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 Fairy Flag (Scottish Gaelic: Am Bratach Sìth) is an heirloom of the chiefs of Clan MacLeod. It is held in Dunvegan Castle along with other notable heirlooms, such as the Dunvegan Cup and Sir Rory Mor's Horn. The flag is made of silk, is yellow or brown in colour, and measures about 18 inches (46 cm) square. Now ripped and tattered, it is extremely fragile. The flag is covered in small red "elf dots". In the early part of the 19th century, the flag was also marked with small crosses, but these have since disappeared. The flag may have been an important relic, perhaps from the Crusades, or it may have even been a raven banner.

There are numerous stories associated with the flag, most of which deal with its magical properties and mysterious origins. Clan tradition, preserved in the early 19th century, tells how the Fairy Flag was entrusted to a family of hereditary standard bearers. Tradition states that the flag was unfurled at several clan battles in the 15th and 16th centuries; the flag's magical powers are said to have won at least one of them. In the mid 20th century, the Fairy Flag was said to have said to have extinguished a fire at Dunvegan Castle, and to have given luck to servicemen flying bombing missions in the Second World War. (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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Sir Francis Grant, Lord Lyon King of Arms, HRH The Duke of York, and Rev. Charles Warr proceeding to the Armistice Service at St. Giles' Cathedral, Edinburgh, in 1933.

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Did you know...

...that Christopher E. Gadsden, the fourth Episcopal bishop of South Carolina, was the grandson of Christopher Gadsden, the designer of the Gadsden flag? (pictured)?

...that Somerset Herald John Charles Brooke's parents originally sent him to London to study as a chemist?

...that the tiger in the Coat of arms of Singapore represents Malaysia?

...that Togolese painter and sculptor Paul Ahyi, who designed the flag of Togo, was inducted as a UNESCO Artist for Peace in 2009?

...that a romantic scene in Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe refers to an area near Smisby in Derbyshire which was thought to have been used for ancient jousting battles?

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