Maunch

A maunch (from the French manche "sleeve") is a heraldic charge representing a detachable lady's sleeve with a wide pendulous cuff, as was fashionable amongst women in the 13th and 14th centuries.

In the Middle Ages, it was common for ladies to give their sleeves as favours for knights to wear in tournaments.

Thus, heraldic maunches came to symbolise that the armiger was popular with the ladies, or that he loved his wife.

In French heraldry, they are referred to as manches mal taillée (meaning "badly cut sleeves") to distinguish them from ordinary sleeves.

In Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur, Sir Lancelot fights in a tournament anonymously as an unknown knight using a white shield with a red sleeve on it.