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)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Human figures in heraldry.

• 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
• 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 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
  • Maure
  • Skull and crossbones
• The hand, or hand and arm, is the most common part of the human body to be a charge.^[1]
  • Arm and hammer
• The ear^[4]
• Feet^[5]
  • 

    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^[6]
• Teeth
• Tongue^[7]
• 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.^[8]
• Beards^[9]
• Testicles: the Neapolitan family of bore per fess argent and gules, three pairs of testicles counterchanged.^[10] The similar coat of the Counts Colleoni of Milan is sometimes blazoned Per pale argent and gules, three hearts reversed counterchanged.^[11]

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][12]
  • 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 ""
• Canines
  • Fox
  • Hound (dog). The two most common breeds are the talbot (dog) and greyhound.^[1]
  • Wolf
• Bear
• Brock or (badger)
• Weasels such as the Ermine (stoat)
• Otter^[1]
• Thylacine

Ungulates[]

• 

  Elephant head's 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.
  • Zebu^[13]
• 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]
  • Stags
  • Caribou or Reindeer. Sometimes depicted naturally, sometimes as a deer with four antlers.^[14]
• 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[]

• Marsupials
  • Bandicoots and Bilbies
  • Kangaroos, Wallaroos, and Wallabies
  • Koala
  • Opossums
  • Possums
  • Wombat
• Monotremes such as Platypuses and Echidnas
• Apes and Monkey (or jack-a-napes^[15]), rarely "sea-monkey" (a monkey with a fish-tail).^[16]
• Elephant; sometimes with a Howdah or castle on its back^[17]
• Mole (or moldiwarp)
• Porcupine
• Hedgehog (or urcheon).
• Beaver
• Squirrel
• Rabbits, Hares, and coneys
  • Three hares
• Seal

Reptiles and amphibians[]

• The serpent usually depicted nowed.^[1]
  • Ouroboros
• 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.^[18]
  • Wyvern: similar to a dragon, but with only two legs.
  • Zilant: a form of dragon appearing in Russian heraldry.
• Tortoises and Turtles

Insects[]

Insects include:

• Bee, often flying around beehives, natural or man-made
• Butterfly
• Dragonfly
• Emmet (heraldry)
• Flea
• Fly
• Grasshopper
• Scorpion
• Spider

Hybrids[]

A sea-lion, illustrated in A Complete Guide to Heraldry (1909).

• 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^[19]
• Avalerion
• Cock
  • Gallic rooster
• Cockatoo
• 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
  • 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
• 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: bore "Or, three magpies sable" at Falkirk.
• Martlet
• 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.^[20]
  • 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.^[21]
• Peacock often blazoned in its pride
• Phoenix
• Stork^[22]
• 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:

• Carp
• Catfish^[23]
• Cod
• Conger
• Crab
• Cuttlefish
• Dolphin^[1]
• Eel
• "Garvine fishes", in canting contexts^[24]
• The pike, also called a ged or Lucy^[1]
• Perch
• Roach
• Salmon
• Sturgeon
• 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)
• Mullet
• Mussels appear in the arms of Musselburgh in Scotland.^[1]
• Whelk shell
• Mermaid and Melusine
• Mahseer - used in Indian Muslim heraldry, such as the coat of arms of Bhopal State, Kurwai State, or the Kingdom of Oudh. See Mahseer in heraldry.
• Octopus
• Squid

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
• 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)
  • 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
• 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)^[25]
• Coffee, including branches and beans

Other flora[]

• Maple leaf - symbol of Canada

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
• Cannabis
• Grass, often on a mound
• Seeblatt

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^[26]
• 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^[27]
• Cabbage^[28]
• Leek^[29]

Inanimate charges[]

This article contains a list of miscellaneous information. Please relocate any relevant information into other sections or articles. (November 2018)

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[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Letters in heraldry.

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 municipial 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:

• Emblem of the Trinity^[32]
• Alpha and Omega
• Chi Rho
• Christogram

Nature[]

• A sphere^[33] in an orbit.
• A sun with rays is called a sun in splendour.
• The Moon
  • Crescents
  • Also "in her plenitude" (a full moon with a face).
• Stars
  • 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.
  • Estoiles are stars with six wavy rays; pole stars are differentiated.
  • Magen David^{[year needed]}
  • Constellations such as the Southern Cross.^{[year needed]}
  • Astrological symbols such as Taurus^{[citation needed][year needed]}
• clouds^{[citation needed]}
  • An atomic cloud^[34]
  • A cumulonimbus cloud in the arms of the 362d Fighter Group of the United States Air Force^[35]
  • A stylized cloud formation in the arms of the 23rd Air Division of the United States Air Force
  • A tornado in the arms of the 311th Fighter Group of the United States Air Force^[36]
• 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

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

Structures[]

Edinburgh Flag

• Religious Structures
  • A belfry
  • A steeple
  • churches of various types
  • Chapels^[37]
  • Convents
  • missions
  • Abbey.^[38]
• 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^[20]

Headgear[]

• Phrygian cap
  • Liberty pole
• 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]
  • camp crown, crown vallary or crown palisado^[2]
  • mural crown^[2]
  • Crancelin, a crown of rue^[2]
  • Papal tiara
• 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^[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

• Axes of various types
  • Fasces
  • Labrys
• Battering ram^[20]
• Bow, including the longbow and crossbow, and arrow^[2]
  • Yoke and arrows
• 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^[40]
• Sword, including variants such as the scimitar, seax, and dagger^[1]
  • Zulfiqar
• Pennon, often referred to as a pile (military construction beam) or passion nail (tool); a type of flag used to signal battle commands.^[41]

Tools[]

• Anvil^[1]
• Fetterlock^[1]
• Fire brand^[1]
• Fire striker^[1]
• Fleam^[1]
• Hammers, of various types^[1]
  • Arm and hammer
  • Hammer and pick
  • Hammer and sickle
• Harrow^[20]
• Keys^[1]
• Millrind^[1]
• Nails, often passion nails (Arma Christi)^[1]
• Shovel
• Sickle
• Ladders typically take the form of scaling ladders.^[1]
• Rake
• Scales (weighing)
• Shuttle^[1]
• Surgeons' scalpels
• Trowel
• Tun^[20]
• A charge resembling the water bags that were used to supply the army in battle^[20]

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
• 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)
• 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[]

• Fox-Davies, Arthur Charles , A complete guide to heraldry (1909).

External links[]

• NGW.nl, List of heraldic charges (with images)
• A Heraldic Primer, SCA College of Arms on the Web
• Media related to Heraldic figures by subject at Wikimedia Commons