Portal:Heraldry

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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.

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Heraldry in its most general sense encompasses all matters relating to the duties and responsibilities of officers of arms. To most, though, heraldry is the practice of designing, displaying, describing, and recording coats of arms and badges. Historically, it has been variously described as “the shorthand of history” (Fox-Davies) and “the floral border in the garden of history” (Moncreiffe & Pottinger). The origins of heraldry lie in the need to distinguish participants in combat when their faces were hidden by iron and steel helmets. Eventually a system of rules developed into the modern form of heraldry. Though heraldry is nearly 900 years old, it is still very much in use. (more...)

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The Eureka Flag is a design which features: a dark blue field 260 x 400 cm (2:3.08 ratio); a horizontal stripe 37 cm wide and a vertical line crossing it of 36 cm wide; and 5 eight pointed stars, the central star being 65 cm tall (point to point) and the other stars 60 cm tall, representing the Crux Australis constellation. The design was first used for the war flag of the Eureka Rebellion of 1854 at Ballarat in Victoria, Australia.

The flag design has gained wider notability due to its adoption in Australian culture as a symbol of democracy, protest and other causes. It is listed as an object of state heritage significance on the Victorian Heritage Register and was named as a Victorian Icon by the National Trust in 2006. (more...)

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Emily Dickinson (born Emily Elizabeth Dickinson; December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886), was an American poet who wrote about 1,800 poems in her lifetime and posthumously became an influence on American poetry. Her work when she was alive was very little-known and during her life she often stayed confined to her bedroom in her home in Amherst, Massachusetts, after leaving society in her 30s. She lived in Amherst, Massachusetts her entire life. In 1955, a complete published print of all of her poems became available in The Poems of Emily Dickinson by Thomas Johnson. (more...)

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Flags used by the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy), 1892.

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Did you know...

...that the triskelion (pictured) in MacLeod heraldry originates from a belief that the clan's founder, Leod, was a son of a king of Mann?

...that artist Corwin Clairmont designed the Salish-Kootenai's tribal seal when he was 15 and it is still used today?

...that Albany, New York has a life-size version of its coat of arms that was sculpted by a local political cartoonist?

...that the Raven banner, a standard used by various Viking leaders including Sigurd the Stout and Harald III of Norway, was a totem believed to have the power to grant victory to its holder?

...that in The Stages of Life, German painter Caspar David Friedrich depicted his son holding a Swedish flag because Friedrich considered himself half-Swedish?

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