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Portal:Heraldry

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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 biography

Painting of Garter Anstis from around 1725
Painting of Garter Anstis from around 1725

John Anstis (29 August 1669–4 March 1744) was an English officer of arms and antiquarian. He rose to the highest heraldic office in England and became Garter King of Arms in 1718 after years of plotting. Anstis was born at St Neot, Cornwall on 29 August 1669. He was the first son of another John Anstis and his wife Mary, the daughter of George Smith. Anstis matriculated at Exeter College, Oxford, on 27 March 1685 and entered the Middle Temple on 31 January 1690. On 23 June 1695 he married Elizabeth, daughter and heir of Richard Cudlipp of Tavistock, Devon. They had eight sons and six daughters. (more...)

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Selected coat of arms

Coat of Arms of the Basque Country
Coat of Arms of the Basque Country

The current Coat of arms of the Basque Country is the official coat of arms of the Basque Country, Autonomous community of Spain. It consists of a party per cross representing the three historical territories of Álava, Guipuscoa and Biscay, as well as a fourth, void quarter. The arms are ringed by a regal wreath of oak leaves, symbolic of the Gernikako Arbola. The fourth quarter once constituted the linked chains of Navarre; however, following a legal suit by the Navarre Government claiming that the usage of the arms of a region on the flag of another was illegal, the Constitutional Court of Spain bound to remove the chains of Navarre in a judgment of 1986. (more...)

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Selected flag

The MOL Pride, owned and operated by a Japanese company, flying the flag of Liberia as a flag of convenience
The MOL Pride, owned and operated by a Japanese company, flying the flag of Liberia as a flag of convenience

The term flag of convenience describes the business practice of registering a merchant ship in a sovereign state different from that of the ship's owners. The term refers to the civil ensign the ship flies to indicate its country of registration or flag state. A ship operates under the laws of its flag state, and these laws are used if the ship is involved in an admiralty case. The modern practice of flagging ships in foreign countries began in the 1920s in the United States, when shipowners frustrated by increased regulations and rising labor costs began to register their ships to Panama. As of 2009, more than half of the world’s merchant ships are registered under flags of convenience. (more...)

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Selected picture

A medieval ship flag

A medieval ship flag captured by forces from Lübeck in the 1420s showed the arms of Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Pomerania. It remained in this city for 500 years, until destroyed in a World War II bombardment that damaged St. Mary's Church where the flag was kept. A 19th century copy remains in Frederiksborg Palace, Denmark. The saint accompanying the Virgin Mary and infant Christ is Saint James the Greater, identified by his scallop shell emblem. The flag was made of coarse linen; all figures and heraldic insignia were created using oil-based paint.

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Did you know...

US flag with 47 stars

  • ...that the Karavas were the only Sri Lankan community traditionally entitled to use flags?
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Wikimedia

Media on Commons • Coats of arms • Flags • Heraldry

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