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Spear

Spear (Period); boar-spear (Period)

Tilting spear (Period)

A spear is a weapon for thrusting or throwing, with a sharp point set on a long shaft. It’s a period charge, found in the arms of Carlhaw, c.1450 [Ingeram 70]. The spear is palewise, with the spearhead (also called its “steel”) to chief, by default; a “spear proper” has a brown wooden shaft and a sable steel. The shaft and steel need not be the same tincture: the shaft’s tincture is considered the main tincture of the spear for contrast and conflict purposes.

In period armory, the most common form has a lozenge-shaped spearhead. The spearhead may have a crossbar partway down the shaft; this variant may be explicitly blazoned a “boar-spear”.

Also common in period armory is the “tilting spear”, also called a “lance” or “tourney spear”, characterized by its bell-shaped hand guard above the handle. Its most famous period example is the canting arms of Shakespeare, granted 1596 [Wagner 73].

Javelin (Accepted); pikestaff (Accepted)

In Society armory, there are examples of the “javelin”, a throwing spear used in sport, simply a sharpened stick; and the “pikestaff” or “pike”, a very long spear with a leaf-shaped head. For related charges, see pole-arm, spearhead, trident. See also staff.

The Order of the White Lance, of the Middle, bears: A lance argent.

The Baron of Red Spears bears: Or, two boar-spears in saltire surmounted by another palewise gules, overall a laurel wreath vert.

Angus Kerr bears: Or, a spear sable.

Stephen of Coldjoust bears: Ermine, a tilting spear palewise azure.

Skold

Skold affronty (Accepted)

A skold, or scoldsbridle, is an instrument of punishment, intended for women with sharp tongues. It consisted of a metal frame to enclose the head, with a sharp metal bit to restrain the tongue; it was often decorated with horns and derogatory pendants. Unsurprisingly, the skold has not been found as a period heraldic charge.

The illustration is taken from an ornate example, possibly intended for both sexes, temp. Henry VIII [Alice Morse Earle, Curious Punishments of Bygone Days, 1896, plate LXVI]. For related charges, see helm.

Aquel of Darkstead bears as a badge: Vert, a skold affronty argent, horned Or, belled argent.

Sackbut

Sackbut (Accepted)

A sackbut is an S-shaped brass musical instrument, the medieval precursor of the trombone. It’s a period instrument, dating from the 15^th Century [Grove 22:78], but doesn’t seem to have been found in period armory. The sackbut is palewise, bell to base by Society default; when fesswise, the bell faces dexter. For related charges, see horn (hunting), trumpet.

Davide Michelotto bears: Checky vert and argent, on a bend sinister gules a sackbut Or.

Wolfgang Neuschel der Grau bears as a badge: Azure, three sackbuts inverted within a bordure argent.

Rastrillo

Rastrillo (Period)

A rastrillo is a charge from Spanish armory, of uncertain origin. It has been described variously as a form of portcullis and as the head of a rake. It is certainly a period charge, found in the arms of Sarasa, mid-16^th C [Armeria 285].

Isabella Benalcázar bears as a badge: A rastrillo azure.

Portative organ

Portative organ (Accepted)

A portative organ is a musical instrument, a small pipe organ used in processionals; it was carried at the waist on a strap, with one hand working the bellows and the other hand playing the keyboard. It was a period instrument, dating from the 13^th C. [Baines 269], but does not appear to have been used in period armory. The portative organ is affronty by Society default, with the keyboard to the viewer. See also organ pipe.

Cecily of Elfhollow bears: Per fess azure and vert, a fess wavy Or between a portative organ and a New World dogwood blossom argent seeded vert.

Arend Adler bears: Per bend azure and gules, a portative organ argent.

Penguin

Penguin (SFPP)

The penguin is a flightless sea bird of the Southern Hemisphere, short and squat, with wings strongly resembling flippers. Breeds of penguin were known in period, described by Sir Francis Drake in 1578 [OED s.v. penguin], but none appear in period armory. The use of a penguin in Society armory is considered a step from period practice.

The penguin is statant and close by Society default, as in the illustration. The “proper” penguin is defined to be sable, bellied and marked argent, in roughly equal proportions; it should be colored as a breed of penguin known to period Europeans (such as the Magellanic penguin, illustrated).

Meghan Pengwyn of Wynterwood bears: Gules, an Emperor penguin close to sinister proper.

Josselyn ferch Rhys bears: Argent, four Emperor penguins statant affronty, one, two and one proper, all within a bordure azure.

Isabella Gase atte Cloude bears: Or, in fess three penguins statant affronty, heads facing to dexter, sable bellied argent.

Pen

Quill pen (Period)

Reed pen (Period)

A pen is a tool for writing or drawing with ink. The most common form of pen in heraldry is the “quill pen”, sometimes misleadingly (and wrongly) blazoned simply a “quill”; it’s found in the canting arms of Coupens c.1312 [ANA2 514]. The quill pen is the default form of pen for Society use; the illustration is taken from Bossewell, 1572 [III.4v]. But other types of pen are also found in Society armory, most notably the “reed pen” or “calamus”; this is simply a tubular reed with a split point at one end. It’s similar to the pens found in the arms of Hales, c.1520 [Woodcock & Robinson pl.13].

Pens are palewise by default, with points to base. For related charges, see feather. See also quill of yarn.

The Chronicler bears: Per pale sable and argent, two quills conjoined in pile counterchanged, a chief gules.

Elizabeth Bellclerke bears: Azure, in fess three quill pens bendwise sinister argent.

Catharine Hawkwod da Barbiano bears: Or, six quill pens azure.

Thomas Megatherium of Castle Leviathan bears: Per pale purpure and sable, a reed pen palewise Or surmounted by an anvil argent.

Pale

Pale (Period)

The pale is an heraldic ordinary, a vertical band down the center of the shield, occupying roughly one-third to one-fourth the shield’s width. Its diminutive is the “pallet”; Society blazonry does not recognize any other term for the pale’s diminutive.

The cotises of a pale are termed “endorses”; the whole may be blazoned a “pale endorsed” or a “pale between two endorses”.

Pale offset (Period)

Pale bevilled (Accepted)

The pale is subject to the normal complex lines: engrailed, wavy, &c. There are also some usages peculiar to the pale: The “pale offset” is divided along the fess line, with each half then shifted to dexter or sinister; an example is found in the Armorial Bellenville, c.1380, in the arms of von Zirn [Pastoureau 206]. The “pale bevilled” is divided bendwise sinister, and similarly shifted; this appears to be a Society adaptation.

For related charges, see chief-pale.

The King of Meridies bears: Argent, on a pale sable a crown of three points, above each point a mullet argent, overall a laurel wreath counterchanged.

Yñigo de Cueva bears: Or, a pale checky gules and argent.

Anne Balfour of Markinch bears: Ermine, a pale endorsed azure.

Katherine of Glastonbury bears: Vert, two pallets Or.

Angela of Rosebury bears: Gules, a pale offset between in bend sinister two mascles argent.

Musical note

Musical note (Accepted)

G-clef (Accepted); C-clef (Accepted)

A musical note is a written symbol, indicating pitch and duration to the performer. Musical notation had evolved continuously, from the “neumes” of the 10^th Century to the stemmed ovoids of modern notation. In Society armory, the musical note is commonly represented as a lozenge with a vertical stem out of its top corner, as used in 16^th C. Italian notation [Grove 18:136]. Specific types of notes may be blazoned a “fusa”, a “(semi)minim”, or a “(semi)quaver”, depending on the period and the exact form; no heraldic difference is granted.

Though we’ve no examples of their use as independent heraldic charges, musical notes were used to embellish charges in period armory, such as the “prick-song book” in the crest of the Worshipful Company of Parish Clerks, 1582 [Bromley & Child 191].

Other musical symbols were used as period charges: the arms of the composer Orlando di Lasso, 1570, uses the symbols “sharp”, “flat”, and “natural” as charges [Woodward 387]. Society armory also has examples of clefs, such as the “G-clef” and “C-clef”; the illustrations are taken from 16^th C. scores [Grove 6:26]. In all cases, period forms of the notation should be used.

Musical notation is exempt from the Society’s requirement that armory not consist solely of letters or similar symbols.

Quinlan of Sheare bears: Argent, on a chevron azure three quavers palewise argent.

Vincenzio di Bartolomeo da Brescia bears: Azure, three quavers argent.

Ivory Genevieve la Rouge bears: Vert, on a bend sinister between a G clef and a fleur-de-lys argent an ivy vine throughout vert.

Musical instruments

Society heraldry accepts as charges those musical instruments known before 1600, and a wide variety have been registered. In some cases the blazon makes a distinction purely for the artist’s sake; there is no heraldic difference between, e.g., a rebec and a gittern, and it would take a medieval musicologist to tell them apart. When in doubt, it’s best to be general, rather than specific: e.g., “fiddle” instead of “viola da braccio”.

In general, musical instruments are affronty by default, with the strings or fingerholes facing the viewer. For specific entries, see: bagpipe, bell, clarion, cornetto, drum, flute, gittern, guitar, harp, hautboy, horn (hunting), hurdy-gurdy, jew’s-harp, krummhorn, lute, lyre, organ pipe, panpipe, portative organ, psaltery, rackett, recorder, sackbut, sitar, trumpet, viol, whistle (mariner’s), zil, zither.

Mistholme

heraldry, illumination, and random jottings