Bellows (Period)
A bellows is a device that produces a stream of air when its handles are pumped; it’s used in blacksmiths’ fires, and in pipe organs. It’s a period charge, found in the arms of von Beilentz or Bellentz, 1413 [Conz.Const. clxix]. The bellows has its spout to base by default.
Medhbh inghean Uí Eidirsceóil bears: Argent, a bellows within a bordure rayonny purpure.
Bern Bellower bears as a badge: Argent, a bellows fesswise sable.
Bell (Period)
Hawk’s bell (Period); hand bell (Accepted)
A bell is a cup-shaped musical instrument that rings when struck. The default heraldic bell is the “church bell”; it’s sometimes blazoned that way, and some Society examples show it in its stock (like the standard representation of the Liberty Bell). The bell is an ancient charge, dating from c.1295 in the allusive arms of Porter [ANA2 127].
Another bell found in armory is the “hawk’s bell”, of the type found on a hawk’s jesses. It’s found in the canting arms of Bellinkhoven, c.1370 [Gelre 102], and the arms of von Ernau, 1605 [Siebmacher 46]. The French term is grelot; Society blazons may also term it a “jester’s bell” or a “dancer’s bell”.
Cowbell (Accepted)
Of the types of bell peculiar to Society armory, we find the “hand bell”, with a handle on the top: a period artifact, the hand bell was used first as a public alarm or signal (as with town criers), but by 1300 were tuned instruments used in processionals [Grove 10:745-6]. We also find the “Oriental bell”, one of their cylindrical temple bells, drawn much as a church bell but with no flare at the rim. Finally, there’s the “cowbell”, worn by cattle to aid the cowherd in finding them – and evidently, a period folk instrument as well, documented as such in Virdung’s Musica Getutscht, 1511 [Montagu 91]. All of these bells, like the church bell, have their clappers to base by default.
For related charges, see zil. See also vair-bell.
The Baron of Carillion bears: Or, a bell within a laurel wreath sable.
Uberto Renaldi bears: Gules, three church bells argent.
Clarel Belton bears: Vert, three hawk’s bells argent.
Isabella Flora Turpin bears: Per fess vert and argent, a hand bell and a terrapin statant to sinister counterchanged.
Rosamund von Schwyz bears as a badge: On a cowbell argent a fleur-de-lys purpure.
Beehive (Period)
A beehive is a box or other shelter for a colony of bees; it may also be termed a “bee skep”. The heraldic form is the medieval variety, which is basket- or dome-shaped. The beehive is a period charge, found in the arms of Fray, mid-16th C. [Bedingfeld 58].
Beehives are often depicted beset by bees, which fact is always blazoned. See also bee.
Therasia Mellita bears: Gules semy of bees, a beehive Or.
Artemisia of Nicaea bears: Purpure, a beehive argent within bees in annulo Or.
Barbara MacAuley bears: Azure, a beehive between four bees in cross argent.
Basket (Period)
A basket is a small container of woven cane or straw, with a handle for carrying. The unqualified term refers to a generic round hand-basket; this form is found in the arms of Lyttylborne or Littleborn, c.1480 [DBA1 106; Parker 45; Bedingfeld 58]. Medieval heraldry has also the “bread-basket”, a two-handled basket filled with breadloaves, as found in the arms of Milton or Middleton Abbey, 1405 [DBA1 106, Parker 46]. For related charges, see fan (winnowing). See also urinal.
Morwydd Fyngwen bears: Azure, a basket Or, in chief three snowflakes argent.
Caterina Leonora de Forza d’Agro bears: Or, a round-bottomed basket within a bordure vert.
Lisabetta Bartholomea Zanca bears: Per pale gules and azure, a handbasket and a base Or.
Barrel (Period)
A barrel is a cylindrical wooden vessel, often for liquids, made of staves held together with hoops; it’s also known as a “cask” or “tun”, or (in one 16th Century grant) a “kilderkin”. In some Society examples it may be blazoned a “keg”, particularly if it has a spigot inserted. The barrel is a period charge, found in the arms of the Worshipful Company of Vintners, 1447 [Bromley & Child 253].
The barrel is fesswise by default; its “proper” tincture is brown. For related charges, see tub.
Ingvarr olfúss bears: Gules, three barrels Or.
Brandy of Mirkwood bears: Per pale undy ermine and gules, in pale three casks azure hooped Or.
Timothy Okenbarrel bears: Argent, a pall inverted gules between three barrels proper.
Bag of madder (Period)
A bag of madder is a bundle of madder roots, wrapped in cloth and bound with cords for transport. It’s a period charge, found in the arms of the Worshipful Company of Dyers, c.1530 [Bromley & Child 79]. The bag of madder is fesswise by default. For related charges, see cushion, wool-pack.
Elysant d’Antioch bears: Argent, a bend sinister between a tree blasted sable and a bag of madder gules corded sable.
Nikolai Gornostai Spiach’ev bears as a badge: A bag of madder erminois.
Bag (Period)
A bag is a cloth or leather container that can be tied shut at the top, used for holding money or other small items. The most common form in Society heraldry may also be blazoned a “drawstring bag”, “sack”, or “pouch”; it is a period charge, found in the canting arms of von Sax, 1413 [Conz.Const. clxx], and of von Montsax, 1605 [Siebmacher 202]. (The prefix “string-” helps differentiate these from the basic “(wool-)bag” or “(pilgrim’s) purse” of mundane heraldry.) The bag is typically drawn filled, as in the illustration; and this is sometimes made explicit in blazon, e.g., “money-bag”.
The Society has a few examples of special-purpose bags, usually identified through context: e.g., a “bag with a harp issuant” may be assumed to be a harp-bag, a protective covering for the harp.
The term “bag” was also used in medieval blazon to denote a bundle of goods sold in commerce; for clarity’s sake, in Society blazon, the contents of the bag are explicitly blazoned, as with the bag of madder. For related charges, see scrip.
The Order of the Winged Pouch, of Insula Draconis, bears: A pouch azure winged Or.
Fabiano Figlio degli Due Sacchi bears: Per pale embattled Or and gules, two sacks, their necks tied with cords, counterchanged.
Anton von Heidelberg bears: Lozengy vert and Or, in pale an owl argent perched atop a drawstring pouch fesswise gules.
Renna of Battersea bears as a badge: A lion-posted harp fesswise reversed argent issuant from a bag erminois, lined vert. [Harp-bag]
Apothecary jar (Period)
An apothecary jar is a broad-mouthed vessel with a flat or conical lid, used to hold unguents; it was also called an “ointment jar”. Though the sides were usually straight, as shown here, jars used by apothecaries might have slightly bulging sides; this is left to the artist’s license.
As an heraldic charge, the apothecary jar is found in the attributed arms of Christ, in the Hyghalmen Roll, c.1450 [Dennys 98], and possibly as the crest of Roder [Siebmacher 165]. In medieval art, it was one of the attributes of St. Mary Magdalen. A similarly shaped vessel, blazoned as a buserra or bussolotto in Italian, is found in the canting arms of de Bussero, mid-15th C. [Triv 60].
Martha the Healer bears: Argent, on a bend sinister azure between a mandolin bendwise sinister, peghead in chief gules, and an apothecary jar vert voided argent, a pair of fetterlocks joined by a chain argent.
Isabel de Estella bears: Or, an apothecary jar sable lidded within a bordure indented gules.
Amye Elizabeth Barrington bears: Purpure, on an apothecary jar argent a frog vert.
Pair of dog-headed andirons (Period)
A pair of andirons are a metal stand, used for holding logs in a fireplace; they are modernly also known as “firedogs”. Andirons are found in period rolls, in the attributed arms of the King of Ethiopia, mid-16th C. [NW 92].
Period heraldic examples show andirons conjoined in pairs, stylized and frequently decorated with animal or human heads; the type of heads should be specified in the blazon. The illustration shows a pair of dog-headed andirons. Single andirons, stylized but not conjoined as part of a pair, are a step from period practice.
Diterich Schwarcz bears: Sable, a pair of dog-headed andirons conjoined respectant and on a chief argent a rose gules.
Galfryd Yrinmonger bears: Argent, a pair of dog-headed andirons conjoined respectant and on a chief purpure a smith’s hammer argent.
Pádraig Lowther bears as a badge: A pair of swan-headed andirons conjoined respectant argent.
Amphora (Accepted)
Jug (Accepted)
An amphora is an ancient Greek storage vessel, with a constricted neck and two handles (Greek amphi, phoreus, “double handles”). Though a period artifact, we’ve no examples of the amphora in period armory. The default form in Society armory has a flat bottom, as in the illustration; this was often a painted luxury item in ancient Greece [Singer, plate 18]. The utilitarian “wine amphora” has a pointed base, instead of a flat base.
Similar to the amphora is the “jug”, usually with a rounder body and narrower neck, and made to be carried by one person. For related charges, see bottle, vase.
The Calontir Waterbearer’s Guild bears: Azure, on a two-handled jug fesswise reversed argent, distilling a gout d’eau charged with a gout de larme, a cross of Calatrava azure.
Alisoun MacCoul of Elphane bears: Or, a black-figure neck amphora, cracked in chief proper.
Lina Hen bears: Per chevron ermine and gules, in base a wine amphora Or.
Claudia Prima bears: Gules, three amphorae Or.