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Tower

Tower (Period)

Spired tower (Period); domed tower (Period)

A tower is a fortified edifice, roughly cylindrical with an embattled top; the door faces the viewer by default. The tower is frequently depicted with a cruciform arrow-slit facing the viewer; this is frequently left unblazoned. When blazoned “proper”, the tower is grey (i.e., argent), the color of stone. The tower is often drawn masoned, even when not explicitly blazoned so.

The top of the tower is subject to variation. A “tower triple-towered” has three tiny towers issuant from its top, as in the arms of Amcotte or Amcots, c.1550 [BSB Cod.Icon 291:94]. A tower may be “spired”, with a conical roof, as in the arms of Harta or Harsdorf, mid-16^th C. [BSB Cod.Icon 308:372]. Or it may be “domed”, hemispherically by default, as in the arms of Burnsen, 1562 [BSB Cod.Icon 265:122]; the Society has examples of “onion-domed” towers as well.

Tower conjoined to wall extending to sinister (Period)

Siege tower (Accepted)

A tower may be conjoined to a wall extending to sinister, as in the arms of Tour de Vinay, c.1370 [Gelre 50]. It may be “ruined” or “ruinous”, with the foundation intact but the top crumbled away. A “tower enflamed” has flames issuant from the top, and often the windows as well.

Finally, there are the tower variants unique to the Society: The “pagoda” is an Buddhist temple building with characteristic eaves. The “minaret”, associated with mosques, is a spire with a balcony near the top, where the muezzin may call the Faithful to prayer. The “siege tower”, or “belfroi”, is a wheeled siege engine which permits attackers to climb into a castle while safe from the defenders; it faces dexter by default, and its “proper” coloration is wooden brown.

Minaret (probable SFPP)

Pagoda (questionable)

Period heralds drew no distinction between the tower and the castle, treating them interchangeably; the exact blazon was often chosen solely for a cant, as with the arms of Towers, c.1310 (bearing what we would deem “castles” though the cant makes them towers) [ANA2 169]. Society heraldry distinguishes the castle from the tower for the sake of the artist, but grants no heraldic difference. For related charges, see lighthouse. See also bridge, wall.

The Baron of the Lonely Tower bears: Quarterly sable and gules, in pale a tower and a laurel wreath argent.

The Shire of the Isles bears: Barry wavy argent and azure, a tower within a laurel wreath gules.

Ann of the White Tower bears: Sable, a tower argent.

William of Hoghton bears: Per bend sinister sable and Or, in bend two towers counterchanged.

Adrian Buchanon bears: Per pale wavy azure and gules, a pale wavy between a tower argent, portalled to sinister, and a wooden siege tower proper.

Margherita di San Gimignano bears: Per bend argent and azure, a conical tower erminois.

Alysandra the Whyte Moor bears: Per bend sinister vert and argent, an onion-domed tower Or and a dragon’s head couped at the shoulder gules.

Joella of Blue Lion’s Keep bears: Per fess argent and azure, a lion passant and a tower conjoined to sinister with a wall, all within a bordure counterchanged.

Ito Nori bears: Per fess Or and sable, three flames and a pagoda counterchanged.

Yolanda del Campo de Cerdana bears as a badge: Counter-ermine, in fess a minaret and a dome conjoined at their bases argent illumined Or.

Tools

Tools are implements to help in building or making. The term can be applied very broadly, but is usually understood to refer to the hand tools employed in industry or artisanry.

For woodworking tools, see: adze, awl, axe, chisel, drawknife, float, gimlet, hammer, knife, plane, saw. See also nail, square.

For metalworking tools, see: anvil, graver, hammer, punch, tongs.

For tools involving cloth, clothing, or thread, see: broach, drop-spindle, hempbreak, knife, loom, shears, spinning wheel. See also comb (wool), needle, quill of yarn, shuttle, spool of thread.

For gardening or agricultural tools, see: adze, axe, fork, harrow, hoe, plough, pruning hook, rake, scythe, sickle, spade, trowel.

For tools related to food and drink preparation, see: brewer’s scoop, fork, frying pan, knife, mash rake, pot, spoon, strainer. See also cleaver, oven, sieve.

For building or stoneworking tools, see: axe, chisel, hammer, knife, level, pick, saw, trowel. See also ladder.

For other entries, see: brush, grozing iron, press, shave.

Sword: estoc

Estoc (Period)

The “estoc”, or “tuck”, is a sword with a narrow square blade, with no cutting edge. It was intended solely for thrusting, through gaps in the foe’s armor [Stone 223]; it was the precursor to the rapier of late period. The estoc is found in the canting arms of Tuck, 1419 [DBA4 431].

Illuminada Eugenia de Guadalupe y Godoy bears as a badge: An open book argent and overall an estoc inverted Or.

Spearhead

Spearhead (Period)

Boar-spear head (Period)

A spearhead is the metal point affixed to the shaft of a spear. It may also be blazoned a “fer-de-lance”. The usual form of spearhead found in period armory is lozenge-shaped; it’s occasionally shown “embrued”, with the point bloodstained.

The spearhead is frequently also shown with a crossbar, as in the arms of Andelfingen, c.1340 [Zurich 370]; this form may be explicitly blazoned as a “boar-spear head”.

Cronel (Period)

There is also the “cronel”, the head of a tilting spear, with prongs to help it affix to its target; it’s intended for practice bouts, not actual tourneys, since the broader head spreads the force of the impact. The cronel is found in the arms of Wiseman, 1523 [DBA2 320].

All forms of spearhead have their points to chief by default. For related charges, see arrowhead, pheon.

The Shire of Amlethsmore bears: Quarterly gules and Or, a spearhead within a laurel wreath counterchanged.

Iulstan Sigewealding bears: Sable, three spearheads Or.

Richard of Rideja bears: Chevronelly argent and gules, a spearhead sable.

Sheaf

Sheaf of three spears (Period)

A sheaf is a bundle or cluster of objects. The unmodified term is normally considered equivalent to a garb, and this is sometimes made explicit (e.g., “a sheaf of wheat”). But in blazonry, the term also refers to a group of three charges, two in saltire surmounted by another palewise. The term is most often used with arrows: a “sheaf of (three) arrows” is a common motif, found in the arms of Joskyn, c.1435 [DBA1 11]. But the term has also been used in mundane blazons for charges other than arrows [Franklyn 302], and it has been adopted for use in Society blazons as well. (It thus replaces older, more awkward neologisms, such as “in estoile” or “in gyronny”).

The illustration shows a sheaf of three spears. It is also possible to have more than three charges in a sheaf, but such cases must be explicitly blazoned.

Sten Stensson bears: Vert, three sheaves of arrows argent.

Conaire Anluan MacMurchadha bears: Vert, a sheaf of three spears argent within a bordure checky vert and Or.

Kilic ibn Sungur ibn al-Kazganci al-Turhani bears: Sable, a sheaf of five swords argent within an orle Or.

Rose

Rose (Period)

The rose is a beautiful flower, the most frequently used flower in heraldry. It is also one of the oldest, dating from the earliest heraldry in the arms of Darcy, c.1255 [Asp2 137]. Its standard heraldic form is somewhat stylized: shown affronty, with five petals separated by barbs, and central seeds. The barbing and seeding may be of a different tincture than the rest of the rose; when blazoned “barbed and seeded proper”, the barbs are green, the seeds gold. In Society heraldry, a “rose proper” is gules, barbed vert, seeded Or.

Early heralds made no distinction between heraldic roses and cinquefoils, considering both the blazons and emblazons interchangeable (as in the cadet arms of the Darcy family through the 14^th Century). They are thus negligibly different in Society armory. Period heraldry has rare instances of four-petaled or six-petaled roses (e.g., the arms of Rosenberger, 1605 [Siebmacher 215]); these variants are likewise negligibly different in Society armory, and indeed are often left unblazoned.

Roses may be slipped and leaved; the serrated leaves and thorny stems of nature are here employed. Examples of roses slipped and leaved are more prevalent on the Continent than in England: e.g., the arms of Güttingen, c.1340 [Zurich 55]. Note that “roses slipped and leaved” are distinguished, by blazon and heraldic difference, from “rose branches flowered”.

“Garden rose” slipped and leaved (SFPP); garden rosebud slipped and leaved (Disallowed)

For several years, Society blazons distinguished between the stylized rose of heraldry and the “garden rose”, depicted as found in nature: seen in side view, the petals overlapping and slightly spread. (The illustration shows a garden rose slipped and leaved.) This distinction is no longer made: all roses, be they heraldic or natural, are now blazoned simply as “roses” – with the understanding that they may all be legitimately drawn in the heraldic form. If the emblazon is submitted with a garden rose, however – seen from the side – it’s considered a step from period practice. Moreover, a naturalistic rose may not be blazoned “proper”, as roses in nature come in many colors. (The exception had been the “Damask rose proper”, which was treated as pink. This variant is no longer permitted, as being too naturalistic for medieval heraldry.)

A more specific variant of the garden rose was the “garden rosebud”, depicted with the petals closed, before the flower has fully bloomed. (The illustration shows a garden rosebud slipped and leaved.) This rose variant is no longer permitted in Society armory.

A “double rose” is an heraldic rose charged with another. When the inner petals are the same tincture as the outer petals, the double rose is treated as an artistic variation of the standard heraldic rose (indeed, the fact that the rose is doubled is currently left unblazoned), with no difference granted. When the inner and outer petals are of different tinctures, the outer petals are blazoned first: i.e., “a double rose gules and argent” and “a rose gules charged with a rose argent” are equivalent blazons.

A “rose en soleil” is shown with solar rays, alternating straight and wavy, issuant from its edges; this was a badge of Edward IV, d.1483 [HB 97].

In English cadency, the rose is the brisure of the seventh son. In the War of the Roses, the white rose was the badge of the House of York, and the red rose the badge of the House of Lancaster; roses of those tinctures may not be used in Society armory when the submitter’s name includes “of York” or “of Lancaster”, respectively. The Tudor rose, combining the York and Lancaster roses (in any of several specific ways, such as impaled), is prohibited from Society use. Likewise, the crowned rose is an English Royal badge, and so not registerable in the Society.

Kendall flower (Disallowed)

Mamluk rosette (Disallowed)

Of rose variants unique to the Society, the most common is the “Kendal flower proper”: a simplified rose of six petals, alternately argent and gules, barbed Or, seeded vert. This form was once disallowed, as being a variant of the Tudor rose; while the motif is now registerable, it’s no longer blazoned by the Society-specific term. There is also the “Mamluk rosette”, a motif found in Arabic art, which is essentially a stylized sexfoil; it likewise has been disallowed, as having been too uncommon in period to be compatible with Society armory.

For related charges, see foil.

The Legion of Courtesy, of Caid, bears: A rose Or barbed and seeded vert.

Alys of the Midnight Rose bears: Or, a rose slipped and leaved azure.

Jonas Aquilian bears: Azure, three roses argent.

Sonja of Atenveldt bears: Per chevron azure and sable, a rose gules en soleil argent.

Aurelia of Ashton bears: Azure fretty argent, on an open book Or a damask rosebud slipped and leaved proper.

Kaidu ibn Yesugai bears: Azure, on a bend sinister Or between two Mamluk rosettes argent, an arrow inverted sable fletched gules.

Gerhard Kendal of Westmoreland bears: Or, a lizard tergiant displayed vert between in fess two Kendal flowers proper.

Rogacina

Rogacina doubly crossed (Period)

A rogacina is a cypher charge from Polish heraldry, resembling a broadarrow mounted on a straight shaft. It was used in the arms of the Powała or Ogonczyk herb, c.1460 [GATD 120]. The rogacina was frequently misblazoned in Western Europe as an “arrow” or “arrowhead”. The rogacina has its point to chief by mundane and Society default.

The shaft of the rogacina was frequently treated in some way: singly or doubly crossed, forked, or conjoined to another charge (e.g., another rogacina, a demi-annulet, &c). As these details can count for difference, they must be explicitly blazoned. The illustration shows a rogacina doubly crossed. See also letters, pheon.

Angharad Rhos Tewdwr of Pembroke bears: Azure, a rogacina crossed and fourchy argent.

Vitus Polonius bears: Per bend gules and sable, a rogacina doubly crossed and fourchy argent.

Vytautas Vilkas bears: Per pale vert and sable, a rogacina bendwise sinister doubly crossed and fourchy argent.

Ribbon

Ribbon (Disallowed)

A ribbon, or riband, is a long narrow strip of silk, linen, &c. Though the ribbon had at one time been used as a charge in its own right in Society heraldry, the practice is now disallowed. Ribbons may still be used, however, in conjunction with another charge: e.g., as the decoration on a chaplet.

Sometimes the term “riband” was used to mean a diminutive of the bend by 19^th Century heraldic writers, but it is more often used in its normal sense; and always so in Society heraldry. For related charges, see escroll.

The Gyllene bandets orden, of Nordmark, bears: A ribbon Or.

Aegina de Spencer bears: Gules, a mascle of two ribbons entwined, two ends pendant from chief Or, thereon in cross four sunflowers proper.

Quiver

Quiver with two arrows (Period)

A quiver is a container that allows for the protection of and easy access to arrows. It’s found in the arms of Loyd, 1632 [Guillim2 336]. The quiver is palewise by default. If the quiver contains arrows, the fact must be blazoned; the illustration shows a quiver with two arrows.

Tsunetomi Todomu bears: Sable, a Japanese quiver with two arrows within a bordure argent.

Elizabeth Wingfield bears: Per pale and per chevron gules and Or, a quiver holding two arrows sable.

Malcolm Hogg bears: Per chevron sable and vert, three quivers each with two arrows argent.

Piping beast

Piping beast rampant (Disallowed)

This odd monster resembles a bat-eared, rat-like human figure, with a tail ending in a hand, and a nose like a trumpet (which it’s playing!). The piping beast was defined in the armory below; as a Society invention, its use is no longer allowed.

Padraic ui Faolin bears: Quarterly gules and azure, a piping beast rampant Or, holding in its sinister forepaw an arrow bendwise inverted and in the tail paw a trefoil argent.

Mistholme

heraldry, illumination, and random jottings