Bucket

Bucket (Period)

A bucket is a flat-bottomed container, with a handle and cylindrical or slightly tapering sides, used for hauling water. It’s a period charge, found in the arms of Whitwell, c.1480 [DBA2 315; Bedingfeld 58]. The default bucket is assumed to be made of wood; if another material (e.g., leather) is intended, it must be specified in the blazon. A “bucket proper” is brown, the color of wood. For related charges, see tub.

Mateusz z Plocka bears: Counter-ermine, a bucket Or.

Linnett of Monadh bears: Gules, three buckets in pale Or.

Morgan Catriona Bruce bears as a badge: A wooden bucket proper.

Brush

Brush (Period)

Artist’s paintbrush (Accepted)

A brush is a bundle of hair or straws, bound and mounted on a handle, and used as a tool for painting, cleaning, or applying liquid. The unmodified term “brush” refers to a hand-brush. It was used in the original arms of the Worshipful Company of Haberdashers, 1446 [Bromley & Child 138], and in the canting arms (German Bürste) of von Börstel, 1605 [Siebmacher 174].

In Society heraldry, the most common form of brush is termed the “artist’s brush” or “artist’s paintbrush”: a tuft of hair mounted by a ferrule on a long slender handle. Its construction and form have changed little since it was described in Cennini’s Libro dell’Arte, 1437. If this type of brush is intended, it must be specified in the blazon. When blazoned “proper”, the artist’s paintbrush has a brown wooden handle and black bristles.

Both forms of brush have the bristles to chief by default. For related charges, see besom.

Thomas for the Interim bears: Vert, a gauntlet aversant sable sustaining a rose slipped proper and an artist’s brush sable crossed in saltire all fimbriated Or.

Laura MacConoch bears: Or, a sheaf of artist’s brushes sable.

Sine nic Dhonnchaidh bears: Ermine, two artist’s brushes in saltire surmounted by another palewise azure.

Broom

Sprig of broom (Period)

The broom plant is a brushy wild shrub, with prominent peascods. It was used as the canting badge (Latin planta genista) of the Plantagenets temp. Henry II [HB 108]. (The term should not be used for the modern floor-sweeping tool, which is properly called a besom.) See also slip.

Emrys Eustace bears: Or, three sprigs of broom gules.

Brooch

Closed brooch (Period)

Closed penannular brooch (Accepted); Open penannular brooch (Accepted)

A brooch is an item of jewelry, a large ornamental pin or clasp. In period armory, it’s frequently depicted with the pin piercing the field as though it were fabric. A common type, blazoned as a “closed brooch”, is basically shaped as an escutcheon; it’s found c.1370, and again in 1605, in the arms of von Zedlitz [Gelre 53v, Siebmacher 71]. If another type is intended, the shape should be specified, as with the “closed lozenge brooch” in the arms of von Wallenrodt, 1605 [Siebmacher 104], or the “ring brooch”.

Of the brooches unique to Society armory, the most common is the “penannular brooch”: a semi-circle of metal, with a sliding pin. The penannular brooch has its opening to chief by Society default. It may be found “closed”, with the pin overlying the brooch, or “open”, with the pin through the gap; closed is the default.

Celtic triquetrum brooch (Disallowed)

Moorish hair brooch (Disallowed)

Other brooches have been blazoned by their general description: e.g., the “Celtic triquetrum brooch”, a description of the metalwork’s design; or the “Moorish hair-brooch”, an adornment for the hair. These brooch variants are no longer permitted in Society heraldry, being insufficiently documented.

For related charges, see buckle, torque.

The Order of the Silver Brooch, of the East, bears: A closed brooch argent.

Johann Wolfgang von Aue bears: Per pale sable and gules, three closed lozenge brooches Or.

Debrangal Greyheart bears: Ermine, an open penannular brooch inverted Or, a mount vert.

Widsith Devona of Exmoor bears: Per bend sinister azure and vert, a bend sinister argent, in chief a Celtic triquetrum brooch Or.

Alysse of Graedon bears: Azure, a Moorish hair-brooch bendwise throughout argent.

Broach, embroiderer’s

Embroiderer’s broach (Period)

An embroiderer’s broach is a combined bodkin and spindle, used as a tool for picking, winding, and twisting thread. It was a period heraldic charge, found in the arms of the Worshipful Company of Broderers, 1558 [Bromley & Child 31]. Its default orientation is with the forked end to chief. See also lace bobbin.

The Embroiderer’s Guild of Madrone bears: Azure, an empty quill, an embroiderer’s broach palewise, and a garb of cotton, one and two argent, all joined by a Bowen knot in cross and open in base Or.

Bridle

Bridle (Period)

A bridle is a piece of harness for a horse, specifically for the horse’s head. It consists of a framework of straps fitting over the head, with a bit to fit in the horse’s mouth; reins attached to the bridle help control the horse. It’s a period charge, dating to c.1566 in the Milanese arms of Borromeo [Insignia Nomina Cognomina Patriae]. The bridle has the bit to chief by default. For related charges, see snaffle-bit.

Richard of Windhaven bears: Sable, a bridle Or.

Mærwynn Elyot bears: Vert, a bridle argent.

Bridge

Bridge throughout of three spans (Period)

Twin-towered bridge of a single arch (Accepted)

A bridge is an edifice, built to carry traffic over a river, gorge, or the like. The most common depiction in medieval armory showed a stonework bridge, drawn throughout, with three or more arches or spans; it was usually drawn with water flowing beneath it as well. The illustration is taken from the canting arms of Trowbridge, mid-16^th C. [Bedingfeld 58].

In Society armory, the default bridge is not throughout, but terminates with a tower at either end (and frequently with towers between arches); moreover, the number of arches must be explicitly blazoned. A common Society form has but a single arch, as in the illustration; this depiction is considered negligibly different from a castle. Difference is granted between a castle and a bridge drawn in the period style (i.e., throughout, with multiple arches).

Wooden boardwalk (Period)

Footbridge (Period)

Period armory also has some examples of smaller bridges, intended to be footbridges: e.g., the wooden boardwalk, drawn throughout and supported by scaffolding, in the canting arms (German Steg) of Steger zu Ladendorff, 1605 [Siebmacher 39]; or the stepped stone footbridge, complete with handrails, in the canting arms (Italian ponte) of Ponte, c.1550 [BSB Cod.Icon 273:165].

Brewer’s scoop

Brewer’s scoop (Period)

A brewer’s scoop is a tool used by beer brewers for sampling the mash, consisting of a bucket at the end of a long pole. The brewer’s scoop is a period charge, dating to 1548 in Vigil Raber’s Armorial of the Arlberg Brotherhood of St. Christopher, fo.91; it’s also in the episcopal arms of Peugelberg, late 16^th C. [BSB Cod.Icon 333:76].

The brewer’s scoop is palewise by default, with the bucket in chief. See also hammer.

Philip de Greylonde bears: Per pale sable and Or, in saltire two brewer’s scoops counterchanged.

Breeches

Pair of breeches (Period)

Breeches are an article of clothing covering the loins, worn as an undergarment; they are more fully blazoned a “pair of breeches”. They’re a period charge, found in the canting arms (Dutch broek) of van Abbenbroeke, c.1460 [GATD 35]. Breeches are affronty by default.

Also found in Society armory are “trews”, the outer garment worn between the waist and the knees: what in modern terms would be “trousers” or “pants”. Trews are period garments, but no examples of their use as an heraldic charge have been found in period. See also hose.

Frae Fitzalleyne bears: Gules, a pair of breeches ermine.

Jane Corwin bears as a badge: A pair of breeches argent.

Antonius Hasebroek bears as a badge: Per pale purpure and Or, a pair of trews potent.

Breast

Breast distilling three gouts (Period)

A breast is an organ that produces milk for suckling. In heraldry, the usual breast is the human (woman’s) breast, sometimes explicitly blazoned so. It’s a period charge, found in the canting arms (from the colloquial “dug”) of Dodge, 1531 [Dennys 144]. The breast must always be depicted distilling gouts, to distinguish it from a roundel; Society rulings require the gouts to have some contrast (i.e., not be the same tincture) as their breast.

When blazoned “proper”, the breast follows the same Society blazon conventions as full humans proper, as described under human figure.

Helga Grímsdóttir bears: Sable, a human breast argent distilling three gouttes, a bordure dovetailed Or.

Tetchubah of Greenlake bears as a badge: A human breast azure distilling three gouttes argent.

Ismeralda Franceska Rusciolelli da Vale bears as a badge: A human breast proper distilling three gouttes d’Or.

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Mistholme

heraldry, illumination, and random jottings

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