List of heraldic charges

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).

"Subordinary" charges

a shield with three lozenges.

A few simple charges are traditionally, and arbitrarily, classified among the so called subordinaries. (All other mobile charges are called common charges.)

• lozenge
• fusil (a narrow lozenge)
• mascle (lozenge voided)
• rustre (lozenge pierced)^[1]
• billet^[1][2]
• annulet;
• 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 is 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

The Virgin, St. John the Apostle and St. Mary Magdalene lamenting the body of Christ taken down from the Cross": the arms of Pinggau, Steiermark, Austria

The following types of human figures are listed in Elvin (1889):^[3] Virgin with Child, King, Bishop, Prester John, Lady Abbess, Female figure naked with flowing hair (Crest of Ellis), Figure of Justice, Figure of Hope, Man in Armour, Neptune or Triton, Mermaid, Wild Man, Roman Soldier in Armour, Moor or Blackamoor, Figure of Time, Skeleton human, Angel or Cherub, Knight on horseback (c.f. Saint George, Pahonia), Bishop, Monk (friar or hermit).

Parts of human bodies

• The head
• The hand, or hand and arm, is the most common part of the human body to be a charge.^[1]
• Feet^[4]
• Teeth
• Tongue^[5]
• 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.^[6]
• Beards^[7]
• Testicles: the Neapolitan family of Coglione bore "per fess argent and gules, three pairs of testicles counterchanged".^[8]

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. Also included in heraldry are Mythical creatures and chimeras.

Predatory beasts

• Felines
  • The lion.
  • The heraldic tyger is an imaginary monster; where natural beast appears is blazoned as a Bengal tiger.^[1][9]
  • 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"
• Canines
  • Fox
  • Dog. The two most common breeds are the talbot (dog) and greyhound.^[1]
  • Wolf
• Bear
• Brock or (badger)
• Ermine
• Otter^[1]

Ungulates

• 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]
  • Caribou or Reindeer. Sometimes depicted naturally, sometimes as a deer with four antlers.^[10]
• Equines such as the ass and the horse sometimes of a specified breed and the mythical Unicorn^[1] and Pegasus.
• Swine either wild boars or domestic pigs
• Sheep and Goats Including Rams, ewes, lambs, ibex and Agnus Dei

Other mammals

• Elephant; sometimes with a castle or seat on its back.
• Monkey (or jack-a-napes^[11]), rarely "sea-monkey" (a monkey with a fish-tail).^[12]
• Mole (or moldiwarp)
• Porcupine
• Hedgehog (or urcheon).
• Beaver
• Squirrel
• Rabbits, Hares, and coneys

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.^[13]
  • Wyvern: similar to a dragon, but with only two legs.
  • Zilant: a form of dragon appearing in Russian heraldry.

Invertebrates

Insects include:

• Bee, often flying around beehives, natural or man-made
• Dragonfly
• Grasshopper
• Butterfly

Combination animals

• 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 (the male griffin lacks wings and his body is scattered with spikes). 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 hoves.
• 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. A variant is the alerion, without beak or feet, seen in the arms of the duchy of Lorraine (for which it is 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^[14]
• cock
• Cormorant
• 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
  • Double-headed eagle
• Falcon
• goose
• Gull or seagull
• hawk
• Heron
• Magpie: Otton de Cazeneuve bore "Or, three magpies sable" at Falkirk.
• Osprey: almost invariably depicted simply as an eagle argent
• Ostrich or its feathers
• Owl
• Papingo or Popinjay (parrot).
• Pelican, sometimes with its young.^[15]
• Peacock often blazoned in its pride
• Phoenix
• Raven (also known as "crow" or "rook"):
• Stork^[16]
• Swan
• Turkey cock: was a later immigrant from the New World
• Egg: rare.

Fish and creatures of the sea

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

• Catfish^[17]
• Conger
• Dolphin^[1]
• Eel
• "Garvine fishes", in canting contexts^[18]
• The pike, also called a ged or Lucy^[1]
• Roach
• Salmon
• Herring
• The "seahorse" is depicted as half horse and half fish, but if the natural seahorse is to be depicted it is blazoned as a "seahorse (hippocampus)".
• The whale^[1]
• The escallop (scallop shell)
• Mussels appear in the arms of Musselburgh in Scotland.^[1]
• Whelk shell
• Mermaid and Melusine

Parts of animals

Parts of creatures may also be used as charges.

• the gamb (or limb) and the paw.
• head
• antlers
• teeth and tusks
• wings

Plants

Flowers

• 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)
  • Sexfoil (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
• 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)^[19]

Alder in the coat of arms of Grossarl, Austria.

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

• The oak and the acorn
• The pines and the pine-cone also called a pineapple.
• elm
• poplar, also called aspen
• willow, also called Salix or Osiers; its branch is called a wand
• alder
• coconut tree
• palm
• Laurel trees
• olive
• The pomegranate tree

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
  • a garb of hay^[20]
• 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^[21]
• Leek^[22]

Inanimate charges

• A sun with rays is called a sun in splendour.
• Moons come in various phases, including crescent and "in her plenitude" (a full moon with a face).
• Mullets represent stars or spur rowels. Stars can have any number of points, but if nothing is specified in the blazon it is usually five or six.
• Estoiles are stars with wavy rays; pole stars are differentiated.
• Constellations such as the Southern Cross.
• Magen David
• Astrological symbols such as Taurus
• The planets such as Jupiter and Saturn and their moons. Saturn always has its rings.
• The armillary sphere or globe^[2]
• Thunderbolts and lightning bolts, also called "lightning flashes", are shown in a stylized way.
• volcano
• A mount or a trimount.
• 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)
• Emblem of the Trinity^[23]
• Letters of the Greek and Latin alphabets, often with religious themes

The arms of Bonsmoulins with a millwheel in the base

Ships and boats

Coat of arms of St. Wolfgang im Salzkammergut

• The lymphad (a type of ancient ship)
• A Roman ship
• Viking ships
• Three-masted sailing ships
• A barque
• Anchor

Structures

• Religious Structures

Edinburgh Castle

Edinburgh Flag

• • A belfry
  • A steeple
  • churches of various types
  • Chapels^[24]
  • Convents
  • missions
  • Abbey.^[25]
• 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]
• Columns
• Arches
• Mills, e.g. windmills^[1]
• Dovecotes
• Tents^[15]

Headgear

• Mitre^[2]
• Crowns or coronets, if not more precisely specified, have four leaves (three visible) and no arches. Varieties include:
  • naval crown^[2]
  • Royal Crown
  • Imperial crown
  • civic crown^[2]
  • Eastern crown or Antique crown^[2]
  • Crown Pallisado or crown vallary^[2]
  • mural crown^[2]
  • Crancelin a crown of rue^[2]
• 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")
• A sharp, flat, and natural^[26]

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

• Axes of various types
• Battering ram^[15]
• Bow, including the longbow and crossbow, and arrow^[2]
• Caltrop, displayed with one spike pointing upwards
• Cannon, including the culverin^[1]
• Grenade: similar in appearance to a cannonball with flames coming out of a flattened end.^[1]
• Lance and spear sometimes broken, usually of the tilting variety.^[2]
  • Javelin
  • Pheon and spear heads.^[2]
• Mace^[2]
• Musket^[27]
• Sword, including variants such as the scimitar, seax, and dagger^[1]
• Pennon, often referred to as a pile (military construction beam) or passion nail (tool); a type of flag used to signal battle commands.^[28]

Tools

• Anvil^[1]
• Fetterlock^[1]
• Fire brand^[1]
• Fleam^[1]
• Hammers, of various types^[1]
• Harrow^[15]
• Keys^[1]
• Millrind^[1]
• Nails, often passion nails^[1]
• Shovel
• Sickle
• Ladders typically take the form of scaling ladders.^[1]
• Rake
• Scales (weighing)
• Shuttle^[1]
• Surgeons' scalpels
• Trowel
• Tun^[15]
• Water-bougets^[15]

Clothing and other personal items

• Buckles in a variety of styles even in the form of a heart.^[29]
• The maunch is a lady's stylized sleeve.^[1]
• Spurs.^[1]
• chamber pots^[30]
• Chess rooks

Notes

1. Fox-Davies, Arthur Charles (1909). A complete guide to heraldry (1909). New York : Dodge. Retrieved 2013-08-21.
2. "Heraldsnet.org". Heraldsnet.org. Retrieved 2010-08-16.
3. Charles Norton Elvin, Dictionary of Heraldry, 1889, plate 35
4. "Blasoneshispanos.com". Blasoneshispanos.com. Retrieved 2010-08-16.
5. "NGW.nl". NGW.nl. Retrieved 2010-08-16.
6. Martin Goldstraw. "Cheshire-Heraldry.org.uk". Cheshire-Heraldry.org.uk. Retrieved 2010-08-16.
7. "Zeljko-heimer-frame.from.hr". Zeljko-heimer-fame.from.hr. Retrieved 2010-08-16.
8. "Sex in Heraldry". Heraldica.org. 1997-06-26. Retrieved 2010-08-16.
9. "NGW.nl". NGW.nl. Retrieved 2010-08-16.
10. "Heralrdy.ca". Heraldry.ca. Retrieved 2010-08-16.
11. 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).
12. 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).
13. "College-of-arms.gov.uk". College-of-arms.gov.uk. Retrieved 2010-08-16.
14. "Heraldsnet.org". Heraldsnet.org. Retrieved 2010-08-16.
15. Jacqueline Fearn. Discovering Heraldry. Shire Publications. pp. 40–41.
16. "NGW.nl". NGW.nl. Retrieved 2010-08-16.
17. Gerard Michon (2004-06-19). "Numericana.com". Numericana.com. Retrieved 2010-08-16.
18. 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.
19. "Heraldsnet.org". Heraldsnet.org. Retrieved 2010-08-16.
20. "College-of-arms.gov.uk" (PDF). Retrieved 2010-08-16.
21. Books.Google.com. Books.Google.com. 2006-06-12. Retrieved 2010-08-16.
22. "College-of-arms.gov.uk" (PDF). Retrieved 2010-08-16.
23. A Complete Guide to Heraldry by A.C. Fox-Davies and J.P. Brook-Little (1969 edition), p. 212.
24. Cundinamarca.gov.co
25. Heraldsnet.org
26. Heraldica.org
27. Heraldsnet.org
28. Journal of the British Archaeological Association, Volume 13. British Archaeological Association., 1857 - Archaeology, Page 119
29. Balfour Paul, p. 41
30. Heraldica.org

External links

• NGW.nl, List of heraldic charges (with images)
• A Heraldic Primer, SCA College of Arms on the Web