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Coat Of Arms Of Iceland
The coat of arms of Iceland displays a silver-edged, red cross on blue shield, alluding to the design of the flag of Iceland. It is the only national arms to feature four supporters: the four protectors of Iceland (''landvættir'') as described in Heimskringla, standing on a block of columnar basalt. The bull (''Griðungur'') is the protector of northwestern Iceland, the eagle or griffin (''Gammur'') protects northeastern Iceland, the dragon (''Dreki'') protects the southeastern part, and the rock-giant ('' Bergrisi'') is the protector of southwestern Iceland. Great respect was given to these creatures of Iceland, so much that there was a law during the time of the Vikings that no ship should bear grimacing symbols (most often dragonheads on the bow of the ship) when approaching Iceland. This was so the protectors would not be provoked unnecessarily. The ''landvættir'' also decorate the obverse (front) of the Icelandic króna coins, but animals of the ocean (fish, crabs, and dolp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Escutcheon (heraldry)
In heraldry, an escutcheon (, ) is a shield that forms the main or focal element in an Achievement (heraldry), achievement of arms. The word can be used in two related senses. In the first sense, an escutcheon is the shield upon which a coat of arms is displayed. In the second sense, an escutcheon can itself be a charge (heraldry), charge within a coat of arms. Escutcheon shapes are derived from actual shields that were used by knights in combat, and thus are varied and developed by region and by era. Since shields have been regarded as military equipment appropriate for men only, British ladies customarily bear their arms upon a Lozenge (heraldry), lozenge, or diamond-shape, while clergymen and ladies in continental Europe bear their arms upon a Cartouche (design), cartouche, or oval. Other shapes are also in use, such as the roundel (heraldry), roundel commonly used for arms granted to Aboriginal Canadians by the Canadian Heraldic Authority, or the Nguni shield used in Coats of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fish
A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic animal, aquatic, Anamniotes, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fish fin, fins and craniate, a hard skull, but lacking limb (anatomy), limbs with digit (anatomy), digits. Fish can be grouped into the more basal (phylogenetics), basal jawless fish and the more common jawed fish, the latter including all extant taxon, living cartilaginous fish, cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as the extinct placoderms and acanthodians. In a break to the long tradition of grouping all fish into a single Class (biology), class (Pisces), modern phylogenetics views fish as a paraphyletic group. Most fish are ectotherm, cold-blooded, their body temperature varying with the surrounding water, though some large nekton, active swimmers like white shark and tuna can hold a higher core temperature. Many fish can communication in aquatic animals#Acoustic, communicate acoustically with each other, such as during courtship displays. The stud ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Falcon
Falcons () are birds of prey in the genus ''Falco'', which includes about 40 species. Some small species of falcons with long, narrow wings are called hobbies, and some that hover while hunting are called kestrels. Falcons are widely distributed on all continents of the world except Antarctica, though closely related raptors did occur there in the Eocene. Adult falcons have thin, tapered wings, which enable them to fly at high speed and change direction rapidly. Fledgling falcons, in their first year of flying, have longer flight feathers, which make their configuration more like that of a general-purpose bird such as a broadwing. This makes flying easier while still learning the aerial skills required to be effective hunters like the adults. The falcons are the largest genus in the Falconinae subfamily of Falconidae, which also includes two other subfamilies comprising caracaras and a few other species of "falcons". All these birds kill prey with their beaks, using a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stockfish
Stockfish is unsalted fish, especially cod, dried by cold air and wind on wooden racks (which are called "hjell" in Norway) on the foreshore. The drying of food is the world's oldest known preservation method, and dried fish has a storage life of several years. The method is cheap and effective in suitable climates; the work can be done by the fisherman and family, and the resulting product is easily transported to market. Over the centuries, several variants of dried fish have evolved. The ''stockfish'' (fresh dried, not salted) category is often mistaken for the ''klippfisk'', or salted cod, category where the fish is salted before drying. Salting was not economically feasible until the 17th century, when cheap salt from southern Europe became available to the maritime nations of northern Europe. Stockfish is cured in a fermentation process where cold-adapted bacteria matures the fish, similar to the maturing process of cheese. In English legal records of the medieval ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coat Of Arms Of Norway
The coat of arms of Norway is the arms of dominion of King Harald V of Norway, and as such represents both the monarch and the Norway, kingdom (nation and the state). It depicts a standing Or (heraldry), golden lion (heraldry), lion on a Gules, red background, bearing a golden crown and axe with silver blade (blazoned ''Gules, a lion rampant Or, crowned Or, holding an axe Or with a blade argent''). The coat of arms is used by the king of Norway, King (including the Cabinet of Norway, King's Council), the Storting, Parliament, and the Supreme Court of Norway, Supreme Court, which are the three powers according to the Constitution of Norway, Constitution. It is also used by several national, regional, and local authorities that are subordinate to the aforementioned, for example the County Governors and both the Judiciary of Norway, district courts and the courts of appeal. Since 1905, two parallel versions exist: the more elaborate version used by the King and the simpler one used b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Haakon IV Of Norway
Haakon IV Haakonsson ( – 16 December 1263; ; ), sometimes called Haakon the Old in contrast to his namesake son, was King of Norway from 1217 to 1263. His reign lasted for 46 years, longer than any Norwegian king since Harald Fairhair. Haakon was born into the troubled civil war era in Norway, but his reign eventually managed to put an end to the internal conflicts. At the start of his reign, during his minority, Earl Skule Bårdsson served as regent. As a king of the Birkebeiner faction, Haakon defeated the uprising of the final Bagler royal pretender, Sigurd Ribbung, in 1227. He put a definitive end to the civil war era when he had Skule Bårdsson killed in 1240, a year after he had himself proclaimed king in opposition to Haakon. Haakon thereafter formally appointed his own eldest son, Haakon the Young, as his co-regent. Under Haakon's rule, medieval Norway is considered to have reached its zenith or golden age. His reputation and formidable naval fleet allowed him ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gissur Þorvaldsson
Gissur Þorvaldsson (; Old Norse: ; 1208 – 12 January 1268) was a medieval Icelandic chieftain or '' goði'' of the Haukdælir family clan, and great-grandson of Jón Loftsson. Gissur played a major role in the period of civil war which is now known as Age of the Sturlungs: he fought alongside Kolbeinn the Young against the forces of Sturla Sighvatsson of the Sturlungar clan in the Battle of Örlygsstaðir in 1238 and led the force of men who murdered saga-writer Snorri Sturluson in 1241, at the behest of Haakon IV, King of Norway, who demanded Snorri's return to Norway for disobeying his order to stay at his court following Jarl Skúli's failed coup. In 1253, Gissur's son was wedded to Sturla Þórðarson's daughter Ingibjörg, as a part of an attempt at ending the conflict between the Haukdælir and Sturlungar. Shortly after the wedding, Eyjólfr ofsi, another member of the extended Sturlungar, attacked Gissur's household at Flugumýri, in what is termed the Flug ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Icelandic Commonwealth
The Icelandic Commonwealth, also known as the Icelandic Free State, was the political unit existing in Iceland between the establishment of the Althing () in 930 and the pledge of fealty to the Norwegian king with the Old Covenant in 1262. With the probable exception of hermitic Irish monks known as Papar, Iceland was an uninhabited island until around 874. The Icelandic Commonwealth had a unique political system whereby chieftains (''goðar'') established a common legal code and settled judicial disputes at the Althing, a national assembly. However, there was no executive body in Iceland that enforced the legal code. The Icelandic Commonwealth has consequently been characterized as a stateless society. During the 13th century, Iceland came under the control of the Kingdom of Norway. Goðorð system The medieval Icelandic state had a unique judicial structure. The first settlers of Iceland were greatly influenced by their Norwegian roots when creating their own form of g ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
þing
A thing, also known as a folkmoot, assembly, tribal council, and by other names, was a governing assembly in early Germanic society, made up of the free people of the community presided over by a lawspeaker. Things took place regularly, usually at prominent places accessible by travel. They provided legislative functions, as well as social events and trade opportunities. In modern usage, the meaning of this word in English and other languages has shifted to mean not just an assemblage of some sort but simply an object of any kind. Thingstead () or "thingstow" () is the English term for the location where a thing was held. Etymology The word appears in Old Norse, Old English, and modern Icelandic as , in Middle English (as in modern English), Old Saxon, Old Dutch, and Old Frisian as (the difference between ''þing'' and ''thing'' is purely orthographical), in German as , in Dutch and Afrikaans as , and in modern Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Faroese, Gutnish, and No ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flag Of Iceland
The flag of Iceland () was officially described in Law No. 34, set out on 17 June 1944, the day Iceland became a republic. The law is entitled "The Law of the National Flag of Icelanders and the State Arms" and describes the Icelandic flag as follows: The civil national flag of Icelanders is blue as the sky with a snow-white cross, and a fiery-red cross inside the white cross. The arms of the cross extend to the edge of the flag, and their combined width is , but the red cross of the combined width of the flag. The blue areas are right angled rectangles, the rectilinear surfaces are parallel and the outer rectilinear surfaces as wide as them, but twice the length. The dimensions between the width and length are 18:25. Iceland's first national flag was a white cross on a deep blue background. It was first shown in parade in 1897. The modern flag dates from 1915, when a red cross was inserted into the white cross of the original flag. This cross historically stems from the sym ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Icelandic Police
In Iceland, the Police (, ) is the national police force of Iceland. It is responsible for law enforcement throughout the country, except in Icelandic territorial waters which fall under the jurisdiction of the Icelandic Coast Guard. Police affairs in Iceland are the responsibility of the Ministry of Justice and are administered by the Office of the National Commissioner of the Police (') on behalf of the ministry. The organisation is divided into nine districts, the largest being the ReykjavÃk Metropolitan Police ('), which is responsible for the Capital Region and its total population of around 208,000 people. History Origins The police can trace its origins to 1778 when the first traces of industry started to appear. Up until that time, the law had been enforced first by individuals permitted to do so by the Althing and then by '' sýslumenn'' (sheriffs) and other Royal proxies. The first policemen are considered to be the morning star-armed night watchmen of ReykjavÃk ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Swallowtail (flag)
In flag terminology, a swallowtail is either # a V-shaped cut in a flag that causes the flag to end in two points at the fly; or # any flag that has this V-shaped cut. The name comes from the forked tail that is a common feature of the swallow species of birds. __NOTOC__ Variants Double-pointed Common in the Nordic countries, this swallowtail flag contains a vertical section in the centre of the fly. Swallowtail with tongue Also common in the Nordic countries, the swallowtail flag contains a third tail (the "tongue") between the other two tails. Triangular swallowtail The triangular swallowtail is the shape of the flag of the American state of Ohio, as well as of some burgees, private signals and pennants of the International Code of Signals (ICS). Guidon A guidon is the general name given to a small swallowtail flag. Guidons are used to represent military units and are displayed on vehicles attached to a particular unit. In some countries (such as the United States), ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
