Bog beast rampant (Disallowed)
The bog beast is a monster unique to the Society, and no longer permitted. It is defined in the following armories.
William Bogg Gordon bears: Gules semy of skulls, a saltire argent, overall a bog beast rampant Or.
Nikolai Andreeov bears: Per fess gules and counter-ermine, a bog beast rampant argent.
Boar passant (Period)
The boar is a porcine beast noted for its belligerence. It may also be called a “sanglier” or, for the sake of a cant, a “grice”. As an heraldic charge, the boar dates from the earliest heraldry, as in the arms of Whichcote, c.1295 [ANA2 103].
The boar is depicted with a double set of tusks and a razor-back of bristles (its “crining”) down its spine. A “boar proper” is understood in the Society to be brown. The boar doesn’t seem to have a default posture; the illustration shows a boar passant.
Margaret of Rochester bears: Sable, three boars passant argent.
Otuell Gowe bears: Per fess azure and vert, two boars passant counter-passant Or.
Richard of Salesberie bears: Argent, three boars rampant sable.
Closed birdcage (Period)
A birdcage is a small enclosure made of wire bars, in which birds are kept. It’s found in the arms of Walther von der Vogelweide, c.1300 [Manesse]. The blazon should specify whether the birdcage’s door is open or closed; but it must have a bird, as it’s otherwise not possible to tell it’s a birdcage. The illustration shows a closed birdcage with its bird. See also nest.
Aislynn de Darkenhall bears: Azure, within an open birdcage Or a dove reguardant argent, a bordure engrailed argent semy of roses proper.
Birds in Society heraldry follow most of the conventions as those of mundane heraldry. As a rule of thumb, most birds are statant close by default.
There are some bird postures unique to Society heraldry. A bird “stooping” is volant to dexter base, with the body bendwise sinister and the wings addorsed and swept back. A bird “striking” has its wings elevated and addorsed, its head lowered, and its talons extended; for purposes of difference, it is indistinguishable from a bird rising. A bird “migrant” or “migratory” is tergiant, wings displayed or displayed inverted, head erect; with no other qualification, a bird is migrant to chief. The posture is no longer allowed, pending period examples.
Any bird known to period Europeans may be used in Society armory – though, if the bird is not itself European, its use may be considered a step from period practice. (An exception is made for non-European birds actually used in period European armory. The turkeycock is perhaps the prime example of this.) The unmodified term “bird” can be used in blazon to refer to a generic bird, vaguely pigeon-shaped; it will conflict with all “standard” birds, as classified below.
In terms of difference between birds, as of this writing the Society’s policy classes every bird into one of four categories: crane-shaped (e.g., cranes, storks, herons), swan-shaped (e.g., swans, geese, ducks), poultry-shaped (e.g., chickens, quail, peacocks), and “standard bird” (e.g., corbies, doves, raptors). (One might assume a fifth category, “other”, to cover anomalies such as the ostrich.) Birds from different categories, when in period postures for those birds, will usually be considered completely different for purposes of conflict.
For specific birds, see: cock, crane, crow, dove, eagle, falcon, firebird, goose, hummingbird, martlet, moorcock, ostrich, owl, peacock, pelican, penguin, popinjay, roc, sea-mew, simurgh, swallow, swan, turkeycock, vulture.
Grim Finch bears: Argent, a bend per bend sable and azure, in chief a finch volant, wings addorsed azure.
Eleanor of Pica bears: Vert, a magpie proper maintaining in its dexter talon a feather argent.
Linnet of Liddington bears: Quarterly azure and Or, four linnets counterchanged.
Luke Aucher bears: Argent, a great auk close sable and a chief rayonny gules.
Robin Vinehall the Ambivalent bears: Or, in fess two robins close addorsed, tails crossed in saltire proper.
Wilhelmina Brant bears: Or, two pheasants respectant and in chief three garden roses slipped vert.
Božena z Prahy bears: Gules, a pigeon between flaunches argent.
Billet (Period)
A billet is a brief letter or document. In period armory, it is most often found strewn in a semy field; this is its earliest usage, dating from c.1255 in the arms of Gascelyn [ANA2 191]. However, billets are also found as distinct charges; such usage can be dated to 1445, in the arms of Livingstone [DBA2 127].
The billet is drawn as a rectangle, with no detail or shading, much like a polygon; it is upright by default. Period armory seems to have considered the billet and the delf to be equivalent, and no difference is granted between them in Society heraldry. At one point, billets with complex lines (e.g., a “billet embattled”) were permitted in Society heraldry, but pending evidence, these are no longer allowed.
The Registrar of the Society bears: Vert, in pale three billets argent winged Or.
Raymond Norgate bears: Argent billety sable.
Aeddan ap Trahaearn bears: Per fess argent and vert, three billets fesswise counterchanged.
Besom (Period)
A besom is a bundle of twigs, bound to the end of a staff, and used for brushing or sweeping. It was the medieval precursor of the modern household broom, and is sometimes called a “birch-broom”; but it should never be blazoned simply as a “broom”, as that term is used in heraldry for the broom plant or planta genista. The besom is a period charge, found in the arms of Brome, c.1500 [DBA2 315]; it has its straws to chief by default. For related charges, see brush.
The Order of the Baronial Broom, of the Barony of Nordskogen, bears: Azure, two besoms in saltire surmounted by another palewise inverted, all Or.
Líadan Winter bears: Sable estencely argent, a besom bendwise sinister inverted within a bordure Or.
Angharad ferch Moriddig Hir bears: Or, a besom sable and two flaunches azure gouty d’eau.
Bend (Period)
Baton (Period)
The bend is an heraldic ordinary, a diagonal stripe from the dexter chief to the sinister base of the shield. Its diminutive is the “bendlet”; Society blazonry does not recognize any other terms for the bend’s diminutives.
The “baton” or “baston” was originally another term for the bendlet; but by the 14th Century it had acquired the meaning of “bend couped”, and this is both its modern and its Society interpretation.
Like all ordinaries, the bend is subject to the usual lines of division: engrailed, wavy, &c. Of the usages peculiar to the bend: The “bend embattled” is only embattled on its upper edge, unless specifically blazoned “(embattled) counter-embattled” or “bretessed”. The “bend enarched” (or “embowed”) curves to chief unless otherwise specified; it was originally meant to depict the convexity of the shield, and consequently carries no heraldic difference.
Bend enarched (Period)
Bend beviled (Period)
The “bend bevilled” or “beviled” is divided vertically and offset; it is found in the arms of Zorke, temp. Henry VI [Gwynn-Jones 26]. Using other charges on the field with a bend bevilled is considered a step from period practice.
Bend engouled (Period)
Bend sinister (Period)
The “bend engouled” (from a term meaning “devoured”) has beasts’ heads on either end, issuant from the edges of the shield and overlying the bend: this is an Iberian usage, as seen in the arms of Freire de Andrade or Dandrade, c.1540 [Nobreza xi]. The type of head should be specified: dragons’ heads (also called serpents’ heads) were most commonly used in period.
The bend sinister is the mirror image of the bend, running from sinister chief to dexter base. It was originally merely a way of displaying the bend, when the entire shield was turned to sinister (e.g., when displaying marital coats); but by the end of period it was being treated as a charge in its own right [Legh 64v]. While some texts have said the bend sinister was a mark of bastardy, it was no more so than any other cadency charge. Its diminutives may be called “bendlets sinister” or “scarpes”. In other respects, the comments on the bend apply to the bend sinister as well.
Eglentyne Merryweather bears: Vert, a bend vair.
Stephen de Montfort bears: Gules, a bend argent cotised Or.
Kendra Grey bears: Per bend sinister argent and vert, two batons sinister counterchanged.
Michael of Braghan bears: Azure, a bend bevilled argent.
Domnhall na Moicheirghe bears: Azure, two bendlets lozengy conjoined at the points argent.
Drueta de la Rosa bears: Gules, three bendlets sinister ermine.
Illuminada Eugenia de Guadalupe y Godoy bears: Sable, a bend engouled of two wolf’s heads Or.
Belt, loose with buckle in chief (Period)
Belt (or garter) buckled in annulo (Period/Reserved if white)
A belt is a band worn around the waist, or over the shoulder, to hold up clothing or sword. The type normally shown in heraldry is a leather belt, with a ring or buckle. It is sometimes shown as in the illustration: buckled and knotted, with the belt in annulo and the end pendant. It may be arranged in a loose “U”, as in the arms of von Beldersheim, c.1370 [Gelre 96v, also Siebmacher 126]; or it may be shown straight, pendant from the buckle in chief, as in the quartering of the arms of Pelham c.1588 [Woodcock & Robinson 39]. In the Society, white belts and baldrics are the badge and regalia of the Order of Chivalry; their use in armory is reserved to members of that Order.
The “garter” is similar to the belt, but smaller, meant to be fastened around the leg. The period examples found to date are always buckled in annulo or demi-annulo; otherwise, the garter and the belt are indistinguishable. The garter is found in the arms of Bokeland or Buckland, c.1460 [RH], but it’s most famous as the regalia of England’s Order of the Garter, founded 1348 [Friar 160].
The “sash” is a cloth belt, tied rather than buckled. No examples have been found in period armory, and there is but a single example in Society armory.
A charge encircled by a belt or garter in annulo is a method of display for Scottish Clan badges; such motifs may no longer be registered in the Society.
The Order of Chivalry bears: A white belt or baldric.
The Order of the Garland, of the Barony of Ponte Alto, bears: A garter buckled in annulo Or.
Alexander the Desert Dweller bears: Lozengy sable and argent, an owl Or within a looped leather belt, buckled and knotted proper.
Stephen MacAlpine bears: Or, a lion rampant to sinister guardant within a sash in annulo, knotted in base sable.
Bellows (Period)
A bellows is a device that produces a stream of air when its handles are pumped; it’s used in blacksmiths’ fires, and in pipe organs. It’s a period charge, found in the arms of von Beilentz or Bellentz, 1413 [Conz.Const. clxix]. The bellows has its spout to base by default.
Medhbh inghean Uí Eidirsceóil bears: Argent, a bellows within a bordure rayonny purpure.
Bern Bellower bears as a badge: Argent, a bellows fesswise sable.
Bell (Period)
Hawk’s bell (Period); hand bell (Accepted)
A bell is a cup-shaped musical instrument that rings when struck. The default heraldic bell is the “church bell”; it’s sometimes blazoned that way, and some Society examples show it in its stock (like the standard representation of the Liberty Bell). The bell is an ancient charge, dating from c.1295 in the allusive arms of Porter [ANA2 127].
Another bell found in armory is the “hawk’s bell”, of the type found on a hawk’s jesses. It’s found in the canting arms of Bellinkhoven, c.1370 [Gelre 102], and the arms of von Ernau, 1605 [Siebmacher 46]. The French term is grelot; Society blazons may also term it a “jester’s bell” or a “dancer’s bell”.
Cowbell (Accepted)
Of the types of bell peculiar to Society armory, we find the “hand bell”, with a handle on the top: a period artifact, the hand bell was used first as a public alarm or signal (as with town criers), but by 1300 were tuned instruments used in processionals [Grove 10:745-6]. We also find the “Oriental bell”, one of their cylindrical temple bells, drawn much as a church bell but with no flare at the rim. Finally, there’s the “cowbell”, worn by cattle to aid the cowherd in finding them – and evidently, a period folk instrument as well, documented as such in Virdung’s Musica Getutscht, 1511 [Montagu 91]. All of these bells, like the church bell, have their clappers to base by default.
For related charges, see zil. See also vair-bell.
The Baron of Carillion bears: Or, a bell within a laurel wreath sable.
Uberto Renaldi bears: Gules, three church bells argent.
Clarel Belton bears: Vert, three hawk’s bells argent.
Isabella Flora Turpin bears: Per fess vert and argent, a hand bell and a terrapin statant to sinister counterchanged.
Rosamund von Schwyz bears as a badge: On a cowbell argent a fleur-de-lys purpure.