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Coat Of Arms Of Finland

The Coat of arms of Finland is a crowned lion on a red field, the right forepaw replaced with an armoured hand brandishing a sword, trampling on a saber with the hindpaws. Official only since 1978, the coat of arms was originally created around the year 1580.

Background

The Lion in Nordic heraldry

Figure 2: Coat of arms of Valdemar Birgersson

The heraldic lion is quite common in Western Europe, and several European countries incorporate it into their national coats of arms. In Nordic heraldry, the lion is first-found in the coat of arms of Denmark in the later part of the 12th century.

Starting in the 12th century, the territory of today's Finland was gradually incorporated into the Swedish kingdom, and this coincided with the period when coats of arms first came into use in northern Europe. The first known use of the lion in Sweden was on the royal seals of Erik Knutsson (died 1216) and Erik Eriksson (1216–50), who used two and three lions on their seal, respectively. The first king of the Folkunga family, Valdemar Birgersson (1239–1302), also used 3 lions on his seal (''Figure 2'').

Finland as a Duchy

Figure 3: Folkunga coat of arms
Figure 4: Seal of duke Valdemar

Bengt Birgersson, the first Duke of Finland (1254–91, Duke from 1284 until 1291), and Valdemar Magnusson, the second Duke (died 1318, Duke of Finland from 1302 until 1317), both used the later Folkunga coat of arms, which was a crowned lion rampant with three bends sinister, the main difference being that Valdemar's arms had the field strewn with hearts (''Figure 3''). This version of the arms was quite similar to the modern coat of arms of Finland, but the lion did not yet brandish any weapon.

Creation of the arms

When John III assumed the title of "Grand Duke of Finland and Karelia", soon shortened to Grand Duke of Finland in 1577 (or soon thereafter), the lion became closely associated with Finland through the grand-ducal coats of arms (''Figure 5''). The grand-ducal coat of arms is thought to have resulted out of a combination of the ''Göta lion'' (originating from the ''Folkunga'' lion) and the arms of Karelia (''Figure 6''). The result was that the lion brandishes one weapon and treads on another.

Figure 5: Grand-ducal coat of arms of Finland, tomb of King Gustav Vasa (Uppsala cathedral, Sweden)
Figure 6: Coat of arms of Karelia, tomb of King Gustav Vasa (Uppsala cathedral, Sweden)

The best-known version of the grand-ducal coat of arms is found on the tomb of Gustavus I (1523–60) in the Uppsala cathedral (''Figure 5''). It has been suggested that either Duke John himself, or his brother Eric XIV, was leading the design work on the heraldic signs on the tomb. Neither statement can be confirmed, but it is known that Eric XIV showed an interest in heraldry. The monument was commissioned from Guillaume Boyen (Willem Boy), a Flemish architect and sculptor who had worked in Sweden. He started on the task in Antwerp in 1562, completing it 10 years later; however, the tomb was not in place in Uppsala until the early 1580s, and the finishing work lasted until 1591. In addition to the royal arms of Sweden and those of Finland, the arms of the 11 provinces are depicted. From Finland they include North and South Finland, as well as Tavastia and Karelia. The work of Willem Boy is of exceptional quality, which is perhaps explained by the fact that lions were a dominant feature in the heraldry of Flanders, and he would therefore have had a great deal of exposure to it before receiving the commission for the tomb of Gustavus I.

The earliest known blazon from this period states that the arms of Finland represents ''A crowned lion of gold holding a sword in the right forepaw and trampling with both hindpaws on a Russian sabre (''ryssesabel''), surrounded by nine silver roses in a red field, over the shield a golden crown with a red cap''.

As both King Gustavus I and his son, John III, were involved in lengthy wars with Russia, it should come as no surprise this was a central element in the arms of both the Grand Duchy of Finland, and in that in the coat of arms of the Finnish province of Karelia, which symbolizes the fight between East and West.

The purpose of the nine roses remains unknown, but are now mostly considered to be decorative only. They have sometimes been claimed to represent the nine historical provinces of Finland, but this hypothesis has not found support among prominent scholars. The number of towns in the nominal "Grand Duchy of Finland and Karelia" in 1580 were also nine, but no known historical research provides support for a link between the number of roses and the number of towns in Finland in 1580.

Evolution of the arms

Swedish era

During the following centuries, the arms of Finland were to appear in different versions of varying artistic quality, and it was only in the late 19th century when the Uppsala lion was again taken into use as the prototype for the coat of arms of Finland.

The lion experienced several changes during the 17th century. In the funeral banner of Charles X Gustavus (in 1660) it can be seen treading on the sabre with all three free paws; in drawings by Elias Brenner (in the ''Suecia antique et hodierna'' by Erik Dahlberg, printed in 1716), it is pictured with a double tail (''queue fourchée'') and with an almost walking posture.

Russian era

Figure 7: Coat of arms of Finland within Imperial Russian arms

After Finland had been ceded to Russia (as a consequence of the Swedish–Russian war of 1808–1809), Erik Brenner's version of the lion was chosen by the authorities as the model for the new coat of arms of the Grand Duchy of Finland in the Russian empire. The blazon in the decree of 26 October 1809 states: ''The shield has a red field, strewn with roses of silver, on which a golden lion with a crown of gold, standing on a silver saber, which it grasps with the left forepaw while holding in the right forepaw an upright sword''. Obviously, any interpretation of the lion as ''trampling on a Russian sabre'' had been lost at this point in time.

During the reform of the Russian official heraldry in 1857, the lion was again changed on the initiative of baron Bernhard Karl von Köhne. The blazon states: ''On a red field strewn with silver roses a crowned lion of gold, holding in the right forepaw an upright sword and in the left one a curved sword on which it rests with the right hindpaw''. The main changes were that the lion had started to resemble a dog rather than a lion, and the crown on top of the shield had been changed to an arched crown without a cap, and with a small Russian eagle on the rim. The sword in the right forepaw had shrunk in size, to the point of resembling a dagger rather than a sword (''Figure 8'').

Source: Wikipedia