Portal:Heraldry

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Welcome to the Heraldry and Vexillology Portal!

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

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.

Selected coat of arms

Coat of arms of Slovakia
Coat of arms of Slovakia

The coat of arms of Slovakia is composed of a silver (argent) double cross, elevated on the middle peak of a dark blue mountain consisting of three peaks. It is situated on a red (gules) early gothic shield. Extremities of the cross are amplificated, and its ends are concaved. The same symbol (with other colours and minor changes) is in the sinister portion of the Hungarian coat of arms. (more...)

Selected flag

The flag of Hong Kong
The flag of Hong Kong

The flag of Hong Kong, or the Regional Flag of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, features a stylised, white, five-petal Bauhinia blakeana flower in the centre of a red field. The flag was adopted on 16 February 1990. On 10 August 1996, it received formal approval from the Preparatory Committee, a group which advised the People's Republic of China (PRC) on the transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to the PRC in 1997. The flag was first officially hoisted on 1 July 1997, in the handover ceremony marking the transfer of sovereignty. The precise use of the flag is regulated by laws passed by the 58th executive meeting of the State Council held in Beijing. The design of the flag is enshrined in Hong Kong's Basic Law, the city's constitutional document, and regulations regarding the use, prohibition of use, desecration, and manufacture of the flag are stated in the Regional Flag and Regional Emblem Ordinance. (more...)

Selected article

A well known example of German burgher arms: canting arms of Albrecht Dürer.
A well known example of German burgher arms: canting arms of Albrecht Dürer.

Burgher arms are coats of arms of commoners (i.e. non-nobles) in heraldry of the European continent. Although the term "burgher" arms refers to bourgeoisie, it is often extended also to arms of (Protestant) clergy and even to arms of peasants. In continental Europe, the use of armorial bearings has never been restricted to a particular social class (unlike in Britain). Every individual, every family and every community has been free to adopt and use arms and as they please, provided they have not wrongfully assumed the arms of another. The exception was arms in Portugal, where king Afonso V restricted burgher arms to the use of colours only.

Use of coats of arms by burghers and artisans began during 13th century and in the 14th century some peasants took to using arms. The arms of commoners bore a far wider variety of charges than the arms of nobility like everyday objects, in particular, tools. In burgher arms are met sometimes also house marks which are not met in arms of nobility. Most widespread burgher heraldry was and still is in Switzerland and in Netherlands. In Netherlands only a small percentage of the existing arms belong to the nobility. (more...)

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.

Did you know...

William Segar, Garter Principal King of Arms, early 17th century

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