A cloud is a mass of condensed water vapor, suspended in the atmosphere. In heraldry, clouds are usually found in conjunction with rainbows, winds, sunbursts, and the like; but they are occasionally found as independent charges. The illustration shows two clouds, from earlier period and later period: the earlier version (in chief) is taken from the arms of the Worshipful Company of Drapers, granted 1439 [Bromley & Child 72], while the later version (in base) is from the Insignia Nobilium, c.1550. See also heavenly bodies.
Elisabetta Tempesta bears: Azure, three clouds argent.
Brigid of Skye bears: Per chevron azure and argent, three clouds counterchanged.
A clock is a mechanism that tells the time of day. It’s a period artifact, but no period heraldic examples of its use have been found. (Its earliest known use as a charge is in 17th C. armory.) The illustration is of the type known as a “chamber clock”, mid-16th C. [Ernest Edwardes, Weight-Driven Chamber Clocks of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, plates 18-19; cf. Amman 75].
There is also an example in Society armory of the “clockface”, with the hours (twelve by default) marked around the edge of a roundel. The use of the clockface alone is deemed a step from period practice. For related charges, see astrolabe, equatorium, sphere, sundial.
John Gal of Freeston bears: Argent, a chamber clock azure faced argent.
Lillian Taylor bears: Azure, on a round clockface argent numbered sable a lizard tergiant bendwise vert, all within a bordure argent ermined azure.
Clothing are those items of garb worn by people for warmth or display, usually made of cloth or leather. When blazoning the clothing on a person (as distinct from the person), the term “vested” is used: e.g., “a maiden Or vested argent”. In such cases, the type of clothing is blazoned in the broadest terms, and is worth little if any heraldic difference.
A cleaver is a wide, massive blade intended to chop meat into more readily edible portions. The cleaver’s blade might vary in emblazons, as it did for the artifacts themselves, but was always broad and basically rectangular in shape. It’s a period charge, found in the arms of von Altbach, c.1525 [BSB Cod.Icon 392d:544, 545; cf. also Hausbuch der Mendelschen, c.1436, in Amman xl].
The cleaver is palewise, handle to base and cutting edge to dexter, by default. See also axe, knife.
Erich Küchengehilfe bears: Per bend sinister vert and sable, a cleaver bendwise sinister reversed argent.
Nicolae la bouchiere bears: Per pale argent and azure, a cleaver bendwise sinister counterchanged.
Cecily de Chinon bears: Quarterly vert and sable, four cleavers argent.
A crab’s claw, or a lobster’s claw, is the pincer at the end of those creatures’ front limbs, which they use for defense. It’s a period charge, found in the arms of Nielsen, c.1490 [Raneke 395]. They’re frequently found in pairs, as in the arms of Stainhauser or Steinhauser, mid-16th C. [NW 32], and of Tregarthicke, 1610 [Guillim1 171].
The crab’s claw has its severed end to base by default; the illustration shows a crab’s claw bendwise. See also leg.
The Order of the Crab Claw, of the Barony of Lochmere, bears: A pair of crab claws azure maintaining between them a sword gules.
A clarion is one of the oldest of heraldic charges, dating from c.1285 in the arms of Greville [ANA2 301]; in period it was also called a “claricord”, “claricymbal”, “rest”, or “sufflue”. There had been some debate over what exactly the clarion is meant to be: suggestions have included a spear rest, an air feed for a pipe organ, or even a rudder. Most modern authorities agree it’s a type of musical instrument, a mouth organ akin to a panpipe [Friar 253].
Robin Clarian bears: Per chevron azure and argent, three clarions counterchanged.
Ava Trudine of Tregoenning bears: Vert, a clarion argent.
Balian de Brionne bears: Azure, three clarions argent.
A churn is a vessel in which milk is agitated, usually with a plunger, to make butter. It was not a common charge, but an example is found in the badge of Alchorne, 15th C. [Siddons II.2 331]. The illustration is taken from the book of hours by the Master of James VI of Scotland, c.1510.
Marion FitzWilliam bears as a badge: Argent, in pale a lobster fesswise contourny gules and a wooden butter churn enflamed proper and a chief wavy azure.
A church is an edifice wherein organized worship services are held. It’s a period charge, found in the canting arms (Italian chiesa) of dala Giexia, mid-15th C. [Triv 161]. There is wide variation in the depiction of churches, as with all edifices in heraldry, but most seem to be drawn with steeples (or bell towers), with the length of the church fesswise.
Mosque (Accepted)
Grecian temple (Accepted)
Related to the church is the “mosque”, dedicated to Moslem worship. It’s characterized by its domed prayer hall and at least one minaret (which, for heraldic purposes, may be said to be its defining feature). Though no examples have been found in medieval armory, the mosque is accepted for Society use.
Finally, there is the “temple”, more fully blazoned a “Grecian temple”: a pillared edifice with steps and a triangular roof, rather like a simplified rendering of the Parthenon. It too, though yet unattested in medieval armory, is accepted for Society use.
Piers Blackmonster bears: Per chevron argent and sable, two griffins sejant respectant and a church counterchanged.
‘Afra’ bint Tamir al-Sahrahwayyiah bears: Vert, a fess sable fimbriated surmounted by a domed mosque of one minaret, in canton a decrescent Or.
Arenvald Kief av Kiersted bears as a badge: On a temple Or a Thor’s hammer gules.
Stonecutter’s chisel, edge to chief (Accepted); wood chisel (Period)
A chisel is a tool for chipping or carving some surface, consisting of a metal bar with a sharpened edge at one end. It’s a period charge, found in the canting arms of Cheseldene, 1413 [DBA2 401].
Parker [114] says that the stonecutter’s chisel is the default form; however, period rolls [e.g., the Fenwick Roll, temp. Henry VI; Bedingfeld 61] show the wood chisel instead. The exact type should therefore probably be specified. There doesn’t seem to be a default orientation for all chisels; the Society has defined the default for wood chisels to be with their edges to chief. The illustration shows both chisels so drawn. See also awl, graver.
Jón trételgja Ljótsson bears: Sable, three wood chisels argent.
Sigurðr inn danski bears: Or, a wood chisel, blade to chief, sable.
Stiamna mac Martain bears: Vert, four wood chisels bendwise sinister blades to chief two and two Or.
This is a class of monsters which, like the chimera, are assembled from pieces of other beasts or monsters. A great many of the classic monsters of heraldry may be described in this manner: e.g., the griffin, with the forequarters of an eagle and the hindquarters of a lion. But the term usually denotes those monsters with no independent history. They are thus usually blazoned by parts, e.g., “A monster with the forequarters of a dragon, hindquarters of a lion”, or the “cock with the head of a goat” in the arms of von Kockorsch, 1605 [Siebmacher 74].
There are exceptions, such as the Hrassvelg monster, which have been given special names; but this is no longer done, out of pity for the artists.
The Baron of Lions Gate bears as a badge: A monster rampant with the body of a lion sable and the head and tail of an alligator argent. [A “lionsgator”.]
Siobhán Nic Bhloscaidh bears: Per fess purpure and sable, a boar-headed horse with lion’s forelegs rampant Or.
Mandrigal of Mu bears: Gules, a monster couchant with the forequarters of a domestic cat and the wings and hindquarters of a dragon Or.
