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!

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.

Refresh with new selections below (purge)

edit

Selected article

Scrope v. Grosvenor was one of the earliest heraldic law cases brought in England. The case resulted from the fact that two different families were using the same undifferenced coat of arms. In the 12th and 13th centuries, the composition of coats of arms was very simple. Most shields consisted of only one charge and two tinctures, and there were times when two families bore the same coat of arms in the same jurisdiction. In the fourteenth century, though, cases of two unrelated families bearing the same coat of arms became less tolerated. When this happened, the monarch was usually called on to make a decision. (more...)

Archive

edit

Selected biography

Sir Alexander Colin Cole, KCB, KCVO, (16 May 1922–20 February 2001) was a long serving officer of arms at the College of Arms in London. He eventually rose to the rank of Garter Principal King of Arms, the highest heraldic office in England. Prior to his joining the College of Arms he represented the Manchester Palace of Varieties in the Court of Chivalry for the only case it has tried in the last 200 years. He designed the coat of arms for Margaret Thatcher. (more...)

Archive

edit

Selected flag

The Cubs Win Flag is a victory flag that is flown at Wrigley Field after every Chicago Cubs home win. The flag is variously referred to by approximately a dozen names, combining; either Cubs or Chicago Cubs; Win, W, White, White W, or W Win; and flag, banner or banner flag. It has become an important symbol for fans that one retailer describes as a fan banner instead of flag, or banner flag. In addition, days when the win flag is flown are known as "White Flag Days". The tradition of flying a win or loss flag over the stadium began soon after the construction of the scoreboard in 1937.

The flag has used two different color schemes with the letter "W" on a solid background, and there is a loss indicator flag with a letter "L". Additionally, the flags have been complemented by different color schemes of indicator lights. The flag has become a very symbolic emblem for devout Cubs fans. Some retailers sell slightly different versions that also have the Cubs logo at the bottom. (more...)

Archive

edit

Selected picture

The town hall of Gouda, a city in the Netherlands, displaying heraldic banners of the arms of (left to right) the Dutch Republic (1581–1795), the County of Holland (1198–) and the Kingdom of the Netherlands (1815–).

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 King Edward III of England ordered stars effaced from the coat of arms of Sir Amery of Pavy for trying to sell Calais, a seaport of which he was the governor, to the French?

...that the Seal of the Federal Bureau of Investigation was first used on January 1, 1941?

...that after the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall, many East Germans cut the central coat of arms from the East German flag, and the Foundation for the Reconciliation of the SED Dictatorship still uses this as its logo?

...that in almost 100 years of existence, Ireland King of Arms granted only four known coats of arms, two of which were within the heraldic jurisdiction of other kings of arms and so annulled or regranted?

Archive

edit