Heraldic authority
Wikimedia list article

A heraldic authority is defined as an office or institution which has been established by a reigning monarch or a government to deal with heraldry in the country concerned. It does not include private societies or enterprises which design and/or register coats of arms. Over the centuries, many countries have established heraldic authorities, and several still flourish today.
Europe
Azerbaijan
Heraldic Council (2006– ), forming part of the Presidency.
Belgium
The Council of Nobility (1844–present) – deals with grants arms to the nobility in all of Belgium and municipal arms in the German Speaking Community of Belgium.
Council of Heraldry and Vexillology (1985–present) – supervises and advises the Government of the French Community regarding registration of non-noble personal, familial and municipal arms within the French Community of Belgium.
Flemish Heraldic Council (1984–present) – supervises and advises the Flemish Government regarding grants of non-noble personal, official, municipal, and corporate arms within the Flemish Community of Belgium.
Burgundy
Toison d'Or King of Arms (1431–?)
Croatia
Ministry of Public Administration – Commission for approving the coat-of-arms and flags to the local self-government units
The commission deals only with municipal heraldry and vexillology. It is composed of five members appointed on a four years mandate by the Minister: jurist, heraldist, archivist, historian and visual artist. Pursuant to article 10.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Heraldic authority” as wikimedia list article. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as wikimedia list article. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1613815. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2006, 1844, 1985 and 1984.
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This entry incorporates text from “Heraldic authority” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.