Portal:Heraldry


Welcome to the Heraldry and Vexillology Portal!

A herald wearing a tabard
A herald wearing a tabard
Flags of the Nordic countries
Flags of the Nordic countries

Heraldry encompasses all of the duties of a herald, including the science and art of designing, displaying, describing and recording coats of arms and badges, as well as the formal ceremonies and laws that regulate the use and inheritance of arms. The origins of heraldry lie in the medieval need to distinguish participants in battles or jousts, whose faces were hidden by steel helmets.

Vexillology (from the Latin vexillum, a flag or banner) is the scholarly study of flags, including the creation and development of a body of knowledge about flags of all types, their forms and functions, and of scientific theories and principles based on that knowledge. Flags were originally used to assist military coordination on the battlefield, and have evolved into a general tool for signalling and identification, particularly identification of countries.

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Selected article

1957 Coat of Arms of Québec with French, English and Canadian elements
1957 Coat of Arms of Québec with French, English and Canadian elements

Canadian heraldry refers to the cultural tradition and style of coats of arms and other heraldic achievements in modern and historic Canada, including national, provincial, and civic arms, noble and personal arms, ecclesiastical heraldry, heraldic displays as corporate logos, and Canadian heraldic descriptions.

Canadian heraldry derives mainly from heraldic traditions in France and the United Kingdom while adding distinctly Canadian symbols, especially those which reference the First Nations and other aboriginal peoples of Canada. Canadian heraldry has a unique system of cadency for daughters inheriting arms, and a special symbol for United Empire Loyalists. Since 1988, both personal and corporate heraldry in Canada is officially governed by the Canadian Heraldic Authority, which reviews all applications for arms. (more...)

Selected biography

Self portrait of Matthew Paris
Self portrait of Matthew Paris

Matthew Paris (lit. "Matthew the Parisian"; c. 1200 – 1259) was a Benedictine monk, English chronicler, artist in illuminated manuscripts and cartographer, based at St Albans Abbey in Hertfordshire. He wrote a number of works, mostly historical, which scribed and illuminated himself, typically in drawings partly coloured with watercolour washes, sometimes called "tinted drawings". Some were written in Latin, some in Anglo-Norman or French verse. His Chronica Majora is an oft-cited source, though modern historians recognize that Paris was not always reliable. (more...)

Selected flag

Flag of the People's Republic of China
Flag of the People's Republic of China

The flag of the People's Republic of China is a red field charged in the canton (upper left corner) with five golden stars. The design features one large star, with four smaller stars in a semicircle set off towards the fly (right side). The red represents revolution; the five stars and their relationship represent the unity of the Chinese people under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC). Sometimes, the flag is referred to as the "Five Star Red Flag" (simplified Chinese: 五星红旗; traditional Chinese: 五星紅旗; pinyin: wǔ xīng hóng qí).

The flag was designed in response to a circular distributed by the Preparatory Committee of the New Political Consultative Conference (新政治協商會議籌備會) in July 1949, shortly after they came to power following the Chinese Civil War. About three thousand entries were received for the design competition, and after slight modifications, the design by Zeng Liansong, a citizen from Rui'an, Zhejiang, was chosen as the national flag. The construction sheet for the national flag was published on September 28, 1949 by an order from the Presidium of the First Plenary Session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. The first flag was hoisted by Mao Zedong on a pole overlooking Beijing's Tiananmen Square on October 1, 1949, at a ceremony announcing the founding of the People's Republic. (more...)

Selected picture

Did you know...

The flag Bendera Pusaka is raised on 17 August 1945

Related portals

Major topics and navigation

Heraldry Web resources

Authorities

  • Belgium - The Council of Nobility, Flemish Heraldic Council and Council of Heraldry and Vexillology of the French Community
  • Canada - Canadian Heraldic Authority and see also Public Register of Arms, Flags and Badges
  • England, Wales, and Northern Ireland - The College of Arms
  • Ireland - The Office of the Chief Herald of Ireland
  • Netherlands - High Council of Nobility
  • Portugal - Instituto da Nobreza Portuguesa
  • Scotland - The Court of the Lord Lyon
  • South Africa - South African Bureau of Heraldry
  • Sweden - National Board of Heraldry, The National Archive
  • United States Army - The United States Army Institute of Heraldry

Societies

  • Greek Heraldry Society
  • The Academy of Heraldic Science Czech republic
  • The American College of Heraldry
  • The American Heraldry Society
  • The Augustan Society
  • The Australian Heraldry Society Inc.
  • Bulgarian Heraldry and Vexillology Society
  • The Center for Research of Orthodox Monarchism
  • Cambridge University Heraldic and Genealogical Society
  • Chiltern Heraldry Group
  • The College of Dracology
  • Croatian Heraldic and Vexillologic Association
  • The Finnish Heraldic Society
  • Fryske Rie foar Heraldyk
  • Hellenic Armigers Society
  • Guild of Heraldic Artists
  • Genealogical Society of Ireland
  • Heraldry Research Institute (Japan)
  • The Heraldry Society
  • The Heraldry Society of Africa
  • The Heraldry Society of New Zealand Inc.
  • The Heraldry Society of Scotland
  • The Heraldry Society of Southern Africa
  • The Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies
  • The International Association of Amateur Heralds
  • Italian Center of Vexillological Studies
  • Lancashire Heraldry Group
  • Macedonian Heraldry Society
  • New England Historic Genealogical Society Committee on Heraldry
  • Norwegian Heraldry Society
  • Oxford University Heraldry Society
  • Polish Heraldry Society
  • Polish Nobility Confederation
  • Real Academia Matritense de Heráldica y Genealogía - Royal Academy of Heraldry and Genealogy of Madrid
  • Romanian Institute for Genealogy and Heraldry
  • The Royal Heraldry Society of Canada
  • The Russian College of HeraldryThe Russian College of Heraldry
  • Serbian Heraldic Society
  • Societas Heraldica Scandinavica
  • Societas Heraldica Slovenica
  • Swedish Heraldic Society
  • Ukrainian Heraldry Society
  • Royal Association Genealogical and Heraldic Office of Belgium

Vexillology

  • Nordic Flag Society

Software

  • Coat of Arms Visual Designer web-based program
  • Puncher Heraldry Program
  • Blazonry Server - pyBlazon
  • DrawShield - creates SVG shield or arms image from blazon
  • CoaMaker - web-based tool
  • Blazon95 and BLAZONS! 2000, older Windows applications

Texts

  • Heraldry, historical and popular : with seven hundred illustrations (1863)
  • A Complete Guide to Heraldry (1909)

Other

  • Flags & Heraldry Forum
  • Heraldry of the world
  • Civic Heraldry Bibliography (over 2000 entries)
  • Civic Heraldry of England and Wales
  • Scots Civic Heraldry
  • Heraldic collector's items
  • A Display of Heraldrie by John Guillim
  • Heraldry Online
  • The Armorial Register
  • Flags on antique share certificates

Wikimedia

Media on Commons • Coats of arms • Flags • Heraldry

The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject:

  • Commons
    Free media repository
  • Wikibooks
    Free textbooks and manuals
  • Wikidata
    Free knowledge base
  • Wikinews
    Free-content news
  • Wikiquote
    Collection of quotations
  • Wikisource
    Free-content library
  • Wikispecies
    Directory of species
  • Wikiversity
    Free learning tools
  • Wikivoyage
    Free travel guide
  • Wiktionary
    Dictionary and thesaurus
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