Heraldry for Vikings

Introduction

For many of us, the first images that come to mind when we think of tournaments and knights are brightly-coloured shields and devices on tents and banners. When the SCA was first founded, it was this high medieval ideal that inspired much of what was done. Each person wanted their own device, and for their shields to be recognized across the field. Towards that end, the SCA College of Heralds was formed and codified the rules which we use today for the registration of names, badges, and devices.

To go along with the Artuhrian high medieval ideals of chivalry and knights, the College decided upon the French rules of heraldry, which are the most common and widely used. This gave everyone a good basis to start with, and fit the needs of the majority of personas. With the passing of time, we have seen that sometimes the rules make it difficult for people to make a device that truly fits them. The good thing is that we allow a ton of artistic license for people who are creative enough to work within the rules to develop something that matches their persona. I have seen some really well done Japanese mon that were based on the blazon of European device. In this blog post, I’ll be discussing the best ways (in my opinion) to create a device that matches a Norse persona during the Viking Age.

Before getting into the nitty gritty of how to make a device, I would like to talk about the application process. As a Herald, I always tell applicants that a perfect application with no issues takes about nine months, but that a year is a reasonable timeline for one in which nothing is rejected. The reason for this long process is because every submission to the College of Heralds has to go through at least two different commentary stages, each of which is about a month long. The steps in your normal submission process are: application to your local or kingdom Herald, internal commentary (commentary from other Heralds within your Kingdom, which isn’t done every month, so it might take a little bit for yours to be commented on), external commentary (from all the Heralds in the Knowne World), and finally, if it has passed both of these steps, it will be placed to review by the College of Arms for final decision on the submission. Each of these steps can take 6-10 weeks.

You might ask why we go through so many steps and commentary periods. The answer is a short one: submissions can be very complicated, and no one Herald knows everything about everything. The commentary periods allows other Heralds to catch mistakes and conflicts that might otherwise have been missed. Each person’s device or name is important to them, and it is the job of the College to make sure that it is unique to them and follows the period patterns for the submission.

SCA Rules 101

I am not going to delve very far into the specifics of the SCA rules; this is just a quick review of things that you should know as you start your design process. A great introduction to the rules can be found in this primer https://heraldry.sca.org/armory/newprimer/h4f.shtml, and most local groups have a Herald as an officer that can help you with your questions. I am also happy to answer any questions you might have in the comments section below.

When creating a device, it is best to think of it as a photoshop project with multiple layers. This will help you understand some of the rules that we will discuss as we continue. For example your device can have a maximum of three layers. If you stack more than three things, it will automatically be

Alejandro de Leon
A great example of simple design that is recognizeable

returned to be redesigned.

Tinctures
Tinctures are the different colours that can be used in devices. We use the term ‘tincture” because we actually split the 7 that we use into 5 colours and 2 metals. The colours are Blue (Azure), Green (Vert), Purple (Purpure), Black (Sable), and Red (Gules). The Metals are White/Silver (Argent), and Yellow/Gold (Or). The reason for this split is to make it easy to create rules that will help create devices that have good contrast and visibility. Even modernly, these rules are followed in an unwritten sense by graphic designers and marketing gurus. Certain colours are just easier to see, or stand out more when paired with others.

This brings us to our next rule from what we call the instabounce list: when layering, you can not have a colour on a colour or a metal on a metal. This means that if the background of your device is a colour, then the charge you place upon it must be a metal and vice versa.

Charges
Charges can be best described as the objects you place upon the field of your device, which can be animals, shapes, or things. Usually when people think of a device, the first thing they picture is the charge. Whether it's the gold Fleur de Lis of France, the Lion of England, or the White Tree of Gondor, they tend to be the meat and potatoes of the device. Please check out the primer above for a good list of how charges can be placed on fields.

Alejandro's device above is a good example of charge groups. The primary charge is the red bar (called a bend sinister) and the white dots are the secondary charge (called plates).

Complexity
Devices, as they are used in the SCA and as they were used in the 14c and 15c, are meant to be easily identifiable at a distance. They need to let people know who you are at a glance. Towards that end,

Beatrice Whitcombe

they can not be overly complicated otherwise the details get muddied. To facilitate this, the College of Heralds has the rule of complexity: no device can have a complexity higher than eight. Complexity is calculated by counting each tincture and different charge.

For example, my wife’s device is 3 bees on a gold field with a black border. She has two charge types (the bees and the border) and two tinctures (gold and black), which gives her a complexity of four.

Conflict
One of the main things being searched for throughout all those commentary periods is conflict. The Heralds are looking to make sure that your device is unique, and doesn’t conflict with any of the other devices that have been registered. A device is considered to be free of conflict if it doesn’t come within two steps of difference from another similar device. Conflict can be a very difficult thing to understand, since certain types of charges are considered to be close enough to conflict even if they are different. A good example is hounds, wolves, and foxes. These are all different animals, but at a distance they can be easily confused. As a good rule of thumb, minor differences are things like positions of charges, secondary charges, and tinctures, which can be used to differentiate between devices that are similar.

Norse it Up!

All these rules are great if you are looking to do a 14c or 15c persona along the style of a crusader or an English knight. The real question here is how do us pre-heraldry personas get to join the heraldry fun so people know who we are!

First off, it's important to know that your device -no matter how you design it- will have to be submitted in a 14c art style. Don’t be discouraged! You are allowed to change the art style after it has passed, as long as it is still recognizable as what you have blazoned. That is to say any changes you make to the art style are not so drastic as to change what the description of the image would be.  At the end of this section,I will share my device both as submitted and how I display it now.

Tullstorp Runestone showing a wolf.

Second, let's talk charges! Like I said before, it’s the meat and potatoes of the device and as a culture
that believes in the spirits of things, charges could be almost like a totem. This lets you have a good reason for rallying under a certain banner. When it comes to choosing a charge for a Viking Age device, first consider things that actually existed during this time period, and were important to them. Another good starting point is to look at the rune stones and other surviving art from the period to see what possible charges were depicted. For animals, the easy ones to think of are wolves, ravens, bears, and dragons, but don’t forget that the Norse were known for using kennings (poetic phrases used to describe people or places), which means that a small person could easily take a rabbit or squirrel as their device, with squirrels having the bonus of representing Ratatoskr who lives in the world tree. Large or slow people could take an aurochs or turtle. These are just some examples for how a device can be used to represent either a part of you, or a trait you wish to embody. This is different from later heraldry, where it tended to be passed down, and as such was more about the lineage and family rather than the individual.

Next step, art styles! We are fortunate that the runestones depict so many different things, and allow us a good look into the art styles of the time period. With a little research and creativity, you can take any charge you can think of and redraw it in an art style that would fit in during the Viking Age. Word of warning: not all knotwork is the same; there are differences between the Book of Kells and Runestone art. Both are beautiful, but they come from different cultures.

At last, you have done your research, designed both your submission and the Norse version, and it has passed! What do you with your awesome new piece of heraldry? Why, display it of course! There are tons of ways to use your new heraldry on camp that go just beyond painting it on your shield. In period, the sails of a ship were thought to have been used as canvas for tents, and what’s more intimidating than a ship with the device of the person that is coming to raid you prominently displayed on the sails?! You could also craft yourself a banner in the Norse style. Both of these are good ways to let people know who’s camp they are seeing. These types of touches also go a long way towards improving the overall period appearance of a campsite, and allow us all to dive a little deeper into the Dream.

Conclusion

As always, it is important to note that this is just how I do/see things. Heraldry is a part of the game, but it is not required for most aspects of the game. In the SCA, you can always participate as much or as little as you want. This is also my opinion on how to take something that would be out of period for most Nordic folks and bring it somewhat in line with their styles and appearance. You can do your heraldry any way you want; the most important part is that you are having fun and it looks good to you!


If you have an example of an SCA-approved heraldry that has been converted to Norse, please share it in the comments!


Here are mine!

The original submission in a 14c style.
Yes, it is missing the roundel that was added later.

Edit: Two important things were pointed out to me.
1- The Viking Answer Lady has a great article where she goes very deep into the art and extant Viking Age shields. She also has a handy chart of charges. Check it out at: http://www.vikinganswerlady.com/vikheraldry.shtml

2- Many people want to put a shield boss on their device since their shield will have one. You make your device without the boss, and if you want design around the idea it will be there. However it makes no sense to try and add it to the actual art.

The design I currently use on my shields and banners.
Wolves based on the Tulstorp Runestone.