Wing

Wing (Period)

Wing (Period)

Wings are those limbs of a flying creature that provide the lifting force.  Those of birds are feathered, those of bats membranous; the feathered wing is the default type, to be used unless otherwise specified.  All wings are displayed by default.
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A wing may be used as a single charge; this usage dates from c.1295, in the English arms of Peek [ANA2 556].  Both dexter wings and sinister wings are found in period armory.  The mundane default has varied between countries and times; the Society default is the dexter wing. 
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Wing terminating in a hand, sustaining a sword fesswise reversed (Period)

Wing terminating in a hand, sustaining a sword fesswise reversed (Period)

Issuant from a sinister wing, a hand maintaining a sword (Period)

Issuant from a sinister wing, a hand maintaining a sword (Period)

In German heraldry, the single wing may “terminate in a hand” (often maintaining a sword, as in the illustration), with the hand opposite the wing’s severed end; it’s found in the arms of the Dukes of Calabria, 1413 [Conz.Const. xcviii].  This is distinguished in blazon from a hand or claw “issuant from a wing”, where the hand issues from the wing’s severed end; it’s found in the arms of the Marquis de Vilena, c.1370 [Gelre 62v].  (There is also an example of a wing terminating in an eagle’s head, in the arms of von Ernberg, 1605 [Siebmacher 103].)  These variations are always blazoned.
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Vol, or pair of wings conjoined (Period)

Vol, or pair of wings conjoined (Period)

Pair of wings conjoined in lure (Period)

Pair of wings conjoined in lure (Period)

Wings are also found in pairs, with a dexter and a sinister wing, frequently conjoined.  (The difference is subtly blazoned:  two separate, dexter wings would be blazoned “two wings”, while a dexter wing and a sinister wing would be “a pair of wings”.)  This usage dates from c.1285, in the arms of Derneford [ANA2 555].

A pair of wings may be conjoined: this was considered artist’s license, as the same arms could be drawn either with the wings conjoined or separate. A pair of wings displayed and conjoined may also be blazoned a “vol”, the French term for the motif; this is seen in the arms of von Hohenfels, 1606 [Siebmacher 140]. If the conjoined wings are displayed with tips inverted, they are known as “wings conjoined in lure”, as in the arms of Jane Seymour, d.1537 [Woodcock & Robinson pl.19].

Finally, of Society-unique charges, we find the “set of seraph’s wings”:  six wings conjoined, arranged as if attached to a seraph.

Bat’s wings are much less common in medieval armory than bird’s wings:  Your Author knows but a single example, the badge of Daubeney, Earl of Bridgewater, d.1548 [HB 81].  For related charges, see lure.

The Baron of the Angels bears as a badge:  A set of seraph’s wings Or.

The College of Cathanar bears:  Vert, a sinister hawk’s wing argent and in canton a laurel wreath Or.

Matill of Windkeep bears:  Purpure, three sinister wings argent.

Brioc Morcannuc bears:  Azure, a vol Or.

Herman Mandel bears:  Barry and per pale sable and Or, a wing terminating in a hand maintaining a sword all within a bordure gules.

Etienne Michel de Calais bears:  Argent, in pale three pairs of bat-wings conjoined gules.

Gustavus von Goslar bears:  Or, an eagle’s dexter wing terminating in an eagle’s head sinister facing sable, a chief rayonny gules.

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