Coat of arms of Norway

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State arms of the Kingdom of Norway
Coat of Arms of Norway.svg
Details
Armiger King Harald V
Adopted 1280 (1905)
Crest The crown of the King of Norway (on a royal crown a demi-lion rampant or, crowned and bearing an axe with blade argent)
Escutcheon gules, a lion rampant or, crowned and bearing an axe with blade argent
Royal Arms of the
King of Norway
Royal CoA of Norway.svg
Details
Armiger King of Norway
Adopted 1280; elaborated in 1905
Crest The crown of the King of Norway (on a royal crown a demi-lion rampant or, crowned and bearing an axe with blade argent)
Escutcheon gules, a lion rampant or, crowned and bearing an axe with blade argent
Orders Order of St. Olav
Other elements An ermine mantling Purpure

The coat of arms of Norway is a crowned, golden lion rampant holding an axe with an argent blade, on a crowned, triangular and red escutcheon. Its elements originate from personal insignias for the royal house in the High Middle Ages, thus being among the oldest in Europe. This charge is traditionally referred to as den norske løve; Norwegian for “the Norwegian lion”.

Contents

Royal coat of arms [edit]

The coat of arms of the royal house as well as the Royal Standard uses the lion design from 1905. The shield features the insignia of the Royal Norwegian Order of St Olav around it.

The shield is framed by a royal ermine robe, surmounted by the crown of Norway.

History [edit]

c.1283-85
c. 1285
Two versions of the earliest royal lion coat of arms with axe, reverse of Eric Magnusson's seal, 1280s.

Magnus III (1093–1103) may have been the first Norwegian king to use an heraldic lion in his standard, but solid evidence for this assumption is lacking. The first lion to appear in a royal seal belonged to king Sverre Sigurdsson (1177–1202). Haakon IV (1217–1263), an illegitimate grandson of King Sverre, needed to demonstrate his royal ancestry. In his seal he adopted his grandfather's lion within an escutcheon. Although known only from seals, there is reason to believe that the tinctures were the same as in later versions. His son Magnus VI (1263–1280) confirmed the royal lion coat of arms, still without crown or axe.[1] In 1280 a crown and a silver axe was added to the lion in Eric II's coat of arms. The axe is the martyr axe of Olav II, the weapon said to have killed him in the Battle of Stiklestad in 1030. By adding this powerful attribute of St. Olav, " Rex Perpetuus Norvegiae", he manifested his exalted ancestry as well as his upper hand in the ongoing struggle with ecclesiastical authorities. His brother Haakon V (1299–1319), the last male of the royal line, used the same arms. By carrying on this tradition, kings of later dynasties transformed the formerly dynastic symbol into a territorial coat of arms, signifying the Kingdom of Norway.[2]

The design of the Norwegian arms has changed through the years, following changing heraldic fashions. In the late Middle Ages, the axe handle gradually grew longer and came to resemble a halberd. The handle was usually curved in order to fit the shape of escutcheon (or the changing union quarterings) preferred at the time, and also to match the shape of coins. The halberd was officially discarded and the shorter axe reintroduced by royal decree in 1844, when an authorised design was instituted for the first time. In 1905, the official design for royal and government arms was again changed, this time reverting to the medieval pattern, with a triangular escutcheon and a more upright lion. The painter Eilif Peterssen was responsible for the design. The present design was introduced in 1937, but slightly modified with royal approval 20 May 1992.

The state coat of arms is always to be displayed surmounted with the royal crown. However, during the political and constitutional conflicts of the late 19th century, the republican anti-union liberal movement would sometimes use an uncrowned shield as an emblem, as can be seen on the banner of Kristiania Folkevæpningssamlag exhibited in the Oslo City Museum.

On coins issued under German occupation during World War II the royal cypher was replaced by the 1937 coat of arms, without the royal crown. The Quisling regime continued to use the lion coat of arms, although the emblem of the Nasjonal Samling party on the pattern of the German Nazi Reichsadler was used concurrently as an alternative state insignium. In 1943, the design of the lion was modified, and the royal crown was replaced with an open medieval type of crown. The legitimate Norwegian government continued to use the coat of arms with the royal crown during exile An alternative design by the architect Arnstein Arneberg was depicted on Norwegian banknotes issued between 1945 and 1976.[3]

According to the rules of heraldry, any design is acceptable and recognizable as the arms of Norway, provided it fits the blazon "gules a lion rampant or, crowned and bearing an axe with blade argent". The Norwegian official blazon: "Ei upprett gull-løve på raud grunn med gullkrone på hovudet og gullskjeft sylvøks i framlabbane".

Stand-alone national coats of arms [edit]

During the period when Norway was as a part of Denmark-Norway, state and royal arms were quartered with the arms of Denmark and Norway dexter chief and sinister chief respectively. The arms of Norway could also be depicted separately, mostly in domestic contexts. In line with the conventions of heraldry, the design of the heraldic elements vary with each individual depiction, but the most tangible and consistent elements of evolution are outlined below.

  • Seal of Haakon V (reigned 1299 - 1319).

  • 1580 version, from the engraving of Bergen in the Civitates Orbis Terrarum by Hieronymus Scholeus, published c. 1580. During tha late Middle Ages, the axe was gradually lengthened.

  • 1733 version, from a portal erected in Trondheim during the royal visit in 1733. The axe handle has the curved shape used during from c 1500 until 1844.

  • Norwegian coat of arms in folk art. Lid of 18th century beer tankard of birchwood

  • Norwegian coat of arms approved by royal resolution 10 July, 1844. The first authorized design of the arms.

  • Norwegian coat of arms adopted 1905, design by Eilif Peterssen. The royal family has used this version after the adoption by the government of a new version in 1937.

  • Design of Norwegian coat of arms used by the Norwegian Telegraph Service, 1940s and 1950s.

  • Norwegian coat of arms on bank notes issued 1945 — 1976, designed by Arnstein Arneberg

  • Image of the Royal Arms from the coronation of 1906

Derivatives, seals, union arms and arms of pretension [edit]

  • Seal of Jemtland granted by King Magnus VI in 1274.

  • Arms of "Roi d'illande" (King of Iceland; i.e. the representative of the king of Norway) from the Wijnbergen armorial, ca 1280.

  • Union arms of King Haakon VI, ruler of both Norway and Sweden, c. 1380, from the Gelre Armorial.

  • Union seal of King Eric III, who reigned during the Kalmar Union, 1398. The coat of arms of Norway in the inescutcheon.

  • Sigilum secretum of King Christian I, 1457-1460. The coat of arms of Norway dexter base.

  • Coat of arms of King Frederick IV, who ruled both Norway and Denmark, as depicted in the Long Hall of Rosenborg Castle. The coat of arms of Norway sinister chief.

  • Union and royal coat of arms of the union between Sweden and Norway from 1844 to 1905. The full achievement in the royal flags of Norway and Sweden.

  • Union coat of arms without the hermine mantling, but with the two crowns indicating two separate kingdoms. Illustration from book of plates depicting Oscarshall palace in Oslo. Published by Chr. Tønsberg 1852.

  • Personl seal of Philippa of England, wife of King Eric III.

  • Seal of King John. The coat of arms of Norway sinister chief.

  • Seal of King Christian III (reigned 1534 - 1559). The coat of arms of Norway sinister chief.

  • Coat of arms of King Christian III as it appeared in the first Danish language Bible, 1550.

  • Coat of arms of King Frederick II. Engraving by Jens Bircherod, 1581.

  • Coat of arms attributed to King Frederick II. Engraving by Lauterbach, 1592.

  • Coat of arms of Johann der Junge, duke of Sønderborg 1580, in the chapel of Sønderborg Castle, Denmark. The arms of Norway chief dexter reflect Johann's title as heir to Norway.

  • King Eric XIV of Sweden added the Norwegian and Danish arms to the Swedish national coat of arms (the two lower quarters). This was one of the main events leading to the Northern Seven Years War

  • The Norwegian Lion to the very right. 1766 illustration of the castrum doloris of King King Frederick V.

References [edit]

  1. ^ Carlsen, Nina Hveem 1992. "Den norske løve gjennom skiftende tider". Arkivmagasinet (Journal of the National Archives) 2-1992, p. 42.
  2. ^ Carlsen, Nina Hveem 1992. "Den norske løve gjennom skiftende tider". Arkivmagasinet (Journal of the National Archives) 2-1992, p. 42-43.
  3. ^ Bratbak, Bjørn 1989. "Den norske løven". Årbok 1989 of the Society for the Preservation of Ancient Norwegian Monuments, p. 197.

External links [edit]

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