Charge (heraldry) - Human or Humanlike Figures

Human or Humanlike Figures

Humans, deities, angels and demons occur more often as crests and supporters than on the shield. When humans do appear on the shield, they almost always appear affronté (facing forward), rather than toward the left like beasts. The largest group of human charges consists of saints, often as the patron of a town. Knights, bishops, monks and nuns, kings and queens also occur frequently. There are rare occurrences of a "child" (usually a very young boy), both the head and entire body. A famous example is the child swallowed by a dragon (the biscione) in the arms of Visconti dukes of Milan.

Greco-Roman mythological figures typically appear in an allegorical or canting role. Angels very frequently appear, but angelic beings of higher rank, such as cherubim and seraphim, are extremely rare. An archangel appears in the arms of Arkhangelsk. The Devil or a demon is occasionally seen, being defeated by the archangel Saint Michael. Though the taboo is not invariably respected, British heraldry in particular, and to a greater or lesser extent the heraldry of other countries, frowns on depictions of God or Christ, though an exception may be in the not-uncommon Continental depictions of Madonna and Child, including the Black Madonna in the arms of Marija Bistrica, Croatia.

Moors—or more frequently their heads, often crowned—appear with some frequency in medieval European heraldry. The term ascribed to them in Anglo-Norman is maure, though they are also sometimes called moore, blackmoor, negro or occasionally savage. Maures appear in European heraldry from at least as early as the 13th century, and some have been attested as early as the 11th century in Italy, where they have persisted in the local heraldry and vexillology well into modern times in Corsica and Sardinia. Armigers bearing moors or moors' heads may have adopted them for any of several reasons, to include symbolizing military victories in the Crusades, as a pun on the bearer's name in the canting arms of Morese, Negri, Saraceni, etc., or in the case of Frederick II, possibly to demonstrate the reach of his empire. Even the arms of Pope Benedict XVI feature a moor's head, crowned and collared red. Nevertheless, the use of moors (and particularly their heads) as a heraldic symbol has been deprecated in modern North America, where racial stereotypes have been influenced by a history of Trans-Atlantic slave trade and racial segregation, and applicants to the College of Arms of the Society for Creative Anachronism are urged to use them delicately to avoid creating offensive images.