Search Results for: dove

Dove

Dove (Period)

The dove is a bird related to the pigeon, with a soft cooing cry. It is often used as a symbol of peace, and thus is sometimes shown with an olive slip in its mouth, as in the arms of the Worshipful Company of Tallow Chandlers, 1456 [Bromley & Child 237]. In heraldic art, the dove is distinguished by a small curled tuft on top of its head. The dove’s “proper” coloration is white, with pink (some sources say gules) beak and legs; its default posture is close.

“Descending” is a special term applied to doves, equivalent to “migrant to base”. A “paraclete” is a dove portrayed as the Holy Spirit: descending and with a halo.

Francesca of Bright Angel bears: Azure, a dove displayed, head elevated argent.

Serena Fabrizio bears: Sable, three doves volant contourny argent.

James de St. Germain bears: Purpure, upon a chevron argent beneath a paraclete descending proper three crosses of Lorraine sable.

Tortoise

Tortoise (Period)

The tortoise is a slow-paced, armor-shelled reptile. It may also be blazoned a “terrapin”; it has sometimes been blazoned as a “turtle” in the Society, though the term is modern for the reptile (it referred in period to a type of dove). While the terms are zoologically distinct, they are heraldically synonymous. The tortoise is a period charge, found in the arms of Esslinger, 1605 [Siebmacher 51].

Society armory also has examples of the “natural sea-tortoise (or turtle)”, which differs from the tortoise by having flippered feet. It shares the same defaults as the tortoise, and is considered an artistic variant only. However, pending period evidence, the natural sea-tortoise may only be tergiant (or a rotation thereof) in Society armory.

The tortoise is tergiant fesswise by English default, and tergiant palewise by Continental default; Society practice follows the Continental default. The use of a tortoise rampant is deemed a step from period practice. The natural sea-tortoise may only be tergiant in Society armory, pending documentation of other postures.

Geoffrey Maynard of York bears: Per fess engrailed Or and azure, in chief a tortoise tergiant vert.

Aoife inghean Eoghain bears: Argent, three tortoises azure.

William de Grey bears: Vert, three natural sea-turtles Or.

Paternoster; Rosary

Paternoster (Period)

A paternoster is a closed string of beads with a small cross or tassel pendant at the bottom, used for meditation and prayer. It’s a period charge, found in the arms of Ruswörmb or Rußworm, 1605 [Siebmacher 144]. If the pendant cross hangs from a short beaded string, it may also be blazoned a “rosary” in Society armory; and this is the modern term for both forms of the charge.

The paternoster’s beads may be uniform in size, or may have larger beads at regular intervals: both forms were found as period artifacts, and it is considered an artistic detail in Society heraldry. See also jewelry.

Christian de Holacombe bears as a badge: A paternoster gules, its cross Or.

Elizabethe Alles bears: Argent, a paternoster purpure tasseled Or and on a chief dovetailed purpure three escallops argent.

Poplyr Childs bears: Or, two arrows in saltire vert within a rosary gules.

Nest

Dove reguardant atop a nest (Period)

A nest is a roost for birds, consisting of a shallow bowl woven of wooden twigs; its “proper” tincture is therefore brown. It’s never found in period heraldry except when a bird is sitting in it, as in the crest of Nobrega, c.1540 [Nobreza xxº]. The illustration shows a dove reguardant sitting in a nest. See also birdcage.

The Order of the Cygnets Nest, of Meridies, bears: A swan sitting in a nest proper within and issuant from an annulet argent.

Danamas of Starlinghurst bears: Azure, atop a demi-wall issuant from dexter base, a starling contourny argent perched in a nest Or.

Label

Label (Period)

Label couped (or dovetailed) (Period)

The label is an ancient charge, dating from early heraldic records, c.1244 [Asp2 220]. It consists of a horizontal stripe with several short dags (called “points”) dependent from its lower edge.

By default the label is in chief, throughout, and of three points. This form of label, the label throughout, was the earliest form of the charge, and remains the most common. However, the label’s form varied as time passed, with the points sometimes being drawn splayed, and sometimes with the label not throughout. This more compact form has been blazoned in the Society as a “label dovetailed” or a “label couped”. Current Society practice is to treat both forms of label as artistic variation, and to not blazon the precise form.

The label was recognized throughout Europe as the brisure of the eldest son. However, there are examples (in both period and Society armory) of its use as an independent charge, with no cadency intended: e.g., the arms of Woldenberg, c.1370 [Gelre 45v].

Seamus Ruadh bears: Gules ermined Or, a label argent.

Cei Myghchaell Wellinton bears: Per pale Or and bendy gules and ermine, a label sable.

Valentino da Siena bears: Per pale sable and Or, in pale three labels couped counterchanged.

Keystone

Keystone (Accepted)

A keystone is the central stone found at the top of an arch, which has the job of keeping the two halves of the arch from collapsing. Though the term was used in period, the keystone does not seem to have been a period heraldic charge. In Society armory, the keystone is defined to be trapezoidal, with the wide edge to chief; this appears to have been a common form in period architecture. This form is similar in shape (though inverted) to the “quoin”, a wedge-shaped cornerstone, as found in the canting arms (Portuguese cunha) of Cunha, c.1540 [Nobreza x].

A form of keystone frequently used in Society armory is a stylized modern form, one of the symbols of the state of Pennsylvania: a trapezoid with two notches in the upper corners. This form is considered a step from period practice.

The Order of the Keystone, of Æthelmearc, bears: Or, on a keystone gules an escarbuncle argent.

Jon Trimara bears: Per chevron vert and gules, in saltire an arrow inverted and a sword Or and in chief a dovetailed keystone gules, fimbriated Or.

Lysken die Waeyer bears: Vert, three keystones argent.

Garlic

Bulb of garlic (Period)

Garlic is a pungent herb, a strong flavouring for food and a talisman against some evils. It’s generally shown as a “bulb”, which fact is explicitly blazoned; garlic bulbs are found in the canting arms (German Knoblauch) of Knobloch, 1605 [Siebmacher 210]. The bulb’s point is to chief by Society default.

Period armory also gives us the “garlic plant”, which shows the stalk as well as the bulb; it’s found in the arms of Luchau, c.1370 [Gelre 42]. See also fruit.

Myfanwy Crisiant ferch Dafydd bears: Gyronny purpure and Or, a bulb of garlic argent.

Desdemona Polizziano bears: Purpure, a garlic bulb, a chief dovetailed argent.

Float

Bowyer’s float (Period)

A float, or flote, is a bowyer’s tool, a multi-bladed wood shave used to shape the bow. It’s a period charge, used as a badge by Oldhalle, 1457 [Hope2 182], and in the arms of the Worshipful Company of Bowyers, 1488 [Bromley & Child 25]. The float has its handle to chief by default. See also plane.

Domhnall Ó Catháin bears: Per pale azure and sable, a griffin segreant and on a chief dovetailed argent two floats gules.

Drumstick

Drumstick (Period)

A drumstick, as the name implies, is used to strike a drum to obtain its note. Guillim, 1610 [224], describes its use as a charge, and it is therefore accepted for Society use. The striking end of the drumstick, a knob which may be padded, is to chief by default. For related charges, see dulcimer hammer.

The Musicians’ Guild of Gwyntarian bears: Per pale dovetailed gules and azure, a set of panpipes, a rebec affronty and a bow in saltire, and a tabor and drumstick Or.

Drum

Drum (Period)

Dumbeg (Accepted)

A drum is a musical instrument of the percussion family; it usually consists of a hollow wooden cylinder with at least one end covered by a stretched membrane. It’s a period charge, found in the canting arms (French tambour) of Jehan Tabourot, d.1595. (Tabourot is better known under his pseudonym of Thoinot Arbeau; he blazons his arms in the dedication of his Orchésographie. See also Woodward 383.) The illustration is taken from the example in Guillim, 1610 [224]. The default drum, used in war and processionals, was a “side drum”, or in modern terms, a tenor drum; it’s palewise by default, with the drumhead to chief.

Society armory gives examples of the “dumbeg” (“dumbek”, “doumbec”), a goblet-shaped drum found in Muslim lands, often used as accompaniment for dancers. The dumbeg itself does not appear to be a period instrument, but it belongs to a class of Muslim goblet drums collectively known as darabukka, which are period: an example is found in the Cantigas de Santa Maria of Alfonso the Wise, late-13^th Century (from which the illustration is taken). Society blazons continue to use the term “dumbeg” for continuity’s sake.

Tambour (Accepted); timbrel (Accepted)

Kettle drum (Accepted)

Also found in Society armory is the “kettle drum” or “naker drum”, with a closed hemispherical body, as found in the Luttrell Psalter, c.1340. We have the “tabor”, like the side drum but not as tall, worn on the hip and played together with a flute; examples of pipe-and-tabor players date back to c.1270 [Montagu 47]. The “tambour” is a wide shallow drum; when cymbals are mounted around the frame, it becomes a “tambourine” or “timbrel”, as seen on a relief by Agostino di Duccio, c.1454 [Remnant 165].

Drums, when blazoned “wooden [type of drum] proper”, have brown cylinders or frames, and argent drumheads, by Society convention; sometimes the drumhead is explicitly tinctured.

Geoffrey de Barde bears: Sable, a drum argent.

Naila Kalilah bears: Purpure, a serpent glissant bendwise Or between a dumbeg and a pair of zils argent.

Anna Kalita bears: Purpure, two kettle drums in fess Or, in chief two drumsticks in saltire argent.

Sean Tabor bears: Gules, a sword inverted argent piercing a tabor Or, a bordure per pale argent and Or.

Roger the Goliard bears as a badge: Azure, on a demi-sun issuant from base Or in fess a mandolin bendwise sinister, a recorder bendwise, and a wood-framed tambourine all proper, in chief three doves volant argent.

Mistholme

heraldry, illumination, and random jottings