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Tree

A tree is a large plant, with a main wooden trunk branching into foliage at the top. Its “proper” coloration is with green leaves and brown trunk. A tree “fructed” is bearing fruit, whose color may be specified; the fructing may also be considered artistic license, and added to a tree whether blazoned so or not.

Oak tree (Period)

Pine tree couped (Period)

In heraldic art, the tree’s leaves and fruit may be drawn much larger than in naturalistic art. Early examples, such as the canting arms (German Eich, “oak”) of von Eyck, c.1360 [Gelre 32v] show a very simplified and stylized form of tree. Later depictions, such as the oak tree in the allusive arms (Italian bosco, “wood”) of dal Bosco, mid-15^th C. [Triv 78], are closer to natural art but still exaggerate the size of the leaves and fruit [see also de Bara 75-77]. (Swedish heraldic art in particular is noted for this.) Finally, by the end of period, trees were drawn very naturalistically, as with the oak tree in the arms of Eychhauser, 1605 [Siebmacher 63], to the point that the type of tree becomes difficult to tell. The exaggerated style is therefore encouraged in the Society; a tree whose type cannot be determined is likely to be blazoned simply as a “tree”.

Orange tree fructed and eradicated (Period)

Palm tree couped (Period)

Many types of tree are found in heraldry. The oldest and most common type is the oak tree, found in the canting arms of Okestead, 1275 [ANA2 551]. (Indeed, if no specific type of tree is blazoned, the oak may always be used.) Many other types of tree are also found in period: the pear tree in the canting arms of Piriton, c.1285 [ANA2 551], the walnut tree in the canting arms (Latin nux) of de Noxigiis, mid-15^th C. [Triv 247], the olive tree in the canting arms of Oliveira, c.1540 [Nobreza xxxv], the beech tree in the canting arms (German Buche) of Bucher, 1605 [Siebmacher 64], the rowan tree in the canting arms (Italian sorbo) of Sorballi, c.1550 [BSB Cod.Icon 273:239]. (It should be obvious by now that cant was the primary reason in period for choosing a type of tree.) Society armory has instances of the pine, the linden, the ash, the yew, and the palm, among many others.

Willow tree (Period)

Poplar tree (Period)

For conflict purposes, the Society defines two broad categories for trees: coniferous trees, which are typically drawn with triangular foliage, and so-called “generic” trees, which are typically drawn with rounded or shapeless foliage. Pine trees and fir trees are examples of coniferous trees; oak trees and orange trees are examples of generic trees. Difference is granted between categories of tree; no difference is granted for type of tree within the same category.

Of special note are the willow and poplar trees. The willow tree is found in period armory in the canting arms (Latin salix) of von Salis, 1605 [Siebmacher 204]. The form used in period armory is the white willow; if the “weeping willow tree” is intended, it must be specified in blazon. No difference is granted between these variants.

The poplar tree had been ruled a step from period practice, based on the lack of period examples – particularly as it’s usually depicted, as the elongated “Lombardy poplar” [Fox-Davies, The Art of Heraldry, p.65]. However, the poplar tree in this form has since been documented, in the arms of Cardinal Dominic de Capranica, c.1550 [BSB Cod.Icon 267:179]. The Lombardy poplar, as it’s modernly known, is the default heraldic poplar tree for Society use.

Tree blasted and eradicated (Period)

Tree stump eradicated (Period)

Both the top and the base of a tree are subject to variation. At the base, the Society default is with a small upper portion of the roots showing, as might be seen in nature. The roots may also be “eradicated”, with the entire root system showing, as if forcibly uprooted from the ground; or “couped”, with the trunk cut cleanly, and no roots shown at all. The illustrations show an oak tree (with default roots), a pine tree couped, and an orange tree eradicated (and fructed as well).

At the top, the default is with leaves or foliage; but it also may be “blasted” or leafless, showing only the bare branches. This variant is found in de Bara, 1581 [77], who terms it un arbre sec (“a dry tree”). The illustration shows a tree blasted and eradicated.

A “stump” or “stock” is the bottom part of the tree, left after the tree has been felled; it was the canting badge of Zouche, c.1510 [HB 162]. The stump’s top edge is usually couped, but is sometimes found “snagged”, with the rough top surface tilted to the viewer. In Society blazonry, a “trunk” is a somewhat longer form of stump, while a “log” is simply a cleanly lopped form of a ragged staff. The illustration shows a stump eradicated.

Hurst of trees couped (Period)

A group of trees with their foliage conjoined may be called a “hurst”. When thus conjoined, the number of trees, even when blazoned, counts for no difference. Hursts are often issuant from a mount in mundane heraldry, but this fact is always specifically blazoned in Society heraldry. The illustration shows a hurst of trees couped.

For related charges, see: bush, créquier, slip, staff (ragged). See also fruit, leaf.

The King of Drachenwald bears: Or, in fess three pine trees eradicated gules, overall a dragon passant coward, all within a laurel wreath, in chief an ancient crown sable.

The Baron of Gyldenholt bears: Azure, on a hurst Or a laurel wreath vert, a bordure Or.

The Order of the Willow, of the Middle, bears: Purpure, a weeping willow tree eradicated Or.

Ioseph of Locksley, the Rhymer, bears: Vert, a tree eradicated argent.

Melodia of Okhurste bears: Per bend Or and argent, a tree blasted and eradicated azure.

Christian of Orange bears: Argent, an orange tree fructed proper issuant from a mount vert.

Catalina Estevez de Teixeira bears: Quarterly Or and gules, a yew tree eradicated proper.

Mustafa al-Jabal Tariqi bears: Argent, a palm tree couped gules within a bordure sable.

Allendale of the Evergreens bears: Argent, a pine tree proper.

Tala al-Zahra bears: Argent, an olive tree fructed and eradicated and a bordure gules.

Toly Woodsman bears: Per chevron argent and azure, three tree stumps counterchanged.

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.

Swan

Swan (Period)

The swan is a water bird, both graceful and fierce, famed for its death song; it was said to bring good luck. It’s found in the arms of Dale as early as 1387 [DBA2 153]. The young swan was also called a “cygnet”, especially for canting, as in the arms of Synnot, c.1470 [DBA2 178].

The swan is rousant or rising by default, as in the famous badge of Bohun, later of Henry IV [HB 109]. However, it’s very frequently found naiant in Society heraldry; this too is a period posture, as in the Belgian arms of Lanchals, c.1488 [von Volborth, The Art of Heraldry, 1987, p.90].

For related charges, see goose.

The Prince of Cynagua bears: Quarterly argent and Or, a swan rousant, wings elevated and addorsed sable, maintaining in its sinister foot a laurel wreath vert.

Amina de Talavera bears: Azure, a swan naiant argent crowned Or.

Nikolai Mikhailovitch bears: Or, three swans rousant gules.

Thomas Blackswann the Lefthand bears: Argent, three swans rousant contourny sable.

Stream

Stream in base (Period)

A stream is a small river or current of water, drawn in a naturalistic style. In medieval armory, streams are usually found in combination with other charges, such as a bridge; but they are also found as charges in their own right, as in the arms of da Cabrin, mid-15^th C. [Triv 109]. The period examples of streams tend to show them in base and throughout, but nonetheless that doesn’t seem to be a default; these details are explicitly blazoned in the Society. The illustration shows a stream fesswise throughout in base.

There are also examples of ordinaries wavy (e.g., the bend wavy in the arms of von Büren, 1605 [Siebmacher 167]) which have been diapered to represent running streams. The diapering in these cases is considered artistic, worth no difference, but the intent is clear: indeed, the canting arms of Sardinha, c.1540 [Nobreza xxxv°], even charges a bend wavy, diapered as a stream, with a strewing of sardines, to make clear the watery nature of the charge.

Japanese stream (Disallowed)

A highly stylized depiction of a stream is found in Japanese Mon, as borne by Okamoto [Hawley 26]; it might be blazoned, awkwardly, as “barrulets bevilled arrondi”. The difficulty of accurately blazoning it in European heraldic terms makes the Japanese stream unregisterable in Society armory. For related charges, see base (ford), wave.

Sefa Gunnvarardóttir bears: Argent, in fess two herons and in base a stream fesswise throughout azure.

Ishiyama Namban Tadashi bears: Argent, in chief a barrulet gemel bevilled arrondi and issuant from base a wave reversed sable.

Grímr Víthfari bears: Or, atop a bridge of three arches throughout a tower, the streams transfluent gules.

Stirrup

Stirrup (Period)

Leathered stirrup (Period)

A stirrup is a footrest for horse riders, a flat-bottomed ring of metal hung by a strap from the saddle. The standard heraldic form is the English stirrup; it is sometimes so blazoned. It’s a period charge, dating from 1308 in the arms of Kydemore [ANA2 549].

In medieval heraldry, the stirrup was usually drawn “leathered”, i.e., showing a bit of strap, though there are examples of unleathered stirrups as well (e.g., the badge of Gyfford, c.1520 [Walden 201]); in Society heraldry, the leather is not shown unless blazoned. The Society also has a single example of a “stirrup-cup”, which is identical to an inverted escutcheon in shape; this charge is unattested in period armory. See also spur.

The Order of the Golden Stirrup, of Æthelmearc, bears: A stirrup Or leathered gules.

Berengaria de Hainault bears: Azure, three stirrups Or, leathered argent.

Meadhbh inghean ui Bhaoighill bears: Per fess azure and Or fretty azure, a stirrup Or.

Sphinx

Greek sphinx sejant (Period)

Egyptian sphinx couchant (Accepted)

The sphinx is a monster from ancient myth, with a lion’s body and a human head. There are two forms of this monster, the Greek form and the Egyptian form, both of which date from antiquity.

The Greek sphinx (the riddling monster slain by Oedipus) is winged, and has a woman’s head and breasts; it’s the more common form, and the only form found in period heraldry. Blazoned simply as a “sphinx” in period, it is sometimes blazoned in the Society as a “winged” or a “gyno-sphinx” (gyno, “woman”). The Greek sphinx was described in period tracts [Bossewell II.46], and was granted as a crest to Robert Parris in 1573 [Dennys 118].

The Egyptian sphinx is the monster whose statue is seen at Giza; it has a man’s head, wearing a pharaonic headdress, and has no wings. It’s sometimes blazoned an “andro-sphinx” (andro, “man”) in the Society. Though the statue was known, the Egyptian sphinx doesn’t seem to have been used in period armory.

Of course, Society armorists take pleasure in conflating the two forms, and examples of “Greek andro-sphinxes” and “Egyptian gyno-sphinxes” have been registered. Go figure.

Neither form of sphinx has a default posture in Society heraldry; the illustrations show a Greek sphinx sejant and an Egyptian sphinx couchant. For related charges, see chimera (German), lamia, manticore, man-tyger.

Ariadne Leontodes bears: Argent, a Greek sphinx rampant azure winged sable.

Eirene Korinthia bears: Purpure, a Greek sphinx sejant Or.

Khalil el-Hadji bears: Or, an Egyptian sphinx couchant azure between in chief two scimitars inverted, blades to center sable.

Mammarra Liona of Egypt bears: Azure, an Egyptian gyno-sphinx rampant Or.

Sphere

Sphere, or armillary sphere (Period)

Terrestrial sphere (Period)

A sphere, more fully termed an “armillary sphere”, is an astronomical instrument representing the sky. The name comes from the Latin armilla, “hoop, ring”; the instrument consists of a set of rings, forming the framework of a sphere, with the Earth at its center. The rings represent the ecliptic, tropics, celestial equator, &c, of the sky. The armillary sphere is a period heraldic charge, found in the arms of the Worshipful Company of Joiners, 1571 [Bromley & Child 153].

There is also the “terrestrial sphere”, a globe of the Earth showing the lines of latitude and longitude, and perhaps a vague suggestion of continents. It too is a period charge, found in the crest of Sir Francis Drake, 1581 [Wagner 72].

Celestial sphere (Period)

Finally, there is the “celestial sphere”, showing the constellations and the band of the Zodiac: what the sky would look like from the “outside”, as it were. The celestial sphere is found in the crest of Bull, watchmaker to Elizabeth I [Parker 547].

For related charges, see astrolabe, clock, orb, roundel.

Ahmad ibn Salim al-Hasib bears: Sable, three armillary spheres argent.

Romas the Mapmaker bears: Per fess gules mullety Or and vert, a dance and in base a terrestrial sphere Or.

Aurelia Saturnina bears: Purpure, a celestial sphere argent between three bees proper.

Snaffle-bit

Snaffle-bit (Period)

A snaffle-bit is the part of the bridle which goes into the horse’s mouth; the rider controls the horse through direct pressure, without leverage. It’s a period charge, found in the arms of von Wierrant, 1605 [Siebmacher 40], and of Kasattel, mid-16^th C. [BSB Cod.Icon 392d:542; cf. Parker 63]. It’s sometimes blazoned, a bit redundantly, as a “riding snaffle-bit”. The snaffle-bit is fesswise by default.

Period forms of the snaffle-bit have a bar or curb at either end, to keep it from slipping from the horse’s mouth; and a ring, to attach the reins. While a snaffle-bit could be a solid bar, by far its most usual form is jointed in the center (as in the illustration); it is thus usually blazoned a “broken snaffle-bit” in the Society. (“Broken” here refers to the joint; it doesn’t mean the bit is fracted.) Society armory often emphasizes the joint by arranging the snaffle-bit in chevron.

There’s one Society example of a “double-strand snaffle-bit”, which is simply a broken snaffle-bit whose central part is made from two braided wires rather than a solid metal bar.

For related charges, see bridle.

Shishido Tora bears: Per bend sinister gules and sable, a snaffle-bit Or and an eagle argent.

Elizabeth de la Vigne bears: Vert, a broken snaffle-bit chevronwise argent and in base a sun Or.

Alail Horsefriend bears as a badge: A double-strand snaffle-bit fesswise.

Sitar

Sitar (questionable)

A sitar is a musical instrument from India, similar to a lute but with a very long fretted neck; it usually has six strings. Early forerunners (e.g., the tanbur) were known c.1300 in the works of Amir Khusrau [Grove 23:451]; but the sitar itself dates only to the 18^th Century. The neck is to chief by Society default.

Gandharva Candra bears: Azure, two sitars affronty in saltire Or.

Shoe

Slipper (Period)

Boot (Period)

A shoe is an item of clothing covering the human foot, to protect it or keep it warm. The generic shoe has the upper portion end at the ankle; it may be tied or buttoned in place. If without tie or button, it may also be termed a “slipper”, as in the canting arms (from Latin caliga, “footwear”) of di Calegari, mid-15^th C. [Triv 121].

Frequently, the specific type of shoe is blazoned, e.g., the “boot”, blazoned as “botys” in the arms of Byllyngedon, c.1460 [RH], where they are drawn as long boots; the “Irish broge”, a pointed-toed shoe found in the arms of Arthure, 1632 [Guillim2 299]; or the “sandal”, open footwear held in place with straps, which as a charge appears to be unique to the Society. All shoes have their toes to dexter by Society default; if blazoned “proper”, they are of brown leather.

Irish brogue (Period); sandal (Accepted)

Irish broge (Period); sandal (Accepted)

Despite Society precedent, boots in late period did have heels; and dexter and sinister boots were distinguished in period, though not in armory. For related charges, see hose, leg, sole.

Elizabeth Ryan of Rosewood bears: Lozengy sable and argent, a boot gules.

Alessandra Beatrice Desiderio bears: Per bend sinister argent and azure, two slippers counterchanged.

Christian de Guerre bears: Argent, three shoes and in chief a pearled coronet azure.

Mistholme

heraldry, illumination, and random jottings