Axle bracket (Accepted)
An axle bracket is an iron fixture attached to a wagon that holds its axle in place. Though it may have been a period artifact, it doesn’t appear to have been used in period armory. The ends are to chief by Society default. See also horseshoe.
Maximillian Mühleisen bears: Per pale gules and argent, a U-form axle bracket sable.
Axe-head (Period)
An axe-head is the metal portion of the axe that is fitted onto the wooden haft. It is occasionally found as a separate charge in its own right, as in the arms of Whit or White, 15th C. [DBA1 13], or the late-period depiction of the arms of von Franckenstein [Siebmacher 123]. The default form is of a single-bitted axe, edge to dexter; if another type of axe-head is intended, it should be specified. For related charges, see fer-a-loup.
Eric Ragnarsson bears: Counter-ermine, a double-bitted axehead within a bordure argent.
Günther Wolfferum bears: Quarterly sable and argent, in bend two axe-heads bendwise gules.
Roland le Taillefer bears: Argent, an axe-head azure.
Ramvoldus Kröll bears: Per chevron sable and argent, three battle-axe heads counterchanged.
Battle-axe (Period); double-axe (Accepted)
An axe is a chopping weapon or tool. It is an ancient charge, found in the arms of the Kings of Denmark as early as 1244 [Asp2 205]. The axe’s default orientation is palewise, with the head to chief and blade to dexter. The haft, when blazoned “proper”, is of brown wood.
There was great variation in the forms of the axe, even for the same coat of arms in period; many strange forms are blazoned simply as an “axe”. No difference is therefore counted between the variants. The most common form is the “battle-axe” or “war-axe”; any axe whose form is unspecified may be safely drawn in this form. The battle-axe is single-bladed by default. The double-bladed form is virtually unknown in period armory – the arms of Maberger, c.1460 [GATD 19v] may be an example, though identification is uncertain – but is quite common in Society armory; this form must be specified in the blazon. A “bearded axe” has an extended cutting edge trailing below the axe-head.
Danish axe (Period); Lochaber axe (Disallowed)
The “Danish axe” and the “Lochaber axe” are similar in form: both have a long, curved haft and broad blade. The Danish axe is found in the arms of the Kings of Norway: de Bara, 1581 [234] explicitly terms it une hache dannoise. By the end of period it was being drawn with a notch in the top of the blade [Siebmacher 2; Woodcock & Robinson, plate 19], which in modern times has become one of its defining features [Parker 29]. The Lochaber axe, as used in Scots heraldry, is similar but defined by a hook at the end [Parker 29]. The distinction between it and the Danish axe, such as it is, is considered simply a guide to the artist; pending period heraldic examples of the Lochaber axe, it is no longer registerable in the Society.
Broad axe (Period)
The “broad axe” was fairly common in Continental armory; modern blazons term it a doloire (cooper’s axe), as this form of axe was used for chopping barrel staves. It had a short haft and a wide, smooth blade; the blade is exaggerated in heraldic art. The broad axe is found as early as c.1370, in the arms of Renty [Gelre 48v; also GATD 74, on which the illustration is based]; the English term “brode axe” was used in the grant to the Worshipful Company of Coopers, 1509 [Bromley & Child 56].
Carpenter’s axe (Period); woodsman’s axe (Accepted); headsman’s axe (Accepted)
The “carpenter’s axe” has a recess behind the cutting edge for the hand to hold and guide the blade. The form is found in period emblazons, such as the arms of von Axt, 1605 [Siebmacher 48]. The term “carpenter’s axe” is the Society’s; the charge is termed a cognée in modern French blazons, but it was unlikely to have been distinguished in period blazons.
Francisque (Accepted); labrys (Accepted)
Of axe variants unique to Society armory, there are the “hatchet” or “hand-axe”, with a plain head and a proportionally shorter haft; the “francisque”, a hand-axe with an angled head, made for throwing (used mainly for a cant); the “labrys”, a ceremonial double-bladed axe from ancient Crete; the “woodsman’s axe”, also called the “felling axe”, which is fairly plain; and the “headsman’s axe”, also called the “slaughterer’s axe”, also quite plain.
For related charges, see adze, fasces, pick, pole-arm. See also cleaver.
The Thrown Weapons Marshallate bears: Sable, two axes in saltire surmounted by a spear Or.
Sean Ruabarua MacGillaphaidraic bears: Vert, an axe Or.
Sefferey of Wessex bears: Gules, three axes argent.
Richard of the Fens bears: Per chevron vert and Or, six battle-axes counterchanged.
Adelhardt Werner bears: Per pale purpure and Or, a double-bitted axe counterchanged.
James of Prussia bears: Sable, a francisque palewise argent, to the sinister a dagger palewise argent.
Karl vom Acht bears: Gules, a labrys argent bearing two horns issuant from the haft and curving to meet the blades Or.
Dynadan do Pico bears: Quarterly Or and argent, in saltire two headsman’s axes and dependent from the junction a hangman’s noose sable, all within a bordure gules.
Roger Carpenter of Rye bears: Or, in pale a carpenter’s axe reversed and a carpenter’s square, point to base, and on a chief azure three annulets Or.
Michel von Alterstetten bears: Per pale sable and Or, four broadaxes two and two counterchanged.
Thorkell Óláfsson bears: Purpure, on a pile Or a Danish axe gules.
Awl, point to chief (Period)
An awl is a tool for piercing small holes in leather or wood, consisting of a sharp needle mounted in a wooden handle. It’s a period charge, found in the rebus badge of John Alcock, Bishop of Ely (d.1500) [Siddons II.2 331]. The awl’s handle varied in form: the illustration is taken from the Hausbuch der Mendelschen, c.1531 [Amman xli].
The awl has no Society default orientation, but must be explicitly blazoned: e.g., “point to chief” as in the illustration. For related charges, see chisel, graver.
Rudger Nadel bears: Argent, three awls points to chief sable.
Kendrick MacBain bears: Per bend sinister Or and vert, a wooden stick shuttle bendwise sinister proper and an awl bendwise sinister point to base argent.
Wystan Haldane bears: Quarterly Or and azure, an awl, point to base, and a mallet in saltire counterchanged.
Athanor with a retort atop it (Accepted)
An athanor is a high-temperature furnace, specifically designed to heat alchemical vessels at constant temperatures for long periods. It is therefore frequently shown with a flask (such as a retort) atop it, which fact is always blazoned. (Without the flask, the athanor is indistinguishable from a tower.)
Though a period artifact, we have no examples of the athanor in period heraldry; the illustration is from a 1545 translation of the writings of Geber [Singer 739]. For related charges, see oven.
The Order of the Athanor, of Meridies, bears: A retort atop an athanor argent.
Luu Naran bears: Sable, a retort atop an athanor, in sinister chief a cross moline, a bordure Or.
Astrolabe (Accepted)
An astrolabe is an astronomical instrument; it was used for surveying the positions of the stars and planets, and calculating sidereal time. The device is period – Chaucer wrote a “Treatise on the Astrolabe” c.1391, in which he translated earlier Moslem texts – but no examples of it have been found in period armory. In Society heraldry, the astronomer’s astrolabe is granted no difference from a roundel.
Mariner’s astrolabe (Accepted)
A simplified form of astrolabe, the “mariner’s astrolabe”, was used for navigation; it’s distinguished by large holes in the plate, so the wind wouldn’t interfere with surveying. While it too was a period artifact, dating from Portugal c.1480, no armorial examples have been found.
See also clock, equatorium, quadrant, sphere, sundial.
David MacColin bears: Per chevron throughout sable and argent, two open penannular brooches palewise, pins to base, and an astrolabe counterchanged.
Duncan Ramsay bears: Quarterly gules and vert, an astrolabe within an orle wavy Or.
Vincent McThomas bears: Argent, a mariner’s astrolabe azure and a ford proper.
Arrow (Period)
An arrow is a feathered shaft, shot from a bow or crossbow as a missile. It’s found in the allusive arms of Archer, 1320 [DBA1 10].
The arrow’s default orientation is palewise, point down. When fesswise, its default orientation is with point to sinister; this is sometimes blazoned explicitly. An “arrow proper” has a brown shaft and black head, with its feathers, or fletching, to be specified; the blazonry term for the fletching is “flighted”, e.g., “an arrow gules flighted azure.” The head and feathers are drawn greatly exaggerated in size.
Sheaf of arrows (Period)
A “sheaf of arrows” is a bundle of three arrows, two in saltire and one palewise, bound where they cross.
Japanese arrow notch (probable SFPP); forked arrow (Period)
Of the variant forms of arrow in medieval armory, the most common is the “bird-bolt”, with a wide blunt tip; it’s also termed a “bird-blunt” or a “boson”. It’s a period charge, dating from c.1285, in the canting arms of Bozon [ANA2 211]. Somewhat rarer is the “forked arrow”, with a two-pronged point designed to slash, rather than pierce; it’s found in the arms of Prunnster, c.1600 [BSB 307:620], but may be more familiar as a charge found in Japanese Mon [Hawley 53].
Japanese Mon have proven the basis for several arrow-like charges in Society heraldry. In addition to the forked arrow, supra, we have the “Japanese arrow notch” (yahaza), as found in the Mon of Saiki [Hawley 54]: this is the section of the shaft with the feathers and nock, drawn in a stylized form.
Fire-arrow (Accepted); boson (Period)
Several variant types of arrows are unique to Society armory: A “fire-arrow” is an arrow with pitch-soaked cloth wrapped near the point, and enflamed. A “quarrel” is a short arrow with feathers down its length; it’s used in crossbows, rather than longbows. A “whistling arrow” is a 13th C. Mongolian artifact, with holes in the point to create a whistle as the arrow flies; as a non-European artifact, its use is considered a step from period practice.
Quarrel (Accepted); Mongolian whistling arrow (SFPP)
Elf-bolt (Accepted); arrow fletching (Accepted)
An “arrowhead”, without qualification, is drawn simply as a generic barbed point; it’s a usual English term for the rogacina of Polish armory. An “elf-bolt” is a stone arrowhead, chipped and flaked; prehistoric specimens found by the ancients were attributed to the Little People. The “arrow fletching”, the feathered end of the shaft, is found in the Mon of Hatori Masanari, d.1596 [Hawley 54]; but as such fletchings are indistinguishable from European arrow fletchings, they are blazoned without qualification.
Crescent-shaped arrowhead (Period)
Finally, the “crescent-shaped arrowhead” is a forked arrowhead, with two points. It’s a period artifact; the charge (or one very similar) is found in the arms of Motringer, mid-16th C. [NW 36]. The illustration is taken from Motringer.
For related charges, see pheon, spearhead.
The Archery Marshallate bears: Sable, two arrows in saltire Or.
The Order of Artemis, of the East, bears: A sheaf of arrows azure.
Rumil Fletcher bears: Azure, three arrows Or.
Loran Redbow bears: Azure, three fire-arrows bendwise sinister in bend argent, enflamed proper.Styrbjorg Ulfethnar bears: Argent, a demi-wolf salient proper, charged upon the shoulder with an elf-bolt argent, and issuant from a valknut gules.
Evan y Helfarch ap Llewellyn bears: Erminois, on a pale gules in chief two bird blunts in saltire surmounted by an arrow inverted Or, a base counterchanged.
Kuji Ka Onimusashi bears: Vert, a sheaf of forked arrows inverted surmounted by a three-pronged vajhra fesswise Or.
Daimon Isamu bears: Argent, two axes, blades to center, between their handles two Japanese arrow notches in saltire, all gules.
Karin Ollesdotter av Augvaldsnes bears as a badge: In fess a whistling arrow inverted vert sustained by a seahorse gules.
Rees of Northwoods bears: Quarterly azure and gules, four arrowheads inverted argent.
Walkelin Montgomery bears: Argent, three arrow fletchings in pall, shafts to center, a bordure sable.
Armor is a defensive covering for the body, designed to protect its wearer in combat. In heraldry, it is often shown being worn (e.g., “a man in armor”), but pieces of armor are also used as charges in their own right.
For specific entries, see: camail, chamfron, cuirass, gauntlet, helm, mail, shield, wristguard. For related charges, see clothing.
Arm (Period)
Cubit arm (Period)
An arm is a human upper limb. By default, this includes the entire arm, couped just below the shoulder, unvested, and with clenched fist. Arms are found in the, er, arms of Eckwersheim, c.1340 [Zurich 185].
The arm is most commonly shown as a dexter arm erect, with the elbow slightly bent to dexter; sometimes this is explicitly blazoned as “embowed”. An “arm fesswise embowed” has its fist to dexter, the elbow to base. A “cubit arm” is an arm cut off below the elbow; it’s erect by default, and again the fist is clenched.
Arms are frequently found armored or vested (clothed), which facts are always blazoned. In period blazon, an “arm proper” was assumed to be Caucasian (pink or white) unless otherwise specified; Society blazon had once followed this, but is now more inclusive. Arms proper now follow the same Society blazon conventions as full humans proper, as described under human figure.
For related charges, see hand. See also maunch, triskelion.
Wilhelm von Armfelt bears: Per chevron vert and gules, a dexter arm fesswise embowed erased at the shoulder, fist clenched, armed argent.
Sine ni Chlurain bears: Vert, a pair of cubit arms issuant in chevron and crossed at the wrists argent.
Gregory Blount bears: Azure, two arms in armor counter-embowed and interlaced Or.
Ark of the Covenant (Period)
The Ark of the Covenant is the highly ornamented chest in which the Israelites kept the tablets of the Law. As an heraldic charge, it’s described by Legh, 1562 [101], who attributes it to the Levites; the Ark is therefore accepted for Society use. It is depicted in slightly trian aspect.
Henil von Berg bears: Gules, the Ark of the Covenant Or.