Heraldic Image Archive

Quoting Bruce Gordon:

Here is an archive to those states I have information on to which I have also placed a heraldic thumbnail sketch of the device used by the locality. It consists at present of some 84 different arms, representing 89 different states. 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.

Additional Information

See also Francois Velde's page on Heraldry by Countries.

Here is a link to The College of Arms in Great Britain, the official heraldic authority for England, Wales, Northern Ireland and much of the Commonwealth including Australia and New Zealand.