Coat o airms o Portugal

The coat o airms o Portugal wis offeecially adoptit on 30 Juin 1911, alang wi the republican banner o Portugal. It is based on the coat o airms uised bi the Portuguese Kinrick syne the Middle Ages.

History an meanin

The Portuguese coat o airms is the result o amaist a millennium o modifications an alterations. Stairtin wi Henry o Burgundy blue on a siller cross, successive elements wur addit or taken, culminatin wi the complex heraldic design that wis offeecially adoptit in 1911 (efter the Republican Revolution o 1910). The twa stripes bear the colours o the Portuguese banner: red an green.

Escutcheons an bezants

Efter the offeecial recognition o the Kinrick o Portugal as an independent kintra in 1143 (it haed been declared in 1139), siller bezants wur addit tae the Burgundian banner, seembolisin coins an the richt the monarch haed tae issue currency, as leader o a sovereign state. Eventually, an gien the enormous dynamism o medieval heraldry, it is believed that the shield degradit an lost some elements in battle, eventually losin the cross format. This is hou King Sancho I inheritit the shield frae his faither, Afonso Henriques, wi nae cross an five escutcheons (kent in Portuguese as quinas), which stuid whaur the siller bezants haed been placed.

Later, the nummer o siller bezants in each escutcheon wad be reduced frae eleiven tae five bi King Sebastian I, an modren explanations interpret them as the five wounds o Jesus Christ, awtho this is heichlie improbable.

Castles

It wis durin the reign o Afonso III that the reid mairch wi gowden castles (no touers, as some soorces state) wis addit. Awtho the nummer o castles coud vary atween eicht tae twal, Afonso IV wad define them as twal an Sebastian I wad finally fix them as seiven. Thay supposedly represent the Moorish castles conquered bi the Kinrick o Portugal durin the Reconquista. Thair oreegin is probably Castilian, but unlik Spainyie castles, which uisually hae thair gates coloured blue (hence opened), Portuguese castles wur aye depictit wi gowd gates (hence closed).

Airmillary sphere

An important element o Portuguese heraldry syne the 15t century, the armillary sphere wis mony times uised in Portuguese colonial banners, mainly in Brazil. It wis a navigation instrument uised tae calculate distances an represents the importance o Portugal durin the Age o Diskivery, as well as the vastness o its colonial empire when the First Republic wis implemented.

Awtho it is commonly uised as a "republican" element, as opposed tae the monarchist croun in the blue/white banner (see Banner o Portugal), some monarchist banners, sic as the banner o the Unitit Kinrick o Portugal, Brazil an the Algarves, awready depictit airmillary spheres. The incorporation o the airmillary sphere intae the 1816 banner o the Unitit Kinrick o Portugal is relatit tae the adoption o the first banner o the Kinrick o Brazil, an airmillary sphere on a blue backgrund.

Crouns

The coat o airms sportit different crouns durin imperial rule o Portguese an foreign crouns.

pre mid-1500s the coat o airms haed a open imperial croun
Croun o the Hoose o Habsburg
Croun o Hoose o Braganza-Saxe-Coburg an Gotha wi influence frae the Germanic Hoose o Saxe-Coburg an Gotha

Evolution of the Portuguese shield

Frae 1093? tae 1180?
Frae 1180? tae 1247
Frae 1247 tae 1385
Frae 1385 tae 1481
Syne 1481