Portal:Heraldry

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(Redirected from Portal:Heraldry and Vexillology)

Jump to: navigation, search

History: Ancient Egypt · Ancient Germanic Culture · Ancient Greece · Ancient Japan · Ancient Near East · Ancient Rome · Archaeology · Austria-Hungary · British Empire · Bulgarian Empire · Byzantine Empire · History of Canada · Imperial China · Classical Civilisation · Colonialism · Crusades · Disasters · Heraldry · History of Science · Indian independence movement · Khitan · Middle Ages · New France · Russian Empire · Soviet Union · War

Welcome to the Heraldry and Vexillogy 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.

Generate new random content

edit

Article of the month

The emblem of Italy (Italian: emblema della Repubblica italiana) was adopted by the newly formed Italian Republic on 5 May 1948. Although often referred to as a coat of arms (or stemma in Italian), it is technically an emblem as it was not designed to conform to traditional heraldic rules. The emblem comprises a white five-pointed star, with a fine red border, superimposed upon a five-spoked cogwheel, standing between an olive branch to the dexter side and an oak branch to the sinister side; the branches are in turn bound together by a red ribbon with the inscription REPVBBLICA ITALIANA. The emblem is used extensively by the Italian government. The armorial bearings of the House of Savoy, blazoned gules a cross argent, were previously in use by the late Kingdom of Italy; the supporters, on either side a lion rampant Or, were replaced with fasci littori (literally bundles of the lictors) during the fascist era. (more...)

Archive

edit

Selected article

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...)

Archive

edit

Selected flag

The flag of Portugal consists of a rectangular (ratio 2:3) uneven vertical bicolor, that is, a field vertically divided into two unequal stripes of green, at the hoist, and red, at the fly. The minor version of the national coat of arms (armillary sphere and Portuguese shield) is centered over the boundary between the colors at equal distance from the upper and lower edges. Portugal officially adopted this design for its national flag on 30 June 1911, replacing the one used under the constitutional monarchy, after it was chosen among several proposals by a special commission, whose members included Columbano Bordalo Pinheiro, João Chagas, and Abel Botelho. (more...)

Archive

edit

Selected picture

Created in 1936, after the restoration of the monarchy, the Coat of arms of the Kingdom of Greece was used until 1967, when King Constantine II was exiled, and then nominally until 1973 when the kingdom was replaced by the Third Hellenic Republic. The arms remains in use by the former Greek Royal Family.

Archive

Did you know...

...that Atlanta, Georgia-based architect Cecil Alexander designed a controversial Georgia state flag (pictured) that flew from 2001-2003?

...that British politician Jock Stallard was expelled from the Labour Party in the 1950s for flying the red flag from St Pancras town hall, but later served as a Labour MP and life peer?

...that the coat of arms of Russia was designed by Yevgeny Ukhnalyov, a former political prisoner?

...that the American Palestine Line claimed that its ship the SS President Arthur was the first ocean liner to fly the Zionist flag when it began service in 1925?

...that the novel The Heralds follows the exploits of fictional members of the College of Arms as they vie to be the next Garter Principal King of Arms?

Archive

edit