Portal:Heraldry

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.

Emilio Aguinaldo y Famy (March 22, 1869 – February 6, 1964) was a Filipino general, politician, and independence leader. He played an instrumental role in Philippine independence during the Philippine Revolution against Spain and the Philippine–American War that resisted American occupation. He designed the flag of the Philippines. (more...)

The coat of arms of Slovakia is composed of a silver (argent) double cross, elevated on the middle peak of a dark blue mountain consisting of three peaks. It is situated on a red (gules) early gothic shield. Extremities of the cross are amplificated, and its ends are concaved. The same symbol (with other colours and minor changes) is in the sinister portion of the Hungarian coat of arms. (more...)

The term flag of convenience describes the business practice of registering a merchant ship in a sovereign state different from that of the ship's owners. The term refers to the civil ensign the ship flies to indicate its country of registration or flag state. A ship operates under the laws of its flag state, and these laws are used if the ship is involved in an admiralty case. The modern practice of flagging ships in foreign countries began in the 1920s in the United States, when shipowners frustrated by increased regulations and rising labor costs began to register their ships to Panama. As of 2009, more than half of the world’s merchant ships are registered under flags of convenience. (more...)