The History of eherold
The eherold was founded in the late Eighties. It supplemented the already existing international register GWF – “The General Register of Arms-bearing Families” and added a further dimension in the form of the Internet. Previously, publications had only been available in book form, but were now available world-wide – even as far as Mount Everest. The registrations it contains are mostly those from the Dochtermann archives and his successors, as well as from Pro Heraldica.
The eherold has always been accessible via the internet but its dissemination was limited by language to the German-speaking world.
Today, it is impossible to envisage a world without the Internet. Just how important it is today can be seen in the example of the Google group which was founded in 1998 and has even given rise to a new verb – today, the world “googles”.
Not least through the foundation of Pro Heraldica we have been increasingly confronted with enquiries about the registration of coats-of arms and in particular with the matter of international registration – an issue which eherold has taken up.