Blazoning of Creatures

A brief summary of how to describe miscellaneous creatures in heraldic terminology aka heraldic descriptions of animals.

• derived from Master Eldred Ælfwald, Azure Dragon Herald© 1998, 2010 Eldred Ælfwald / J. T. Thorpe

http://ealdercote.org/books/UoA/AnimalBlazonry.html

Introduction

In period armory, beasts and monsters were drawn such that their main features were easily seen and identified, and this convention should continue to be used...

One thing to note is that the default position for a beast or monster to be facing is to dexter (the viewer's left, the shield bearer's right). This means that the animal will be facing forward as the soldier charges into battle holding the shield in his/her left hand.

Many of the terms of heraldry come from French, and the major postures reflect these origins...

See also Posture

Quadrupeds

See Quadruped Postures

Insects and Tortoises and Amphibians

tergiant:an overhead view of the beast as it crawls along.
volant-en-arriere (or volant):winged insects in flight viewed from above.
displayed:the wings are outstretched--used for butterflies, moths, and other insects that are mostly wing.

Creatures such as crickets and grasshoppers that are better identified from the side might be blazoned as statant. Toads and frogs are often tergiant The exact emblazon is left to the good sense of the artist. Spiders are depicted tergiant by default, although within the SCA, some people have successfully registered spiders as being rampant.

See also Reptiles and Insect, Arthropod.

Snake-like Creatures (eels and reptiles)

glissant:slithering along usually either fesswise or to chief. Almost straight.
ondoyant (or undoyant):undulating or very wriggly. Again, usually to chief or fesswise.
nowed:knotted. In a loose knot that looks like an untightened overhand knot or a pretzel.
erect:ready to strike. The snake is shown in a reverse S-curve(default) so the entire length of the body is seen. This attitude is one that appears to be post period, but is still acceptable.
coiled erect:bottom portion coiled, head up and ready to strike. An SCA invented posture.

See also Reptiles

Humans and Humanoids

The default posture for humans is statant affronty. Anything else is almost never met with in Period heraldry. Sometimes if a human being is better described in a different position the posture will be changed accordingly. "An archer statant maintaining and drawing a bow" would naturally be seen in profile, as would "a knight armed cap-a-pie brandishing a sword upon a horse courant caparisoned...".

Angels have their wings displayed and inverted by default. They are usually found statant affronty in both SCA and Period heraldry. An armored human is armed. If the armor covers all of his body he is armed cap-a-pie (literally "head to toe"). Clothing is blazoned as vested. Hair is described as crined. These details are optional and give no difference in SCA heraldry but are neat to know.

Beasts of the Air

(birds or monsters that fly with prominent wings)

See Bird Postures

Sea Creatures (fish, sea monsters)

hauriant:positioned vertically with heads rising upwards--a common posture.
urinant:positioned vertically with heads sinking downwards, belly to sinister--a rare posture.
naiant:swimming fesswise--a common posture.
embowed:applies to any fish that has its body arched as if it were leaping. Think of hauriant// with the fish curved in an arc with the bend to the right. Sometimes it is emblazoned //naiant embowed(period French) where the fish forms an "arch".
erect:applies to any sea monster--the top half is rampant and the bottom half is coiled into a loop.

See also Sea Creature Postures

Other

Snail - side view.
Octopus or calamarie' (kraken/squid) e-head in the middle with the tentacles sort of fanning out from the center.

Since many heraldic monsters are combinations of heraldic beasts, and combine two or more different types of beasts, how are they drawn?

• A sea-monster is normally blazoned erect--the forepaws are as if the beast is rampant and the tail is looped.
• If the monster has legs, it can be blazoned using some if not all of the land attitudes. A dragon may be blazoned using any land or air beast attitudes, yet a wyvern cannot as it only has two legs.
• Some of the more unusual animals in the heraldic zoo have multiple heads or bodies. The hydra is a "standard" multi-headed monster, but since it is defined as having multiple heads, there is not a special term for it. However, for those animals, that would not normally have more than one head (or body) special terms exist.

bicorporate:having two bodies and one head
tricorporate, etc.:having three, or more bodies as indicated by prefix
bicapitated, etctwo-headed, likewise, tricapitated means three-headed
winged:if the beast in question does not normally have wings, they can be added to create a new chimera-like monster.
sea-<fill in the animal of choice>:For the most part, animals can become sea-monsters by replacing the hind portion of their bodies with a fish tail (like a mermaid's). See the sea-urchin at right for an example.

Animals’ Heads

cabossed/caboshed:simply a frontal view of the animal’s face. The neck is not shown in this depiction. Note: for foxes, this is referred to a fox's mask, and for lions and leopards, it is referred to as a lion's (or leopard's) face.
couped close:a side view of the head only.
couped:a side view of the head with the neck shown. The neck ends in a simple horizontal line. Coupémeans "cut" in French, so this depiction of an animal’s head with smooth "cut" at the neck makes logical sense.
erased:Similar to couped,but the neck ends in a ragged edge. To put it grossly, the head was ripped off.
jessant-de-lys:with a fleur-de-lys issuing from the mouth and head--as if the head were speared through.

See also Head

Other Details and Adjustments

Major Adjustments

In addition to the normal postures, there are a few other postures that involve multiple beasts or a beast and another object. Creatures that don't really have a front or a back when viewed in a heraldic position aren't blazoned in this fashion...

combattant:any two carnivorous beasts facing one another across the center line of division
respectant:any two peaceful beasts facing one another across the centerline of division.
addorsed:any two beasts back to back. Do not confuse with addorsed wings of avians.
sustaininga <object>:a beast may hold a large object in two paws/talons. The object must be large enough that it could be used as a separate charge group.
counter-passant:two beasts that are passant in opposite directions.
counter-salient:two beasts that are salient in opposite directions. Vanishingly rare if at all in period armory.
caparisoned/barded:refers to the barding on a horse when bridled, saddled, and armored.
pinioned/winged:refers to the tincture of the wings of an animal. When the wings are a major portion of the beast (such as when displayed) changing the tinctures of the wings can be a point of difference.
membered:refers to the tincture of the legs of a beast.

• One thing to note is that positions such as combattant and addorsed may fit our modern notions of symmetry by being mirror images. However, to the people of the Middle Ages, two beasts of the same type facing the same direction would have constituted symmetry. This doesn't preclude the use of such postures, but it provides something to think about when designing armory.

Minor Adjustments

Minor changes to a beast include the position of the head or the tail, tinctures of minor details such as eyes, claws. Also, any aspect of a beast can have a tincture different from the remainder of its body.

Minor Changes to Postures

regardant:applied to any beast--looking over its shoulder. Common.
guardant:applied to any beast--looking out towards viewer (at gazefor stags that are statant) Common.
coward:with tail between legs (for tailed beasts and monsters).
maintaining a <object>:a beast may hold a small object in a single paw/mouth/ beak/talon/etc. Very common.
brandishing an <object>:applies primarily to humanoids. The beast is holding the object in a threatening way. Very similar to maintaining.
nowed(or knowed):in a loop or knot--used to describe tails and serpents
vulning:any animal wounding itself (Pelicans are the classic example)

Minor Changes or Additions to Attributes

...Such details are usually too small to be noticed at a distance... Often, such details that are a standard part of the beast are regarded as artistic license. Additions to a beast, such as gorged and vorant are explicitly blazoned when the armory is being registered. Some count for difference, and some don't.

alerion:without legs or beak. Rare.
armed:refers to the tincture of the claws, teeth and horns (and beak of a bird or monster)
attired:refers to the tincture of the horns of a deer or other beast with antlers
barbed:although commonly used to reference arrowheads, barbed also refers to a tail that ends in a spearhead-like point. Typical of dragons and wyverns.
combed/crested:refers to the tincture of a bird with a crest
crined:refers to the tincture of the hair of humanoids
dented:refers to the tincture of the teeth
disarmed:a creature without its offensive weapons
distilling gouttes de sang/a goutte de sang: dripping blood
double-queued:a creature that has two tails
finned:refers to the tincture of a fish's or sea monster's fins
flammant/enflamed:for traditionally fire-breathing beasts, flames issue from the mouth
gorged of <item>:refers to a collar or other object encircling the neck of a beast. Quite often period armory will depict an animal engorged of a coronet.
habited/vested:refers to the clothing on humanoids
hooded:refers to the tincture of a hood on a hawk
horned:refers to the tincture of the horns of an animal
incensed:spouting flames from the mouth and ears (typical of panthers from the 16th century onwards).Earlier examples of the panther lack this type of detail and the flames issue only from the mouth.
jelloped:refers to the tincture of a bird's wattles
langued:refers to the tincture of the tongue.
maned:refers to the tincture of an animal's mane
orbed:refers to the tincture of the eyes
queued:refers to the tincture of the tail
queue-forché:used to describe a tail that is split in two
sexed/pizzled/coded:refers to the tincture of the sexual organs of a beast. Rare
tufted:refers to the tincture of the tufts of hair on animal's limbs and tails. Rare.
unguled/hoofed:refers to the tincture of the hooves. Rare.
vorant:any animal devouring another creature or object
vulned:wounded and disgorging blood

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