Spear (Period); boar-spear (Period)

Tilting spear (Period)

A spear is a weapon for thrusting or throwing, with a sharp point set on a long shaft.  It’s a period charge, found in the arms of Carlhaw, c.1450 [Ingeram 70].  The spear is palewise, with the spearhead (also called its “steel”) to chief, by default; a “spear proper” has a brown wooden shaft and a sable steel.  The shaft and steel need not be the same tincture: the shaft’s tincture is considered the main tincture of the spear for contrast and conflict purposes.

In period armory, the most common form has a lozenge-shaped spearhead.  The spearhead may have a crossbar partway down the shaft; this variant may be explicitly blazoned a “boar-spear”.

Also common in period armory is the “tilting spear”, also called a “lance” or “tourney spear”, characterized by its bell-shaped hand guard above the handle.  Its most famous period example is the canting arms of Shakespeare, granted 1596 [Wagner 73].

Javelin (Accepted); pikestaff (Accepted)

In Society armory, there are examples of the “javelin”, a throwing spear used in sport, simply a sharpened stick; and the “pikestaff” or “pike”, a very long spear with a leaf-shaped head.  For related charges, see pole-arm, spearhead, trident.  See also staff.

The Order of the White Lance, of the Middle, bears:  A lance argent.

The Baron of Red Spears bears:  Or, two boar-spears in saltire surmounted by another palewise gules, overall a laurel wreath vert.

Angus Kerr bears:  Or, a spear sable.

Stephen of Coldjoust bears:  Ermine, a tilting spear palewise azure.

Hand sling (Period)

Slingstaff bendwise (Period)

A sling is a cupped piece of leather tied to cords or thongs, and used as a hand catapult for throwing stones.  The better known form may be more fully termed a “hand sling” (à la David and Goliath); the cup is to base and thongs to chief by default.  If the sling’s projectile must be specified (e.g., of another tincture), the hand sling is termed “loaded”.  The hand sling is found in de Bara’s Blason des Armoiries, 1581 [151], in the attributed arms of King David.

Period heraldry also has the “slingstaff”:  essentially a hand sling fastened to a long pole, with a hook to hold the sling closed until released.  This form is found in the arms of Curdon or Cawarden c.1520 [DBA1 9; cf. Parker 542].  See also weapons.

Morris Kendrick bears:  Sable, a hand sling loaded argent.

Rikk Starhurler bears:  Vert, in bend sinister a sinister hand couped inverted grasping a sling proper, therein a mullet of four points Or.

Scabbard (Period)

A scabbard is a sheath for a sword or other bladed weapon.  In period armory, it is usually found enclosing the sword; in Society armory, it is occasionally found as a separate charge in its own right.

The scabbard is point to base by default when empty, or when worn on the belt (empty or not), or when the sword is being drawn.  When the sword is sheathed within it (the two forming a single visual unit), the scabbard is point up by Society and English default, following the sword’s default (as in the arms of Gelibrand or Jelibrand, temp. Henry VIII [Parker 566], or of the City of Gloucester, 1536 [Hope 71]), while the point is down by Continental default (as in the arms of Pot, d.1430) [GATD 150].

The Windmaster’s Hill Guild for the Appreciation of the Opposite Sex bears:  Per chevron azure and vert, in dexter a claymore proper, in sinister a scabbard argent mounted Or.

Pole-cannon (Accepted)

A pole-cannon is a very large-bore firearm, mounted at the end of a sturdy stick for the (theoretical) safety of the user.  The defining instance in Society armory is based on a design used at Crecy, 1350 [cf. Stone 229]; similar weapons were used on the Tudor warship Mary Rose, c.1545 [Rule 158].  The mouth is to chief by Society default.

For related charges, see cannon, gun.  See also rocket.

Ioseph of Locksley, the Rhymer bears as a badge:  Per fess vert and argent, in saltire two pole-cannons Or, hafted sable, enflamed proper.

Melchior Woelffling van Meckelenburch bears:  Azure, a pole-cannon Or enflamed proper, on a chief argent three mushrooms purpure.

Berdiche (Period); billhook (Period)

Halberd (Period); pole-axe (Period)

This class of weapon is characterized by the long shaft by which damage may be inflicted at a safer distance.  Usually a sharp implement is attached to the pole’s end, and it is by this head (to chief by default) that most pole-weapons are identified.

Examples of pole-arms found in period armory include the “berdiche”, whose backswept blade is fastened to the haft at its center and bottom points, found in the arms of Kürnburg, 1548 (Vigil Raber’s Armorial of the Arlberg Brotherhood of St. Christopher, fo.48); the “billhook”, a spear with a hooked blade, found in the canting arms (Italian roncola) of Roncha or Runche, c.1555 [BSB Cod.Icon 275:119 and 276:205]; the “halberd”, with an upswept blade, and a spike on the end of the haft, as in the arms of von Griffenstein, c.1515 [BSB Cod.Icon 308:391; also von Schella, 1605, Siebmacher 43]; and the “pole-axe”, with a standard battle-axe head and a long haft, as in the canting arms of Mordaxt, 1548 (Vigil Raber’s Armorial of the Arlberg Brotherhood of St. Christopher, fo.133).  Strictly speaking, any axe on a long pole is a “pole-axe”: the pole-axes in the arms of the Worshipful Company of Butchers, granted 1540, have been depicted both as battle-axes and as nondescript “chopping” axes [Bromley & Child 34].

Bec de corbin (Accepted); corsica (Accepted); fauchard (Accepted)

Glaive (Accepted); naginata (probable SFPP); partisan (Accepted)

Other pole-arms, used as weapons and accepted for Society armory, include the “bec de corbin”, a long-handled war-hammer c.1400, with a curved point like a raven’s beak, from which it takes its name [Stone 109]; the “corsica” or “corsèque”, 15th and 16th C., with broad, branched blades joined to the main blade [Stone 374, s.v. korseke]; the “fauchard”, 16th C., with a falchion-shaped blade [Stone 226]; the “glaive”, 12th and 13th C., whose single-edged blade has a backwards-curving tip [Stone 248]; the “naginata”, a Japanese spear with a back-curving blade [Stone 463]; the “partizan” or “partisan”, 16th C., a double-edged spear with short, hooked blades at the base of the head, very like a corsica [Stone 484]; the “war-scythe”, 16th C., essentially a scythe blade mounted on a long, straight shaft [Stone 545]; and the “Swiss voulge” or “vouge”, 14th C., favored by the infantry of that tiny nation [Stone 654].

War-scythe (Accepted); Swiss voulge (Accepted)

For related charges, see hammer, mancatcher, spear, trident.

The Baron of Bjornsborg bears: Azure, two bears rampant addorsed regardant argent, each sustaining a berdiche proper, in base a laurel wreath Or.

Andrew Mariner bears: Argent, two billhooks addorsed in saltire sable, a chief doubly enarched vert.

Shandon Yar Mohamed Gehazi Memo Hazara Khan-ad-Din bears: Per bend sinister raguly sable and Or, a sun of six greater and six lesser points and a naginata bendwise sinster counterchanged.

Christopher of Eoforwic bears: Per pale Or and sable, three glaives fesswise in pale, blades to chief, the first and third reversed, between two goblets in bend counterchanged.

Lucas Otto Gustav Oswald Stefan bears: Checky vert and argent, a partisan bendwise surmounted by a snail shell reversed Or.

Aldwin Yale of York bears as a badge: Per bend sinister sable and Or, a compass star and a corsica bendwise sinister counterchanged, within a bordure embattled gules.

Charles Greenlimb bears: Per bend embattled gules and azure, two war-scythe heads bendwise, issuant from chief the point to sinister and issuant from dexter the point in base, argent.

Johannes Kaspar Zurfluh bears: Per fess embattled argent and gules, an eagle displayed and a Swiss voulge bendwise sinister reversed counterchanged.

Alexia of Thessalonica bears:  Per bend Or and purpure, a bec de corbin bendwise vert and a whelk bendwise Or.

Pheon (Period)

Broad-arrow (Period)

A pheon is a steel arrow-head, used by bow hunters; its blades’ inner edges are engrailed, the better to penetrate the quarry.  In actual use, the central shank is attached to a feathered shaft; in armory, the shaft is not shown.  As an heraldic charge, the pheon dates from c.1295, in the arms of Egerton [ANA2 416]; but it is more famous as the arms of Sydney, Earl of Leicester, d.1586 [Wagner 70].

An artistic variant of the pheon is the “broad-arrow”, or “broadhead”, with straight inner edges; it was a English Royal badge c.1330 [H. Stanford London, “Official Badges”, Coat of Arms, IV(27), July 56, p.93].  In all other respects it is identical to the pheon.  (Indeed, there was considerable confusion between them in period armory; thus they are considered negligibly different in Society armory.)

The pheon and broad-arrow have the point to chief by Continental default, and point to base by English default; the Society follows the English usage.

For related charges, see arrow, rogacina, spearhead.

Njal Olaf Hagarson bears:  Per pale gules and Or, a pheon counterchanged.

Seaan McAy bears:  Per fess indented argent and vert, three pheons counterchanged.

Richard Blayborne bears:  Gules, six broadarrows Or.

Slow match flammant (Period)

A slow match is a flammable cord, used for lighting matchlock rifles.  It’s drawn wound into a roll or annulet of cord.  The slow match is found as a charge in the arms of Leete, 1632 [Guillim2 334], and is accepted for Society use.

Eadmond du Battlemont bears:  Per pale embattled gules and Or, to dexter a handgonne rest Or and to sinister a slow match, ends in chief enflamed proper.

Dougall Cameron bears:  Azure, a slow match argent flammant proper and on a chief embattled Or five gunstones.

Katherine Throckmorton bears as a badge:  A slow match vert, enflamed proper.

Spiked mace (Period); flanged mace (Period)

Morningstar (Accepted); civic mace (Accepted)

A mace is a heavy club-like weapon; the metal head is often spiked, knobbed, flanged or otherwise shaped to best penetrate armor.  In heraldry, if a specific shape of head is desired, it must be blazoned:  e.g., the “spiked mace”, or the “flanged mace”.  The spiked mace seems the more common form in heraldry; in German armory, it dates to c.1340, in the arms of Wurmlingen [Zurich 439].  The flanged mace is found in the arms of di Veccii, mid-15^th C. [Triv 362].

The mace was also a symbol of secular authority in mundane heraldry.  In this form, it is termed a “civic mace”, and is so highly decorative as to be unsuitable as a weapon.

Similar to the mace is the “morningstar” or “morgenstern”, which has a spiked mace’s head attached by a chain to a handle.  None of these variants carry any heraldic difference.  For related charges, see flail, hammer, staff.

The Constable of the West bears:  Azure, a flanged mace Or.

Heather MacTeague bears:  Quarterly sable and gules, four maces argent.

Regina Gunnvor Morningstar bears:  Argent ermined gules, a morningstar bendwise sinister within a bordure sable.