Portal:Heraldry

Portal topics: Activities; Culture; Geography; Health; History; Mathematics; Nature; People; Philosophy; Religion; Society; Technology; Random portal

Welcome to the Heraldry and Vexillology Portal!

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.

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.

Refresh with new selections below (purge)

edit

Selected article

Ireland King of Arms was the title of an Irish officer of arms from 1392 until the accession of Henry VII as King of England in 1485. The office was replaced in 1552 by that of Ulster King of Arms, which in 1943 was merged with Norroy King of Arms forming the present office of Norroy and Ulster King of Arms. In theory, Ireland King of Arms enjoyed heraldic jurisdiction in the whole of the Lordship of Ireland. (more...)

Archive

edit

Selected flag

The flag of Belarus

The current national flag of Belarus was formally adopted on June 7, 1995, following the result of a referendum voted on by the Belarusian people in the previous month. This new design replaced a historical white and red flag used by the Belarusian People's Republic of 1918, before Belarus became a Soviet Republic, and again after it regained its independence in 1991. A few groups have continued to use the white and red flag, though its display in Belarus has been restricted by the government of President Alexander Lukashenko.

The current flag is a modification of the 1951 flag used while the country was a republic of the Soviet Union, mainly in the removal of the hammer and sickle and the red star, and the reversal of red and white in the hoist pattern. The Standard of the President of Republic of Belarus is identical to the national flag with a 5:6 ratio with the addition of the National emblem of Belarus. (more...)

Archive

edit

Selected biography

Sir Anthony Richard Wagner, KCB, KCVO, FSA (6 September 1908–5 May 1995) was a long-serving officer of arms at the College of Arms in London. He served as Garter Principal King of Arms before retiring to the post of Clarenceux King of Arms. He was one of the most prolific authors on subjects of the heraldry and genealogy of the 20th century. (more...)

Archive

edit

Selected picture

The coat of arms of Austria was modified after World War II to include a broken chain signifying liberation from Nazism. It uses a single-headed eagle rather than the double-headed eagle of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Archive

Did you know...

...that the Flag of Nunavut (pictured) features an inukshuk, a traditional Inuit monument that guides travelers and marks sacred sites?

...that the English herald Ralph Brooke tricked Sir William Segar into granting a coat of arms to a London hangman?

...that the current rendering of the mermaid in the coat of arms of Ustka is the result of a two-year debate over the size of her breasts?

...that the silver fern flag was a proposed alternate flag in the New Zealand flag debate?

...that during the Convention of Aguascalientes the Zapatista Antonio Díaz Soto y Gama said that the Mexican flag symbolized "triumph of clerical reaction" and was then threatened by other attendees?

Archive

edit