heraldry Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, Imperial, royal and noble ranks, rank and genealo ...

, a caldron (also known as cooking-pot)

charge Charge or charged may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Charge, Zero Emissions/Maximum Speed'', a 2011 documentary Music * ''Charge'' (David Ford album) * ''Charge'' (Machel Montano album) * '' Charge!!'', an album by The Aqu ...

can be frequently found in the

coats of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic ac ...

of prominent

Spanish nobility The Spanish nobility are people who possess a title of nobility confirmed by the Spanish Ministry of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Cortes, as well as those individuals appointed to one of Spain's three highest orders of knightho ...

. This is related to a tradition of king granting a

pennon A pennon, also known as a pennant or pendant, is a long narrow flag which is larger at the Hoist (flag), hoist than at the Fly (flag), fly, i.e., the flag narrows as it moves away from the flagpole. It can have several shapes, such as triangular ...

and caldron () upon admittance to the upper crust of nobility, the

ricohombre The ricohombre (a magnate, literally, a Spanish word for "richman") or ricahombría, was a high ranking nobility title in mediaeval kingdoms on the territories of modern Spain and Portugal, replaced by a title of grandee in the late 14th-early 15th ...

s. Woodward & Burnett suggest to count the caldron among the military charges, as pennon was related to the ability of a noble to raise and lead troops, and caldron represented the ability to feed them. Caldron frequently issues multiple serpents (also can be interpreted as

eels Eels are ray-finned fish belonging to the order (biology), order Anguilliformes (), which consists of eight suborders, 20 Family (biology), families, 164 genus, genera, and about 1000 species. Eels undergo considerable development from the earl ...

), forming the so-called .

References

Sources

* * * Heraldic charges {{heraldry-stub