roodgules

Roodgules is a rarely attested term in heraldry, used by a few authors to describe a red cross or cross-shaped charge associated with the rood, the crucifix central to Christian imagery. The word combines rood (a cross or crucifix) with gules, the standard heraldic tincture for red. In official heraldic blazon, however, roodgules is not recognized as a separate tincture; red charges are described with gules and the charge name, for example, a cross gules.

Historical context: Roods were common in ecclesiastical heraldry from the medieval period, and some sources may employ the compound term to emphasize religious symbolism, but such usage is not standardized and is considered nonstandard or bibliographic rather than procedural. In modern practice, the term is largely of interest to researchers of language or medieval blazon and is rarely, if ever, used in contemporary arms or rolls of arms.

Variant spellings and related terms: The construction mirrors other nonstandard compounds in heraldry that marry charge with tincture (for example cross or or, or cross azure), but roodgules remains uncommon. Linguistically, it illustrates how religious vocabulary influenced heraldic language in certain contexts.

See also: heraldry, tinctures, gules, crosses in heraldry, ecclesiastical heraldry.