Staple (Period)

A staple is a fastener for holding loose items firmly to a surface; it’s a squared-off U-shape, with the ends pointed.  It is found in the canting arms of Stapelton, temp. Henry VI [Bedingfeld 61].  The staple’s points are to base by default.  See also crampon, nail.

The Order of the Golden Staple, of the Barony of Rowany, bears:  Per pale vert and gules, a staple Or.

Steffan von Urwald bears:  Sable, a staple argent.

Vestia Antonia Aurelia bears as a badge:  A staple inverted gules.

Bourdon, or pilgrim’s staff (Period)

Ragged staff (Period)

A staff is a wooden pole, which might be used as a support or a weapon.  The unmodified term is rendered in Society armory as a simple, smooth pole, also known as a “rod”; but two other forms of staff are more prevalent in period armory.

The “bourdon” or “walking staff” is drawn with a handhold on its tip.  It was frequently drawn with a hook as well, for carrying a bag of belongings, and might then be blazoned a “pilgrim’s staff” or “palmer’s staff”; the terms are essentially synonyms.  The bourdon is found in the canting arms of Burdon, c.1285 [ANA2 221].

The “ragged staff” is a thick staff with raguly sides, like a tree trunk with the side-limbs lopped off.  This form dates from c.1360, in the arms of von Lipe or Leipa [Gelre 33v], but is most famous as an element in the badge of the Earls of Warwick, 15^th C. [HB 155].

Club (Period); crutch (Period)

Ambassador’s staff (Accepted); belaying pin (Accepted)

Other types of staff in period armory include the “club” (also called a “shillelagh” in the Society), a length of wood with a burl at the top, used as a cudgel; it’s found in the arms of von Keul, 1605 [Siebmacher 72].  There’s the “crutch” or “crutchstaff” (also, poetically, called a “potent”), found in the arms of di Scanci, mid-15^th C. [Triv 331]; it comes in varying forms depending on era, with the illustration being typical.

Of the staves unique to Society armory, there are the “herald’s staff” or “ambassadorial staff”, a short staff with ribbons; the “belaying pin”, used on sailing ships to secure lines and quell mutinies; the “jester’s bauble”, a short stick with a miniature jester’s cap on its end; and the “wand”, a term implying a more naturalistic drawing, perhaps with a leaf or two.

Jester’s bauble (Accepted); wand (Accepted)

All staves are palewise by default.  Their “proper” coloration is brown, the color of wood.  (The exception is the jester’s bauble:  when blazoned “proper”, it’s shown with a Caucasian face and a brown wooden handle; the colors of the cap must be explicitly blazoned.)  For related charges, see bend (baton), caduceus, crozier, distaff, juggler’s clubs, mace, scepter, slip (branch), thyrsus, torch (firebrand).  See also golf club, pole-arm, spear.

The Ambassador of Atenveldt bears:  Per pale azure and argent, in canton a sun in his splendour Or, in sinister base two ambassadorial staves in saltire azure.

Ivan Dragonstone bears:  Purpure, on a chief erminois a rod fesswise argent.

Addison the Wanderer bears:  Potent, two palmer’s staves in saltire Or.

Bertrade Deslapins bears:  Or, two ragged staves in saltire sable.

Georgis Ker bears:  Or, a wooden club bendwise proper.

Catriona the Lame bears:  Argent, a crutch sable within a bordure azure.

Dianna Wyndalan of Kidwelly bears:  Barry wavy sable and gules, in saltire a belaying pin and a sword argent.

Quin of the Eastern Harhar bears:  Argent, a jester’s bauble gules and in chief four golpes in arc.

Spiderweb (Period)

A spiderweb is the network spun by a spider to catch its prey.  It is described in Guillim’s Display of Heraldry, 1610 [151], and is considered compatible with period armory.  The spiderweb is throughout by mundane and Society default; some blazons nonetheless blazon this fact explicitly.  See also net.

The March of Grimfells bears:  Sable, on a pile throughout Or a spiderweb throughout sable charged with a laurel wreath vert.

Helga Iden dohtir bears:  Argent, a spiderweb azure.

Brangwayn Snowden bears:  Quarterly Or and gules, a spiderweb counterchanged.

Snowflake (Disallowed)

A snowflake is a single crystal of snow, feathery and six-pointed.  Snowflakes were once registered in Society armory, but as they aren’t found in period armory, they are no longer permitted.  See also escarbuncle.

The Baron of Nordskogen bears:  Azure semy of snowflakes argent, in canton a laurel wreath Or.

Trista de Winter bears:  Per pale sable and argent, in pale two snowflakes azure.

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.

Shackle (Period)

Shacklebolt (Period)

A shackle is a lockable restraint for the wrist (where it may also be called a “manacle”) or for the ankle (where it may also be called a “cuff”).  A single shackle (manetta in Italian) is a period charge, found in the canting arms of de Manetis, mid-15^th C. [Triv 218].  In English armory, there is also the “shacklebolt”, a pair of shackles joined by a short solid bar; it was the badge of Percy, Earl of Northumberland, d.1527 [Walden 258; HB 129], and found in the arms of Fenrother, Sheriff of London, 1513 [DBA2 496].

In Society armory, the shackle is frequently shown with a short length of chain dependent, to promote ready identification.  When blazoned “a pair of shackles (or manacles)”, the chain is understood to connect the two cuffs.    For related charges, see collar, fetterlock, padlock.

Thomas Shackle bears:  Azure, a broken shackle, dependent therefrom a broken chain of four links Or.

Maucolum de Duueglas bears:  Sable, three manacles and on a chief argent, a sword sable.

Hans the Gentle bears:  Or, a feather, on a chief gules a pair of manacles Or.

Ariana Elia Del Rosario bears:  Vert, three shacklebolts argent.

Scepter (Period)

A scepter is an ornamented rod or baton, borne as regalia by a sovereign as a token of authority.  The physical scepters borne by monarchs might vary widely; however, as an heraldic charge, the scepter follows a more standardized form, a baton tipped with a fleur-de-lys.  The scepter’s use as a charge dates from at least c.1340, in the arms of Kloten or Gloten [Zurich 220].  It’s palewise by default.  See also staff.

The Canton of Kynges Creke bears:  Vert, two scepters in saltire fretted with a laurel wreath Or, a ford proper.

Suleiman ibn Rawh bears:  Vert, a scepter argent.

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.