Search Results for: Tower

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.

Winged charges

Winged tower (Period)

Occasionally, inanimate charges may be shown with a pair of wings attached. Period examples include the winged column in the arms of von Oberndorff, c.1560 [BSB Cod.Icon 390:772]; the winged mount of six hillocks, in the arms of Lugarini, c.1550 [BSB Cod.Icon 278:423]; and the winged arrow in the arms of Zinngall or Zingel, c.1600 [BSB Cod.Icon 307:536]. By default, the wings will be eagle’s wings displayed, of comparable size to the charge. The wings are attached to the charge on its dexter and sinister sides; the exception seems to be for winged shoes, feet, &c, where the wings are addorsed and attached near the heel. The illustration shows a winged tower, as in the arms of Baldovini, c.1550 [BSB Cod.Icon 274:339]. See also winged monsters.

Uther vom Schwartzwald bears: Sable, a winged chalice Or.

Denys Calais bears: Gules, a key Or winged argent.

Bronwyn Schutelisworth bears: Or, a weaver’s shuttle palewise vert winged sable.

Windmill

Windmill (Period)

A windmill is an edifice for drawing power from the wind, consisting of a roofed tower supporting four sails on a central axis. The sails are set saltirewise by Society default.

The windmill was used in the rebus badge of Kingsmill, 1557 [Siddons II.2 336]. A pair of windmill’s sails alone were also used, in the arms of Newmarche, c.1460 [RH], and as the badge of Willoughby, 1449 [HB 157]. See also whirligig.

The Baron of Delftwood bears: Quarterly azure and argent, a windmill, sails crosswise, and in sinister chief a laurel wreath counterchanged.

Alis of Tuscon bears: Quarterly azure and argent, a windmill gules, vanes throughout and set saltirewise Or.

Marcos de Valencia bears: Or, three windmills purpure.

Wall

Wall (Period)

Wall issuant from base, with door (Period)

A wall is a stone barrier or fence. It may be found attached to an edifice, such as a tower or castle; the arms of Vinay, c.1370, show a tower with a wall extending to sinister [Gelre 50]. However, the wall was frequently used as an independent charge in its own right.

Two forms of wall are found in period armory. The default form is embattled and throughout, negligibly different from a fess embattled; this form is found in the arms of Wineck, c.1460 [GATD 20v]. The other form of wall issues from base, which must be explicitly blazoned; this form is found in the arms of Kettenberg or Calterberg, also c.1460 [GATD 20v]. The latter form of wall may be fortified with watch towers, or have a port or gate; such details are always blazoned. The illustration shows a wall issuant from base with a gate.

As walls are assumed to be of stone, they are frequently drawn masoned, even when not explicitly blazoned. For related charges, see bridge, fence.

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

Ziegfried Gunter von Wieselburg bears: Or, a wall issuant from base gules, the gate closed proper, and issuant from the battlements a demi-weasel rampant sable.

Griffith Jenner bears: Sable, a wall issuant from base argent masoned and portalled sable and in chief three A-frame plumb lines Or.

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.

Lighthouse

Lighthouse (Accepted)

A lighthouse is an edifice with a fire on top, used as an aid to navigation. Though a period structure, dating from ancient times (e.g., the lighthouse of Pharos), it does not appear in medieval armory. For related charges, see beacon, tower.

Spurius Furius Eruditus bears: Argent, a bend sinister wavy azure between an open flame lighthouse gules and a lymphad, sails furled, sable.

Karl Friedrich von Sturmhofen bears: Argent, a lighthouse sable enflamed in chief gules within a bordure rayonny sable goutty argent.

Hops

Hop cone slipped and leaved (Period)

Hops are the fruit of the hop vine; they may also be termed “hop cones”, and perhaps the term is more readily understood. Hops are added to beer to give it bitterness, being first added in the 11^th Century; hops were cultivated by twining the vines around poles. Hops are found in the rebus badge of Elizabeth Hopton, d.1498 [Marks & Payne 40]. The “hop vine” and the “hop pole” (a staff palewise with a hop vine entwined around its length) have likewise been used in Society armory.

Hops, like most fruit, have their stems to chief by Society default. The illustration shows a hop slipped and leaved. For related charges, see thyrsus. See also pine cone.

The Canton of Humalasalo bears as a badge: Gules, a hop pole between three tankards Or.

Carson Brewer bears: Per bend sable and argent, a hop cone slipped and leaved argent.

Ilona von Neunhoff bears: Gules, a hop vine palewise Or fructed argent, a bordure compony azure, semy of towers argent, and Or.

Iylla Rethelsson bears: Azure, in bend two stalks of barley bendwise sinister embowed Or surmounted by two hop cones conjoined in fess argent.

Gun

Arquebus (Accepted); pistol (Accepted)

The term “gun” is used here to mean any firearm held and used in the hand (as opposed to, e.g., cannons or mortars). This category of weapon includes the “musket” and the “arquebus”, long-barrelled firearms with shoulder stocks (the top charge in the illustration); and the “pistol” or “handgun”, less accurate but capable of being fired in one hand (the bottom illustrated charge). Such weapons are period: the arquebus was in use by the late 14^th Century [Stone 71]. They were also used as period heraldic charges: a handgun, with a large bore and a small handle, is found in the canting arms of Gonson, c.1520 [DBA1 56]; a long gun with a strap (presumably an arquebus) was the canting badge of John Gunthorpe, Dean of Wells (d.1498) [Siddons II.2 335].

Any type of gun is acceptable in Society armory, so long as it was known in period: matchlock, wheellock, and flintlock weapons are all permitted. A firearm “proper” has a brown wooden stock and black metal parts; it is fesswise, muzzle to dexter by Society default.

Gate

Gate (Period)

Gateway (Disallowed)

A gate is an entrance in a fence or wall; it usually swings on hinges. The default heraldic gate is a “corral gate”, sometimes called a “field-gate” or “farm-gate”; this is sometimes explicitly blazoned. The gate is drawn as a barred wooden frame, not solid like a door. It’s found in the arms of von Haxthausen, 1605 [Siebmacher 186]. The gate’s “proper” coloration, as with all wooden charges, is brown.

There is also the “gateway”, two huge doors hinged on towers; the charge is unique to Society armory, and is no longer permitted. See also door, drawbridge, portcullis.

The Shire of Caversgate bears: Sable, a gate within and conjoined to a stone archway within a laurel wreath Or.

Eric of Coppergate bears: Argent, a farm gate within an orle engrailed gules.

Eye

Eye (Period)

Cat’s eye (Accepted); Dragon’s eye (Disallowed)

An eye is an organ for seeing. It was used as an heraldic charge in the arms of di Belugi, mid-15^th C. [Triv 80], and in the badge of Blount, c.1520 [HB 79]. The default heraldic eye is the human eye. At one time, the Society defined proper tinctures for the eye, but that practice has been discontinued; eyes not solidly tinctured must be specified, e.g., an “eye argent irised azure”.

Other eye variants unique to Society heraldry include the “cyclopean eye”, which is perfectly round; the “cat’s eye”, with a slitted pupil; and the “dragon’s eye”, which has been described as a Germanic rune, and is no longer permitted for use in Society heraldry.

Kelan Greeneye bears: Azure, three eyes argent irised vert.

Melisande Shadow bears: Sable, two cat’s eyes vert pupilled sable and fimbriated argent.

Hywel ap Riccerch bears: Per saltire vert and gules, a barrel helm affronty argent, within the eyeslit a cyclopean eye argent irised sable.

Frederic of the West Tower bears as a badge: Or, a dragon’s eye gules.

Mistholme

heraldry, illumination, and random jottings