An inanimate object is my way of describing a charge that
is not living, or animate. This
category can include clothing, weapons, armor, musical instruments, tools of a trade,
household goods, ships, buildings, or even celestial bodies to name a few. It also includes body parts of humans such as
hands, legs, arms, and heads.
These objects generally reflect the person they
represent. For example a soldier may use
a sword to represent his military prowess or a miller a mill rind to represent his
trade through history. In modern day heraldry
an electrician may use the sun instead of a light bulb to give his arms a more
ancient feel. While these inanimate
charges tend to lean to the ordinary objects found in everyday life there are
exceptions. For example the DNA double
helix was first granted in 1966 as a charge that can be used on a person
device. Also there have been satellites
and computers granted as heraldic charges in the recent past.
Charges like doors, gates, towers, walls, arches, and
other types of architectural features are found commonly in heraldry. Parts of armor that would have been worn into
battle, with or without the corresponding body parts, are popular for showing
strength. For weaponry there is a large
listing of various items used. For
example, every part of the arrow may be depicted on a device including multiple
arrows and archery equipment.
Overall, the charges you will see more than anything else
are items that would be used every day.
These charges can tell a lot about a family, person, or guild by the
tools they choose to display. Not only
tools and instruments used in and around the house are seen, but also tools for
very specific trades. Examples are: bellows,
baskets, shuttles, rakes, glazier tools, blacksmith tools, beehives, goblets, farrier
tools, and stools.
For an amazing pictorial description of crowns, coronets,
helms, and ecclesiastical charges I suggest you check out this page from the University of Notre Dame. It
is very well done and very in-depth. In
addition they also have a page on common types of crosses used in heraldry . Both of these charges are common in heraldry
of nobility and pious individuals. There
is a very large variety and I could spend an entire post talking about these
two subjects alone.
In addition to the examples above there are still a
plethora of other charges that may be seen.
Once again I encourage you to see what else you could find in books and
online. Next time: geometric designs. This should be our last building block post
before we can start putting it all together.
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