The tarasque is an amphibious monster associated with Tarascon, France. Legends of the tarasque date from the 12th Century, frequently as part of the legend of St. Martha. It resembles a spiny-shelled tortoise with six legs; it’s often shown with a somewhat humanoid face. The tarasque is used in the modern arms of Tarascon, but no period heraldic examples have been found. The illustration shows a tarasque statant guardant.
Morgiane de Provence bears: Azure, a four-legged tarasque statant gardant contourny argent.
Spencer Alwyn bears: Quarterly azure and sable, a tarasque statant and in chief three mullets of four points argent.
Dawn Schadue bears as a badge: A tarasque passant vert vorant of two human legs clothed azure.
A tankard is a drinking vessel, roughly cylindrical in shape, with a handle. It may also be called a “stein” or a “mug”. It is considered baser than a cup, more suited for ale than for wine. The tankard appears to be a period charge, seen in the arms of Juncker, early 16th C. [BSB Cod.Icon 392d:612].
The tankard is frequently shown with a flat lid pivoted on the rim, which can be flipped open with the thumb; this form may be blazoned a “covered tankard”. While covered tankards are found as period artifacts (e.g., as used on the Mary Rose, c.1545 [Rule 201]), we have no examples of their use in period armory.
Jack (Accepted)
A similar charge in the Society, the “jack”, is noted for being made of leather, rather than metal or stoneware. Its shape is more conical due to its material, but the jack is an artistic variant only; it carries no heraldic difference from the tankard.
All forms of tankard have their handles to sinister by Society default. For related charges, see pitcher.
Daniel de Tankard bears: Gules, a tankard of beer Or headed argent.
Morgan Conner bears: Per pale sable and Or, two tankards, handles in the flanks, counterchanged.
Tadhg MacAodháin uí Chonchobhair bears as a badge: On a jack reversed sable a harp between three compass stars one and two Or.
Lion’s queue (Period); fox’s tail couped, tip to base (Period)
A tail is the caudal appendage of some beast, bird, or monster, used as a separate charge in its own right. The type of creature must be specified in the blazon; period armory has examples of lion’s tails (in the arms of Pynchebek, c.1460 [RH]) and fox’s tails (the badge of Thomas of Woodstock, d.1397 [HB 104]). Society armory has examples of dragon’s tails and yak’s tails, among others. Tails are palewise and erased by default; while most tails (notably lions’ queues) have the severed end to base, other tails (such as the fox’s tail) must be explicitly blazoned.
The term “queue” refers specifically to a lion’s tail. It may be “fourchy” (forked), or “nowed” (knotted), just as though attached to the lion. The illustration shows a lion’s queue and a fox’s tail couped, tip to base. See also ermine spot.
Shag Fevermore bears: Pean, a lion’s tail queue-fourchy erect Or.
Stewart Foxe bears: Per fess argent and gules, a fox’s tail with tip to base counterchanged.
A weaver’s tablet is a small card with holes, used to separate warp threads in a hand loom. The Society’s default form is more fully blazoned a “square weaver’s tablet”, with four holes arranged two and two. The artifact is ancient, with archaeological finds dating from at least the 9th Century [Peter Collingwood, The Techniques of Tablet Weaving, 1982, pp.14-16]; but it doesn’t appear to have been used in period armory. For related charges, see delf, die.
Thora Sharptooth bears: Gules, three square weaver’s tablets in bend Or.
Ciorstan MacAmhlaidh bears: Quarterly sable and argent, a square weaver’s tablet lozengewise counterchanged.
Astrid Olafsdotter bears: Vert, in cross four square weaver’s tablets bendwise argent.
A Mosaic tablet is a flat slab or plaque, suitable for enscription or engraving. Tradition makes this the form of the tablets on which Moses brought the Ten Commandments down from Sinai, hence the name. Though found in period art, we have no examples of them from period armory. In Society armory, Mosaic tablets are usually shown in conjoined pairs, though the fact is always blazoned. See also book.
Collawyn Lughaidh O Cearbhaill bears: Per fess argent and gules, in pale a lion contourny maintaining an Irish harp and two Mosaic tablets conjoined in fess counterchanged.
A table-trestle is a braced support for the top of a table. Two such trestles might be affixed to the ends of a horizontal beam for stability. Several trestles might also be used to fashion a larger table for occasional use, such as banquets; the table was not a permanent furnishing in such a case.
The table-trestle is a period charge, found in two slightly different forms. The form found in the arms of Awersberg or Auersberg, 1605 [Siebmacher 33] is a basic A-frame. Often, the table-trestle’s woodwork was decoratively carved: the illustration is taken from an example in the Luttrell Psalter, c.1340.
Another form of table-trestle, with three legs visible rather than two, is found in the arms of Stratford, 1480 [DBA3 442; also cf. Guillim1 213]. No difference is granted between the two forms. Both forms are shown in profile by default.
Katherina Mornewegh bears: Gules, a table-trestle Or.
Rodrigo de Burgos bears: Gules, a table-trestle argent.
A table is a piece of furniture, consisting of a large flat surface supported at waist-height by legs or trestles. The style does not seem to have been blazoned, in period or in the Society.
Trestle tables seem to be more commonly found in medieval armory. A typical depiction would show the trestle in profile, as in the arms of Marschalgk von Ostheim, 1605 [Siebmacher 101]. But we also have period examples of the trestle table in trian view, in the arms of Faltzner, c.1600 [BSB Cod.Icon 307:547]. The illustration is based on Faltzner.
Table (with legs) (Period)
Tables with four straight legs are less commonly found, at least in heraldry, but we do have one example: the arms of von Stüllingenn, early 16th C. [BSB Cod.Icon 392d:532]. This form of table should be drawn so that the legs may be distinguished, to aid in identification.
The Minister of the Lists of Atlantia bears: Per pale argent and azure, a table sable between three quill pens one and two bendwise sinister counterchanged.
Dananir al-Attarah bears as a badge: Atop a table sable a goblet gules.
The “shamshir” is a curved-bladed sword intended for slashing; it was favored by the Persian cavalry in the 15th and 16th Centuries, due in part to its light weight [Stone 550]. In Society armory, it is depicted more or less as the historical artifact; a highly stylized form of it became the heraldic scimitar. As an artifact from outside period Europe, the use of the shamshir is a step from period practice.
Haerraich the Cossack bears: Gyronny sable and argent, on a pellet two shamshirs in saltire argent, hilted Or.
Omar Abdul ben Akbar bears: Vert, a Turkish shamshir fesswise reversed, edge to base, distilling from its point three gouttes Or.
The term “seax”, when used in blazon, denotes a stylized sword resembling the scimitar but with a semi-circular notch in its back. It was attributed c.1460 to the arms of the Kings of Kent [RH]; it has more recently been used in the arms of Middlesex and Essex, presumably for the cant.
Many large knives of the Early Middle Ages, especially in England, have been termed “seaxes” by weapons historians; these do not resemble the stylized heraldic form. In Society armory, such cases are explicitly blazoned by type, e.g., the pre-Conquest “broken-back seax”, based on an item unearthed at Sittingbourne (currently in the British Museum).
Theodric Pendar of Faulconwood bears: Sable, upon a saltire cotised Or two seaxes in saltire sable.
Phillip of Dalarna bears: Vert, a seax between two estoiles wavy argent.
Eadgyth æt Stæningum bears as a badge: On a broken-back seax argent a flax stem vert flowered azure.
The term “scimitar”, when used in blazon, denotes a highly stylized sword with a crescent blade; it is an exaggerated depiction of actual swords from the Middle East, e.g., the shamshir. In its heraldic form, the scimitar is found in the arms of Chanpollo, c.1550 [BSB 272:195], and the arms of Hodgson, c.1520 [DBA4 436]; the latter were on occasion misblazoned in period as using falchions.
The term “saber” is recognized as a synonym for the scimitar [Parker 509]. It was once used in Society blazonry to denote a modern cavalry saber; this form of sword is no longer registerable.
Robert Blade bears: Argent, a scimitar gules and a scimitar sable crossed in saltire.
Schaibar of Lorien bears: Per fess Or and gules, a scimitar inverted bendwise sinister counterchanged.
Keradwc an Cai bears as a badge: Sable, three scimitars in annulo argent.
