Heraldry

Here is a link-list to those states I have information on to which I have also placed a heraldic thumbnail sketch of the device used by the locality. In almost all instances, the localities are European, and only states which existed from approximately 1150 CE are referenced, since heraldry as we understand the term is a European phenomenon, and was used in a sense we would recognize only after the 12th century. The sketches illustrated in this archive are my own work, and should be viewed with a certain amount of tolerance for their approximate nature: pixel-editing small GIFs means that some fine detail will be inevitably be lost.

On a separate note: The representations depicted here will in most cases be the latest available designs. Heraldic armoury evolves over time, no less for nations than for individuals. Rather than go through the confusing process of putting up more than one device for some states, and trying to explain the chronological sequence of artistic development in an archive not primarily devoted to such issues, I generally use the later and more fully articulated designs.

Go to the Image Archive.


Aquitaine (Gules, a lion passant guardant or.)

Aragon (Or, four pales gules.)

Atholl (Paly of six, or and sable.)

Austria (Gules, a fesse argent.)

Baden (Or, a bend gules.)

Bavaria (Paly bendy, argent and azure.)

Belgium, Brabant (Sable, a lion rampant or, armed gules)

Bohemia (Gules, a lion rampant double queued argent, armed and crowned or)

Brittany (Ermine)

Burgundy, County (Franche Comte) (Azure, billety or, a crowned lion or, armed gules)

Burgundy, Duchy (Within a bordure gyronny gules and argent, azure, semé-de-lis or)

Caithness

Castile

Champagne

Cologne, Teutonic Order (Argent, a cross sable)

Croatia (Chequey, argent and gules)

Dalmatia

Danzig

Denmark

England

Fife

Finland

Flanders

France

Frisia

Genoa

Germany

Great Britain  Composed of England, Scotland, and Ireland, each of which see separately as well.

Hainault

Hannover

Hesse-Cassel

Hesse-Darmstadt These were slightly altered in 1806 to distinguish them from H.-Cassel, above.

Holland

Holy Roman Empire

Hungary

Ireland The arms of the Kingdom.

Japan The Chrysanthemum Mon has been a recognized symbol of the Imperial Family for a very long time.

Leon

Liechtenstein

Limburg

Lord of the Isles

Lorraine

Luxembourg

Mainz

Majorca & the Balearic Isles

(Kts. of) Malta

Mecklenburg

Milan

Modena

Monaco

Moray

Münster The ecclesiastic city in northwest Germany.

Namur

Navarre

The Netherlands

Norway

Nurnburg

Oldenburg

Osnabruck

Ottoman Empire Not a European-style armorial device, the toughra was nevertheless an often used symbol.

Padua

Parma

Pisa

Poland

Pomerania

Portugal

Prussia This list begins with Brandenburg, in the early Middle Ages. Prussia was absorbed 1618.

Ragusa

Rhine Palatinate

Russia

Sardinia

Savoy

Saxony

Scotland

Serbia

Sicily

Silesia

Spain

Speyer

Sweden

Switzerland

The Templars

This device is the source for the German military decoration of the Iron Cross.

Toulouse

Trier

Tuscany

Tyrol

Venice

Wurttemburg

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