Panther

WARNING: Do not cite this page as a reference. This page is on this wikispace only to make the content "searchable" and easier to find. If you find the information you seek here, go to the original sources as linked below to verify the information and use them for your documentation. Revised {$revisiondate}.

---

Illustrations:

[Illustration from period source]

[Illustration from PicDic]

[Illustration from Pensic Art Project]

---

Sources:

Academy of St. Gabriel "Medieval Heraldry Archive" - [[1]] Archive of St. Gabriel reports - [[2]] Laurel Armory Articles - [[3]] Period Armorials

---

Precedents:

Precedents of the SCA College of Arms - [[4]] Morsulus Heralds Website - [[5]] (to search the LoARs and Precedents) Restatement Wiki - [[6]] (restatements of Precedents) Use the above links to be sure any precedents listed below haven't been superseded by newer precedents.

Definition:

From the August 2013 Cover Letter: From Wreath: Lions and Ounces and Catamounts, oh my! ...Lions have manes, and distinctive tufted tails. Lynxes have much shorter tails, and tufted ears. Ounces are typically defined as maneless lions. Natural panthers also have no mane and smooth tails, as do wildcats and domestic cats. Leopards and natural tigers are additionally distinguished by their markings. Parker decidedly conflates catamounts and wildcats, and even lynxes to an extent, although the latter he also lumps in with panthers and ounces. Guillim and Legh mention both lions and leopards, but no other type of cat. ... As we cannot readily distinguish between natural panthers, domestic cats, catamounts, wildcats, and ounces with smooth tails, we will accept any of these blazon terms. [[7]]

From the November 2006 Cover Letter - From Wreath: Panthers A submission this month raised the question of the default head posture for heraldic panthers. The question is complicated by the fact that there are two different monsters going by the name of panther - one English, one Continental - which the Society has tried to treat the same. It's further complicated by the fact that the Society has had conflicting defaults for panthers over the years. The English-style panther is "depicted rather like the natural animal, but covered with spots of various colours and with flames issuing from its mouth and ears" (Dennys' Heraldic Imagination,// p.143). Period examples can be found in Dennys, p.143; Woodcock & Robinson's //Oxford Guide to Heraldry,// plate 16, dated 1616; and Marks & Payne's //British Heraldry,// p.39, dated 1604. Some examples are rampant, some are passant. In almost all period cases we've found, the English panther is guardant and colorfully spotted - and the one exception, which is colorfully //streaked, we're prepared to accept as an aberration. There is more variation in the depiction of the Continental (or German) panther. Pastoureau (Traité d'Héraldique//, p. 156) describes it as "a composite creature, having the body of a lion, the head and horns of a bull, the front feet of a griffin, the back feet of an ox or lion. It is rampant and belches flames from its mouth and ears (//une créature composite, ayant le corps du lion, la tête et les cornes du taureau, les pattes antérieures du griffon, les pattes postérieures du b{oe}uf ou du lion. Elle est ram-pante et vomit des flames par la bouche et les oreilles)." Examples from the Zurich Roll, c.1340 (#20) and the European Armorial, c.1450 (p.37), support this description. But the panther's head is occasionally that of an eagle (Cotta Codex, 1459, plate 6), and its neck is frequently elongated. None of the period examples were spotted. Hitherto, the Society has granted no difference between these types of panther: > [Returning Vert, a German panther rampant Or breathing flames gules, maintaining a fleur-de-lys argent//] Conflict with... //Per chevron rayonny erminois and sable, in base a panther rampant Or, incensed proper. There's a CD for the change to the field, but since the move ... is forced, nothing for position on the field, nor can we see granting a CD between continental and insular panthers. [3/94, p.19] But as with the English chimera versus the German chimera, the only thing the two types of panther have in common is the name... and possibly the flaming breath. We are therefore overturning the 1994 precedent, and ruling as follows:

• The unmodified term panther refers to the English monster: a maneless lion, incensed and colorfully spotted. Both the spots and flames are part of the definition; but the spots' tincture doesn't count for difference.
• The term German panther// or //Continental panther refers to the monster as described by Pastoureau: usually horned, usually with eagle's forefeet, often long-necked, and always incensed. Its definition does not include spots.
• The term natural panther// refers to a great cat as found in nature, a maneless lion - also blazoned in period as an //ounce//, and in the Society as a //catamount (mountain lion).

In terms of difference, we henceforth will grant a CD between a standard (i.e. English) panther and a Continental panther; and either monster will have a CD from an (unspotted, unincensed) natural panther. As for their default postures, the Pictorial Dictionary// states that a panther "is guardant by English default... [The Continental panther] faces dexter by German default; the SCA follows German practice rather than English, since the English posture can easily be blazoned explicitly." On the other hand, the //Glossary of Terms (under Table 4, Defaults) states that the panther is "Guardant; body posture must be specified." Precedent states: > [a panther sejant head to dexter argent] Table 3 of the Glossary of Terms indicates that the panther (which is to say, the default "English-style" heraldic panther) is guardant by default. As a result we must explicitly state that this panther has its head to dexter. Note that the Continental panther does not have an SCA default posture. > Please note that the discussions of the panther's default posture in the Pictorial Dictionary in the SCA have been superceded [sic] by the listing in the Glossary, which has been available for some years. [Katerina McGilledoroughe, 08/03, A-Æthelmearc] There are 200 entries in the Online Armorial with the term "panther". Of these, the majority are either blazoned as natural panthers// or have the head posture explicitly blazoned. Of the remaining armory, most are not guardant. As most of the registered panthers follow the default mentioned in the //Pictorial Dictionary//, rather than that currently listed in the //Glossary of Terms, we are restoring the default to the German practice (not guardant). This will be reflected in the next revision of Table 4 of the Glossary of Terms. Henceforth, all heraldic panthers are not-guardant (i.e., facing to dexter or sinister, as appropriate) by default. If the panther is guardant, it must be explicitly blazoned. The body posture has no default, and must be specified. Over the next several months, we will be checking all the emblazons of the registered panthers, reblazoning as necessary to distinguish the Continental panthers and those which are guardant. While reblazoning, the term ounce//, a heraldic term for a maneless lion that dates from 1591, rather than //natural panther has been used when the cat is incensed (but lacking the spots of a heraldic panther) so as to avoid possible confusion in the blazon between a panther and a natural panther. [[8]]

#x--Precedents:-Registerability:Registerability:

(Restricted, Reserved, SFPP, OOP)

#x--Precedents:-Conflict:Conflict:

From the August 2013 Cover Letter: From Wreath: Lions and Ounces and Catamounts, oh my! Several submissions lately have raised the question of the difference between a catamount, an ounce, or any other type of cat. Fundamentally, we grant no difference in SCA armory for the difference between any type of cat, from lions to domestic cats. Still, these are blazonable differences. ...Depending on precise proportions of body parts such as heads, shoulders, limbs, and so forth to one another when defining charges is contrary to heraldic style. As we cannot readily distinguish between natural panthers, domestic cats, catamounts, wildcats, and ounces with smooth tails, we will accept any of these blazon terms. [[9]]

From the February 2003 LoAR: "There is one CD, but not substantial difference, between a heraldic panther and a lion" [2003 LoAR]

From the November 2002 LoAR: "There is no type difference between a [domestic] cat and a natural panther." [2002 LoAR]

From the May 1995 LoAR: [a snow leopard spotted vs various unspotted cats] [There is a CD] for the addition of the spots (effectively a semy, and worth the same CD as any addition of a tertiary charge or tertiary charge group). (Marke von Mainz, 5/95 p. 2) [[10]]

From the August 1994 LoAR: [a panther rampant guardant argent spotted sable incensed gules vs. a lion rampant argent] There is a CD for type for the difference between the cats, but that is all. [I.e. there is a significant but not a substantial difference.] (Ulfhethinn the Bold, 8/94 p. 15) [[11]]

From the March 1993 LoAR: [An ounce rampant Or spotted of diverse tinctures//] The creature is not a //panther//, as blazoned on the LOI (for it isn't incensed of flame), but an //ounce //or maneless lion. As such, it gets no difference from a standard //lion//; and its spots here count for no more than the spots on any other spotted cat (e.g. a natural leopard). If she resubmits with a genuine panther, charged with large roundels --- better yet, with a Continental panther --- it should [be a CD from a //lion]. (Alysandria of the Fosse Way, March, 1993, pg. 22) [[12]]

Collected Precedents:

2nd Tenure of Elisabeth de Rossignol (April 2011 - August 2011) - [Armory Precedents] 1st Tenure of Elisabeth de Rossignol (May 2005 - July 2008) - BEAST -- Cat, BEAST - Panther see [- Cat] see also MONSTER - Panther The 2nd Tenure of François la Flamme (October 2004 - May 2005) - Collected Armory Precedents The Tenure of Shauna of Carrick Point (May 2004 - August 2004) - [Armory Precedents] The Tenure of François la Flamme (August 2001 - April 2004) - [Armory Precedents] The Tenure of Elsbeth Anne Roth (June 1999 - July 2001) - [Armory Precedents] The Tenure of Jaelle of Armida (June 1996 - June 1999) - [HTML Document] The 2nd Tenure of Da'ud ibn Auda (November 1993 - June 1996) -

• [1st part] (Nov 1993 - June 1994) and
• [2nd part] (July 1994 - June 1996)

The Tenure of Bruce Draconarius of Mistholme (June 1992 - October 1993) - [precedents] The 1st Tenure of Da'ud ibn Auda (June 1990 - June 1992) -

• [1st year] (June 1990 - June 1991) and
• [2nd year] (July 1991 - June 1992)

The Tenure of Alisoun MacCoul of Elphane (September 1986 - June 1990) - [Precedents] The Tenure of Baldwin of Erebor (August 1984 - August 1986) - [HTML Document] The Tenure of Wilhelm von Schlüssel (August 1979 - August 1984) - [Precedents] The Tenure of Karina of the Far West (December 1975 - June 1979) - [Precedents] The Early Days (June 1971 - June 1975) - [Precedents]

---

The Ordinary :

• Pantheon - see [- Panther]
• Panther - see Monster - Panther and Beast - Cat
• Panther - Natural - see [- Cat]
• Panther's face - see [- Beast - Cat]
• Panther's head - see [- Beast - Cat]