List of heraldic charges

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This is a list of heraldic charges. It does not cover those charges which are geometrical patterns and resemble partitions of the field; for these, see Ordinary (heraldry).

Fox-Davies (1909) in his presentation of common heraldic charges divides them into the following categories (not including ordinaries and subordinaries): the human figure, the heraldic lion, beasts (mammals), monsters, birds, fish, reptiles, insects, plants (trees, leaves, fruits and flowers), and "inanimate objects".

Subordinaries

a shield with three lozenges.

A number of simple geometric shapes have traditionally, and somewhat arbitrarily, been classified among the so-called subordinaries. (All other mobile charges are called common charges.)

  • lozenge
    • fusil (a narrow lozenge; the term originally referred to a cone-shaped pulley, from Latin fūsus, "spindle")
    • mascle (lozenge voided; related to "mesh")
    • rustre (lozenge pierced; from German Raute, "rhombus")[1]
  • billet[1][2] (a rectangle)
  • annulet (a ring)
  • roundel, but different tinctures have different names: for example roundels argent are called plates. A roundel barry wavy azure and argent is called a fountain.
  • label: commonly a mark of difference, but also appears as an independent charge.
  • fret: originally woven from three bendlets (dexter) and three bendlets sinister, now usually a single bendlet each way interwoven with a mascle.[1]

Human figures

Coat of arms for Manesse (Zürich armorial, c. 1340)
  • Soldiers, armed men
    • Two armed men in combat, for Manesse (Zürich armorial, c. 1340)
    • A Cossack appears in the arms of Cherkasy, Ukraine.[3]
    • Cossack with musket
  • Rider
    • Saint George and the dragon
    • Pahonia
  • Christian saint
  • A pilgrim (St Fridolin) for Glarus
  • Wild men
    • for Klosters and the League of Ten Jurisdictions (16th century)
  • Virgin and Child with Saint Anne for Annaberg-Buchholz (1501)
  • A maid holding a wreath, for Magdeburg
  • A woman holding a book, for Iwye
  • A child (later also a Moor or Turk) being devoured by the Biscione (serpent), for Visconti of Milan
  • A crowned Moorish queen for the counts of Kirchberg, Swabia (13th century), hence the municipal arms of Illerkirchberg

Parts of human bodies

Coat of arms of the Hungarian town Komádi.
  • The head
  • The hand, or hand and arm, is the most common part of the human body to be a charge.[1]
  • Eye
  • The ear[4]
    • Example of a foot (sole) being used as a heraldic charge in the coat of arms of the Voet family (16th century)
      (human) foot sole[5]
  • Teeth
  • Tongue[6]
  • The heart, even when blazoned "a human heart", always appears like the heart in a deck of cards rather than a natural human heart.
  • A "dug" or woman's breast "distilling drops of milk" famously appears in the arms of the Dodge family, and appeared for a time on the badge of cars made by the Dodge Automotive company.[7]
  • Beards[8]
  • Testicles: the Neapolitan family of Coglione bore per fess argent and gules, three pairs of testicles counterchanged.[9] The similar coat of the Counts Colleoni of Milan is sometimes blazoned Per pale argent and gules, three hearts reversed counterchanged.[10]

Beasts

Any animal can be a heraldic charge, although more traditional ones vary in the exactitude with which they resemble the creature as found in nature. Animals depicted naturally are either described as natural or using the scientific nomenclature.

Predatory beasts

Lion as a primary charge in the coat of arms of Finland.
  • Felines
    • The lion.
    • The heraldic tyger is an imaginary monster; where the natural beast appears it is blazoned as a Bengal tiger.[1][11]
    • A leopard refers to a lion "passant guardant", rather than a natural leopard, in the languages of French and English heraldry. A leopard's face also occurs, sometimes jessant-de-lys.[1]
    • A heraldic panther is usually depicted spitting fire
    • The (domestic) cat, distinguished from the wild cat or "cat-a-mountain"
    • Sabre-toothed cat
  • Canines
    • Fox
    • Hound (dog). The two most common breeds are the talbot (dog) and greyhound.[1]
    • Wolf
  • Bear
  • Brock or (badger)
  • Martens
  • Weasels such as the Ferret and the Ermine (stoat)
  • Otter[1]
  • Thylacine

Ungulates

  • Elephant heads as charges on the arms of the Diocese of Camden.
    Antelope, usually blazoned as a specific type unless it is the mythical heraldic antelope.
  • Cattle Bulls, cows or calves.
  • Camel
  • Deer usually a red deer, also called a hart or Stag, and the Buck denotes a Fallow deer. Females are called hinds or does.[1]
    • Irish elk
    • Stags
    • Caribou or Reindeer. Sometimes depicted naturally, sometimes as a deer with four antlers.[13]
  • Equines such as the ass and the horse sometimes of a specified breed and the unicorn[1] and Pegasus.
  • Hippopotamus
  • Rhinoceros
  • Swine either wild boars or domestic pigs
  • Sheep and Goats Including Rams, ewes, lambs, ibex and Agnus Dei

Other mammals

Reptiles and amphibians

  • The serpent usually depicted nowed.[1]
  • The salamander is typically shown as a generic lizard, sometimes with a head of unusual shape often described as "dog-shaped", and always surrounded by flames.
  • The lizard
  • The Biscione
  • Dragon: by default a European one, but also a Chinese dragon.[17]
    • Wyvern: similar to a dragon, but with only two legs.
    • Zilant: a form of dragon appearing in Russian heraldry.
  • Tortoises and Turtles
  • Dinosaurs

Insects

Insects include:

Hybrids

A sea-lion, illustrated in A Complete Guide to Heraldry (1909).
Further information: Mythological hybrid
  • Sphinx: depicted with the head and breasts of a woman.
  • Griffin, combining the head (but with ears), chest, wings and forelegs of the eagle with the hindquarters and legs of a lion (A sub-type of griffin, the Keythong lacks wings with the upper body having armor plate like feathers and its lower body is scattered with sharp spiny quills). See List of griffins as mascots and in heraldry.
  • Unicorn, having a horse's body, deer's legs, goat's beard, and often a lion's tail
  • The hippogriff is like the griffin except that the lion parts of the griffin are replaced by those of a horse.
  • Harpy
  • Theow is a wolf-like creature but with cloven hooves.
  • The "sea-horse" (hippocampus) is depicted as half horse and half fish
  • The sea-lion is a combination of a lion and a fish.[1]
  • Any combination of parts of other animals, e.g. winged reindeer, is possible.[1]

Birds

By far the most frequent heraldic bird is the eagle.[citation needed] A variant is the alerion, without beak or feet, seen in the arms of the duchy of Lorraine (of which it is not quite an anagram).

Also very frequent is the martlet, a conventional swallow depicted without feet or the French variant the merlette, which also omits the beak.

  • Auk[18]
  • Avalerion
  • Cock
    • Gallic rooster
  • Cockatoo
  • Coot, charge of the Coot family, Kilby family, Marsden family and the Southcott family.
  • Cormorant
  • Corvus
  • Crane
  • Dove
  • Duck without beak or legs is called the merlette
  • Eagle, usually displayed, i.e. with wings spread
    • Alerion: eagle without beak or feet
    • Aquila
    • Double-headed eagle
    • Triple-headed eagle
    • Golden eagle#Heraldry and myth
      • Eagle of Saladin, a symbol associated with secular Arab nationalism, contrasted with the Hawk of Quraish
  • Elephant bird
  • Emu
  • Falcon
  • Garuda
  • Goose
  • Gull or seagull
  • Halcyon
  • Hawk
    • Hawk of Quraish, a symbol associated with political Islam and Arab monarchy, contrasted with the Eagle of Saladin
  • Heron
  • Kiwi
  • Kookaburra
  • Magpie: Otton de Cazeneuve bore "Or, three magpies sable" at Falkirk.
  • Martlet
  • Moa
  • Osprey: almost invariably depicted simply as an eagle argent, often maintaining (holding in its talons or beak) a fish
  • Ostrich or its feathers
  • Owl
  • Papingo or Popinjay (parrot).
  • Pelican, sometimes with its young.[19]
    • When a pelican is blazoned as "vulning", it refers to a pelican injuring herself, while a pelican "in her piety" refers to a female pelican feeding her young with her own blood.[20]
  • Peacock often blazoned in its pride
  • Phoenix
  • Stork[21]
  • Swan
    • Black swans
  • Turkey cock: was a later immigrant from the New World
  • Turul
  • Egg: rare.

Fish and creatures of the sea

"Fish" are sometimes only described as "a fish", but the species is often named:

Parts of animals

Parts of creatures may also be used as charges.

  • the Gamb (or limb) and the paw.
  • Head
    • Cabossed
  • Antlers
  • Teeth and tusks
  • Wings
  • Pizzle

Plants

Flowers

Western arms of the Akihito as a Knight of the Garter, featuring a chrysanthemum
  • The fleur-de-lis
  • Heraldic roses are shown in a stylised form similar to the wild rose. A rose on top of another rose form a double rose.
    • though there are several unusual different types blazoned, such as the Luther rose.
    • White Rose of York; Red Rose of Lancaster; Tudor Rose, which is a double rose.
  • The lotus flower
  • The thistle
  • Other commonly used flower-like charges (called "foils") include:
    • Trefoil (with three petals; usually slipped, with a stem)
    • Quatrefoil (with four petals)
    • Cinquefoil (with five petals)
    • Hexafoil (with six petals)
    • The septfoil (with seven petals)
    • The double quatrefoil (with eight petals)—in England the rare cadency mark of a ninth son.
  • Strawberries and the strawberry flowers depicted as cinquefoils
  • Tulips
  • Grapevines

Trees and their fruits

Trees appear as eradicated (showing the roots) or couped. Fruit can appear on a tree, or by itself. Also, leaves and branches appear.

  • Tree trunk
  • Apple tree
  • Cherry
  • Pears (with peartrees)[24]
  • Coffee, including branches and beans

Other flora

Alder in the coat of arms of Grossarl, Austria.

Trees are sometimes merely blazoned as "a tree" but specific trees are mentioned in blazon.

A small group of trees is blazoned as a hurst, grove, wood or thicket.[2]

Grain crops and vegetables

Barley (French orge) in the arms of Orges, Switzerland
  • Wheat occurs in the form of "garbs" or sheaves and as ears, though sometimes garbs represent another crop
  • Ears of rye are depicted exactly as wheat, except the ears droop down.
  • "Ginny wheat" or "guinea wheat" (like wheat but with a fatter ear) also exists[26]
  • Cabbage[27]
  • Leek[28]
  • Turnip[29]

Inanimate charges

Regarding "inanimate objects", Fox-Davies (1909:281) comments:

"one can safely say that there is scarcely an object under the sun which has not at some time or other been introduced into a coat of arms or crest. One cannot usefully make a book on armory assume the character of a general encyclopedia on useful knowledge, and reference will only be made in this chapter to a limited number, including those which from frequent usage have obtained a recognised heraldic character."

Crosses

Originally representing the Christian cross used as field sign and standard during the Crusades, heraldic crosses diversified into many variants in the late medieval to early modern period, the most common (besides the plain "Greek cross") being the cross potent, cross pattée, cross fleury, cross moline, cross crosslet (etc.).

Lettering

Langenmantel vom RR family coat of arms as shown in Siebmachers Wappenbuch (1605).

Lettering in coats of arms are usually placed in the motto, not in the heraldic shield as a charge. However, a tradition of introducing individual letters as heraldic charges on the basis of acrophony originates in the 15th to 16th century, primarily in personal and municipal heraldry, and with some frequency in the modern period, appearing more often on the continent than in British heraldry where letters as charges have traditionally been discouraged. Fox-Davies (1909:281) regarding letters of the alphabet as heraldic charges:

"Instances of these are scarcely common, but the family of Kekitmore[30] may be adduced as bearing 'Gules, three S's or,' while Bridlington Priory had for arms 'Per pale, sable and argent, three B's counterchanged.' [...] Corporate arms (in England) afford an instance of alphabetical letters in the case of the B's on the shield of Bermondsey."

One of the earliest instances of the use of letters as heraldic charges is that of the Langenmantel family of Augsburg. Rüdiger I Langenmantel (d. 1342), one of the leading figures of the Augsburg patriciate during the first four decades of the 14th century, is the founder of the "Langenmantel vom RR" branch of the family, derived from his coat of arms showing two letters R (for his given name), shown addorsed (as mirror images).[31]

Religious symbolism:

Nature

  • A sphere[33] in an orbit.
  • Sun
    • A sun with rays is called a sun in splendour.
  • The Moon
    • Crescents
    • Also "in her plenitude" (a full moon with a face).
  • Stars
  • The planets such as Jupiter and Saturn. Also representing metals (Mars for iron, Venus for copper, Saturn for lead)
  • The armillary sphere or globe[2]
  • Lightning bolts, also called "lightning flashes", are shown in a stylized way.
  • Thunderbolts, shown in a stylized way
  • volcano
  • A mount (mountain, hill hillock). A mount with three tops is known as trimount, for mounts with more than three tops, the number of tops is blazoned as coupeaux (as in, a mount with six coupeaux). When the mount is included in the lower part of the shield, it may be considered an ordinary rather than a charge.

Ships and boats

Coat of arms of St. Wolfgang im Salzkammergut

Structures

Edinburgh Flag
  • Religious Structures
  • Fortified buildings
    • Castle, a castle of the generic type consists of two towers connected by an embattled wall (also a charge in heraldry).[1] Varieties occur, such as being triangular or quadrangular. Also, the windows and doors can be of a different tincture, as well as the masonry. Sometimes they have domed towers.
    • Towers can be combined with castles or have their own towers. They vary in the same way as castles.
    • Portcullis[1]
    • Forts
  • Columns
  • Arches
  • Mills, e.g. windmills[1]
  • Dovecotes
  • Tents[19]

Headgear

  • Phrygian cap
  • Mitre[2]
  • Torse
  • Cap of maintenance
  • Crowns or coronets, if not more precisely specified, have four leaves (three visible) and no arches. Varieties include:
  • Helmets

Music

Coat of arms of Albert, Prince Consort, showing the harp of Ireland within the Royal Standard of the United Kingdom in the first and fourth quarters and a crancelin (a crown of rue, an ornamental plant) as a part of the Coat of arms of Saxony in the second and third.

Musical instruments include:

  • Harp
  • Bugle-horn sometimes just called a horn.[1]
  • Bagpipes
  • Bells, including church bells and hawks' bells[1]
  • Clarion[1]
  • Drum (shown as a "field drum")
  • Post horn
  • A sharp, flat, and natural[39]

Weapons

Arms of the Republic of the United Provinces: Gules, a crowned lion Or, armed and langued azure, holding a sword and a sheaf of arrows

Tools

Clothing and other personal items

  • Buckles in a variety of styles even in the form of a heart.[42]
  • The maunch is a lady's stylized sleeve.[1]
  • Spurs.[1]
  • chamber pots[43]
  • Chess rooks
  • Collars
  • Woolpack, an object resembling a pillow or cushion; found in municipal coats of arms in Surrey, England.[44]

Other

The arms of Bonsmoulins with a millwheel in the base
  • A glass throughout, shattered, argent[45]
  • The wheel is a carriage wheel unless otherwise specified
    • A winged wheel
    • Catherine Wheel
    • A millwheel or water wheel
    • Cogwheel (used mainly in more recent coats-of-arms to represent heavy industry)
  • Books
  • Caduceus
  • The Japanese mon emblem has been used as heraldic charge in recent heraldry. It is blazoned in traditional heraldic style rather than in the Japanese style. An example is the Canadian-granted coat of arms of David Tsubouchi (1993).[46]

References

  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.20 1.21 1.22 1.23 1.24 1.25 1.26 1.27 1.28 1.29 1.30 1.31 1.32 1.33 1.34 1.35 1.36 1.37 1.38 Fox-Davies, Arthur Charles (1909). A complete guide to heraldry (1909). New York : Dodge. https://archive.org/details/cu31924029796608. Retrieved 2013-08-21. 
  2. ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 "Heraldsnet.org". Heraldsnet.org. http://www.heraldsnet.org/saitou/parker/Jpglossg.htm#Goose. 
  3. ↑ "Ukrainian heraldry". http://heraldry.com.ua/index.php3?lang=E&context=info&id=1122#verh. 
  4. ↑ "L'Armorial". http://armorialdefrance.fr/page_blason.php?ville=2650. 
  5. ↑ "Sole" (in en-US). http://mistholme.com/dictionary/sole/. 
  6. ↑ "NGW.nl". NGW.nl. http://www.ngw.nl/int/oos/w/w-zwisch.htm. 
  7. ↑ Martin Goldstraw. "Cheshire-Heraldry.org.uk". Cheshire-Heraldry.org.uk. http://cheshire-heraldry.org.uk/dodge.html. 
  8. ↑ "Zeljko-heimer-frame.from.hr". Zeljko-heimer-fame.from.hr. http://zeljko-heimer-fame.from.hr/descr/hr-pn2.html#hr-pn-bb. 
  9. ↑ "Sex in Heraldry". Heraldica.org. 1997-06-26. http://www.heraldica.org/topics/sex.htm. 
  10. ↑ John Woodward and George Burnett, A Treatise on Heraldry, British and Foreign, page 203
  11. ↑ "NGW.nl". NGW.nl. http://www.ngw.nl/int/rus/district/jewregion.htm. 
  12. ↑ "Cenotillo - Escudo - Coat of arms - crest of Cenotillo". http://ngw.nl/heraldrywiki/index.php?title=Cenotillo. 
  13. ↑ "Heralrdy.ca". Heraldry.ca. http://www.heraldry.ca/arms/m/macpherson_c.htm. 
  14. ↑ From "Jack of Naples" (Jac-a-Napes), later (early modern period) reanalyzed as "jack-an-apes", taking "apes" as "ape, monkey". Monkeys were one of many exotic goods from Naples exhibited in England, hence acquired the nickname Jack a Napes (first attested 1450).
  15. ↑ Charles Norton Elvin, Dictionary of Heraldry, 1889, plate 29, nos. 57–59. The monkey as heraldic animal remained comparatively rare, but it is on record from as early as the 14th century, as in the Affenstein crest from the Zürich armorial (c. 1340).
  16. ↑ The coat of arms of the 64th Armor Regiment of the United States Army specifies, bizarrely, "the head of a fighting African elephant," though there should be no distinction made between this and the depiction of a default elephant.
  17. ↑ "College-of-arms.gov.uk". College-of-arms.gov.uk. http://college-of-arms.gov.uk/Newsletter/005.htm. 
  18. ↑ "Heraldsnet.org". Heraldsnet.org. http://www.heraldsnet.org/saitou/parker/Jpglossa.htm#Auk. 
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 19.3 19.4 19.5 Jacqueline Fearn. Discovering Heraldry. Shire Publications. pp. 40–41. 
  20. ↑ Gough, Henry (1894) (in en). A Glossary of Terms Used in Heraldry. J. Parker. p. 451. https://archive.org/details/aglossarytermsu08parkgoog. Retrieved 19 August 2017. 
  21. ↑ "NGW.nl". NGW.nl. http://www.ngw.nl/int/dld/b/bessenbach.htm. 
  22. ↑ Gerard Michon (2004-06-19). "Numericana.com". Numericana.com. http://www.numericana.com/arms/welsbach.htm. 
  23. ↑ Balfour Paul, James (1893). An Ordinary of Arms Contained in the Public Register of All Arms and Bearings in Scotland. William Green and Sons. pp. 108–109. https://archive.org/details/anordinaryarmsc00paulgoog. 
  24. ↑ "Heraldsnet.org". Heraldsnet.org. http://www.heraldsnet.org/saitou/parker/Jpglossp.htm. 
  25. ↑ "College-of-arms.gov.uk". http://www.college-of-arms.gov.uk/Newsletter/018.pdf. 
  26. ↑ Morant, Alfred William W. (1874). An Alphabetical Dictionary of Coats of Arms Belonging to Families in Great Britain and Ireland. https://books.google.com/books?id=dTABAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA8891. Retrieved 2021-02-07. 
  27. ↑ "The FAME: Varazdin County - Communities". http://zeljko-heimer-fame.from.hr/descr/hr-vz2.html. 
  28. ↑ "College-of-arms.gov.uk". http://www.college-of-arms.gov.uk/Newsletter/009.pdf. 
  29. ↑ Hartemink, Ralf. "Kiikala". Heraldry Wiki. https://www.heraldry-wiki.com/heraldrywiki/wiki/Kiikala. "Official blazon (Finnish): Punaisessa kentässä kultainen nauris" 
  30. ↑ John Guillim, A Display of Heraldry (1780), p. 295.
  31. ↑ Ernst Heinrich Kneschke, Neues allgemeines deutsches Adelslexikon, vol. 5, Leipzig, (1864),388f.
  32. ↑ A Complete Guide to Heraldry by A.C. Fox-Davies and J.P. Brook-Little (1969 edition), p. 212.
  33. ↑ In the arms of the 91st Bombardment Group of the United States Air Force. Air Force Combat Units of World War II. p. 158. 
  34. ↑ Shown in the coats of arms of several units of the United States Air Force, such as the 508th Fighter Group. Air Force Combat Units of World War II. p. 371. 
  35. ↑ Air Force Combat Units of World War II, p.246
  36. ↑ Air Force Combat Units of World War II. p. 187. 
  37. ↑ Cundinamarca.gov.co
  38. ↑ Heraldsnet.org
  39. ↑ Heraldica.org
  40. ↑ Heraldsnet.org
  41. ↑ Journal of the British Archaeological Association, Volume 13. British Archaeological Association., 1857 - Archaeology, Page 119
  42. ↑ Balfour Paul, p. 41
  43. ↑ Heraldica.org
  44. ↑ "Weald and Downs Area". Civic Heraldry. http://www.civicheraldry.co.uk/weald_downs.html. 
  45. ↑ Air Force Combat Units of World War I, p.154
  46. ↑ Tsubouchi, David Hiroshi (Individual), Public Register of Arms, Flags, and Badges of Canada

External links




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