Coat of arms of Catalonia
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The Coat of arms of Catalonia (Catalan: Escut de Catalunya, Spanish: Escudo de Cataluña, French: Blason de la Catalogne) is that of the old Crown of Aragon, and has also been attributed to the sovereign Counts of Barcelona.[1] It is one of the oldest coats of arms in Europe dating back at least to a seal of Alfonso II of Aragon, from 1159, and maybe to a seal of Ramón Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona from 1150. [1] As a pre-heraldic symbol, the red bars on a yellow background are found on the Romanesque tombs of Barcelona’s Count Ramon Berenguer II el Cap d’estopes, who died in 1082, and his great-grandmother Ermessenda of Carcassonne, who died in 1058, wife of Count Ramon Borrell I, both of whose tombs can be found in the cathedral of Girona; but it's dubious that the paintings are contemporary to the tombs. [1]
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[edit] Heraldic description
In heraldry, the escutcheon is commonly known in Catalan language as les quatre barres (the Four Bars), and also as bars of Aragon. The blazon of the arms is: Or four pallets Gules ensigned of a crown.
[edit] History
There is no documented evidence as to when the arms were first used until 1150 when, according to some scholars, they appeared as part of a seal used by Ramón Berenguer IV. But this evidence has been disputed, and a safer one is a seal of Alfonso II of Aragon, from 1159. [2] The arms are sometimes linked to the Romanesque tombs of Barcelona’s Count owing to its presence in a sarcophagus of 1082 of Ramon Berenguer II where 15 bars of gold appear in a painting; the most common opinion is that this painting is much more recent than the tombs.
Rulers of the entire territory of Catalonia, the Barcelona counts came to be the monarchs of Aragon and the county of Ribagorza by means of marriage between Ramon Berenguer IV the Saint and Queen Petronilla of Aragon. From that period until 1714, the coat of arms of the counts of Barcelona (the sovereigns of Catalonia, then holding the title of monarchs) was the coat of arms of the Crown of Aragon (initially consisting of Catalonia and Roussillon, Aragon, Valencia and the Balearic Islands), which later covered other regions of the Mediterranean such as Provence, Sicily, Sardinia and so forth. It today constitutes the third quarter section of the coat of arms of the Kingdom of Spain.
[edit] Senyera
The Senyera is a flag based on the coat of arms of the Crown of Aragon. Consisting of four red stripes on a golden background and often called the bars of Aragon, it historically represented the king of the Crown of Aragon. Today it has been adopted as flag by four Spanish autonomous communities: without any change for Catalonia, and, with some variations, for Aragon, the Balearic Islands and Valencia.
[edit] Variations
The autonomous communities of the Balearic Islands, Aragon, Barcelona and the Valencian Community amongst others, use a similar version to the arms of Catalonia.
Escudo d'Aragón.svg
Coat of arms of Aragon. |
Escudo de las Islas Baleares.svg
Coat of arms of the Balearic Islands. |
Escut de Barcelona.svg
Coat of arms of Barcelona. |
Escudo de la Comunidad Valenciana.svg
Coat of arms of the Valencian Community. |
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b c The Coat of Arms of Catalonia. Retrieved on 2007-09-09.
- ^ Palos de Aragón(Gran Enciclopedia Aragonesa)[1]
[edit] References
- Fatás, Guillermo; Guillermo Redondo [1978]. La bandera de Aragón (in Spanish). Zaragoza: Colección Básica Aragonesa, 3. Retrieved on 9 September 2007.
- Fatás, Guillermo; Guillermo Redondo [1995]. Blasón de Aragón : el escudo y la bandera Zaragoza (in Spanish). Diputación General de Aragón, D.L.. Retrieved on 9 September 2007.
- Fluvià I Escorsa, Armand de [1994]. Els quatre pals: l'escut dels comtes de Barcelona (in Spanish). Barcelona: Episodis de la Història, 300. Retrieved on 9 September 2007.
- Menéndez Pidal de Navascués, Faustino [1991]. Palos de oro y gules, vol. IV (in Spanish), Barcelona: Episodis de la Història, 300, pp. 669-704. Retrieved on 9 September 2007.
- Montaner Frutos, Alberto [1995]. El señal real del rey de Aragón: historia y significado, vol. IV (in Spanish), Zaragoza: Fernando el Católico, pp. 669-704. Retrieved on 9 September 2007.
[edit] External links
- "The Coat of Arms of Catalonia" by the Catalan Genealogical Society (Catalan)
- "Kind of crown" by the Catalan Genealogical Society (Catalan)
- "The Four Bars", from personal to territorial symbolism, illustrated article by Gabriel Bibiloni (Catalan)
Coats of arms of Spain | |
|---|---|
| Spain | |
| Autonomous communities | Andalusia • Aragon • Asturias • Balearic Islands • Basque Country • Canary Islands • Cantabria • Castile-La Mancha • Castile and León • Catalonia • Extremadura • Galicia • Community of Madrid • Region de Murcia • Navarre • La Rioja • Valencia |
| Autonomous cities | Ceuta • Melilla |
| Royal Family | The King • The Prince of Asturias |
ca:Escut de Catalunya es:Escudo de Cataluña fr:Blason de Catalogne
