Plane

Block plane (Period)

A plane is a woodworker’s tool, designed to smooth planks: it consists of a sharp metal edge slightly extending from a block of wood or metal, and may be blazoned a “block plane” for that reason. It was used as the badge of Jean sanz Peur, Duke of Burgundy, 1406 [Laurent Hablot, “The Use of Emblems by Philip the Bold and John the Fearless”, p.83]; the illustration is taken from that badge. The block plane is shown in profile, fesswise and with the toat (handle) to dexter by default. See also drawknife, float, shave.

Aleyn Kynyd ap Rhys bears: Per bend azure and argent, a block plane and a viol bendwise counterchanged.

Robert of Sugar Grove bears: Per pale gules and azure, a block plane Or.

Pick

Pick (Period)

A pick is a mining tool for breaking up rock, soil, &c. It is found in the canting arms of Pycot, 1357 [DBA2 483]; it may also be termed a “pick-axe” or “miner’s pick”. The pick’s head was usually shown single-pointed in period emblazons; the point faced dexter by default, as in the illustration. Double-pointed picks were seldom found in period armory, but an example is seen in the canting arms (dial. Italian ponzón, “spike”) of di Ponzo, mid-15^th C. [Triv 283]; this variation of form is left unblazoned in the Society. For related charges, see axe, hammer.

Gerwald of Devon the Miner bears: Per chevron inverted azure and argent, in chief a pickaxe bendwise argent, a base embattled vert.

Francisco Sanchez Pancho bears: Sable, two pickaxes in saltire argent.

James Odo bears as a badge: A pickaxe Or.

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.

Nail

Passion nail (Period); tiler’s nail (Period)

A nail is a sharpened metal spike, driven with a hammer, used for holding together or anchoring pieces of stiff material (such as wood). Nails are palewise, point to base, by default.

Heraldry doesn’t firmly define the different types of nails: some of the names below have all been applied to the same type of nail. The following definitions are in most general use:

In period armory, the most common form of nail has a square cross section (seen with one corner to the viewer, appearing triangular) and a pointed head. It has been blazoned simply as a “nail” (cloue in French), as in the canting arms of Clouvyle or Clonvile, c.1520 [DBA2 513, Guillim1 209; also de Bara 59]. The same form, however, is also sometimes termed a “passion nail”, symbol of Christ’s Passion [Parker 447], and it is so blazoned in Society armory. The passion nail is found in the civic arms of Nagolt, 1605 [Siebmacher 226].

The “tiler’s nail” is a builder’s implement, with a square cross section and a flat head; Parker [422] cites this form of nail in the canting arms of Tyler, which DBA1 [390] dates temp. Henry VII.

Horseshoe nail (Accepted); closing nail (Period)

Parker also cites the “horse nail” or “horseshoe nail”, though giving no illustration; however, by assigning it to the arms of Clouvile, he apparently equates it with the default nail (i.e., passion nail). In Society armory, the horseshoe nail is based on period artifacts.

Finally, there is the “closing nail”, used by glaziers to hold pieces of stained glass in place during leading. It too is a period charge, having been borne (without authority) by the Worshipful Company of Glaziers in 1588 [Bromley & Child 115].

The types of nail are not always distinguished in emblazons, and no heraldic difference is granted between them. For related charges, see rivet. See also staple.

The Order of the Silver Nail, of the Barony of Stargate, bears: Per chevron inverted sable and argent, a horseshoe nail and a horseshoe counterchanged.

Guy Nagel bears: Or, two passion nails in saltire sable.

Padruig Maclennan bears: Argent, a chevron gules between two crosses crosslet fitchy and in pile three tilers’ nails points conjoined all within a bordure embattled sable.

Christopher Starling bears: Per bend sable and argent, a closing nail bendwise sinister argent.

Sigurðr inn danski bears as a badge: A tiler’s nail Or.

Mortar and pestle

Mortar and pestle (Period)

A mortar and pestle is a set of tools for grinding substances to powder. The mortar is a hard, deep bowl; the pestle is a club, which does the grinding. They are usually found together, with the pestle in the mortar. Mortars and pestles are period charges: the illustration is from the arms of Wakerley, mid-16^th C. [Bedingfeld 58]. See also bowl, cup.

Willem Gerritsz van Wije bears: Sable, three mortars and pestles Or.

Elizabeth Rea bears: Per saltire argent and vert, a mortar and pestle sable.

Edain de Burgh bears: Per pale vert and argent, three mortars with pestles counterchanged.

Mill

Mill (Period)

A mill is a facility for grinding or crushing. The term usually refers to a grist mill, for grinding grain into flour: it consists of one or more large circular stones (“millstones”), mounted on an axle, and turned by wind, water, or animals. The mill is a period charge, found in the canting arms (German Mühle, “mill”) of von Uhrmuhl, 1605 [Siebmacher 98]. In this form, the axle is vertical, with a balancing beam on top. For related charges, see grindstone. See also windmill.

Leikr hrafnasveltir bears: Or, a mill sable.

Mildryth Thomaswyf bears: Gules semy of mills Or.

Eadric the Younger bears: Per chevron vert and azure, on a chevron argent three mills palewise sable.

Mash rake

Mash rake (Accepted)

A mash rake is a tool used by brewers, with a long handle and cross-barred tines. It was used to churn the mash and keep it well mixed while steeping. The mash rake was the attribute of St. Arnold of Soissons: the illustration was taken from a mid-15^th C. image of the saint, in the Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent. A similar artifact, possibly a mash rake, is found in the arms of Meilenhofter, mid-16^th Century [NW 47]. For related charges, see fork.

The Baron of Mordenvale’s Company of Brewers bears: Per chevron vert and gules, two mash rakes in saltire Or.

Iago Cabrera de Cadiz bears: Sable, a mash rake Or.

Giles Ballard bears: Gules, a mash rake argent.

Lucet

Bone lucet (Accepted)

A lucet is a tool for making braided cord. There is evidently controversy over whether certain bone artifacts from the Viking era, such as those excavated from the Coppergate dig at York [Arthur MacGregor, “Anglo-Scandinavian Finds from Lloyds Bank”, The Archaeology of York vol.17, 1982], were actually used as lucets in period. Nonetheless, on the basis of those finds, the “bone lucet” (so blazoned to distinguish it from more modern forms) has been registered once in Society armory. The bone lucet is roughly rectangular, with two prongs at one end. It is defined in the following armory.

Freydis inn kyrra Alfarinsdottir bears: Sable fretty, on a pale Or a bone lucet gules.

Loom

Harness loom (Accepted)

A loom is a mechanism for weaving two sets of thread together to form cloth. The simplest looms date from prehistory; several types of loom were used throughout period. Although a period artifact, we’ve no examples of the loom used as a period heraldic charge.

The illustration is of a harness loom, which uses foot pedals to raise and lower the harnesses holding the heddles. It would be used by a human facing dexter, which makes this depiction the default orientation. Harness looms might have one of several designs; the depiction is taken from Jost Amman’s Book of Trades, 1568 [56].

Diana Doria bears: Azure, a harness loom argent.

Level

Water-level (Period)

A-frame plumb-line (Accepted)

A level is a tool used by carpenters and architects for determining the true horizontal and vertical. The level found in period armory was blazoned a “water-level” in the arms of the Worshipful Company of Plumbers, 1588 [Bromley & Child 204]: a roughly triangular piece of wood, encompassing a plumb-line; the flat side is to chief by default.

Society armory also has the “A-frame plumb-line”, simpler but less accurate than the standard level. It dates from ancient Egypt, and was probably in use through the Dark Ages [Singer 672], but we’ve no examples of its use in period armory.

Bróccín Stratton bears: Per bend sinister sable and azure, on a bend sinister bretessed between a water-level and a fish haurient Or, three roundels azure.

Jonathan Ryder bears: Tierced per pall inverted sable, Or, and gules mullety Or, in chief two A-frame plumb lines in fess counterchanged.

Renfield Trelain bears: Vert, an A-frame plumb line argent.

Mistholme

heraldry, illumination, and random jottings

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