Depicting the Defense Badge - Heraldry at Poore House

The October 2024 Letter of Acceptances and Returns was recently published, where Laurel Sovereign of Arms reaffirmed the registration and depiction of the badge for the Order of Defense. There has been confusion in the decade since the badge was registered, so in the spirit of my “Depicting the Esperance Badge” article, I have written an overview on the proper way to depict the badge for the Order of Defense.

Background

On February 2, 2015, the Board of Directors approved the creation of the Order of Defense, and instructed Laurel Sovereign of Arms to “submit such name and heraldry to the heraldic comment process, with the intention of opening the Order on May 1, 2015.” That day, commentary opened on the Online System for Commentary and Response (OSCAR), the site the College of Arms uses to process names and armory. Six days after commentary closed, a special decision letter was published on April 5, 2015, announcing the approval of the order name, regalia, and badge, seen below.

The official emblazon of the badge for the Order of Defense: (Tinctureless) Three rapiers in pall inverted tips crossed.

The badge was inspired by one registered by Master Seosamh an Crúca Ó Máille in December 1994, who wanted to create a placeholder on the chance that the Society might one day recognize rapier combatants as Peers. When the Defense badge was registered, Seosamh released his own.

The badge of Master Seosamh an Crúca Ó Máille, (Fieldless) Three rapiers in pall inverted tips crossed Or (released April 2015).

The three crossed swords evoke the characters Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, from Alexandre Dumas’ The Three Musketeers, who (at least in film versions) cross their swords and invoke their motto, “All for one, one for all!” In addition to the fictional fencers, the three swords also mirror the three premieres required by the Board to establish the Order in each kingdom.

In the May 2024 LOAR, Laurel modified the registration of the Defense badge to include all swords, not just rapiers.

The Blazon

Let’s take a closer look at the blazon of the badge.

(Tinctureless) Three rapiers in pall inverted tips crossed.

The first part of the blazon is “Tinctureless.” This means that the charges, and the field they’re on, may be any color. I demonstrated some of the infinite variety of coloring options in my previous article about depicting the Esperance badge, and will not go into greater detail here.

The second part of the blazon is “Three rapiers.” As noted, the May 2024 LOAR expanded this protection to all swords.

A rapier and a generic longsword, both of which may be used for the badge.

The third part of the blazon is “In pall inverted.” A pall is an ordinary that is shaped like a Y and extends to the three points of a heater shield. “In pall” is a blazonry term that roughly translates to “in the shape or arrangement of a Y.” If a charge is inverted, it means it’s rotated horizontally, so “In pall inverted” means “in the shape of an upside-down Y.”

Escutcheons displaying: Azure, a pall argent; Azure, three feathers in pall argent; Azure, a pall inverted argent; Azure, three feathers in pall inverted argent.

The fourth part of the blazon is “Tips crossed.” This specifies that the swords are oriented with their tips to center, and that the blades overlap at the tips. This is in contrast to the blades being oriented with the pommels to center, or the blades being crossed at the midpoint of the blade.

Three rapiers in pall inverted crossed at the tips; Three rapiers in pall inverted crossed at the pommels; Two rapiers in saltire surmounted by another inverted

Why Does It Matter Where the Blades Cross?

The reason the swords were registered as “crossed at the tips” and not the midpoint was that six existing arms and badges had already been registered with that design, including a direct conflict — the arms of Duke Deaton Claymore — and five others with similar motifs.

The original arms of Deaton Claymore (registered 2/1981, retained as a badge 9/1994): Vert, two claymores in saltire surmounted by a third inverted proper.

The arms of Deaton Claymore (registered 9/1994): Vert, two claymores in saltire surmounted by a third inverted proper, enfiling a ducal coronet Or.

The arms of Reigar von Rostock (registered 3/1986): Azure, two swords in saltire surmounted by a sword inverted Or, each blade surmounted at the tip by a wolf’s head cabossed argent.

The badge (no arms registered) of Randal Avery of the Mease (registered 4/1988): Gules, two swords in saltire surmounted by another palewise inverted, each hilt grasped by a gauntlet, all three blades enfiling the center link of a chain of three links fesswise Or.

The arms of Þorvaldr friðsamr (registered 1/2008): Per pale sable and Or, two swords in saltire surmounted by another inverted counterchanged, a chief enarched counterchanged erminois and pean.

The arms of Nathaniel Longbow (registered 12/2009): Sable, two cup-hilted rapiers in saltire surmounted by a cup-hilted rapier inverted, on a chief doubly enarched argent three pheons sable.

During the commentary process, many (myself included) expressed concerns about interpretation of this badge design emerging from candidates for the nascent Order. Despite both the image and the text describing the swords being crossed at the tips, several images began circulating that were decidedly not. The image below was sent to me by Master Laertes McBride, then Society Deputy Earl Marshal for Rapier and one of the three premier candidates for the Order of Defense, who asked on behalf of his fellow candidates whether this was an accurate interpretation of the proposed design.

An incorrect interpretation of the Order badge, with the blades crossed at midpoint rather than at the tips. Artwork provided by Master Laertes McBride, Premier MOD of Caid.

If the Order accurately depicted their badge as registered, there would be no issue of presumption against the armory listed. However, it was clear that several members of the Order, as well as artisans making regalia, were either ignorant of the requirements of the design or actively dismissive of them. Sure enough, when further discussion opened up on OSCAR about protecting the motif of the three rapiers in armory, one commenter provided an image of the collar and medallion of one of the premiers of Artemisia:

The Order medallion and collar of Master Cormac mac Taran, OD, Artemisia. Artist unknown.

Over the last ten years, members of the Order in most kingdoms have used the inaccurate depiction of their badge, infringing upon existing armory. Duke Deaton passed away on December 8, 2023, at which point his son, Duke Morgan of the Oaks, inherited his father’s arms and badge. He has since repeatedly requested that members of the Order of Defense (and the community generally) not use designs which come too close to Deaton’s armory.

Artistic License

Now that we understand the parts of the badge and the importance of keeping the swords crossed at the tips, let’s talk about what options are available for artistic license.

Choose Your Weapon

When Caid established its chapter of the Order, the first three badges reflected the specific hilts of the respective Order premiers.

The Order of Defense badge, depicted with the hilts of Alexander Kallidokos, Colwyn Stagghorn, and Laertes McBride (clockwise from the top). Each of the three premier medallions had the recipient’s hilt rotated to the top.

Crossing the Tips

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