"Animals' heads are also very frequent charges, as are the paw or leg (gamb) of the lion, the wing (often paired) of the eagle, and the antlers (attire) of the stag. Sometimes only the anterior half of a beast is shown; for example, the demi-lion is among the most common forms occurring in heraldic crests.

Heads may appear cabossed (also caboshed or caboched): with the head cleanly separated from the neck so that only the face shows; couped: with the neck cleanly separated from the body so that the whole head and neck are present; or erased: with the neck showing a ragged edge as if forcibly torn from the body. While cabossed heads are shown facing forward (affronté), heads that are couped or erased face dexter unless otherwise specified for differencing. Heads of horned beasts are often shown cabossed to display the horns, but instances can be found in any of these circumstances."



ORDINARIES Divisions of the ordinary and fantastic. "At The Gates"
	*Get an attitude: armed* ~ having teeth, talons, horns and or claws. By default, most animals, monsters, birds, etc., have appropriate teeth, talons, horns or claws. This term specifically is used if you are referencing these as tinctured other than the actual beast, as in a lion Or, armed gules, which would mean that you had a gold/yellow lion with red claws and teeth. Cosmic space: ordinaries ~ Several different figures are recognized as "honourable ordinaries", each normally occupying about one-fifth to one-third of the field ... much disagreement exists among authors regarding which ordinary charges are "honourable", so only those generally agreed to be "honourable ordinaries" are the Chief, Bend, Pale, Fess, Chevron, Cross and Saltire. Sometimes compound animals represented royal convergences of family emblems, such as a lion with a goat's body and a horse's tail, including hailing back to mythological animals representing family lineages or alliances. Personal identification marks are extremely ancient and are evidenced by the occurrence of 'art' on tools and ornaments; "art" meaning markings made that are not the result of crafting the object and have no utilitarian purpose regarding the use of the object. In other words: decoration. It is the reasonable deduction that the craftsman or owner decorated the objects. Stylized markings, brands, logos, tamgas are 'signatures', the earliest found so far being etchings on bone dating c. 400,000 BCE in Thuringia, Germany. Archaeological documentation evidences the use of brands, both for personal and group identity, to mark possessions going back to 5000 BCE in Eurasia. Symbols were used to indicate individuals, lineage (extended family identification), tribes (groups of families), clans (groups of tribes), and, ultimately, nationalistic territorial claims. A symbol can refer to a person, a family, a political or ethnic association, or a territory. Like humans are prone to do, adoption of trends, styles, and standards among a group produces cultural distinction.


	Q HERALDRY HELM CREST SHIELD~CHARGES ORDINARIES MANTLE~SUPPORTS KIBLER

	CHARGES continued
	ANIMATE CHARGE "PARTS" Bear's head is "couped": neck cut off from body Leopard's head is "erased": neck ripped off body Stag's head is "cabossed": separated from neck "Animals' heads are also very frequent charges, as are the paw or leg (gamb) of the lion, the wing (often paired) of the eagle, and the antlers (attire) of the stag. Sometimes only the anterior half of a beast is shown; for example, the demi-lion is among the most common forms occurring in heraldic crests. Heads may appear cabossed (also caboshed or caboched): with the head cleanly separated from the neck so that only the face shows; couped: with the neck cleanly separated from the body so that the whole head and neck are present; or erased: with the neck showing a ragged edge as if forcibly torn from the body. While cabossed heads are shown facing forward (affronté), heads that are couped or erased face dexter unless otherwise specified for differencing. Heads of horned beasts are often shown cabossed to display the horns, but instances can be found in any of these circumstances."		ARMORED AND LANGUED ANIMATE CHARGES An "armored" animate charge indicates the claws and teeth are expressly shown. Armoring is a different color than the body of the charge. Langued means the tongue is shown and also usually a different color. Or, a lion rampant Gules armed and langued Azure within a double tressure flory counter-flory Gules: blazon for the Royal Coat of Arms of Scotland illustrates.

	Canting devices, or puns on a name, were fairly common: Henry of Henneberg's shield bore a hen; William Heringaud's bore herrings (harenc in Old French), and Godard, John, and Roger Heron's all bore herons (OFr. hairon).
	MORE ATTRIBUTES
	*attired* -- having antlers, only used when specifying a different tincture *barbed* -- describing the head of an arrow or the sepals of a rose, only used when specifying a different tincture *barded* -- a horse bridled, saddled and armored *belled* -- having a bell or bells attached blasted -- a tree without leaves *chained* -- being possessed of a chain *crined* -- hair or mane, only used when specifying a different tincture *couped* -- cut short by a straight horizontal line *couped close* -- cut short by a straight vertical line *demi* -- only the upper half is depicted *double-headed* -- having two heads *embattled* -- having crenellations *enflamed* -- flaming *eradicated* -- uprooted (the roots showing on a tree) *erased* -- torn off in a horizontal plane leaving a ragged edge *erased close* -- torn off in a vertical plane leaving a ragged edge *fracted* -- broken fructed -- bearing fruit *gorged* -- encircled about the throat with (e.g., a crown)		*hilted* -- describing the handle and guard of a weapon, only used when specifying a different tincture *hooded* -- of a hunting bird when hooded *incensed* -- having flames issuing from mouth and ears *irradiated* -- surrounded by rays of light *jessed* -- having thongs attached -- only used with falcons that have jesses *langued* -- having a tongue, only used when specifying a different tincture *orbed* -- having eyes, only used when specifying a different tincture *pommelled* -- describing the pommel of a weapon, only used when specifying a different tincture *queue fourché* -- the tail of a beast divided at the mid point *rompu* -- broken *seeded* -- having seed vessels, normally only used when specifying a different tincture *slipped* -- including a stem or stalk on a plant, flower, or fruit *unguled* -- describing the hooves of animals, only used when specifying a different tincture *voided* -- having the center removed to reveal the field or another tincture *winged* -- descriptive of creatures or charges that do not normally have wings

	ORDINARIES
	Honourable ordinary The chief is the upper portion of the field. The bend runs from the upper left to the lower right, as \, as seen by the viewer. The bend sinister runs from the upper right to the lower left, as /. The pale, a vertical stripe in the centre of the field. The fess is a broad horizontal stripe across the centre of the field. The chevron is a construction shaped like an inverted letter V. The cross is a geometric construction of two perpendicular lines or bands. It has hundreds of variants, most of which are common charges rather than ordinaries; some of these will be discussed below. The saltire, sometimes called Saint Andrew's cross, is a diagonal cross Sub-Ordinary ~ In addition to those mentioned in the above section, other ordinaries exist. Some of these are variously called "honourable ordinaries" by different authors, while others of these are often called "sub-ordinaries". The pall is shaped like the letter Y. (There is a T-shaped charge, the tau, which is not understood to be an ordinary.) The pile is a wedge-shaped triangle, whose base is along the top of the field, and whose vertex is in the centre of the bottom of the field, often nearly reaching the bottom point of the shield. The quarter is a rectangle occupying the top left quarter of the field, as seen by the viewer. The canton is a square occupying the left third of the chief. The bordure is a border touching the edge of the field. The orle may be considered the inner half of the bordure: it usually follows the shape of the shield, without touching the edges. It cannot have other charges on it. The tressure is in fact an orle gemel (i.e. two narrow orles, one set inside the other), but never so called. A tressure flory and counter-flory can be seen in the royal coat of arms of Scotland. The bar is a horizontal stripe of indeterminate width, but it is supposed to be thinner than a fess. The fret originally consisted of three bendlets interlaced with three bendlets sinister; Other depictions form the outer bendlets into a mascle through which the two remaining bendlets are woven. This has also been called a Harington knot, as in the arms of Harington. The gyron is a right triangle occupying the lower half of the first quarter: its edges follow per bend and per fess from the dexter side to the centre of the field. A gyron sinister, much rarer, is a similar figure in the sinister chief. Flaunches, flanches or flasks are regions on the sides of the field, bounded by a pair of circular arcs whose centers are beyond the sides of the shield. A label is a horizontal strap, with a number of pendants (usually called points, or, more rarely, drops) suspended therefrom; normally three, but any number may be specified. The label is nearly always a mark of cadency in British and French heraldry, but is occasionally found as a regular charge in early armory. It is sometimes called a file, as in the canting arms of Belfile, a label with a bell hanging from each point. There are some examples in which the strap is omitted, the "drops" depending from the top of the shield

	LINES OF PARTITION
			The lines of partition refer to the edges of divisions of space on a shield including the edges of the fess, bars, and boarders. nebuly indented dancity embattled engrailed

	In the England of Edward I, French was spoken at court. Such words as or, gold, and gules, red (from Old French gole, animal's mouth or throat, as in our word "gullet") were part of common speech. Other descriptors -- barry, barred; crusily, covered with crosses; and a fess dancetty, a zigzag stripe like the one on Charlie Brown's famous yellow shirt -- came from the cliches of earlier craftsmen." What came to be known as blazon, the language of heraldry is derived, for the most part, from the specialized language of artists. Thus besant does not mean a Byzantine coin, chevron a rafter, cotice a leather thong, and manche a sleeve, but the stylized bezant, chevron, cotice, and maunch of artistic tradition. It was a language still new in Edward I's day, and full of inconsistencies. For example, The Rolls of Arms of Edward I was a matter of indifference to the early compilers whether they blazoned a charge a bend or a baston, a canton or a quarter, an indented or an engrailed cross, a mullet or an estoile, a pale or a pile: Crosslets were arbitrarily painted in a variety of ways, botonny, cross crosslet, fitchy, paty, plain, etc. crusily for all such semy fields. . . . Compony, which designates a single row of checkers in early as well as present-day heraldry, is used, but the expression counter-compony for a double row is a later innovation and has been omitted in favour of the medieval term checky. Translating gules crusily and a fess dancetty Or into "a red shield with a pattern of gold crosses and a gold zigzag stripe through the middle," to a medieval herald, that description would say "William de Engaine".


	CADENCE These charges distinguish "differences" within a family armature. Earliest used was the Label which indicated the heir. The symbols below are from the English system. The examples all being Gules is arbitrary. Note: the image below is incorrect in that the Mullet is a 'spur' and has a hole in the center of it. If there is no hole, however many points there may be, it is a "Star". The 5 point star is called the Scottish Star. The 5 point Mullet is a cadence mark.		The shield above shows shield quartering with a charge for cadence as an "eighth born son". Below is a rare example of a first born Label with his second son and 5 grandsons represented.
	About adding cadency marks to crests: "If, owing to the grant of a crest or supporters, or a Royal License, or any similar opportunity, a formal exemplification of the arms is entered on the books of the College of Arms, the opportunity is generally taken to add such mark of cadency as may be necessary; and no certificate would be officially issued to any one claiming arms through that exemplification except subject to the mark of cadency therein depicted. In such cases as these the crest is usually differenced, because the necessity for an exemplification does not often occur, except owing to the establishment of an important branch of the family, which is likely to continue as a separate house in the future, and possibly to rival the importance of the chief of the name. Two examples will show my meaning. The crest of the Duke of Bed ford is a goat statant argent, armed or. When Earl Russell, the third son of the sixth Duke of Bed ford, was so created, the arms, crest, and supporters were charged with a mullet argent. When the first Lord Ampthill, who was the third son of the father of the ninth Duke of Bed ford, was so created, the arms of Russell, with the crest and supporters, were also charged with mullets, these being of different tinctures from those granted to Earl Russell. The crest of the Duke of Westminster is a talbot statant or. The first Lord Stalbridge was the second son of the Marquess of Westminster. His arms, crest, and supporters were charged with a crescent. Lord Ebury was the third son of the first Marquess of Westminster. His arms, crest, and supporters were charged with a mullet. In cases of this kind the mark of difference upon the crest would be considered permanent; but for ordinary purposes, and in ordinary circumstances, the rule may be taken to be that it is not necessary to add the mark of cadency to a crest, even when it is added to the shield, but that, at the same time, it is not incorrect to do so. (from Fox-Davies)
	Here's a link to a pop-up window to Fox-Davies book online for easy access: CLICK HERE This is a highly functional online reference text. This link goes to the main INDEX.
	Bestiary
	A bestiary, or Bestiarum vocabulum is a compendium of beasts. Bestiaries were made popular in the Middle Ages in illustrated volumes that described various animals, birds and even rocks. The combinations of animal parts were symbolic of a man's character being 'like' various animals, the swiftness of the horse, vision of the eagle, etc, and such imaginary animals were used and granted. Many of the liveries and charges used were assumed ones. Here are just a few of the fantastic animals: Basilisk- Half bird, half reptile - so poisonous that his very glance kills Bonnacon-Body and mane of a horse, head of a bull Centaur- Half man, half horse - depictions varied from a symbol of evil to a helpful guide Bucentaur- creature with the forepart of a man and hind part of an ox; related to centaur and onocentaur. Cerberus- Three-headed dog with the tail of a dragon Centycore- creature with a horse's hooves, lion's legs, elephantine ears, a bear's muzzle, a monstrous mouth, and a ten point antler protruding from its forehead. It has the voice of a man, and has no mercy. Crocodile- Thirty-foot long version of the crocodile we would know, capable of being of vivid hues Dragon- Composite of reptile, lion claws, wings, fiery breath - kills victims with his tail Hippocampus- a water going monster. Known as a sea horse, it has the head and forefeet of a horse with the tail of a dolphin. Its horse forefeet terminate in flippers rather than hooves. Lamia- a human headed quadruped, with hooves, a horse's tail, and catlike forelegs. Manticora- a creature the size of a horse, with the head of a man, body and mane of a lion, wings of a dragon, tail of a monstrous scorpion, three rows of iron teeth, one inside another, and a surprisingly beautiful musical voice like a trumpet or flute. Mermaid- Half woman, half fish Merman- Half man, half fish Onocentaur- Top half of a man, bottom part a donkey Pard- Known only as the animal that sinfully mates with the lion to produce the leopard Pegasus- Winged horse Serra- Huge flying fish Yala- creature with the body of a lion and the trunk, head, and tusks of an elephant.




	MEDIEVAL CELTIC SYMBOLS

	The triquetra - Its original meaning was simply "triangle" and it has been used to refer to various three-cornered shapes. Nowadays, it has come to refer exclusively to a certain more complicated shape formed of three vesicae piscis. The triquetra is often found in Insular art, most notably metal work and in illuminated manuscripts like the Book of Kells.		The triple spiral - or triskele is a Celtic and pre-Celtic symbol found on a number of Irish Megalithic and Neolithic sites. Believed by many to be an ancient symbol of pre-Celtic and Celtic beliefs, the triple spiral appears in various forms in pre-Celtic and Celtic art, with the earliest examples having been carved on pre-Celtic stone monuments.

	The Green Man - an ancient Celtic symbol. In Celtic mythology, he is a god of spring and summer. He disappears and returns year after year, century after century, enacting themes of death and resurrection, the ebb and flow of life and creativity. The Arthurian legend of Sir Gawain, The Green Knight, is a notable image of the Green Man from the Middle Ages. Gawain had a green helmet, green armor, green shield... even a green horse. When he was decapitated, he continued to live. Triskelion - Isle of Man, variations on the Manx triskelion are still in use on the coats of arms belonging to the different branches of the ancient Norwegian noble family that ruled Mann until the 13th century. This particular version belongs to the Skancke branch of the Skanke family. The name stems from skank, the Norwegian version of the word 'shank', or 'leg'.		The Celtic Knot - Celtic knots are a variety of (mostly endless) knots and stylized graphical representations of knots used for decoration. The Eternity Celtic knot symbolizes the never-ending eternal cycles of life. The Shield Celtic knot is a symbol for protection. The ancient Celts used it to decorate the shields of warriors, the clothing of children, and to protect the sick. The Sailor's knot is actually two separate knots intertwined. Hounds - loyalty Snakes - rebirth Birds - purity (peacocks) or nobility (eagles) Salmon - knowledge Bull - strength Boar - ferocity, strength Peacocks - purity Cranes - deception Herons - fidelity Ouzels - protector Salmon - knowledge

		salmon	cosmic snake bites tail	axe & hammer
	forest and farm birds & animals; no lions or dragons	shamrock	world tree	tri-goddess

	ANCIENT GERMANIC SYMBOLS

	egg footprint triskels ylfots Odhroerir shield knot sun wheel ring smith hammer


	valknot eagle boar dragon stag bear bovine ship
	INDO-EUROPEAN GERMANIC SYMBOLS
	MEDIEVAL ALCHEMY SYMBOLS

	Antimony-The metal antimony symbolizes the animal nature or wild spirit of man and nature, and it was often symbolized by the wolf. Bismuth-believed to be between tin and lead. Later called wissmuth. Alchemy held that one metal could be transformed to another. Miners believed there were three types of Lead: Ordinary, Tin, and Bismuth. Silver was often found in ore below Bismuth. Gold is one of the seven metals of alchemy (gold, silver, mercury, copper, lead, iron & tin). For the alchemist, it represented the perfection of all matter on any level, including that of the mind, spirit, and soul. The symbol for gold could also be used to represent the sun in astrology Lead is the first and oldest of the seven metals of alchemy (gold, silver, mercury, copper, lead, iron & tin). The symbol for lead was also used to represent the planet Saturn in astrology	Arsenic was widely used by early alchemists and was also sometimes represented by the image of a swan. Copper is one of the seven metals of alchemy (gold, silver, mercury, copper, lead, iron & tin Iron is one of the seven metals of alchemy (gold, silver, mercury, copper, lead, iron & tin). The symbol for iron could also be used to represent the planet Mars in astrology. Magnesium- Alchemists used 'Magnesia alba' (literally "white magnesia") which was magnesium carbonate (MgCO3), also known as 'mild magnesian earth.'	Mercury, aka quicksilver, used to make red mercuric oxide. Alchemists were convinced that mercury transcended both the solid and liquid states, both earth and heaven, both life and death.The metal is often also represented by a serpent or snake. Platiunum-Alchemists believed platinum to be an amalgamation of gold and silver. Silver is one of the seven metals of alchemy (gold, silver, mercury, copper, lead, iron & tin). The symbol for silver is also associated wth the moon in astrology. Tin is one of the seven metals of alchemy (gold, silver, mercury, copper, lead, iron & tin). The symbol for tin could also be used to represent the planet Jupiter in astrology.	Phosphorus-Alchemists often used light as a symbol of the spirit, therefore they were especially interested in light that seemed to be trapped in matter such as phosphorus. Potash (potassium carbonate) was widely used in alchemical processes. Sulfur is one of the three heavenly substances (sulfur, mercury & salt). It was widely used in alchemical pratice Zinc-Philosophers' wool, or nix alba (white snow) was zinc oxide made by burning zinc in air.



		.
	FIRE - In alchemy, the chemical element of sulfur was often associated with fire and its alchemical symbol and its symbol is an upward-pointing triangle. In alchemic tradition, metals are incubated by fire in the womb of the Earth and alchemists only accelerate their development	WATER - In alchemy, the chemical element of mercury was often associated with water and its alchemical symbol is a downward-pointing triangle.	AIR - The alchemical symbol for air is an upward-pointing triangle, bisected by a horizontal line.	EARTH - The chemical element of salt was associated with earth and its alchemical symbol is a downward-pointing triangle, bisected by a horizontal line.

	See SEVEN SPECIAL SYMBOLS used for Kibler charges







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