SCA - West Kingdom College of Heralds

Heraldic Templates -- 'Other Charges'

The following links are to pages that contain images that you can use to help design your armory -- this set of images are for all charges that do not fit into other categories as they are used in heraldry. Note that due to size, this will be broken down, and links at the bottom of this page (and at the top) will take you to other groups of charges. These are all listed alphabetically ...

Instructions (please read):

If you want to use this for your heraldic submission, or print it for any reason, click on the 'PDF File' link -- a new browser window will open, and you can print from there.
- If you want to use the image for your own armory submission, these should be sized to be close to the submission forms, and you can trace over them. For straight lines you might want to use a ruler to help.

Note that printing the GIF Files probably will not provide images that are the correct size for the heraldic submission forms.

The descriptions of the charges below are all taken from The Pictorial Dictionary of Heraldry ...¹, and rather than having a 'footnote' for each, we have one. Note that not all of the detail in the Pictorial Dictionary has been included in the text given ...

Note: These are not done yet -- the links are here to make it easier for Hirsch, rather than having to keep adding them ... this is a work in progress.

[Abacus to Burnisher] [Caduceus to Cushion] [Distaff to Gyron] [Hammer to Keyhole]
[Label to Net] [Oar to Rudder] [Saddle to Stream] [Tablet to Yoke]

Abacus     An abacus is a device for counting and adding, used since Roman times. Versions of the abacus may be found in many of th eworld's cultures, all pretty much the same: a frame strung with beads. The SCA default is the Oriental version, called suan pan by the Chinese, soroban by the Japanese. It is fesswise by default.

        PDF File

Amphora     An amphora is an ancient Greek vase or urn. The default form has a flat bottom; it may also be called a jug. A wine amphora has a pointed base, instead of a flat base.
     Similar to the amphora is the ampulla: a small two handled bottle used for perfume, smaller and more spherical than the amphora.

        PDF File

Anchor     An anchor is a weighted hook that moors a ship. Heraldry has special terms for some parts of an anchor: the shank (upright) is blazoned the beam, the stock (crosspiece) is the timber. The timber is to chief by default.

        PDF File

Angles     Angles are of obscure origin, but are supposed to represent a belt fastener, and as a result are usually born in pairs.

        PDF File

Anvil     An anvil is an iron block on which metalware is hammered into shape. The number of horns, unless specified, is left to the artist; both double-horned anvils (also called bickerns) and single-horned anvils are documented period artifacts. A square anvil is one with no horns.
     In Society heraldry, the unmodified term anvil usually refers to the armorer's anvil: portable, with a spike on the bottom for fixing it in place during use. If the latter is intended in the Society, it must be explicitly blazoned.

        PDF File

Apothecary Jar     This is a broad-mouthed jar with a flat or conical lid, used to hold unguents.

        PDF File

Armor     Armor is a defensive covering, designed to protect the wearer in combat. In heraldry, it is most often shown being worn (e.g. a man in armor), but pieces of armor are also used as charges in their own right.
     The link for armor given here will show each of the following charges, as described in the Pictorial Dictionary:
     A chamfron, or chanfron, is a piece of armor designed to protect a horse's head during battle. It is affronty by default.
     A cuirass is a piece of armor, designed to protect the torso; it is also called a breastplate for that reason. The cuirass is affronty by default.
     ... the gauntlet is a piece of armor made of metal. ... gauntlets follow the same convention and defaults as hands; ... often assumed to have a hand inside them. ... Gauntlets may be of mail or plate, at the artist's discretion.
     A helm is a piece of armor designed to enclose and protect the head; its use as an heraldic charge dates from c. 1285. The default helm is the great helm or barrel helm, and it is sometimes so blazoned. Other types of full helm (e.g. spangenhelm, sallet, barbute) must be explicitly blazoned; the type carries no heraldic difference. If such a helm is blazoned plumed, it carries a single feather as a crest and favor. Helms face to dexter by default.
     There are also helms that do not enclose the head, but sit atop it. Of these, the chapel-de-fer or eisenhut is the most common: a broad-brimmed metal hat, more in use by the infantry than the chivalry. It is a period charge, found in the arms of Spiegel, c. 1600. There is also the morion, a Spanish style of iron hat, with turned-up brim and a ridge-crest; it came into armorial use in the late 16th Century, as in the canting arms of Hatworth.
     Of the helm variants unique to the SCA, those blazoned a winged helm or horned helm are usually Viking helmets; these are metal caps with wings or horns, rather than full helms. The Greek and Roman helmets of antiquity are seen, as are Norman helms (actually steel caps with nasals).
     The Viking helms and the chapel-de-fer are affronty by default; all other helms face dexter by default.
     The helmet horn is a Japanese helmet crest, also called a kuwagata.
     Mail is a form of armor, consisting of myriad rings of metal woven into a form; it is sometimes redundantly (and erroneously) termed chain mail. Mail gauntlets, coifs and shirts have been used in Society heraldry -- usually worn by a human, but sometimes as charges in their own right.
     A shield is a piece of defensive armor, generally carried in one hand with the sword in the other. The most common heraldic shield is the escutcheon or heater shape. Another type is the buckler or round shield; it is also called a targe or target, and is found as an heraldic charge as early as 1312.
     Other types of shield found in Society heraldry include the mahdu, an African shield with horns projecting from either side; the kite shield, favored by equestrians; and the shield of David, another name for the star of David (see Stars ... for this charge).

Astrolabe     An astrolabe is an astronomical instrument; it was used for surveying the positions of the stars and planets, and calculating sidereal time. The device is period: Chaucer wrote a treatise on the astrolabe, in which he translated Moslem texts.

        PDF File

Axel Bracket     An axel bracket is an iron fixture attached to a wagon that holds its axel in place. The ends are to chief by SCA default.

        PDF File

Bag     A bag is a cloth or leather container that can be tied at the top, for h olding money or other small items. The common form in Society heraldry is more fully blazoned a drawstring bag or pouch; it is a period charge, dating from at least 1413. (The prefix string- differentiates it from the wool-bag or bail of mundane heraldry.) In this form, its default posture seems to be collapsed; but when blazoned money-bag, it is drawn as if full of coins.
     A similar charge is the pilgrim's scrip or pilgrim's purse, which is hung from the pilgrim's staff and carries his belongings. Finally, there are special-purpose bags, 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.

        PDF File

Bagpipe     A bagpipe is a double-reed musical instrument with a windbag that also supplies sonant force to a set of drone reeds. It's sometimes more fully blazoned a set of bagpipes. The period form has at most two drones.

        PDF File

Balance     A balance is a weighing instrument, consisting of a lever arm with two pans. Sometimes the balance is loosely termed a set of scales, though in strict fact the scales are simply the lever-and-pans; since scales may be used as a charge in their own right, it is best to use the correct term.
     The balance comes in two forms: a hand balance or hanging balance, with a handle to chief, and a standing balance on a pedestal. The latter is the more common in Society heraldry; the exact type should nonetheless be blazoned.

        PDF File

Barnacles     A pair of barnacles is a pincer clamped on an unruly horse's nose; it was sometimes used as an instrument of torture. Barnacles are an ancient charge, found as early as 1255. It may also be termed a pair of breys, especially for canting purposes. Barnacles have the hinge to chief by default.

        PDF File

Barrel     A barrel is a cylindrical wooden container, often for liquids, made of staves held together with hoops; it's also known as a cask or tun. The barrel is fesswise by default; its proper tincture is brown.

        PDF File

Basket     A basket is a small container of woven cane or straw, with a handle for carrying. The unqualified term refers to a generic hand-basket ..; mundane heraldry has also the bread-basket, a two-handled basket filled with loaves of bread.

        PDF File

Battering Ram     A battering ram is a long shaft with a hard head, used for breaking down doors and walls in a siege; the head is stylized as a ram's head. It is fesswise, head to dexter, by default.

        PDF File

Beehive     A beehive is a box or other shelter for a colony of bees. The heraldic form is the medieval variety, which is basket or dome shaped. The beehive is a period charge, found in the arms of Jervis c. 1584.

        PDF File

Bellows     A bellows is a device that produces a stream of air when its handles are pumped; it's used in blacksmith's fires, and in pipe organs. It is a period charge, found in the arms of von Sax, 1413. The mundane default is with spout to base.

        PDF File

Besom     A besom is a bundle of twings, bound to the end of a staff, and used for brushing or sweeping. It was the medieval precursor of the modern household broom; but it should not be blazoned broom, as that term is used in heraldry for the broom plant or planta genista. The besom has its straws to chief by SCA and mundane default.

        PDF File

Bobbin, Lace     A lace bobbin is a small spindle on which thread is wound, used in the manufacture of lace. Though [it] ... is a period artifact, dating from the late 16th Century, it does not appear to have been used in period armory. The lace bobbin is palewise, handle to base by SCA default.

        PDF File

Book     A book is a set of pages of paper or parchment, bound along one edge, with leather or wooden covers. A book may be open, with the cover laid flat, or closed, cover shut. As there's no heraldic default, the open or closed state must be specifically blazoned. Open books have their spines palewise by default (as in the arms of Oxford University, c.1585), while those of closed books are fesswise by default (as in the arms of Cambridge University, 1572). A book bound proper is bound in brown leather.
     Books are sometimes drawn with seals, or with metal clasps and hings; or with writing on the pages. These are considered artistic license, and are not normally blazoned in Society heraldry.

        PDF File

Bow, Musical     ... the musical bow, sometimes called a psaltery bow or viol bow; as the name implies, it's used for playing stringed musical instruments. When found in armory along with such an instrument, the simple term bow is understood to mean a musical bow.
     For the type of bow that shoots arrows, see Weapons.

        PDF File

Bowl     A bowl is a rounded container or dish; the most common form in Society heraldry is the flat-bottomed Greek variety, with optional handles.

        PDF File

Brazier     A brazier is a container for burning coals or charcoal; it's used as a heat source for cooking, metalwork, or warming a room. Its most common form was as a shallow bowl filled with flames; and this is how the brazier is depicted in Society heraldry. (It's usually blazoned enflamed, even though it wouldn't be a brazier without the flames.)

        PDF File

Breadloaf     A breadloaf is a long oblong roll of bread; it is the normal depiction of bread in Society heraldry. In mundane heraldry, bread is usually depicted as manchets or roundels, on a baker's peel.

        PDF File

Broach, Embroiderer's     An embroiderer's broach is a combined bodkin and spindle, used for picking, winding, and twisting thread. It was a period heraldic charge, used as early as 1558 (in the arms of the Worshipful Company of Broderers). Its default posture is with the forked end to chief.

        PDF File

Brooch     A brooch is an item of jewelry, a large ornamental pin or clasp. It comes in several varieties, of which the most common is the penannular brooch: a semi-circle of metal with a sliding pin. The penannular brooch has its opening to chief by default. They may be found closed, with the pin overlying the brooch, or open, with the pin through the gap; closed is the default posture.

        PDF File

Brush, Artist's     An artist's brush is a tuft of hair mounted by a ferrule on a long slender handle, used for applying paint, gesso, etc. Its construction and form have changed little since it was described in Cennini's Libro dell'Arte, 1437. The brush's tuft is to chief by default.

        PDF File

Buckle     A buckle is a clasp for use on straps, belts, etc. It is one of the oldest heraldic charges; in early blazons it is called a fermail, as in the canting arms of Malet, c. 1275. The buckle may be lozenge-shaped (in which form it is called an arming buckle), round, square, or oval; the exact shape must be specified. (The most common forms in mundane heraldry seem to be round and lozenge-shaped.) The position of the tongue is left to the artist.

        PDF File

Burnisher     A burnisher is an artist's tool, used for rubbing and polishing gold leaf on vellum. It consists of a head or rubbing surface, made of polished ivory or agate, mounted on a wooden handle. The burnishing head is to chief by SCA default.

        PDF File

[Abacus to Burnisher] [Caduceus to Cushion] [Distaff to Gyron] [Hammer to Keyhole]
[Label to Net] [Oar to Rudder] [Saddle to Stream] [Tablet to Yoke]

Footnotes:
¹ The Pictorial Dictionary of Heraldry as Used in the Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc., 2nd Edition, Bruce Draconarius of Mistholme and Akagawa Yoshio, 1992, self-published.

Disclaimer: All of these drawings are intended for use in the Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc., specifically for heraldic purposes. However, these pages do not delineate SCA College of Arms or West Kingdom College of Heralds policy. All attempts are made when describing or portraying the elements of armory used in these pages to be as accurate to both medieval and SCA usage as possible, but if you are not sure, you should check with the College of Arms or the College of Heralds. You may use these drawings "as is" for the purpose of designing heraldry for use within the SCA with this understanding. All decisions by the West Kingdom College of Heraldry and/or the SCA's College of Arms regarding the depictions used on your submission forms supercedes anything found here.

Heraldic Templates Main Page

Abacus	An abacus is a device for counting and adding, used since Roman times. Versions of the abacus may be found in many of th eworld's cultures, all pretty much the same: a frame strung with beads. The SCA default is the Oriental version, called suan pan by the Chinese, soroban by the Japanese. It is fesswise by default.
		PDF File

Amphora	An amphora is an ancient Greek vase or urn. The default form has a flat bottom; it may also be called a jug. A wine amphora has a pointed base, instead of a flat base. Similar to the amphora is the ampulla: a small two handled bottle used for perfume, smaller and more spherical than the amphora.
		PDF File

Anchor	An anchor is a weighted hook that moors a ship. Heraldry has special terms for some parts of an anchor: the shank (upright) is blazoned the beam, the stock (crosspiece) is the timber. The timber is to chief by default.
		PDF File

Angles	Angles are of obscure origin, but are supposed to represent a belt fastener, and as a result are usually born in pairs.
		PDF File

Anvil	An anvil is an iron block on which metalware is hammered into shape. The number of horns, unless specified, is left to the artist; both double-horned anvils (also called bickerns) and single-horned anvils are documented period artifacts. A square anvil is one with no horns. In Society heraldry, the unmodified term anvil usually refers to the armorer's anvil: portable, with a spike on the bottom for fixing it in place during use. If the latter is intended in the Society, it must be explicitly blazoned.
		PDF File

Apothecary Jar	This is a broad-mouthed jar with a flat or conical lid, used to hold unguents.
		PDF File

Armor	Armor is a defensive covering, designed to protect the wearer in combat. In heraldry, it is most often shown being worn (e.g. a man in armor), but pieces of armor are also used as charges in their own right. The link for armor given here will show each of the following charges, as described in the Pictorial Dictionary: A chamfron, or chanfron, is a piece of armor designed to protect a horse's head during battle. It is affronty by default. A cuirass is a piece of armor, designed to protect the torso; it is also called a breastplate for that reason. The cuirass is affronty by default. ... the gauntlet is a piece of armor made of metal. ... gauntlets follow the same convention and defaults as hands; ... often assumed to have a hand inside them. ... Gauntlets may be of mail or plate, at the artist's discretion. A helm is a piece of armor designed to enclose and protect the head; its use as an heraldic charge dates from c. 1285. The default helm is the great helm or barrel helm, and it is sometimes so blazoned. Other types of full helm (e.g. spangenhelm, sallet, barbute) must be explicitly blazoned; the type carries no heraldic difference. If such a helm is blazoned plumed, it carries a single feather as a crest and favor. Helms face to dexter by default. There are also helms that do not enclose the head, but sit atop it. Of these, the chapel-de-fer or eisenhut is the most common: a broad-brimmed metal hat, more in use by the infantry than the chivalry. It is a period charge, found in the arms of Spiegel, c. 1600. There is also the morion, a Spanish style of iron hat, with turned-up brim and a ridge-crest; it came into armorial use in the late 16th Century, as in the canting arms of Hatworth. Of the helm variants unique to the SCA, those blazoned a winged helm or horned helm are usually Viking helmets; these are metal caps with wings or horns, rather than full helms. The Greek and Roman helmets of antiquity are seen, as are Norman helms (actually steel caps with nasals). The Viking helms and the chapel-de-fer are affronty by default; all other helms face dexter by default. The helmet horn is a Japanese helmet crest, also called a kuwagata. Mail is a form of armor, consisting of myriad rings of metal woven into a form; it is sometimes redundantly (and erroneously) termed chain mail. Mail gauntlets, coifs and shirts have been used in Society heraldry -- usually worn by a human, but sometimes as charges in their own right. A shield is a piece of defensive armor, generally carried in one hand with the sword in the other. The most common heraldic shield is the escutcheon or heater shape. Another type is the buckler or round shield; it is also called a targe or target, and is found as an heraldic charge as early as 1312. Other types of shield found in Society heraldry include the mahdu, an African shield with horns projecting from either side; the kite shield, favored by equestrians; and the shield of David, another name for the star of David (see Stars ... for this charge).

Astrolabe	An astrolabe is an astronomical instrument; it was used for surveying the positions of the stars and planets, and calculating sidereal time. The device is period: Chaucer wrote a treatise on the astrolabe, in which he translated Moslem texts.
		PDF File

Axel Bracket	An axel bracket is an iron fixture attached to a wagon that holds its axel in place. The ends are to chief by SCA default.
		PDF File

Bag	A bag is a cloth or leather container that can be tied at the top, for h olding money or other small items. The common form in Society heraldry is more fully blazoned a drawstring bag or pouch; it is a period charge, dating from at least 1413. (The prefix string- differentiates it from the wool-bag or bail of mundane heraldry.) In this form, its default posture seems to be collapsed; but when blazoned money-bag, it is drawn as if full of coins. A similar charge is the pilgrim's scrip or pilgrim's purse, which is hung from the pilgrim's staff and carries his belongings. Finally, there are special-purpose bags, 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.
		PDF File

Bagpipe	A bagpipe is a double-reed musical instrument with a windbag that also supplies sonant force to a set of drone reeds. It's sometimes more fully blazoned a set of bagpipes. The period form has at most two drones.
		PDF File

Balance	A balance is a weighing instrument, consisting of a lever arm with two pans. Sometimes the balance is loosely termed a set of scales, though in strict fact the scales are simply the lever-and-pans; since scales may be used as a charge in their own right, it is best to use the correct term. The balance comes in two forms: a hand balance or hanging balance, with a handle to chief, and a standing balance on a pedestal. The latter is the more common in Society heraldry; the exact type should nonetheless be blazoned.
		PDF File

Barnacles	A pair of barnacles is a pincer clamped on an unruly horse's nose; it was sometimes used as an instrument of torture. Barnacles are an ancient charge, found as early as 1255. It may also be termed a pair of breys, especially for canting purposes. Barnacles have the hinge to chief by default.
		PDF File

Barrel	A barrel is a cylindrical wooden container, often for liquids, made of staves held together with hoops; it's also known as a cask or tun. The barrel is fesswise by default; its proper tincture is brown.
		PDF File

Basket	A basket is a small container of woven cane or straw, with a handle for carrying. The unqualified term refers to a generic hand-basket ..; mundane heraldry has also the bread-basket, a two-handled basket filled with loaves of bread.
		PDF File

Battering Ram	A battering ram is a long shaft with a hard head, used for breaking down doors and walls in a siege; the head is stylized as a ram's head. It is fesswise, head to dexter, by default.
		PDF File

Beehive	A beehive is a box or other shelter for a colony of bees. The heraldic form is the medieval variety, which is basket or dome shaped. The beehive is a period charge, found in the arms of Jervis c. 1584.
		PDF File

Bellows	A bellows is a device that produces a stream of air when its handles are pumped; it's used in blacksmith's fires, and in pipe organs. It is a period charge, found in the arms of von Sax, 1413. The mundane default is with spout to base.
		PDF File

Besom	A besom is a bundle of twings, bound to the end of a staff, and used for brushing or sweeping. It was the medieval precursor of the modern household broom; but it should not be blazoned broom, as that term is used in heraldry for the broom plant or planta genista. The besom has its straws to chief by SCA and mundane default.
		PDF File

Bobbin, Lace	A lace bobbin is a small spindle on which thread is wound, used in the manufacture of lace. Though [it] ... is a period artifact, dating from the late 16th Century, it does not appear to have been used in period armory. The lace bobbin is palewise, handle to base by SCA default.
		PDF File

Book	A book is a set of pages of paper or parchment, bound along one edge, with leather or wooden covers. A book may be open, with the cover laid flat, or closed, cover shut. As there's no heraldic default, the open or closed state must be specifically blazoned. Open books have their spines palewise by default (as in the arms of Oxford University, c.1585), while those of closed books are fesswise by default (as in the arms of Cambridge University, 1572). A book bound proper is bound in brown leather. Books are sometimes drawn with seals, or with metal clasps and hings; or with writing on the pages. These are considered artistic license, and are not normally blazoned in Society heraldry.
		PDF File

Bow, Musical	... the musical bow, sometimes called a psaltery bow or viol bow; as the name implies, it's used for playing stringed musical instruments. When found in armory along with such an instrument, the simple term bow is understood to mean a musical bow. For the type of bow that shoots arrows, see Weapons.
		PDF File

Bowl	A bowl is a rounded container or dish; the most common form in Society heraldry is the flat-bottomed Greek variety, with optional handles.
		PDF File

Brazier	A brazier is a container for burning coals or charcoal; it's used as a heat source for cooking, metalwork, or warming a room. Its most common form was as a shallow bowl filled with flames; and this is how the brazier is depicted in Society heraldry. (It's usually blazoned enflamed, even though it wouldn't be a brazier without the flames.)
		PDF File

Breadloaf	A breadloaf is a long oblong roll of bread; it is the normal depiction of bread in Society heraldry. In mundane heraldry, bread is usually depicted as manchets or roundels, on a baker's peel.
		PDF File

Broach, Embroiderer's	An embroiderer's broach is a combined bodkin and spindle, used for picking, winding, and twisting thread. It was a period heraldic charge, used as early as 1558 (in the arms of the Worshipful Company of Broderers). Its default posture is with the forked end to chief.
		PDF File

Brooch	A brooch is an item of jewelry, a large ornamental pin or clasp. It comes in several varieties, of which the most common is the penannular brooch: a semi-circle of metal with a sliding pin. The penannular brooch has its opening to chief by default. They may be found closed, with the pin overlying the brooch, or open, with the pin through the gap; closed is the default posture.
		PDF File

Brush, Artist's	An artist's brush is a tuft of hair mounted by a ferrule on a long slender handle, used for applying paint, gesso, etc. Its construction and form have changed little since it was described in Cennini's Libro dell'Arte, 1437. The brush's tuft is to chief by default.
		PDF File

Buckle	A buckle is a clasp for use on straps, belts, etc. It is one of the oldest heraldic charges; in early blazons it is called a fermail, as in the canting arms of Malet, c. 1275. The buckle may be lozenge-shaped (in which form it is called an arming buckle), round, square, or oval; the exact shape must be specified. (The most common forms in mundane heraldry seem to be round and lozenge-shaped.) The position of the tongue is left to the artist.
		PDF File

Burnisher	A burnisher is an artist's tool, used for rubbing and polishing gold leaf on vellum. It consists of a head or rubbing surface, made of polished ivory or agate, mounted on a wooden handle. The burnishing head is to chief by SCA default.
		PDF File