The Heraldry Society is a British organization that is devoted to studying and promoting heraldry and related subjects. In 1947, a twenty-year-old John Brooke-Little founded the Society of Heraldic Antiquaries. This name was changed to The Heraldry Society in 1950.[1] It was incorporated in 1956 and is now a registered educational charity, with the registered charity number 241456.[2]
The principal object of the society is to extend interest in and knowledge of heraldry, genealogy, precedence, and related disciplines. The society also offers qualifications for heraldists: in conjunction with the Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies three examination levels are offered – Elementary, Intermediate, and Advanced – which when taken successfully in sequence lead to an award of the Society’s Diploma and the post-nominal DipHS.[3]
For fifty years, John Brooke-Little served as the chairman of The Heraldry Society. In 1997, as he was ending his career as an officer of arms, he changed roles in the society to become its president. He served in this role until his death in February 2006. In addition to being chairman and president of the society, Brooke-Little served as the Honorary Editor of the society's scholarly journal, The Coat of Arms. From the first publication of the journal until the middle of 1965, his mother, Constance Egan, served as the managing editor of The Coat of Arms, though Brooke-Little always had a guiding influence on the publication. It was not until 2005 that Brooke-Little finally handed complete control of the journal to two young officers of arms, Peter O'Donoghue (then Bluemantle Pursuivant) and Clive Cheesman (then Rouge Dragon Pursuivant).[4]
Although based in London, the society has an international membership. In December 2006, the Patron of the society, The 18th Duke of Norfolk, became President of the society, leaving the post of Patron vacant.
The Heraldry society also publishes reference works about Heraldry and Coat of Arms, notably The Illustrated Book of Heraldry by member Stephen Slater.[5]
The Right Honourable the Lord Lyon King of Arms, the head of Lyon Court, is the most junior of the Great Officers of State in Scotland and is the Scottish official with responsibility for regulating heraldry in that country, issuing new grants of arms, and serving as the judge of the Court of the Lord Lyon, the oldest heraldic court in the world that is still in daily operation.
The College of Arms, or Heralds' College, is a royal corporation consisting of professional officers of arms, with jurisdiction over England, Wales, Northern Ireland and some Commonwealth realms. The heralds are appointed by the British Sovereign and are delegated authority to act on behalf of the Crown in all matters of heraldry, the granting of new coats of arms, genealogical research and the recording of pedigrees. The College is also the official body responsible for matters relating to the flying of flags on land, and it maintains the official registers of flags and other national symbols. Though a part of the Royal Household of the United Kingdom, the College is self-financed, unsupported by any public funds.
The lozenge in heraldry is a diamond-shaped charge, usually somewhat narrower than it is tall. It is to be distinguished in modern heraldry from the fusil, which is like the lozenge but narrower, though the distinction has not always been as fine and is not always observed even today. A mascle is a voided lozenge—that is, a lozenge with a lozenge-shaped hole in the middle—and the rarer rustre is a lozenge containing a circular hole in the centre. A field covered in a pattern of lozenges is described as lozengy; similar fields of mascles are masculy, and fusils, fusily. In civic heraldry, a lozenge sable is often used in coal-mining communities to represent a lump of coal.
The Heraldry Society of Scotland was founded in 1977 with the aim of improving the study of heraldry.
A private officer of arms is one of the heralds and pursuivants appointed by great noble houses to handle all heraldic and genealogical questions.
Heraldry in Scotland, while broadly similar to that practised in England and elsewhere in western Europe, has its own distinctive features. Its heraldic executive is separate from that of the rest of the United Kingdom.
Elizabeth Ann Roads, is a former Scottish herald, an office from which she retired in 2021; in July 2018 she retired as Lyon Clerk at the Court of the Lord Lyon
John Philip Brooke Brooke-Little was an English writer on heraldic subjects, and a long-serving herald at the College of Arms in London. In 1947, while still a student, Brooke-Little founded the Society of Heraldic Antiquaries, now known as the Heraldry Society and recognised as one of the leading learned societies in its field. He served as the society's chairman for 50 years and then as its president from 1997 until his death in 2006.
Sir Alexander Colin ColeFRHSC (Hon) was a long serving officer of arms at the College of Arms in London. Eventually, he would rise to the rank of Garter Principal King of Arms, the highest heraldic office in England.
The Cambridge University Heraldic and Genealogical Society was formed as the result of the merger in 1957 of a previous Heraldic Society with the Cambridge University Society of Genealogists.
Charles WilfridScott-Giles was an English writer on heraldry and an officer of arms, who served as Fitzalan Pursuivant Extraordinary.
David Hubert Boothby Chesshyre was a British officer of arms.
Michael Peter Desmond O'Donoghue is a British officer of arms who currently serves as York Herald of Arms in Ordinary at the College of Arms in London. He was appointed to the office on 31 May 2012, having served as Bluemantle Pursuivant from 2005.
Arthur Charles Fox-Davies was a British expert on heraldry. His Complete Guide to Heraldry, published in 1909, has become a standard work on heraldry in England. A barrister by profession, Fox-Davies worked on several notable cases involving the peerage, and also worked as a journalist and novelist.
The cross moline is a Christian cross, constituting a kind of heraldic cross.
The wolf has been widely used in many forms in heraldry during the Middle Ages. Though commonly reviled as a livestock predator and man-eater, the wolf was also considered a noble and courageous animal, and frequently appeared on the arms and crests of numerous noble families. It typically symbolised the rewards of perseverance in long sieges or hard industry.
English heraldry is the form of coats of arms and other heraldic bearings and insignia used in England. It lies within the so-called Gallo-British tradition. Coats of arms in England are regulated and granted to individuals by the English kings of arms of the College of Arms. An individual's arms may also be borne ‘by courtesy' by members of the holder's nuclear family, subject to a system of cadency marks, to differentiate those displays from the arms of the original holder. The English heraldic style is exemplified in the arms of British royalty, and is reflected in the civic arms of cities and towns, as well as the noble arms of individuals in England. Royal orders in England, such as the Order of the Garter, also maintain notable heraldic bearings.
The Court of the Lord Lyon is a standing court of law, based in New Register House in Edinburgh, which regulates heraldry in Scotland. The Lyon Court maintains the register of grants of arms, known as the Public Register of All Arms and Bearings in Scotland, as well as records of genealogies.
The International Commission for Orders of Chivalry is a privately run, privately funded organisation composed of scholars on chivalric matters and systems of awards. Founded in 1960, its stated purpose is to examine orders of chivalry to determine their legitimacy. Its president since 1999 is Pier Felice degli Uberti, and its seat is situated in Milan, Italy.
The Macedonian Heraldic Society (MHS) is the only professional body in the field of heraldry, vexillology, phaleristics, chivalristics and nobiliar issues in North Macedonia. The society was founded on 2 July 2003 in Skopje under the name Macedonian Heraldry Society, and changed to its current name in 2018.
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