Portal:Heraldry

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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.

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The Heralds is a novel written by Brian Killick in 1973. It is a fictional account of the inner workings of the College of Arms in London. The book follows the exploits of the College's members after the announcement that the current Garter Principal King of Arms will be retiring.

The vast majority of the plot revolves around the thirteen ordinary officers of arms at the college. The plot in striking respects resembles the plot of the film, Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949), in which an anti-hero systematically eliminates those who stand between him and succession to a Dukedom, only to find that he is tried and convicted of a crime he did not commit. (more...)

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Marcela Mariño de Agoncillo (June 24, 1860 – May 30, 1946), also simply known as Marcela Agoncillo, was a Filipina renowned in Philippine history as the principal seamstress of the first and official flag of the Philippines, gaining her the title of Mother of the Philippine Flag.

After finishing her studies at Sta. Catalina College, Agoncillo married Filipino lawyer and jurist Don Felipe Agoncillo. When her husband was exiled to Hong Kong during the outbreak of the Philippine Revolution, Agoncillo and the rest of the family joined him and temporarily resided there to avoid the anti-Filipino hostility of some foreign countries. While in Hong Kong, General Emilio Aguinaldo requested her to sew a flag that would represent their country. Agoncillo, her eldest daughter and a friend manually sewed the flag in accordance with General Aguinaldo's design which later became the official flag of the Philippines. (more...)

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Flag of Armenia

The national flag of Armenia, the Armenian Tricolor, consists of three horizontal bands of equal width, red on the top, blue in the middle, and orange on the bottom. The Armenian Supreme Council adopted the current flag on August 24, 1990. On June 15, 2006, the Law on the National Flag of Armenia was passed by the Armenian Parliament.

Throughout history, there were many variations of the Armenian flag. In ancient times, Armenian Dynasties were represented by different symbolic animals displayed on their flags. In the 20th century, there were several Soviet flags representing Armenian nation. (more...)

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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.

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Did you know...

...that the British First World War general Sir William Peyton (pictured) served as Delhi Herald Extraordinary at the Delhi Durbar of 1911?

...that for most of Sir Richard Lane's time as Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, there was no Great Seal?

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

...that the Flag of El Hatillo Municipality, Miranda uses the same colours as the flag of Venezuela, though in a different order?

...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?

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