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Weapons

Weapons are implements designed for combat or war; unlike armor, they are understood to be primarily offensive in nature. As medieval heraldry was originally borne by the warrior class, weapons were often used as charges.

For specific entries, see: arrow, axe, battering ram, bow, cannon, catapult, chaine shot, crossbow, fireball, flail, gun, hammer, knife, mace, pole-arm, pole-cannon, sling, spear, staff (club), streitgabelklinge, sword, trident, vajhra, zulfikar. See also quintain, quiver, scabbard.

Wave

Wave (Disallowed)

Japanese great wave (Disallowed)

A wave is a crest or swell on the surface of a body of water. Two stylizations are found in Society heraldry, one Occidental and one Oriental; neither is permitted any longer, though for different reasons.

The Occidental ocean wave may be stylized as one of the single elements of the wavy-crested line of partition; or it may be drawn naturalistically, with foam and spray. These stylizations are considered either “landscape heraldry” or intrusively modern, and are therefore disallowed.

In Japanese Mon, the nami or Great Wave employs a different stylization, as borne by Oguri [Hawley 75]; but it cannot be described using European blazonry terms. This brings it outside the Society’s domain; it is therefore disallowed.

The Society’s default for waves changed over the years; both dexter-facing and sinister-facing waves have been called the default. (Dexter-facing waves have been default more often, and both the illustrated waves face dexter.) The most recent Society practice has been to blazon the wave’s orientation explicitly. For related charges, see stream.

Genevieve du Puits bears: Azure, a wave reversed argent and in chief a sun sable, fimbriated argent.

Ryugen Morite bears: Sable, a Japanese dragon’s head issuant from a Great Wave reversed issuant from sinister increscentwise argent.

Wagon

Wagon (Period)

Covered wagon (Accepted)

A wagon is a four-wheeled cart for carrying goods, usually made to be drawn by a horse or ox; it’s also known simply as a “cart”. Its “proper” coloration is brown, the color of wood; it faces dexter by default. The examples from period armory, as in the arms of de Brambilla, mid-15^th C. [Triv 69], show open grates for the wagon’s sides; most wagons in Society armory have solid sides.

A two-wheeled variant, the “oxcart” (Italian baroccio), is found in the canting arms of di Barozi, mid-15^th C. [Triv 76].

Pageant wagon (Accepted)

War-wagon (Accepted)

Society variants of the wagon include the “covered wagon”, with a cloth covering stretched over circular hoops; the illustration is taken from the Douce psalter, c.1320. Similar is the “pageant wagon”, a wheeled performance stage, with curtains and ornamentation, used in 15^th Century England. Finally, there’s the “war-wagon”, with an embattled top and arrow slits. None of these variants have yet been attested in period armory; moreover, the pageant wagon carries a step from period practice. For related charges, see wheelbarrow.

The Baron of Nottinghill Coill bears as a badge: Or, a pageant wagon gules, its pennon staves and pennons azure, and its frontal curtain azure charged with a cross Or.

Æsa the Fierce bears: Vert, a wagon within an annulet argent.

Gunnora Aldyne bears: Azure, on a pale between two carts argent, a mouse rampant azure.

Alail Horsefriend bears as a badge: Per fess azure and argent, a war-wagon counterchanged and enflamed to sinister chief proper.

Viol

Viol (Period)

Rebec (Accepted)

A viol is a stringed musical instrument, a medieval cousin of the violin. It had a flat back, a fretted neck, and six strings; it was played with a curved bow. Its “proper” tincture is brown, the color of wood. When blazoned a “violin”, the Renaissance (i.e., modern) form is intended.

The terms “vielle” and “fiddle” are sometimes used to denote this family of instruments; these terms have the advantage of leaving the exact details and period to the artist. By whatever name, the charge can be dated to c.1340, in the arms of Wilfendingen or Wieladingen [Zurich 347].

Similar to the viol is the “rebec”, more pear-shaped, with a rounded back like a lute, and three or four strings. Heraldically, it is indistinguishable from the lute.

Both the viol and the rebec have strings to the viewer by default. The Society default is with neck to chief, contrary to the period default.

Samuel Piper bears: Quarterly vert and Or, four viols counterchanged.

Cedric Fithelere bears: Per fess azure and argent, on a pale engrailed between in chief two violins palewise, in base a violin palewise, all counterchanged.

Rebecca de Ravenstein bears: Vert, a rebec in bend sinister, pegheads in chief, crossed by a bow fesswise argent.

Vessels

Vessels are hollow containers for holding easily spilled contents. They come in a wide variety of shapes, depending on their intended purpose; they may be made of metal, wood, horn, ceramic or glass. If glass is intended, the charge should not be drawn as though transparent, through the use of voiding or chasing, but should be solidly tinctured.

For specific entries, see: amphora, apothecary jar, barrel, bottell, bottle, churn, cup, flask, horn (drinking), ink bottle, pitcher, pot, saltcellar, tankard, tub, urinal, vase. For related charges, see bowl, bucket, caldera gringolada, cupping-glass, frying pan, hourglass, mortar and pestle, water-bouget.

Vegetable lamb

Vegetable lamb (Accepted)

The vegetable lamb is considered a monster in Society heraldry, a mythical plant bearing young sheep as its fruit. It was first mentioned in the Travels of Sir John Mandeville, c.1371, but does not appear in mundane armory.

Society blazon uses the phrase “fructed” to refer to the full blossom, including the sheep (e.g., when of another tincture than the rest of the plant). If only the sheep’s tincture differs, the phrase “fructed of sheep” is used: that is, a “vegetable lamb vert fructed sable” has black blossoms and sheep, bujt a “vegetable lamb vert fructed of sheep sable” has green blossoms and black sheep.

Lysander Keisalovitch bears: Argent, a vegetable lamb vert.

Solange Sarrazin bears: Or, a vegetable lamb vert, flowered gules and fructed of sheep argent, a chief indented azure.

Áine Táilliúir bears as a badge: A vegetable lamb Or fructed of sheep sable.

Vase

Vase (Period)

A vase is a decorative vessel, generally taller than it is wide, and frequently double-handled; holding flowers was just one of its uses. It’s a period charge, found in the arms of Sodré, c.1540 [Nobreza xxxvº], and of von Könder, 1605 [Siebmacher 161]; a vase without handles (and bearing flowers) is found in the arms of Fogler or Vogler, c.1560 [BSB Cod.Icon 390:715].

Society armory also has the “urn”, more used for storage than display: similar in shape to the vase but somewhat broader in proportion, and usually without handles. For related charges, see amphora.

Thomas Tarn Travis bears: Per pale embattled Or and vert, in fess a tree and a vase counterchanged.

Richard of Havn bears: Vert, upon a plate two urns azure, a base indented Or.

Urinal

Urinal in its basket (Period)

A urinal is a vessel used by physicians for storing or transporting urine samples. It consists of a glass flask protected by a cylindrical wire basket; its full period blazon is “a urinal in its carrier” (ung orynall dedens son case), as in the crest of Louis Caerlion, a physician, 1493 [Bedingfeld 63].

Jaquelinne Sauvageon bears: Azure, a urinal argent basketed Or.

Tyger

Tyger rampant (Period)

Bengal tiger rampant (SFPP)

The tyger is an heraldic monster, described as incredibly swift and deceitful; its body is much like that of the wolf, but it has a crest of tufts on the back of its neck, and a tusk pointing down from its nose. Medieval legend asserts that to escape a pursuing tyger, one must throw a mirror before it, so that it will be entranced by its reflection; indeed, the tyger in the arms of Sybell, 1531, is in just such a pose [Dennys 144]. The illustration shows a tyger rampant.

When blazoned a “natural tiger” or “Bengal tiger”, the term denotes a natural beast, the great cat Felis tigris: like a maneless lion, but with stripes on its coat. When blazoned “proper”, its coat is tawny, and the stripes black; this naturalistic coloring is no longer permitted in Society armory, but standard heraldic tinctures (e.g., “a Bengal tiger Or marked sable”) may still be used. The use of a Bengal tiger is considered a step from period practice. The illustration shows a Bengal tiger rampant.

The King of the East bears as a badge: A tyger passant azure.

Alia la rousse bears: Gules, in pale two tygers passant argent.

Sean Fitzwallace bears: Gules, a Bengal tiger rampant guardant proper within a bordure counter-compony argent and azure.

Trumpet

Trumpet (Period)

Spiral trumpet, or spiral hunting horn (Accepted)

A trumpet is a brass musical instrument with a flared end and a blaring tone. Its default form is more fully blazoned a “straight trumpet”; it was used as an heraldic charge as early as 1285, in the canting arms of Trumpington [ANA2 475]. Two straight trumpets in saltire are the symbol of the SCA College of Arms, and reserved to the College and the seals of its Sovereigns of Arms and the Principal Heralds.

Bucina, or Roman tuba (Accepted)

Baroque folded trumpet (Accepted)

Society armory also has examples of the “spiral trumpet”, also called a “spiral hunting horn“, the precursor of the modern French horn; the “baroque folded trumpet”, like a sackbut but with no moving parts (its length made a full range of notes possible); and the “Roman tuba” or “bucina”. All these trumpets have their bells to chief by default. See also cornetto, organ pipe.

The College of Arms bears: Vert, two straight trumpets in saltire, bells in chief Or.

Halla in heppna Knorsdottír bears: Purpure, in fess three straight trumpets Or.

Daven Echern bears: Azure, on a plate a horse salient to sinister sable, in base a spiral trumpet Or, all within a bordure embattled argent.

Corwyn Iain MacAern bears: Per chevron sable and argent, a griffin passant and a Roman tuba reversed counterchanged.

Lijss van den Kerckhove bears as a badge: Or, a baroque folded trumpet fesswise reversed purpure and in chief two rosemary sprigs fesswise conjoined at the stem vert.

Mistholme

heraldry, illumination, and random jottings