balance.

Hooded cloak (Accepted)

Similar to the mantle is the “hooded cloak”, likewise an article of outer garb draping the shoulders, with a hood covering the head. Unlike the mantle, the hooded cloak is utilitarian in design and use. It’s a period garment, with examples dating from at least 1312 [Neubecker 180]; but its use as an heraldic charge seems to be unique to the Society. The hooded cloak is shown affronty, or turned slightly to dexter, by Society default, with the front of the cloak slightly open.

For related charges, see hood.

The Order of the Golden Mantle, of the East, bears: A mantle Or.

Angharad Clog Llwyd ferch Madog ap Maradudd bears: Vert, a hooded cloak argent lined sable, on a chief embattled argent three increscents sable.

Þorbjorn rauðfeldr bears: Argent, a hooded cloak gules.

Manticore

Manticore statant guardant (Accepted)

The manticore is a monster, consisting of a lion’s body with a human face (sometimes head), a scorpion’s tail, and sometimes horns. It was described in medieval bestiaries as also having three rows of teeth, but that detail seldom appears in Society armory. The manticore is very similar to the man-tyger, and may possibly be an artistic variant; but no period heraldic examples of the monster have been found (though one 1613 grant misused the term to describe the lamia) [Gwynn-Jones 106; cf. Dennys 115].

The manticore doesn’t seem to have a default posture, so this must be explicitly blazoned; the illustration shows a manticore statant guardant.

Chèr du Bonvin de Bellevue bears: Argent, a manticore rampant to sinister gules and a gore sinister azure.

Antonin Malyi Barsukov bears: Per pale sable and azure, a manticore rampant within an orle Or.

Man-serpent

Man-serpent erect and guardant (Period)

The man-serpent is a monster, a serpent with a human face or head. In period, it usually had a woman’s head, as in the supporter of Graf von Cossentania, 1483, and as the crest of Walter Bonham, c.1547 [Dennys CoA]. While usually found guardant in mundane heraldry, it is nonetheless explicitly blazoned so; the illustration shows a man-serpent erect and guardant. See also serpent.

Lucien of Bath bears: Per chevron throughout Or and vert, two chaplets of thorn vert and a man-serpent erect guardant tail nowed Or faced proper crined gules.

Mandrake

Mandrake (Period)

The mandrake is a plant whose root resembles a human figure; it is normally depicted with vague human features. It may also be called “mandragora”. The mandrake’s narcotic properties made it a favorite with mystics and herbalists.

In armory, the mandrake is rarely found in period: e.g., the arms of Bodyam or Bodyham, c.1540 [Dennys 129; cf. also BSB Cod.Icon 291:43]. The mandrake is affronty by default; Society practice grants it difference from a human figure.

Cairistiona nic Bheathain bears: Vert, a mandrake Or.

Bera Peverall bears: Plumetty Or and azure, a mandrake argent.

Mancatcher

Mancatcher (Accepted)

A mancatcher, or catch-pole, is an implement for restraining people at a safe distance: in war, to pull soldiers from horses; in peace, to capture escaping felons. It consists of a long pole with a spring-loaded collar at the end. The mancatcher was a period artifact – the illustration is based on a 16^th Century German example [Stone 434] – but it was not used in period armory. The mancatcher is palewise, collar to chief, by Society default. For related charges, see pole-arm, streitgabelklinge.

Malachi Tay bears: Azure, a chevron argent ermined vert, overall a mancatcher issuant from base Or.

Maily

Mailly field (Disallowed)

Maily, or mailed, is a field treatment unique to the Society. The field is semy of annulets interlaced, to form the appearance of mail armor. The treatment has been disallowed, as incompatible with period armorial design.

Charles d’Arnaud bears: Gules mailed Or.

Edmund Godric Scrymgeour bears: Quarterly azure and argent all mailly counterchanged.

Mistholme

heraldry, illumination, and random jottings

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