SCA - West Kingdom College of Heralds

Heraldic Templates -- Weapons

The following links are to pages that contain images that you can use to help design your armory -- this set of images are for weapons as they are used in heraldry.

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.

Arrow / Arrowhead     An arrow is a feathered shaft, shot from a bow as a missle. As an heraldic charge it takes from the reign of Edward I.
     The arrow's default posture is palewise, point down. When fesswise, the default posture is with point to sinister; but recent registrations have explicitly blazoned this. Its proper coloration is with a brown shaft and black head. When the tinctures of the feathers are blazoned, the arrow is termed flighted: e.g. an arrow argent flighted azure. The head and feathers are drawn exaggerated in size.
     A sheaf of arrows is a bundle of three arrows, two in saltire and one palewise, bound where they cross.
     Of the varant forms of arrow in mundane armory, the most common is the bird-bolt, with a wide blunt tip; it is a period charge, dating from c. 1285, and is also called a bird-blunt or boson, as in the canting arms of Bozon. The Japanese arrow notch (yahaza) is a charge used in Mon: the section of the shaft with the feathers and nock, drawn in a stylized form.
     There are several variant types of arrows from Society armory: A fire-arrow is an arrow with pitch-soaked cloth wrapped near the point, and enflamed. An elf-bolt is a stone arrowhead, chipped and flaked; prehistoric specimens found by the ancients were attributed to the Little People. A quarrel is a short arrow with feathers down its length; it's used in crossbows, rather than longbows.
     An arrowhead without qualification, is drawn simply as a generic barbed point.
     A pheon is a steel arrow-head, used by bow hunters; its blades' inner edges are engrailed, the better to penetratethe 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.
     An artistic variant of the pheon is the broad-arrow, or broadhead, with straight inner edges; it was an English Royal badge c. 1330. 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 SCA follows the English usage.

        PDF File

Axe     An axe is a copping weapon or tool. It is an ancient charge, found in the arms of the Kings of Denmark as early as 1244. The axe's default posture is palewise with the head to chief and the blade to dexter. The haft, when blazoned proper, is of brown wood.
     There are a great many variant forms of axe, depending on the shape of the head and haft; many strange forms are blazoned simply as an axe. No difference is therefore counted between the variants. The most common form is the battle-axe or war-axe; any axe whose form is unspecified may be safely drawn in this form. The battle-axe is single-bladed by default; the double-bladed form is common as well, but must be specified as such in the blazon.
     Other variants include the adze or carpenter's axe, whose blade may shape the wood as well as hew it; this charge is found in the arms of Renty, c. 1450. There is the woodsman's axe, also called the felling axe, which is fairly plain; the headsman's axe, also called the slaughterer's axe, also quite plain; the Danish axe, with a notch in the top of the blade (and a shaft often drawn as with the Lochaber axe, below); the Lochaber axe, with a long curved shaft and a hook at the end; the francisque, a hand-axe made for throwing (used mainly for canting); and the labrys, a ceremonial double-bladed hand-axe used by the Cretans.
     Axe-heads are also used as separate charges; the type of axe should then be specified.
     A fasches is an axe bound in a bundle of sticks (called fascine in Latin). The fasches was the syumbol of civil justice dataing from Roman times; it is found in teh arms of Cardinal Marazin, 1601. Its association with 20th Century Fascists does not bar the fasces from SCA use, though care should be taken. Its default posture is palewise, as with the axe.

        PDF File

Bow     A bow is a device for shooting arrows, consisting of a flexible strip of wood strung with cord. It is found in the canting arms of Bowes, c. 1410. The default bow is the longbow, and it is occasionally so blazoned. The default posture for the longbow is palewise and strung; the placement of the string (dexter or sinister) has changed over time. Society practice puts the string to sinister by default; when the bow is fesswise, the string is to base.
     Another form of bow is the crossbow, also called the arbalest; this is a bow (often of steel) set on a stock, and fires much like a modern firearm. As an heraldic charge, the crossbow dates from at least 1295; it is by default palewise, bow to chief, cocked and ready to shoot.

        PDF File

Cannon     A cannon is a large caliber gun, mounted on a carriage, and used primarily as a siege weapon. It is a period artifact, dating from c. 1400, but does not appear to have been used as an heraldic charge in period. The cannon is mounted in its carriage, mouth to dexter by default; if palewise, the mouth is to chief.

        PDF File

Catapult     A catapult is a siege engine, used to throw large stones and other missles; it was known in Roman times. The term catapult is a generic term, referring to various forms; these have been powered by tension from twisted ropes, from springs, and from other power sources. The type in most common use in medieval times was called a trebuchet or swepe: powered by gravity, it used a long lever arm and a heavy counterweight. This is the most common type in Society heraldry.
     All types of catapult are depicted by default in their "rest" position, with the arm neither cocked and ready, nor at release. Their proper coloration, as well all wooden charges, is brown.

        PDF File

War Hammer     [For other types of hammer, see the Other Charges category ...]

        PDF File

Handgun     The term handgun is used here to mean any firearm held and used in the hand (as opposed to, e.g. mortars). The category includes the musket, a long-barrelled firearm; and the pistol, less accurate but capable of being fired in one hand.
     Any type of musket or pistol, so long as it was known in period: matchlock, wheellock, and flintlockweapons are all permitted. A firearm proper has a brown wooden stock and black metal parts; when palewise, the muzzle is to chief by SCA default.

        PDF File

Knife     A knife is a bladed tool or weapon used for cutting or stabbing. The knife's blade is proportionally shorter than that of a sword; no heraldic difference is normally counted between the two. Like the sword, the knife is palewise, point to chief by default. It's proper coloration is with argent blade and Or quillons and handle; occasionally the handle may be light brown.
     Examples of knives found in Society heraldry include such divers items as the calligrapher's knife; the cinquedra, whose blade is five fingers in width; the dagger and dirk, stabbing and parrying weapons; the half-moon knife, with a crescent blade; the kindjal, a dagger with a round hilt; the kris, a wavy bladed dagger; the leatherworker's head knife, with a spiked moon-shaped blade; the pruning knife, with a wide blade hooked at the end; and the skene or skean, the short utility knife favored by the Scotsmen.

        PDF File

Mace     A mace is a heavy club-like weapon; the metal head is often spiked, knobbed, flanged or otherwise shaped to 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 to be the more common form in heraldry; in German armory, it dates to at least 1413.
     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.

        PDF File

Pole-Arm     This class of weapons is characterized by the long shaft with 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 include the berdiche, whose crescent-shaped blade is conjoined to the haft at its center and bottom points; the corsica or corsèque, with broad branched blades joined to the main blade; the fauchard, with a falchion-shaped blade; the glaive, whose single-edged blade has a backwards-curving tip; the halberd, with an axe blade and a spike on the end of the haft; the naginata a Japanese form of glaive; the partisan, a double-edged spear with short, hooked blades at the base of the head; and the pole-axe, with a standard axe head.

        PDF File

Pole-Cannon     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 is cited as a design used at Crecy, 1350; similar weapons were used on the Tudor warship Merry Rose, c. 1530. The mouth is to chief by SCA default.

        PDF File

Scythe     A scythe is an agricultural tool with a curved single-edged blade on a long bent handle; it is used to cut long grass, grain, etc.. It is a period charge, dating from c. 1295. The blade is to chief by default.
     The term also includes the war-scythe, a pole-arm similar in shape to the fauchard. These weapons' heads are found in Society armory.

        PDF File

Sling     A sling is a cupped piece of leather tied to cords or thongs, and used as a catapult for throwing stones. In Society heraldry, the default form of sling is a hand sling (à la David and Goliath); the cup is to base and thongs to chief by default.
     In mundane heraldry, there is also the slingstaff: essentially a hand sling fastened to a long pole with a hook to hold the sling closed until released. This form is a period charge, found in the arms of Cawarden temp. Henry III.

        PDF File

Spear     A spear is a weapon for thrusting or throwing, with a sharp point set on a long shaft. It is palewise, point to chief, by default.
     The standard form of spear in the Society has a lozenge shaped spear-head; this spear-head may also be used as a charge in its own right. Other types of spears include the billhook, a spear with a hooked blade; the boar-spear, with a crossbar partway down the shaft; the javelin, a throwing spear used in sport, simply a sharpened stick. The lance, also called a tilting spear or tourney spear, has a bell-shaped hand guard before the handle; it was the most common form in period armory, as in the canting arms of Shakespeare, 1546. Finally, there is the pikestaff, or pike, a very long spear with a leaf-shaped head.

        PDF File

Sword     A sword is a hand weapon with a long pointed blade, which may be single or double-edged, set in a hilt. It was the primary hand weapon of the Middle Ages; as an heraldic charge it dates from the canting arms of Marion c. 1275. The default posture is palewise, point to chief; if the sword is single-edged, the edge is to dexter by default. When blazoned proper, the sword has an argent blade and Or quillons and hilt.
     There are a great many variant forms of sword, depending on the shape of the blade; many strange forms are blazoned simply as a sword. No difference is therefore counted between the variants. The most common form is the broadsword; any sword whose form is unspecified may be safely drawn in this form.
     The sword's blade may be altered in some manner: the most common form is the broken sword, with the blade broken away. (This should not be confused with a sword fracted, whcih is a complete sword separated into two fragments.)
     Other sword variants may be classed according to blade shape. The straight-bladed swords include the claymore or claidheamh mor, the traditional Scots greatsword, drawn in the SCA as the actual artifact, instead of the mundane heraldic stylization; the curtana, whose point has been couped; the estoc with a narrow square blade, intended soley for thrusting; the gladius or Roman short sword; the great sword, sometimes more fully called a landsknecht's greatsword, a two-handed weapon; and the rapier, a late-period thrusting and parrying sword with an elaborate hilt, used in Society heraldry in place of the modern fencing epée.
     Of the curved-bladed swords, there is found the falchion, with a single curved edge and a flat back, like a modern machete; the flamberge, or wavy-bladed sword; the katana, or Japanese single-edged sword; the ken blade, and Oriental double-edged blade widening at the point; the kodachi or tachi, the Japanese cavalry sword; the scimitar, a highly stylized sword with a crescent blade; the seax, resembling the scimitar but with a notch in its back; and the shamshir, the Persian cavalry weapon, the precursor to the scimitar and saber.

        PDF File

Trident     A trident is a three-pronged spear, used by fisherman and Roman gladiators; in classical art, it was borne as a scepter by the sea-god Neptune. Its head resembles that of a barbed fork. The trident is a period charge, found in teh arms of Streithorst, c. 1600.

        PDF File

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

Arrow / Arrowhead	An arrow is a feathered shaft, shot from a bow as a missle. As an heraldic charge it takes from the reign of Edward I. The arrow's default posture is palewise, point down. When fesswise, the default posture is with point to sinister; but recent registrations have explicitly blazoned this. Its proper coloration is with a brown shaft and black head. When the tinctures of the feathers are blazoned, the arrow is termed flighted: e.g. an arrow argent flighted azure. The head and feathers are drawn exaggerated in size. A sheaf of arrows is a bundle of three arrows, two in saltire and one palewise, bound where they cross. Of the varant forms of arrow in mundane armory, the most common is the bird-bolt, with a wide blunt tip; it is a period charge, dating from c. 1285, and is also called a bird-blunt or boson, as in the canting arms of Bozon. The Japanese arrow notch (yahaza) is a charge used in Mon: the section of the shaft with the feathers and nock, drawn in a stylized form. There are several variant types of arrows from Society armory: A fire-arrow is an arrow with pitch-soaked cloth wrapped near the point, and enflamed. An elf-bolt is a stone arrowhead, chipped and flaked; prehistoric specimens found by the ancients were attributed to the Little People. A quarrel is a short arrow with feathers down its length; it's used in crossbows, rather than longbows. An arrowhead without qualification, is drawn simply as a generic barbed point. A pheon is a steel arrow-head, used by bow hunters; its blades' inner edges are engrailed, the better to penetratethe 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. An artistic variant of the pheon is the broad-arrow, or broadhead, with straight inner edges; it was an English Royal badge c. 1330. 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 SCA follows the English usage.
		PDF File

Axe	An axe is a copping weapon or tool. It is an ancient charge, found in the arms of the Kings of Denmark as early as 1244. The axe's default posture is palewise with the head to chief and the blade to dexter. The haft, when blazoned proper, is of brown wood. There are a great many variant forms of axe, depending on the shape of the head and haft; many strange forms are blazoned simply as an axe. No difference is therefore counted between the variants. The most common form is the battle-axe or war-axe; any axe whose form is unspecified may be safely drawn in this form. The battle-axe is single-bladed by default; the double-bladed form is common as well, but must be specified as such in the blazon. Other variants include the adze or carpenter's axe, whose blade may shape the wood as well as hew it; this charge is found in the arms of Renty, c. 1450. There is the woodsman's axe, also called the felling axe, which is fairly plain; the headsman's axe, also called the slaughterer's axe, also quite plain; the Danish axe, with a notch in the top of the blade (and a shaft often drawn as with the Lochaber axe, below); the Lochaber axe, with a long curved shaft and a hook at the end; the francisque, a hand-axe made for throwing (used mainly for canting); and the labrys, a ceremonial double-bladed hand-axe used by the Cretans. Axe-heads are also used as separate charges; the type of axe should then be specified. A fasches is an axe bound in a bundle of sticks (called fascine in Latin). The fasches was the syumbol of civil justice dataing from Roman times; it is found in teh arms of Cardinal Marazin, 1601. Its association with 20th Century Fascists does not bar the fasces from SCA use, though care should be taken. Its default posture is palewise, as with the axe.
		PDF File

Bow	A bow is a device for shooting arrows, consisting of a flexible strip of wood strung with cord. It is found in the canting arms of Bowes, c. 1410. The default bow is the longbow, and it is occasionally so blazoned. The default posture for the longbow is palewise and strung; the placement of the string (dexter or sinister) has changed over time. Society practice puts the string to sinister by default; when the bow is fesswise, the string is to base. Another form of bow is the crossbow, also called the arbalest; this is a bow (often of steel) set on a stock, and fires much like a modern firearm. As an heraldic charge, the crossbow dates from at least 1295; it is by default palewise, bow to chief, cocked and ready to shoot.
		PDF File

Cannon	A cannon is a large caliber gun, mounted on a carriage, and used primarily as a siege weapon. It is a period artifact, dating from c. 1400, but does not appear to have been used as an heraldic charge in period. The cannon is mounted in its carriage, mouth to dexter by default; if palewise, the mouth is to chief.
		PDF File

Catapult	A catapult is a siege engine, used to throw large stones and other missles; it was known in Roman times. The term catapult is a generic term, referring to various forms; these have been powered by tension from twisted ropes, from springs, and from other power sources. The type in most common use in medieval times was called a trebuchet or swepe: powered by gravity, it used a long lever arm and a heavy counterweight. This is the most common type in Society heraldry. All types of catapult are depicted by default in their "rest" position, with the arm neither cocked and ready, nor at release. Their proper coloration, as well all wooden charges, is brown.
		PDF File

War Hammer	[For other types of hammer, see the Other Charges category ...]
		PDF File

Handgun	The term handgun is used here to mean any firearm held and used in the hand (as opposed to, e.g. mortars). The category includes the musket, a long-barrelled firearm; and the pistol, less accurate but capable of being fired in one hand. Any type of musket or pistol, so long as it was known in period: matchlock, wheellock, and flintlockweapons are all permitted. A firearm proper has a brown wooden stock and black metal parts; when palewise, the muzzle is to chief by SCA default.
		PDF File

Knife	A knife is a bladed tool or weapon used for cutting or stabbing. The knife's blade is proportionally shorter than that of a sword; no heraldic difference is normally counted between the two. Like the sword, the knife is palewise, point to chief by default. It's proper coloration is with argent blade and Or quillons and handle; occasionally the handle may be light brown. Examples of knives found in Society heraldry include such divers items as the calligrapher's knife; the cinquedra, whose blade is five fingers in width; the dagger and dirk, stabbing and parrying weapons; the half-moon knife, with a crescent blade; the kindjal, a dagger with a round hilt; the kris, a wavy bladed dagger; the leatherworker's head knife, with a spiked moon-shaped blade; the pruning knife, with a wide blade hooked at the end; and the skene or skean, the short utility knife favored by the Scotsmen.
		PDF File

Mace	A mace is a heavy club-like weapon; the metal head is often spiked, knobbed, flanged or otherwise shaped to 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 to be the more common form in heraldry; in German armory, it dates to at least 1413. 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.
		PDF File

Pole-Arm	This class of weapons is characterized by the long shaft with 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 include the berdiche, whose crescent-shaped blade is conjoined to the haft at its center and bottom points; the corsica or corsèque, with broad branched blades joined to the main blade; the fauchard, with a falchion-shaped blade; the glaive, whose single-edged blade has a backwards-curving tip; the halberd, with an axe blade and a spike on the end of the haft; the naginata a Japanese form of glaive; the partisan, a double-edged spear with short, hooked blades at the base of the head; and the pole-axe, with a standard axe head.
		PDF File

Pole-Cannon	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 is cited as a design used at Crecy, 1350; similar weapons were used on the Tudor warship Merry Rose, c. 1530. The mouth is to chief by SCA default.
		PDF File

Scythe	A scythe is an agricultural tool with a curved single-edged blade on a long bent handle; it is used to cut long grass, grain, etc.. It is a period charge, dating from c. 1295. The blade is to chief by default. The term also includes the war-scythe, a pole-arm similar in shape to the fauchard. These weapons' heads are found in Society armory.
		PDF File

Sling	A sling is a cupped piece of leather tied to cords or thongs, and used as a catapult for throwing stones. In Society heraldry, the default form of sling is a hand sling (à la David and Goliath); the cup is to base and thongs to chief by default. In mundane heraldry, there is also the slingstaff: essentially a hand sling fastened to a long pole with a hook to hold the sling closed until released. This form is a period charge, found in the arms of Cawarden temp. Henry III.
		PDF File

Spear	A spear is a weapon for thrusting or throwing, with a sharp point set on a long shaft. It is palewise, point to chief, by default. The standard form of spear in the Society has a lozenge shaped spear-head; this spear-head may also be used as a charge in its own right. Other types of spears include the billhook, a spear with a hooked blade; the boar-spear, with a crossbar partway down the shaft; the javelin, a throwing spear used in sport, simply a sharpened stick. The lance, also called a tilting spear or tourney spear, has a bell-shaped hand guard before the handle; it was the most common form in period armory, as in the canting arms of Shakespeare, 1546. Finally, there is the pikestaff, or pike, a very long spear with a leaf-shaped head.
		PDF File

Sword	A sword is a hand weapon with a long pointed blade, which may be single or double-edged, set in a hilt. It was the primary hand weapon of the Middle Ages; as an heraldic charge it dates from the canting arms of Marion c. 1275. The default posture is palewise, point to chief; if the sword is single-edged, the edge is to dexter by default. When blazoned proper, the sword has an argent blade and Or quillons and hilt. There are a great many variant forms of sword, depending on the shape of the blade; many strange forms are blazoned simply as a sword. No difference is therefore counted between the variants. The most common form is the broadsword; any sword whose form is unspecified may be safely drawn in this form. The sword's blade may be altered in some manner: the most common form is the broken sword, with the blade broken away. (This should not be confused with a sword fracted, whcih is a complete sword separated into two fragments.) Other sword variants may be classed according to blade shape. The straight-bladed swords include the claymore or claidheamh mor, the traditional Scots greatsword, drawn in the SCA as the actual artifact, instead of the mundane heraldic stylization; the curtana, whose point has been couped; the estoc with a narrow square blade, intended soley for thrusting; the gladius or Roman short sword; the great sword, sometimes more fully called a landsknecht's greatsword, a two-handed weapon; and the rapier, a late-period thrusting and parrying sword with an elaborate hilt, used in Society heraldry in place of the modern fencing epée. Of the curved-bladed swords, there is found the falchion, with a single curved edge and a flat back, like a modern machete; the flamberge, or wavy-bladed sword; the katana, or Japanese single-edged sword; the ken blade, and Oriental double-edged blade widening at the point; the kodachi or tachi, the Japanese cavalry sword; the scimitar, a highly stylized sword with a crescent blade; the seax, resembling the scimitar but with a notch in its back; and the shamshir, the Persian cavalry weapon, the precursor to the scimitar and saber.
		PDF File

Trident	A trident is a three-pronged spear, used by fisherman and Roman gladiators; in classical art, it was borne as a scepter by the sea-god Neptune. Its head resembles that of a barbed fork. The trident is a period charge, found in teh arms of Streithorst, c. 1600.
		PDF File