History of the state emblem of Russia. How the double-headed eagle appeared in the coat of arms of Russia

It was approved in 1993 by decree of the country's first president, Boris Yeltsin. However, the symbols that are depicted on the coat of arms of Russia have a much longer history, dating back to the period of formation of the Moscow principality. The coat of arms of the Russian Federation depicts a double-headed eagle spreading its wings. What does it symbolize on the Russian coat of arms?

Any state emblem is not only an image on banknotes, documents and police insignia. First of all, the coat of arms is a national symbol intended to unite people living in a given territory.

What does the state emblem of the Russian Federation mean? When did he appear? Was the coat of arms of medieval Rus' similar to the modern one? Why does the Russian eagle have two heads?

The history of the coat of arms of Russia is rich and interesting, but before telling about it, a description of this national symbol should be given.

Description of the coat of arms of the Russian Federation

The coat of arms of the Russian Federation is a red heraldic shield with the image of a golden double-headed eagle spreading its wings.

Each eagle's head is crowned, in addition, there is another crown above them, larger size. Three crowns are connected by a gold ribbon. The double-headed eagle holds a scepter in its right paw, and an orb in its left. On the chest of the double-headed eagle there is another red shield with the image of a horseman killing a dragon with a silver spear.

As it should be according to heraldic laws, each of the elements Russian coat of arms has its own meaning. The double-headed eagle is a symbol of the Byzantine Empire, its image on the Russian coat of arms emphasizes the continuity between the two countries, their cultures and religious beliefs. It should be noted that the double-headed eagle is used in the state emblems of Serbia and Albania - in countries whose state traditions were also strongly influenced by Byzantium.

Three crowns in the coat of arms mean sovereignty Russian state. Initially, the crowns meant the three kingdoms conquered by the Moscow princes: Siberian, Kazan and Astrakhan. The scepter and orb in the paws of an eagle are symbols of the supreme state power (prince, king, emperor).

The horseman slaying the dragon (serpent) is nothing more than the image of St. George the Victorious, a symbol of the bright principle defeating evil. He personifies the warrior-defender of the Motherland and has been very popular in Russia throughout its history. No wonder St. George the Victorious is considered the patron saint of Moscow and is depicted on its coat of arms.

The image of a horseman is traditional for the Russian state. This symbol (the so-called rider) was in use back in Kievan Rus, he was present on princely seals and coins.

Initially, the horseman was considered an image of the sovereign, but during the reign of Ivan the Terrible, the tsar on the coat of arms was replaced by Saint George.

History of the coat of arms of Russia

The central element of the Russian coat of arms is the double-headed eagle; this symbol first appeared during the reign of Ivan III, at the end of the 15th century (1497). The double-headed eagle was depicted on one of the royal seals.

Before this, seals most often depicted a lion tormenting a snake. The lion was considered a symbol of the Vladimir principality and passed from Prince Vasily II to his son Ivan III. Around the same time, the horseman became a common state symbol (later it would turn into St. George the Victorious). For the first time, the double-headed eagle as a symbol of princely power was used on the seal that sealed the deed of ownership land plots. Also during the reign of Ivan III, an eagle appears on the walls of the Faceted Chamber of the Kremlin.

Why exactly during this period the Moscow tsars began to use the double-headed eagle is still a matter of debate among historians. The canonical version is that Ivan III took this symbol for himself because he married the niece of the last Byzantine emperor, Sophia Paleologus. In fact, this theory was first put forward by Karamzin. However, it raises serious doubts.

Sofia was born in Morea - the outskirts of the Byzantine Empire and was never close to Constantinople, the eagle first appeared in the Moscow principality several decades after the marriage of Ivan and Sofia, and the prince himself never made any claims to the throne of Byzantium.

The theory of Moscow as the “third Rome” was born much later, after the death of Ivan III. There is another version of the origin of the double-headed eagle: having chosen such a symbol, the Moscow princes wanted to challenge the rights to it from the strongest empire of that time - the Habsburg.

There is an opinion that the Moscow princes borrowed the eagle from the South Slavic peoples, who quite actively used this image. However, no traces of such borrowing could be found. And the appearance of the Russian “bird” is very different from its South Slavic counterparts.

In general, historians still don’t know exactly why a double-headed eagle appeared on the Russian coat of arms. It should be noted that around the same time, a single-headed eagle was depicted on coins of the Novgorod principality.

The double-headed eagle became the official state emblem under the grandson of Ivan III, Ivan the Terrible. At first the eagle is complemented by a unicorn, but soon it is replaced by a rider who slays a dragon - a symbol usually associated with Moscow. Initially, the horseman was perceived as a sovereign (“great prince on horseback”), but already during the reign of Ivan the Terrible, they began to call him George the Victorious. This interpretation will be finally consolidated much later, during the reign of Peter the Great.

Already during the reign of Boris Godunov, the coat of arms of Russia for the first time received three crowns located above the heads of the eagle. They meant the conquered Siberian, Kazan and Astrakhan kingdoms.

Since about the middle of the 16th century, the Russian double-headed eagle has often been painted in the “armed” position: the bird’s beak is open and its tongue is hanging out. Such a double-headed eagle seems aggressive, ready to attack. This change is the result of the influence of European heraldic traditions.

At the end of the 16th - beginning of the 17th century, the so-called Calvary cross often appears in the upper part of the coat of arms, between the heads of the eagle. This innovation coincides with the moment Russia gained church independence. Another version of the coat of arms of that period is the image of an eagle with two crowns and an eight-pointed Christian cross between its heads.

By the way, all three False Dmitrys actively used seals depicting the Russian coat of arms during the Time of Troubles.

The end of the Time of Troubles and the accession of the new Romanov dynasty led to some changes in the state emblem. According to the heraldic tradition of that time, the eagle began to be depicted with spread wings.

In the middle of the 17th century, during the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich, the State Coat of Arms of Russia for the first time received an orb and a scepter, an eagle holding them in its paws. These are traditional symbols of autocratic power. At the same time, the first official descriptions of the coat of arms appeared; they have survived to this day.

During the reign of Peter I, the crowns over the heads of the eagle acquired the well-known “imperial” look, in addition, the coat of arms of Russia changed its color design. The eagle's body became black, and its eyes, beak, tongue and paws became gold. The dragon also began to be depicted in black, and St. George the Victorious - in silver. This design became traditional for the entire period of the Romanov dynasty.

The coat of arms of Russia underwent relatively serious changes during the reign of Emperor Paul I. This was the beginning of the era of the Napoleonic wars; in 1799, Britain captured Malta, whose patron was the Russian emperor. A similar act by the British led Russian Emperor infuriated and pushed him into an alliance with Napoleon (which later cost him his life). It is for this reason that the Russian coat of arms received another element - the Maltese cross. Its meaning was that the Russian state lays claim to this territory.

During the reign of Paul I, a draft of the Great Coat of Arms of Russia was prepared. It was made entirely in accordance with the heraldic traditions of its time. Around the state coat of arms with a double-headed eagle, the coats of arms of all 43 lands that were part of Russia were collected. The shield with coats of arms was held by two archangels: Michael and Gabriel.

However, soon Paul I was killed by the conspirators and the large coat of arms of Russia remained in the projects.

Nicholas I adopted two main versions of the state emblem: full and simplified. Before this, the coat of arms of Russia could be depicted in different versions.

Under his son, Emperor Alexander II, a heraldic reform was carried out. It was handled by the King of Arms Baron Köhne. In 1856, a new small Russian coat of arms was approved. In 1857, the reform was finally completed: in addition to the small one, a medium and large coat of arms were also adopted Russian Empire. They remained virtually unchanged until the events February Revolution.

After the February Revolution, the question arose about a new coat of arms of the Russian state. To solve this problem, a group of the best Russian heraldry experts was assembled. However, the issue of the coat of arms was rather political, so they recommended, until the convening of the Constituent Assembly (where they were supposed to adopt a new coat of arms), to use the double-headed eagle, but without the imperial crowns and St. George the Victorious.

However, six months later another revolution occurred, and the Bolsheviks began developing a new coat of arms for Russia.

In 1918, the Constitution of the RSFSR was adopted, and along with it, the draft of a new coat of arms of the republic was approved. In 1920, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee adopted a version of the coat of arms drawn by the artist Andreev. The coat of arms of the Russian Soviet Socialist Republic was finally adopted at the All-Russian Congress in 1925. The coat of arms of the RSFSR was used until 1992.

The current state emblem of Russia is sometimes criticized for the abundance of monarchical symbols, which are not very appropriate for a presidential republic. In 2000, a law was passed that establishes the exact description of the coat of arms and regulates the procedure for its use.

If you have any questions, leave them in the comments below the article. We or our visitors will be happy to answer them

This is a special emblem made in accordance with heraldic canons.

It represents an interconnected system of images and colors, which carries the idea of ​​the integrity of the state and is inextricably linked with its history, traditions and mentality.

The appearance of this official sign is enshrined in the Constitution.

Brief description and meaning of the symbols of the coat of arms of Russia

This state insignia is a red heraldic shield, in the middle of which there is a golden double-headed eagle. The bird holds an orb in its left clawed paw, and a scepter in its right.

On each of the heads there is a crown, and on top there is another, larger one. All three royal decorations are connected by a gold ribbon.

In the center of the shield, on the eagle’s chest, there is another red cloth. It depicts a plot familiar to every Russian: St. George the Victorious kills a snake.

There are many icons and paintings illustrating this legend. This is the most recognizable image of the saint. On the emblem he is represented as a silver rider on a silver horse, wearing a blue cloak. A monster under the hooves of a black horse.

How were the symbols on the coat of arms of the Russian Federation formed and what do they mean?

Today, heraldry is an auxiliary branch of historical science. The emblems of countries, along with annals and chronicles, represent the most important historical evidence.

In Western Europe, during the times of chivalry, every noble family had a symbol that was inherited from generation to generation. It was present on the banners and was a sign of distinction by which a representative of the clan was recognized both on the battlefield and at the feast. In our country, this tradition has not been developed. Russian soldiers carried embroidered images of the great martyrs, Christ or the Virgin Mary into battle. The Russian heraldic sign originates from princely seals.

What do the main elements of the Russian coat of arms mean: St. George the Victorious

On the princely seals there were the patron saints of the rulers and an inscription indicating who owned the symbol of power. Later, a symbolic image of the head began to appear on them and on coins. Usually it was a horseman holding some kind of weapon in his hand. It could be a bow, sword or spear.

Initially, the “rider” (as this image was called) was not a sign only of the Moscow principality, but after the unification of lands around the new capital in the 15th century, it became an official attribute of the Moscow sovereigns. He replaced the lion who defeats the snake.

What is depicted on the state emblem of Russia: a double-headed eagle

It should be noted that this is a popular symbol, which is used as the main one not only by the Russian Federation, but also by Albania, Serbia, and Montenegro. The history of the appearance of one of the main elements of our emblem goes back to the times of the Sumerians. There in this ancient kingdom he personified God.

Since antiquity, the eagle has been considered a solar symbol associated with the spiritual principle and liberation from bonds. This element of the Russian coat of arms means courage, pride, desire for victory, royal origin and the greatness of the country. In the Middle Ages it was a symbol of baptism and rebirth, as well as of Christ in his ascension.

In Ancient Rome, the image of a black eagle was used, which had one head. Such a bird was brought as a family image by Sophia Paleologus, the niece of the last Byzantine emperor Constantine, whom Ivan the Terrible’s grandfather, Ivan III, known as Kalita, married. In Russia, the history of the famous double-headed eagle begins during his reign. Together with his marriage, he received the right to this symbol as a state emblem. It confirmed that our country had become the heir of Byzantium and began to claim the right to be a world Orthodox power. Ivan III received the title of Tsar of All Rus', ruler of the entire Orthodox East.

But during the time of Ivan III, the official emblem in the traditional sense still did not exist. The bird was featured on the royal seal. It was very different from the modern one and looked more like a chick. This is symbolic, since Rus' at that time was a young, fledgling country. The eagle's wings and beak were closed, the feathers smoothed.

After the victory over the Tatar-Mongol yoke and the liberation of the country from centuries-old oppression, the wings flutter open, emphasizing the power and might of the Russian state. Under Vasily Ioanovich, the beak also opens, emphasizing the strengthening of the country’s position. At the same time, the eagle developed tongues, which became a sign that the country could stand up for itself. It was at this moment that the monk Philotheus puts forward a theory about Moscow as the third Rome. Spreading wings appeared much later, in the early years of the Romanov dynasty. They showed neighboring hostile states that Russia had perked up and rose from sleep.

The double-headed eagle also appeared on the state seal of Ivan the Terrible. There were two of them, small and large. The first was attached to the decree. There was a rider on one side and a bird on the other. The king replaced the abstract horseman with a specific saint. St. George the Victorious was considered the patron saint of Moscow. This interpretation would finally be consolidated under Peter I. The second seal was applied and made it necessary to combine two state symbols into one.

This is how a double-headed eagle appeared with a warrior on a horse depicted on its chest. Sometimes the rider was replaced by a unicorn, as a personal sign of the king. It was also an Orthodox symbol taken from the Psalter, like any heraldic sign. Like the hero defeating the snake, the unicorn signified the victory of good over evil, the military valor of the ruler and the righteous strength of the state. In addition, this is an image of monastic life, the desire for monasticism and solitude. This is probably why Ivan the Terrible highly valued this symbol and used it along with the traditional “rider”.

What do the elements of the images on the coat of arms of Russia mean: three crowns

One of them also appears under Ivan IV. It was on top and was decorated with an eight-pointed cross as a symbol of faith. The cross has appeared before, between the heads of birds.

During the time of Fyodor Ioanovich, the son of Ivan the Terrible, who was a very religious ruler, it was a symbol of the passion of Christ. Traditionally, the image of a cross on the coat of arms of Russia symbolizes the country's acquisition of ecclesiastical independence, which coincided with the reign of this tsar and the establishment of the patriarchate in Rus' in 1589. The number of crowns varied at different times.

Under Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich there were three of them, the ruler explained this by the fact that then the state absorbed three kingdoms: Siberian, Kazan and Astrakhan. The appearance of three crowns was also associated with the Orthodox tradition, and was interpreted as a sign of the Holy Trinity.

It is currently known that this symbolism on the coat of arms Russian Federation means the unity of three levels of government (state, municipal and regional), or its three branches (legislative, executive and judicial).

Another version suggests that the three crowns mean the brotherhood of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia. The crowns were secured with ribbon already in 2000.

What does the coat of arms of the Russian Federation mean: scepter and orb

They were added at the same time as the crown. In earlier versions, the bird could hold a torch, a laurel wreath, and even a lightning bolt.

Currently, an eagle holding a sword and a wreath is on the banner. The attributes that appeared in the image personified autocracy, absolute monarchy, but also indicated the independence of the state. After the 1917 revolution, these elements, like the crowns, were removed. The Provisional Government considered them a relic of the past.

Seventeen years ago they were returned and now adorn the modern state insignia. Scientists agree that in modern conditions this symbolism of the coat of arms of Russia means state power and the unity of the state.

What did the coat of arms of the Russian Empire mean under Peter I?

After coming to power, the first Russian emperor decided that the double-headed eagle should not just decorate certain official papers, but also become a full-fledged symbol of the country. He decided that the bird should become black, like the one that was on the banners of the Holy Roman Empire, of which Byzantium was the heir.

On the wings were painted the signs of large local principalities and kingdoms that were part of the country. For example, Kyiv, Novgorod, Kazan. One head looked to the West, the other to the East. The headdress was a large imperial crown, which replaced the royal one and hinted at the specifics of the established power. Russia asserted its independence and freedom of rights. Peter I chose this type of crown several years before he proclaimed the country an Empire and himself emperor.

The Order of St. Andrew the First-Called appeared on the bird's chest.

Until Nicholas I, the official emblem of the country retained the form established by Peter I, undergoing only minor changes.

The meaning of the colors on the coat of arms of Russia

Color, as the brightest and simplest sign, is an important part of any symbolism, including state symbols.

In 2000, it was decided to return the eagle to its golden color. It is a symbol of power, justice, the wealth of the country, as well as the Orthodox faith and Christian virtues such as humility and mercy. The return to the golden color emphasizes the continuity of traditions and the state’s preservation of historical memory.

The abundance of silver (cloak, spear, horse of St. George the Victorious) indicates purity and nobility, the desire to fight for a righteous cause and truth at any cost.

The red color of the shield speaks of the blood that was shed by the people in defense of their land. It is a sign of courage and love not only for the Motherland, but also for each other, and emphasizes that many fraternal peoples coexist peacefully in Russia.

The snake that the rider kills is painted black. Heraldry experts agree that this symbol on the coat of arms of the Russian Federation means the country’s constancy in trials, as well as memory and grief for the dead.

The meaning of the coat of arms of the Russian Federation

The drawing of the modern state symbol was made by St. Petersburg artist Evgeny Ukhnalev. He left the traditional elements but created a new image. The fact that signs from different eras were included in the final version emphasizes the country's long history. The type of this personification of state power is strictly regulated and described in the relevant laws.

The shield is a symbol of the protection of the earth. At the moment, the meaning of the coat of arms of the Russian Federation is interpreted as a fusion of conservatism and progress. The three rows of feathers on the bird's wings refer to the unity of Kindness, Beauty and Truth. The scepter became a sign of state sovereignty. It is interesting that it is decorated with the same double-headed eagle, clutching the same scepter and so on ad infinitum.

Briefly, we can say that the coat of arms of Russia symbolizes eternity and means the unity of all peoples of the Russian Federation. The power acts as an emblem of power and integrity.

We hope our article helped you penetrate the secrets of state symbols. If you are interested in the history of not only your country, but your family, then it’s worth learning about it.

Our specialists have access to rare archival documents, which allows:

• Check the authenticity of the data.
• Systematize the information received.
• Make a family tree.
• Help trace your family tree.

If you want to find out who your ancestors were, what they did and how they lived, contact the Russian House of Genealogy.

Today the state needs symbols just as much as it did several centuries ago, if not more. The point is that a common banner can really unite people. That is why the coat of arms was invented. This is a beautiful and mysterious symbol of an entire era.

Beautiful coat of arms of the Fatherland

So, what does it represent in the modern Russian Federation? What is remarkable? The law says that this is a quadrangular shield with rounded lower corners, a red heraldic shield, pointed at the tip, with the image of a golden double-headed eagle raising its spread wings upward. The said bird is crowned with two small crowns. Moreover, above these crowns there is another large crown connected by a ribbon. It is noteworthy that in the right paw of the eagle there is a scepter, and in the left there is an orb. On the chest of the bird, framed by a red shield, there is a silver rider dressed in a blue cloak. The knight is depicted on a silver horse, a man strikes a black serpent trampled by a horse, overturned on its back, with a silver spear. In order to fully understand the essence of the symbol, you need to figure out why the coat of arms of Russia is a double-headed eagle? Honor and conscience, a beautiful bird and a proud rider, crowns and swords... All this is the state emblem of the Russian Federation!

How to portray?

It should be noted that modern reproduction of the State Emblem of the Russian Federation is completely acceptable without the so-called heraldic shield. That is, in fact, the main figure remains: a double-headed eagle, possessing the attributes that were listed earlier. In addition, a single-color version of the symbol is allowed.

What does it mean?

Interestingly, the golden double-headed eagle, located on red material, usually symbolizes historical continuity directly in color scheme symbols of the late fifteenth to seventeenth centuries. The design of this bird, which belongs to the coat of arms of the Russian Federation, goes back to the images that are located on the monuments of the era of Peter the Great.

As for the eagle above the heads, these are the three historical crowns of Peter the Great himself. That is, they symbolize the sovereignty of our Fatherland - the Russian Federation - and the sovereignty of its parts, and therefore the subjects of the Federation.

What is their role? Their importance is simply enormous! The scepter and orb, which are in the paws of an eagle, are a symbol of state power, as well as a united fatherland.

The importance of interpretation

It should be noted that the image of a horseman who strikes a fire-breathing dragon with a spear on the chest of a militant bird is one of the most ancient symbols of the constant struggle between light and darkness, good and evil, and the defense of the Motherland. This is notable for the coat of arms of the Russian Federation.

There is a special legal act, which regulates the depiction of the coat of arms as the main symbol of our Fatherland. But where did it all begin? Why is he the way he is?

Old Russian seals

It is noteworthy that the very concept of the so-called knightly hereditary coat of arms, which was widely accepted in Western Europe, did not exist in Rus'. In particular, during struggles and fierce battles, embroidered or painted images of the Virgin Mary, Christ, certain saints, or simply an Orthodox cross most often served as banners. The images found on some ancient Russian military shields were also not considered hereditary. That is why the history of the coat of arms of the Russian Federation is, first of all, the history of the so-called grand ducal seal, which has been known for a long time.

Symbolism from antiquity

It should be said that on their own seals, the Old Russian princes usually depicted, first of all, patron saints (in particular, on the seal belonging to Simeon the Proud, Saint Simeon is depicted, but on the seal of the famous Prince Dimitri Donskoy “ruled”, as you might guess, Saint Dimitri). In addition, as a rule, there was an inscription on the symbolism that indicated who directly owned this seal. The wording was also interesting. For example, “the seal belongs to prince so-and-so.” This was considered a banner of honor.

More modern options

Approximately starting from Mstislav, known in wide circles as Udatny, as well as the grandchildren and other descendants of Vsevolod, nicknamed the “Big Nest,” the so-called “rider” began to appear on seals, that is, a symbolic image of the prince ruling at the current time. Interestingly, the rider’s weapon could well have been different. In particular, a bow, a spear, and a sword were most often depicted. But on coins from the time of Ivan the Second the Red, a foot warrior began to appear for the first time, striking a serpent with a sword (in other interpretations, a dragon). This is almost the coat of arms of the Russian Federation.

New elements

It is noteworthy that the image of the rider, for which the coat of arms of the Russian Federation is famous, was usually characteristic of numerous seals that belonged not only to the princes of Vladimir and Moscow, but also to other rulers. For example, during the reign of Ivan the Third, the image of a horseman who kills a snake or dragon was on the symbolism not of the Grand Duke of Moscow (there was a man with a sword), but of his brother-in-law, who was called the Grand Duke of Tverskoy Mikhail Borisovich. And the modern state emblem of the Russian Federation is not much different from that symbolism. And that's great!

It is interesting that since this Prince of Moscow began to single-handedly rule Russia, a rider on a horse who kills a dragon with a spear, that is, a symbolic image of the actual victory of good over evil, becomes one of the most important symbols of the entire Russian state, along with the no less famous and popular double-headed eagle. This became the predetermining moment in the formation of the modern perception of national symbols.

Russian state and coat of arms

So, the symbolism of our Fatherland cannot be imagined without the presence in it of the image of a double-headed eagle. For the first time unusual bird in the role of a state symbol of the entire Russian state, it is found directly on the reverse side of the official seal of Ivan the Third Vasilyevich in the year one thousand four hundred and ninety-seven, although these images were found earlier in ancient Russian art, as well as on Tver coins. However, this was the first time she was remembered this way.

Fighter and his bird

It should be noted that the placement of the rider directly on the chest of the eagle may well be explained by the fact that there were usually two state seals that were different in size, namely the Greater and the Lesser. These are the first elements for which the Russian coat of arms is famous. In the second case, it was double-sided, usually attached to an important document, with an eagle and a horseman placed separately on each side. But the large seal was one-sided. It was necessarily attached to the sheets, which is why subsequently the need arose to combine two symbols of the state into one. As practice has shown, this was an excellent decision.

For the first time, this combination is found directly on the great seal of Ivan the Terrible in the year one thousand five hundred and sixty-two. This is already a kind of coat of arms of Russia. At the same time, as a rule, a unicorn began to appear instead of a rider. And although the tsar himself did not consider this beast to be such a necessary symbol of the state, nevertheless, this animal was found on some of the seals of the famous Boris Godunov, False Dmitry, and also Alexei Mikhailovich.

It is noteworthy that on the Great Seal of Ivan the Terrible in the seventy-seventh year of the sixteenth century, instead of two crowns, one began to appear, which was characterized by a cross over an eagle. It was very unusual. The two crowns returned during the reign of the legendary Fyodor Ivanovich, but now an Orthodox cross was placed above the two heads of the eagle (probably as an independent symbol of the independent and strong Russian Orthodox Church).

The crown of creation

It should be noted that on the small seal of False Dmitry in one thousand six hundred and four, an eagle was depicted for the first time under three crowns, while the rider on the bird’s chest was turned, as a rule, to the right, according to established Western European heraldic traditions. It is noteworthy that after the period of False Dmitry, the image of the knight returned to its original state. Now two crowns were placed over the eagle’s heads for a long period of time. It is interesting that the date of the official establishment of all three crowns on the coat of arms can be considered one thousand six hundred and twenty-five. At that time, on the so-called small state seal under Mikhail Fedorovich, between the heads of the bird, instead of a cross, a third crown appeared (this symbolism differed from the seal of False Dmitry, which was quite possibly made in Poland). It was logical. Under the real Russian Tsar, all the symbolism was originally Russian. The so-called Great State Seal of the famous ruler Alexei Mikhailovich, as well as his son Mikhail Fedorovich, bore the same symbols in one thousand six hundred and forty-five. And here it is - the coat of arms of Russia, the significance of which in history is difficult to overestimate. Beautiful, unusual and proud...

Coat of arms of the Russian Empire

But the symbols of our Fatherland were not always so uniform. So, in particular, the Great Coat of Arms usually depicted a black double-headed eagle in a golden shield, which was crowned with two imperial crowns. It is interesting that above the indicated crowns there was the same decoration, but in a large form. It was a crown, marked by the two ends of the fluttering ribbon of the Order of St. Andrew. Such a state eagle holds a golden scepter, as well as an orb, in its powerful claws. As for the chest of the bird, the coat of arms of Moscow is depicted here, that is, in a scarlet shield with gold edges are the Holy Great Martyr, as well as the Victorious George. It should be noted that he is depicted in silver armor and an azure robe, on a silver horse covered with crimson cloth trimmed with gold fringe. A brave horseman strikes a golden dragon with green wings with a spear with an eight-pointed cross in its upper part.

Usually the shield crowned the most famous Holy Grand Duke. Around this symbolism there was a chain of the Order of the Most Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called. It is noteworthy that on the sides there were images of saints.

It must be said that the main shield from below was surrounded by eight similar symbols of principalities and “kingdoms”. In addition, “His Imperial Majesty’s family coat of arms” was present here. It is interesting that six other symbols of principalities and regions were also placed above the canopy of the main shield itself.

By the way, the small coat of arms usually represented a black double-headed eagle, directly on the wings of which, as a rule, eight shields of principalities, as well as “kingdoms,” were depicted. It is interesting that the description of the coat of arms of Russia is very reminiscent of the description of these ancient symbols that have been known in Rus' for a long time. Everything, as we know, is formed historically, going on from time immemorial. Therefore, it is not surprising that such a symbol has been formed over centuries.

What about now?

Today, everywhere, in all schools, the coat of arms of Russia and its meaning in history and culture are studied. And that's right. Children should understand from a young age where things come from and what they mean. So, the modern coat of arms of the Russian Federation is a unique symbol that allows any foreigner to understand how strong our state is, how unshakable our people are. It is not enough to understand the decoding of concepts, you need to remember the meaning. Today you can see the coat of arms of the Russian Federation everywhere, its photos are posted on the Internet and constantly “flicker” on TV. Therefore, studying it is not only easy, but also simply necessary. Knowing your history, feeling your unity, experiencing healthy patriotism and understanding the meaning of symbols is very important.

February 12th, 2013

The word coat of arms comes from the German word erbe, which means inheritance. A coat of arms is a symbolic image that shows the historical traditions of a state or city.

Coats of arms appeared a very long time ago. The predecessors of coats of arms can be considered the totems of primitive tribes. Coastal tribes had figurines of dolphins and turtles as totems; steppe tribes had snakes; forest tribes had bears, deer, and wolves. The signs of the Sun, Moon, and water played a special role.

The Double-Headed Eagle is one of the oldest heraldic figures. There is still a lot of uncertainty about the appearance of the double-headed eagle as a symbol. It is known, for example, that he was depicted in the Hittite state, a rival of Egypt, which existed in Asia Minor in the second millennium BC. In the 6th century BC. e., as archaeologists testify, the image of a double-headed eagle can be traced in Media, east of the former Hittite kingdom.

From the end of the 14th century. The golden double-headed Eagle, looking to the West and East, placed on a red field, becomes the state symbol of the Byzantine Empire. He personified the unity of Europe and Asia, divinity, greatness and power, as well as victory, courage, faith. Allegorically, the ancient image of a two-headed bird could mean a still-waking guardian who sees everything in both the east and the west. The golden color, meaning wealth, prosperity and eternity, in the latter meaning is still used in icon painting.

There are many myths and scientific hypotheses about the reasons for the appearance of the double-headed eagle in Russia. According to one hypothesis, the main state symbol of the Byzantine Empire - the double-headed Eagle - appeared in Rus' more than 500 years ago in 1472, after the marriage of the Grand Duke of Moscow John III Vasilyevich, who completed the unification of the Russian lands around Moscow, and the Byzantine princess Sophia (Zoe) Paleologue - nieces of the last Emperor of Constantinople, Constantine XI Palaiologos-Dragas.

The reign of Grand Duke Ivan III (1462-1505) was the most important stage in the formation of a unified Russian state. Ivan III managed to finally eliminate dependence on the Golden Horde, repelling the campaign of Khan Akhmat against Moscow in 1480. The Grand Duchy of Moscow included Yaroslavl, Novgorod, Tver, and Perm lands. The country began to actively develop ties with other European countries, and its foreign policy position strengthened. In 1497, the all-Russian Code of Law was adopted - a unified set of laws of the country.

It was at this time - the time of successful construction of Russian statehood.

Double-headed eagle of the Byzantine Empire, ca. XV century

Nevertheless, the opportunity to become equal with all European sovereigns prompted Ivan III to adopt this coat of arms as the heraldic symbol of his state. Having transformed from the Grand Duke into the Tsar of Moscow and taking a new coat of arms for his state - the Double-Headed Eagle, Ivan III in 1472 placed Caesar's crowns on both heads, at the same time a shield with the image of the icon of St. George the Victorious appeared on the eagle's chest. In 1480, the Tsar of Moscow became Autocrat, i.e. independent and self-sufficient. This circumstance is reflected in the modification of the Eagle; a sword and an Orthodox cross appear in its paws.

The twinning of dynasties not only symbolized the continuity of power of the Moscow princes from Byzantium, but also put them on a par with European sovereigns. The combination of the coat of arms of Byzantium and the more ancient coat of arms of Moscow formed a new coat of arms, which became a symbol of the Russian state. However, this did not happen immediately. Sophia Paleologus, who ascended the Moscow grand-ducal throne, brought with her not a golden Eagle - the emblem of the Empire, but a black one, signifying the family coat of arms of the dynasty.

This eagle had not an imperial crown over its heads, but only a Caesar’s crown and did not hold any attributes in its paws. The eagle was woven in black silk on a gold banner, which was carried at the head of the wedding train. And only in 1480 after the “Standing on the Ugra”, which marked the end of the 240-year Mongol-Tatar yoke, when John III became autocrat and sovereign of “all Rus'” (in a number of documents he is already called “tsar” - from the Byzantine “Caesar” ), the former Byzantine golden double-headed Eagle acquires the significance of a Russian state symbol.

The Eagle's head is crowned with the autocratic cap of Monomakh; he takes into his paws a cross (not a four-pointed Byzantine one, but an eight-pointed one - Russian) as a symbol of Orthodoxy, and a sword, as a symbol of the ongoing struggle for the independence of the Russian state, which only the grandson of John III, John IV, manages to complete ( Grozny).

On the Eagle's chest is an image of St. George, who was revered in Rus' as the patron saint of warriors, farmers and the entire Russian land. The image of the Heavenly Warrior on a white horse, striking the Serpent with a spear, was placed on the grand ducal seals, banners (banners) of princely squads, on the helmets and shields of Russian soldiers, coins and seal rings - insignia of military leaders. Since ancient times, the image of St. George has adorned the coat of arms of Moscow, because St. George himself has been considered the patron saint of the city since the time of Dmitry Donskoy.

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Liberation from the Tatar-Mongol yoke (1480) was marked by the appearance of the now Russian double-headed eagle on the spire of the Spasskaya Tower of the Moscow Kremlin. A symbol that represents supreme power sovereign-autocrat and the idea of ​​unifying Russian lands.

Double-headed eagles found in coats of arms are not that uncommon. Since the 13th century, they appear in the coats of arms of the counts of Savoy and Würzburg, on Bavarian coins, and are known in the heraldry of the knights of Holland and the Balkan countries. At the beginning of the 15th century, Emperor Sigismund I made the double-headed eagle the coat of arms of the Holy Roman (later German) Empire. The eagle was depicted black on a gold shield with gold beaks and claws. The Eagle's heads were surrounded by halos.

Thus, an understanding of the image of the double-headed Eagle as a symbol was formed single state, consisting of several equal parts. After the collapse of the empire in 1806, the double-headed eagle became the coat of arms of Austria (until 1919). Both Serbia and Albania have it in their coats of arms. It is also in the coats of arms of the descendants of the Greek emperors.

How did he appear in Byzantium? In 326, the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great made the double-headed eagle his symbol. In 330, he moved the capital of the empire to Constantinople, and from that time on, the double-headed eagle was the state emblem. The empire splits into western and eastern, and the double-headed eagle becomes the coat of arms of Byzantium.

The collapsed Byzantine Empire makes the Russian Eagle the successor of the Byzantine one and the son of Ivan III, Vasily III (1505-1533) places one common autocratic Monomakh's Cap on both heads of the Eagle. After the death of Vasily III, because his heir Ivan IV, who later received the name Grozny, was still small, the regency of his mother Elena Glinskaya (1533-1538) began, and the actual autocracy of the boyars Shuisky, Belsky (1538-1548) began. And here the Russian Eagle undergoes a very comic modification.

It should be noted that the year of the creation of the State Emblem of Russia is considered to be 1497, despite its quarter-century distance from the marriage of Ivan III and Sophia Paleologus. This year dates back to the letter of grant from Ivan III Vasilyevich to his nephews, the Volotsk princes Fyodor and Ivan Borisovich, in the Buigorod and Kolp volosts in the Volotsk and Tver districts.

The diploma was sealed with a double-sided hanging red wax seal of the Grand Duke, which was perfectly preserved and has survived to this day. On the front side of the seal there is a picture of a horseman slaying a serpent with a spear and a circular inscription (legend) “John by the grace of God, the ruler of all Rus' and the great prince”; on the reverse there is a double-headed Eagle with outstretched wings and crowns on their heads, a circular inscription listing its possessions.

Seal of Ivan III Vasilyevich, front and back, late 15th century.

One of the first to draw attention to this seal was the famous Russian historian and writer N.M. Karamzin. The seal differed from previous princely seals, and most importantly, for the first time (from the material sources that have come down to us) it demonstrated the “reunion” of the images of the double-headed Eagle and St. George. Of course, it can be assumed that similar seals were used to seal letters earlier than 1497, but there is no evidence for this. In any case, many historical studies of the last century agreed on this date, and the 400th anniversary of the Russian coat of arms in 1897 was celebrated very solemnly.

Ivan IV turns 16 years old, and he is crowned king and immediately the Eagle undergoes a very significant change, as if personifying the entire era of the reign of Ivan the Terrible (1548-1574, 1576-1584). But during the reign of Ivan the Terrible there was a period when he renounced the Kingdom and retired to a monastery, handing over the reins of power to Semyon Bekbulatovich Kasimovsky (1574-1576), and in fact to the boyars. And the Eagle reacted to the events taking place with another change.

The return of Ivan the Terrible to the throne causes the appearance of a new Eagle, the heads of which are crowned with one, common crown of a clearly Western design. But that’s not all, on the Eagle’s chest, instead of the icon of St. George the Victorious, an image of a Unicorn appears. Why? One can only guess about this. True, in fairness it should be noted that this Eagle was quickly canceled by Ivan the Terrible.

Ivan the Terrible dies and the weak, limited Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich “Blessed” (1584-1587) reigns on the throne. And again the Eagle changes its appearance. During the reign of Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich, between the crowned heads of the double-headed eagle, the sign of the passion of Christ appears: the so-called Calvary cross. The cross on the state seal was a symbol of Orthodoxy, giving a religious connotation to the state emblem. The appearance of the “Golgotha ​​cross” in the coat of arms of Russia coincides with the establishment of the patriarchate and ecclesiastical independence of Russia in 1589. Another coat of arms of Fyodor Ivanovich is also known, which is somewhat different from the above.

In the 17th century, the Orthodox cross was often depicted on Russian banners. The banners of foreign regiments that were part of the Russian army had their own emblems and inscriptions; however, an Orthodox cross was also placed on them, which indicated that the regiment fighting under this banner served the Orthodox sovereign. Until the middle of the 17th century, a seal was widely used, in which a double-headed eagle with a rider on its chest is crowned with two crowns, and an Orthodox eight-pointed cross rises between the eagle’s heads.

Boris Godunov (1587-1605), who replaced Fyodor Ivanovich, could be the founder of a new dynasty. His occupation of the throne was completely legal, but popular rumor did not want to see him as a legitimate Tsar, considering him a regicide. And Orel reflects this public opinion.

The enemies of Rus' took advantage of the troubles and the appearance of False Dmitry (1605-1606) in these conditions was quite natural, as was the appearance of a new Eagle. It must be said that some seals depicted a different, clearly not Russian Eagle. Here events also left their mark on Orel and in connection with the Polish occupation, Orel becomes very similar to Polish, differing, perhaps, in having two heads.

The shaky attempt to establish a new dynasty in the person of Vasily Shuisky (1606-1610), the painters from the official hut reflected in Orel, deprived of all the attributes of sovereignty, and as if in mockery, from the place where the heads are fused, either a flower or a cone will grow. Russian history says very little about Tsar Vladislav I Sigismundovich (1610-1612); however, he was not crowned in Rus', but he issued decrees, his image was minted on coins, and the Russian State Eagle had its own forms with him. Moreover, for the first time the Scepter appears in the Eagle’s paw. The short and essentially fictitious reign of this king actually put an end to the Troubles.

It's over Time of Troubles, Russia repelled claims to the throne of the Polish and Swedish dynasties. Numerous impostors were defeated, and the uprisings that flared in the country were suppressed. Since 1613, by decision of the Zemsky Sobor, the Romanov dynasty began to rule in Russia. Under the first king of this dynasty - Mikhail Fedorovich (1613-1645), popularly nicknamed "The Quiet" - the State Emblem changes somewhat. In 1625, for the first time, a double-headed eagle was depicted under three crowns; St. George the Victorious returned on the chest, but no longer in the form of an icon, in the form of a shield. Also, in icons, St. George the Victorious always galloped from left to right, i.e. from west to east towards the eternal enemies - the Mongol-Tatars. Now the enemy was in the west, the Polish gangs and the Roman Curia did not abandon their hopes of bringing Rus' to the Catholic faith.

In 1645, under the son of Mikhail Fedorovich - Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich - the first Great State Seal appeared, on which a double-headed eagle with a rider on his chest was crowned with three crowns. From that time on, this type of image was constantly used.

The next stage of changing the State Emblem came after the Pereyaslav Rada, the entry of Ukraine into the Russian state. At the celebrations on this occasion, a new, unprecedented three-headed Eagle appears, which was supposed to symbolize the new title of the Russian Tsar: “Tsar, Sovereign and Autocrat of All Great and Small and White Rus'.”

A seal was attached to the charter of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich Bogdan Khmelnitsky and his descendants for the city of Gadyach dated March 27, 1654, on which for the first time a double-headed eagle under three crowns is depicted holding symbols of power in its claws: a scepter and an orb.

In contrast to the Byzantine model and, perhaps, under the influence of the coat of arms of the Holy Roman Empire, the double-headed eagle, starting in 1654, began to be depicted with raised wings.

In 1654, a forged double-headed eagle was installed on the spire of the Spasskaya Tower of the Moscow Kremlin.

In 1663, for the first time in Russian history, the Bible, the main book of Christianity, came out of the printing press in Moscow. It is no coincidence that it depicted the State Emblem of Russia and gave a poetic “explanation” of it:

The eastern eagle shines with three crowns,
Shows faith, hope, love for God,
Krile stretches out, embraces all the worlds of the end,
North, south, from the east all the way to the west of the sun
With outstretched wings it covers goodness.

In 1667, after a long war between Russia and Poland over Ukraine, the Truce of Andrusovo was concluded. To seal this agreement, a Great Seal with a double-headed eagle under three crowns, with a shield with a rider on the chest, with a scepter and orb in its paws.

In the same year, the first in the history of Russia Decree of December 14 “On the royal title and on the state seal” appeared, which contained the official description of the coat of arms: “The double-headed eagle is the coat of arms of the Great Sovereign, Tsar and Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovich of all Great and Lesser and White Russia's autocrat, His Royal Majesty of the Russian reign, on which three crowns are depicted signifying the three great Kazan, Astrakhan, Siberian glorious kingdoms. On the chest (chest) there is an image of the heir; in the grooves (claws) there is a scepter and an apple, and reveals the most merciful Sovereign, His Royal Majesty the Autocrat and Possessor.”

Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich dies and the short and unremarkable reign of his son Fyodor Alekseevich (1676-1682) begins. The three-headed Eagle is replaced by the old two-headed Eagle and at the same time does not reflect anything new. After a short struggle with the boyars’ choice for the kingdom of the young Peter, under the regency of his mother Natalya Kirillovna, a second king, the weak and limited John, was elevated to the throne. And behind the double royal throne stands Princess Sophia (1682-1689). The actual reign of Sophia brought into existence a new Eagle. However, he did not last long. After a new outbreak of unrest - the Streletsky revolt - a new Eagle appears. Moreover, the old Eagle does not disappear and both of them exist for some time in parallel.

In the end, Sophia, having suffered defeat, goes to a monastery, and in 1696 Tsar John V also dies, the throne goes solely to Peter I Alekseevich “The Great” (1689-1725).

And almost immediately the State Emblem dramatically changes its shape. The era of great transformations begins. The capital is moved to St. Petersburg and Oryol takes on new attributes. Crowns appear on the heads under one common larger one, and on the chest there is an order chain of the Order of St. Apostle Andrew the First-Called. This order, approved by Peter in 1798, became the first in the system of highest state awards in Russia. The Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called, one of the heavenly patrons of Peter Alekseevich, was declared the patron saint of Russia.

The blue oblique St. Andrew's Cross becomes the main element of the insignia of the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called and the symbol of the Russian Navy. Since 1699, there have been images of a double-headed eagle surrounded by a chain with the sign of the Order of St. Andrew. And next year the Order of St. Andrew is placed on the eagle, around a shield with a rider.

From the first quarter of the 18th century, the colors of the double-headed eagle became brown (natural) or black.

It is also important to say about another Eagle, which Peter painted as a very young boy for the banner of the Amusing Regiment. This Eagle had only one paw, for: “Whoever has only one land army has one hand, but whoever has a fleet has two hands.”

During the short reign of Catherine I (1725-1727), the Eagle again changed its forms, the ironic nickname “Marsh Queen” was everywhere and, accordingly, the Eagle simply could not help but change. However, this Eagle lasted for a very short period of time. Menshikov, paying attention to it, ordered it to be removed from use, and by the day of the coronation of the Empress, a new Eagle appeared. By decree of Empress Catherine I of March 11, 1726, the description of the coat of arms was fixed: “A black eagle with outstretched wings, in a yellow field, on it is a rider in a red field.”

Under Empress Catherine I, the color scheme of the coat of arms was finally established - a black Eagle on a gold (yellow) field, a white (silver) Horseman on a red field.

State Banner of Russia, 1882 (Reconstruction by R.I. Malanichev)

After the death of Catherine I during the short reign of Peter II (1727-1730), the grandson of Peter I, Orel remained virtually unchanged.

However, the reign of Anna Ioannovna (1730-1740) and Ivan VI (1740-1741), the great-grandson of Peter I, did not cause practically any change in the Eagle, with the exception of the body being exorbitantly elongated upward. However, the accession to the throne of Empress Elizabeth (1740-1761) entailed a radical change in the Eagle. Nothing remains of the imperial power, and St. George the Victorious is replaced by a cross (besides, not an Orthodox one). The humiliating period of Russia added the humiliating Eagle.

Orel did not react in any way to the very short and extremely offensive reign of Peter III (1761-1762) for the Russian people. In 1762, Catherine II “The Great” (1762-1796) ascended the throne and the Eagle changed, acquiring powerful and grandiose forms. In the coinage of this reign there were many arbitrary forms of the coat of arms. Most interesting shape— An eagle that appeared during the time of Pugachev with a huge and not quite familiar crown.

The Eagle of Emperor Paul I (1796-1801) appeared long before the death of Catherine II, as if in contrast to her Eagle, to distinguish the Gatchina battalions from the entire Russian Army, to be worn on buttons, badges and headdresses. Finally, he appears on the standard of the crown prince himself. This Eagle is created by Paul himself.

During the short reign of Emperor Paul I (1796-1801), Russia was active foreign policy, faced with a new enemy - Napoleonic France. After French troops occupied the Mediterranean island of Malta, Paul I took the Order of Malta under his protection, becoming the Grand Master of the Order. On August 10, 1799, Paul I signed a Decree on the inclusion of the Maltese cross and crown in the state emblem. On the eagle’s chest, under the Maltese crown, was a shield with St. George (Paul interpreted it as the “indigenous coat of arms of Russia”), superimposed on the Maltese cross.

Paul I made an attempt to introduce the full coat of arms of the Russian Empire. On December 16, 1800, he signed the Manifesto, which described this complex project. Forty-three coats of arms were placed in the multi-field shield and on nine small shields. In the center was the above-described coat of arms in the form of a double-headed eagle with a Maltese cross, larger than the others. The shield with coats of arms is superimposed on the Maltese cross, and under it the sign of the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called again appears. The shield holders, the archangels Michael and Gabriel, support the imperial crown over the knight's helmet and mantle (cloak). The entire composition is placed against the background of a canopy with a dome - a heraldic symbol of sovereignty. From behind the shield with coats of arms emerge two standards with a double-headed and a single-headed eagles. This project has not been finalized.

As a result of the conspiracy, on March 11, 1801, Paul fell at the hands of the palace regicides. The young Emperor Alexander I “The Blessed” (1801-1825) ascends the throne. By the day of his coronation, a new Eagle appears, without the Maltese emblems, but, in fact, this Eagle is quite close to the old one. The victory over Napoleon and almost complete control over all processes in Europe causes the emergence of a new Eagle. He had one crown, the eagle’s wings were depicted lowered (straightened), and in his paws were not the traditional scepter and orb, but a wreath, lightning bolts (peruns) and a torch.

In 1825, Alexander I (according to the official version) dies in Taganrog and Emperor Nicholas I (1825-1855), strong in will and aware of his duty to Russia, ascends the throne. Nicholas contributed to a powerful, spiritual and cultural revival of Russia. This revealed a new Eagle, which changed somewhat over time, but still carried the same strict forms.

In 1855-1857, during the heraldic reform, which was carried out under the leadership of Baron B. Kene, the type of state eagle was changed under the influence of German designs. The drawing of the Small Coat of Arms of Russia, executed by Alexander Fadeev, was approved by the highest on December 8, 1856. This version of the coat of arms differed from the previous ones not only in the image of an eagle, but also in the number of “title” coats of arms on the wings. On the right were shields with the coats of arms of Kazan, Poland, Tauride Chersonese and the combined coat of arms of the Grand Duchies (Kyiv, Vladimir, Novgorod), on the left were shields with the coats of arms of Astrakhan, Siberia, Georgia, Finland.

On April 11, 1857, the Supreme approval of the entire set of state emblems followed. It included: Big, Middle and Small, coats of arms of members of the imperial family, as well as “titular” coats of arms. At the same time, drawings of the Large, Middle and Small state seals, arks (cases) for seals, as well as seals of the main and lower official places and persons were approved. In total, one hundred and ten drawings lithographed by A. Beggrov were approved in one act. On May 31, 1857, the Senate published a Decree describing the new coats of arms and the rules for their use.

Another Eagle of Emperor Alexander II (1855-1881) is also known, where the shine of gold returns to the Eagle. The scepter and orb are replaced by a torch and a wreath. During the reign, the wreath and torch are replaced several times by the scepter and orb and return several times.

On July 24, 1882, Emperor Alexander III in Peterhof approved the drawing of the Great Coat of Arms of the Russian Empire, on which the composition was preserved, but the details were changed, in particular the figures of the archangels. In addition, imperial crowns began to be depicted like real diamond crowns used at coronations.

The large Russian state emblem, Supremely approved on November 3, 1882, has a black double-headed eagle in a golden shield, crowned with two imperial crowns, above which is the same, but in in a larger form, crown, with two fluttering ends of the St. Andrew's Order ribbon. The state eagle holds a golden scepter and orb. On the eagle's chest is the coat of arms of Moscow. The shield is topped with the helmet of the Holy Grand Duke Alexander Nevsky. Black and gold mantle. Around the shield is a chain of the Order of St. Apostle Andrew the First-Called; On the sides there are images of Saints Archangel Michael and Archangel Gabriel. The canopy is golden, crowned with the imperial crown, dotted with Russian eagles and lined with ermine. On it is a scarlet inscription: God is with us! Above the canopy is a state banner with an eight-pointed cross on the pole.

On February 23, 1883, the Middle and two versions of the Small coat of arms were approved. In January 1895, the highest order was given to leave unchanged the drawing of the state eagle made by academician A. Charlemagne.

The latest act - “Basic provisions of the state structure of the Russian Empire” of 1906 - confirmed all previous legal provisions relating to the State Emblem, but with all its strict contours it is the most elegant.

With minor changes made in 1882 Alexander III, the coat of arms of Russia existed until 1917.

The Commission of the Provisional Government came to the conclusion that the double-headed eagle itself does not carry any monarchical or dynastic characteristics, therefore, deprived of a crown, scepter, orb, coats of arms of kingdoms, lands and all other heraldic attributes, it was “left in service.”

The Bolsheviks had a completely different opinion. By decree of the Council of People's Commissars of November 10, 1917, along with estates, ranks, titles and old regime orders, the coat of arms and flag were abolished. But making the decision turned out to be easier than implementing it. State bodies continued to exist and function, so for another six months the old coat of arms was used where necessary, on signs indicating government bodies and in documents.

The new coat of arms of Russia was adopted along with the new constitution in July 1918. Initially, the ears of corn were not crowned with a five-pointed star; it was introduced a few years later as a symbol of the unity of the proletariat of the five continents of the planet.

It seemed that the double-headed eagle had been finally retired, but as if doubting this, the authorities were in no hurry to remove the eagles from the towers of the Moscow Kremlin. This happened only in 1935, when the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks decided to replace the previous symbols with ruby ​​stars.

In 1990, the Government of the RSFSR adopted a resolution on the creation of the State Emblem and State Flag of the RSFSR. After a comprehensive discussion, the Government Commission proposed to recommend to the Government a coat of arms - a golden double-headed eagle on a red field.

The eagles were removed from the Kremlin towers in 1935. The revival of the Russian Eagle became possible after the collapse of the USSR and with the return of true statehood to Russia, although the development of state symbols of the Russian Federation had been going on since the spring of 1991, during the existence of the USSR.
Moreover, from the very beginning there were three approaches to this issue: the first was to improve the Soviet symbolism, which was alien to Russia but had become familiar; the second is the adoption of fundamentally new, without ideology, symbols of statehood (birch leaf, swan, etc.); and finally, the third is the restoration of historical traditions. The image of the double-headed Eagle with all its traditional attributes of state power was taken as the basis.

However, the symbolism of the coat of arms has been rethought and received a modern interpretation, more in line with the spirit of the times and democratic changes in the country. In the modern meaning, the crowns on the State Emblem of the Russian Federation can be considered in the same way as symbols of the three branches of government - executive, representative and judicial. In any case, they should not be identified with symbols of empire and monarchy. The scepter (originally as a striking weapon - a mace, the pole - a symbol of military leaders) can be interpreted as a symbol of the protection of sovereignty, a power - symbolizes the unity, integrity and legal nature of the state.

The Byzantine Empire was a Eurasian power; Greeks, Armenians, Slavs, and other peoples lived in it. The eagle in her coat of arms with heads looking to the West and East symbolized, among other things, the unity of these two principles. This is also true for Russia, which has always been a multinational country, uniting the peoples of Europe and Asia under one coat of arms. The sovereign eagle of Russia is not only a symbol of its statehood, but also a symbol of our ancient roots and thousand-year history.

Back at the end of 1990, the Government of the RSFSR adopted a Resolution on the creation of the State Emblem and State Flag of the RSFSR. Many specialists were involved in the preparation of proposals on this issue. In the spring of 1991, officials came to the conclusion that the State Emblem of the RSFSR should be a golden double-headed Eagle on a red field, and the State Flag should be a white-blue-red flag.

In December 1991, the Government of the RSFSR at its meeting reviewed the proposed versions of the coat of arms, and the approved projects were sent for revision. Created in February 1992, the State Heraldic Service of the Russian Federation (since July 1994 - State Heraldry under the President of the Russian Federation) headed by the Deputy Director of the State Hermitage for Scientific Work (State Master of Arms) G.V. Vilinbakhov had one of her tasks to participate in the development of state symbols.

The final version of the State Emblem of the Russian Federation was approved by the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of November 30, 1993. The author of the sketch of the coat of arms is artist E.I. Ukhnalev.

The restoration of the centuries-old historical symbol of our Fatherland - the Double-Headed Eagle - can only be welcomed. However, a very important point should be taken into account - the existence of the restored and legalized coat of arms in the form in which we now see it everywhere imposes considerable responsibility on the state.

A.G. writes about this in his recently published book “The Origins of Russian Heraldry”. Silaev. In his book, the author, based on a painstaking study of historical materials, very interestingly and widely reveals the very essence of the origin of the image of the Double-Headed Eagle, its basis - mythological, religious, political.

In particular, we are talking about the artistic embodiment of the current coat of arms of the Russian Federation. Yes, indeed, many specialists and artists were involved in the work on creating (or recreating) the coat of arms of the new Russia. A large number of beautifully executed projects were proposed, but for some reason the choice fell on a sketch made by a person who was actually far from heraldry. How else can we explain the fact that the current depiction of the double-headed eagle contains a number of annoying flaws and inaccuracies that are noticeable to any professional artist.

Have you ever seen narrow-eyed eagles in nature? What about parrot beaks? Alas, the image of a double-headed eagle is not decorated with very thin legs and sparse plumage. As for the description of the coat of arms, unfortunately, from the point of view of the rules of heraldry, it remains inaccurate and superficial. And all this is present in the State Emblem of Russia! Where, after all, is the respect for one’s national symbols and one’s own history?! Was it really so difficult to more carefully study the heraldic images of the predecessors of the modern eagle - ancient Russian coats of arms? After all, this is a wealth of historical material!

sources

http://ria.ru/politics/20081130/156156194.html

http://nechtoportal.ru/otechestvennaya-istoriya/istoriya-gerba-rossii.html

http://wordweb.ru/2011/04/19/orel-dvoeglavyjj.html

And I'll remind you

The original article is on the website InfoGlaz.rf Link to the article from which this copy was made -

The invention and use of all kinds of signs and symbols is characteristic of man. The custom of choosing a special distinctive sign for oneself or for one’s clan and tribe has very deep roots and is widespread throughout the world. It comes from the tribal system and a special worldview characteristic of all peoples in the primitive period of their history.

Ancestral signs and symbols are called totems; they are the closest relatives of coats of arms. The term "totem" comes from North America, and in the Ojibwe Indian language the word "ototem" means the concept of "its kind." The custom of totemism consists in the election by a clan or tribe of any animal or plant as the progenitor and patron from whom all members of the tribe trace their origin. This custom existed among ancient peoples, but is also accepted today among tribes leading a primitive lifestyle. The ancient Slavs also had totems - sacred animals, trees, plants - from the names of which some modern Russian surnames are supposed to originate. Among the Asian peoples of Turkic and Mongolian origin, there is a similar custom of “tamga”. Tamga is a sign of tribal affiliation, an image of an animal, bird or weapon, adopted by each tribe as a symbol, which is depicted on banners, emblems, burned on the skin of animals, and even applied to the body. The Kyrgyz have a legend that tamgas were assigned to individual clans by Genghis Khan himself, along with “urans” - battle cries (which were also used by European knights, which is why they later appeared on coats of arms in the form of mottos).

Prototypes of coats of arms - various symbolic images placed on military armor, banners, rings and personal belongings - were used in ancient times. In the works of Homer, Virgil, Pliny and other ancient authors there is evidence of the use of such signs. Both legendary heroes and real historical figures, such as kings and generals, often had personal emblems. Thus, the helmet of Alexander the Great was decorated with a sea horse (hippocampus), the helmet of Achilles with an eagle, the helmet of the King of Numibia Masinissa with a dog, the helmet of the Roman Emperor Caracalla with an eagle. The shields were also decorated with various emblems, for example, the image of the severed head of Medusa the Gorgon. But these signs were used as decoration, were arbitrarily changed by owners, were not inherited and were not subject to any rules. Only a few emblems of islands and cities of the ancient world were used constantly - on coins, medals and seals. The emblem of Athens was an owl, Corinth - Pegasus, Samos - a peacock, the island of Rhodes - a rose. In this one can already see the beginnings of state heraldry. Most ancient civilizations had some elements of heraldry in their culture, for example, a system of seals or stamps, which would later be inextricably linked with heraldry. In Assyria, the Babylonian Empire and ancient Egypt seals were used in the same way as in medieval Europe - to authenticate documents. These signs were squeezed into clay, carved into stone and imprinted on papyrus. Already in the third millennium BC, there was a “coat of arms” of the Sumerian states - an eagle with a lion’s head. The emblem of Egypt was a snake, Armenia - a crowned lion, Persia - an eagle. Subsequently, the eagle will become the coat of arms of Rome. The “coat of arms” of Byzantium was actually a double-headed eagle, which was later borrowed by some European states, including Russia.

The ancient Germans painted their shields in different colors. Roman legionnaires had emblems on their shields, which could be used to determine their belonging to a particular cohort. Roman banners were decorated with special images - vexilla (hence the name of the science of flags - vexillology). To distinguish legions and cohorts, the troops also used badges - signa - in the form of various animals - an eagle, a boar, a lion, a minotaur, a horse, a she-wolf and others, which were worn in front of the troops on long shafts. Military units were sometimes named after these figures, often relating to the history of the city of Rome.

So, various systems of insignia and emblems have always existed everywhere, but heraldry itself, as a special form of symbolism, arose in the process of the development of the feudal system in Western Europe.

The bright and colorful art of heraldry developed during the dark times of cultural and economic decline that occurred in Europe with the death of the Roman Empire and the establishment of the Christian religion, when feudalism arose and a system of hereditary aristocracy emerged. Several factors contributed to the emergence of coats of arms. First of all, feudalism and the crusades, but they were born from the destroying and life-giving fire of war. It is believed that coats of arms appeared in the 10th century, but to find out exact date difficult. The first coats of arms depicted on seals attached to documents date back to the 11th century. The oldest armorial seals are placed on the marriage contract of the year 1000, concluded by Sancho, Infante of Castile, with Wilhelmina, daughter of Gaston II, Viscount of Béarn. It should be borne in mind that in an era of widespread illiteracy, the use of a coat of arms for a signature and to designate property was for many the only way to certify a document with their name. Such an identification mark was understandable even to an illiterate person (it is quite possible that coats of arms appeared first on seals, and only then on weapons and clothing).

Undoubted evidence of the existence of heraldry appears only after the Crusades. The earliest such evidence is a French enamel drawing from the tomb of Geoffrey Plantagenet (died 1151), Count of Anjou and Maine, depicting Geoffrey himself with a coat of arms, where on an azure field there are supposedly four rearing golden lions (the exact number of lions is difficult to determine due to the position , in which the shield is drawn). The Earl was the son-in-law of Henry I, King of England, who reigned from 1100 to 1135, who, according to the chronicle, granted him this coat of arms.

First English king who had a personal coat of arms was Richard I the Lionheart (1157-1199). His three golden leopards have since been used by all the royal dynasties of England.

"WHO WHO IS SORRY AND POOR HERE WILL BE RICH THERE!"

The Crusades, which lasted from 1096 to 1291, constituted an entire era in European history. The beginning of this two-hundred-year war was provoked by the Turks, who had established themselves in Palestine - fanatical Muslims, who, armed with their irreconcilable religion, began to desecrate the shrines of Christianity and create obstacles for Christians who wanted to make a pilgrimage to Palestine and Jerusalem. But real reasons lay deeper and consisted in the centuries-old confrontation between Europe and Asia, which continues to this day. Asian tribes, united under the banner of Islam, began a grandiose expansion, as a result of which they conquered Syria, Palestine, Egypt, North Africa, Spain, threatened Constantinople and were already approaching the very heart of Europe. In 711, an Arab army of 7,000 men led by Tariq ibn Ziyad crossed the Strait of Gibraltar to the European continent. Thus began the conquest of the Iberian Peninsula (the rock on the Spanish coast has since been called Mount Tariq, or in Arabic - Jabal Tariq, which in Spanish pronunciation became Gibraltar). By 715, almost the entire Iberian Peninsula was in Muslim hands. In 721, the Umayyad forces, who ruled a vast caliphate from 661-750, crossed the Pyrenees, captured Spain and began the conquest of southern France. They captured the cities of Narbonne and Carcassone. Thus new strongholds arose for attacks on Aquitaine and Burgundy. The ruler of the Franks, Charles of the Carolingian family (689-741), defeated the Arabs when they reached the Loire. This happened in 732 at the Battle of Poitiers. The victory earned him the nickname Martel - "hammer" - because he stopped the Muslim advance across Western Europe. But the Arabs held power in Provence for several more decades. The military expansion of the Muslim conquerors contributed to the penetration of Arab art and philosophy into Europe during their brief heyday. Arab culture gave impetus to the development of medicine and natural sciences in Western Europe. In Byzantium, Muslims were crushed by Emperor Leo III the Isaurian. The further spread of Islam was stopped by the beginning of the political disintegration of the Muslim world, until then strong and terrible in its unity. The caliphate was fragmented into parts that were at war with each other. But in the 11th century, the Seljuk Turks began a new offensive towards the West, stopping just under the walls of Constantinople.

By then the earth Western Europe found themselves divided between secular and ecclesiastical feudal lords. The feudal system strengthened, replacing the communal one with its military democracy. The oppression and impoverishment of the people intensified - there were practically no free cultivators left, the peasants were enslaved and subject to tribute. The feudal lords came up with more and more taxes, competing in extortions with the church - the largest feudal owner, whose greed knew no bounds. Life became unbearable, which is why the population of Europe, impatiently awaiting the end of their torment in connection with the end of the world promised by the church and the advent of paradise on Earth, was in a state of religious exaltation, expressed in the desire for all kinds of spiritual achievements and readiness for Christian self-sacrifice. The flow of pilgrims increased. If the Arabs in former times treated them tolerantly, now the Turks began to attack pilgrims and destroy Christian churches. The Roman Catholic Church, which had plans for world domination, decided to take advantage of this, which first of all required subjugating the breakaway eastern - Byzantine - church and increasing its income through the acquisition of new feudal possessions - dioceses. In the latter, the interests of the church and the feudal lords completely coincided, since there were no more free lands and peasants sitting on them, and according to the rule of “majority,” the land was inherited from the father only to the eldest son. So the call of Pope Urban II to protect the Holy Sepulcher fell on fertile ground: the painful socio-economic conditions in Europe led to the emergence of many desperate people who had nothing to lose and who were ready to go on a risky journey to the ends of the world in search of adventure and wealth and the glory of the “soldiers of Christ.” In addition to the large feudal lords driven by aggressive motives, the idea of ​​going to the East was accepted by numerous small feudal knights (younger members of feudal families who could not count on receiving an inheritance), as well as merchants of many trading cities, hoping to destroy their main competitor in trade with the rich East - Byzantium . But the greatest enthusiasm was, of course, experienced by ordinary people, driven to despair by poverty and deprivation. Huge masses of people were inspired by the speech of Pope Urban in Clermont on November 24, 1095 and vowed to go to war against the infidels for the liberation of the Holy Sepulcher and the Holy Land. They sewed crosses cut from material (often taken from the attire of the priests themselves, who called on the masses to heroism) onto their clothes, which is why they received the name “crusaders.” To the shouts of “God wants it this way!” many set off straight from the Clermont Plain, following the pope’s propaganda call: “The land that you inhabit has become crowded with your large numbers. Hence it happens that you bite each other and fight with each other... Now your hatred, enmity will cease and civil strife will fall asleep. Take the path to the holy tomb, wrest that land from the wicked people and subjugate it to yourself...Whoever is sorrowful and poor here will become rich there!”

The first crusade took place in 1096, but coats of arms could well have appeared a little earlier. The problem is that the first documentary evidence of coats of arms appeared at least two hundred years after their origin. Perhaps the close connection of the Crusades with the birth of heraldry is explained by the fact that it was during this period that the use of coats of arms became widespread. This required the creation of an ordered system of symbolic images as a means of communication, since the coat of arms served as an identification mark that carried some information about the owner and was clearly visible from a distance.

Since the 12th century, armor has become more and more complex, the helmet covers the entire face of the knight, and he himself dresses in armor entirely, from head to toe. In addition, with some differences, all the armor was of the same type, so it became impossible to identify the knight not only from afar, but also up close. This situation gave impetus to the massive use of the coat of arms as an identification mark. In addition to the coat of arms depicted on the shield, additional coat of arms gradually appeared, which were designed to help knights recognize each other from a distance and in the heat of battle: the pommel (cleinod) - a decoration made of animal horns and bird feathers fixed on the top of the helmet (this element received development during knightly tournaments), as well as heraldic pennants and standards. The combination of two types of generic signs - a shield and a pommel - later formed the material basis of the coat of arms.

But let's return to the Crusades. Much in heraldry indicates that it developed during the conquest of the East by the Crusaders. These are the signs. The term enamel, which denotes heraldic colors, is of Eastern origin. The word comes from the Persian "mina", meaning the blue color of the sky (the first enamels were blue). Unique technique enamel painting came to Europe from Persia, Arabia and Byzantium. It was in this way - by applying enamel - that steel armor, shields and special coat of arms were painted, which heralds exhibited at tournaments. The blue color or azure - "azur" - was brought to Europe from the East - its very modern name ultramarine (overseas blue) reminds of this. The heraldic name "azur" comes from the Persian "azurk" - blue. This is also where the name lapis lazuli (lapis lazuli), a stone found mainly in Afghanistan, comes from, from which this paint is obtained. The name of the red color - "gueulez" - comes from the purple-dyed furs with which the crusaders trimmed their marching clothes around the neck and sleeves (in the section "Rules of Heraldry" it will be discussed that heraldic figures were often made from pieces of fur stuffed on the shield). The name comes from the word "gul" - red, which in Persian means the color of a rose. The origin of the green color "vert", also called "sinople", probably comes from dyes produced in the East. The color orange, more commonly found in English heraldry, is called "tenne" - from the Arabic "henne". This was the name of the vegetable yellow-red dye, known to us as henna. Asian and Arab chiefs have an ancient custom of dyeing the mane, tail and belly of their war horses, and the right hand holding a weapon with henna. In general, Easterners dye their hair and nails with henna. Of eastern origin, it is called a shield with a special semicircular cutout on one or both edges into which a spear is inserted. This shield is called "tarch" - just like its Arabic prototype.

Two important details of the heraldic design owe their origin to the Crusades - the mantle and the burlet. During the First Crusade, dozens of knights died daily from the heat as their steel armor became hot in the sun. The Crusaders had to borrow from the Arabs a method used by the desert inhabitants to this day: in order to escape from the hot sun and prevent the helmet from heating up, Arab and Persian warriors used a piece of cloth thrown over the head and shoulders and secured on the head with a hoop made of woven camel hair intertwined with silk. threads. The so-called kufiyya is still an integral part of the Arab costume. From it comes the mantle or lambrequin ("lambrequin", from the Latin "lambellum" - a scrap or piece of matter), as well as burlet (from the French "burrelet" - wreath). The mantle is an obligatory part of the coat of arms, and is depicted in the form of a cape with fluttering ends, attached to the helmet with a burlet or crown. The mantle can be either whole, with an ornamentally carved edge (especially in early coats of arms) or excised, with long, intricately intertwined flaps (probably, the mantle cut by saber blows indicated the courage of the owner of the coat of arms - a participant in the hottest battles).

During the Crusades, European feudal lords, who were well known to everyone in their homeland, joined a huge international army and, against the general background, lost their usually pronounced external individuality, which is why they felt the need to somehow distinguish themselves from the mass of the same knights , demonstrate their national, tribal and military affiliation. The conquests of the Crusaders were always accompanied by terrible robbery and robbery, so a rule was established according to which the knight who was the first to break into any house of the captured city was declared the owner of everything that was in it. The knights had to somehow mark the loot in order to protect it from the encroachments of their comrades. With the advent of coats of arms, this problem was solved by nailing a shield with the coat of arms of its new owner to the door of the house. This need was felt not only by individual crusaders, but also by major military leaders: the inhabitants of the houses and neighborhoods taken by their troops hung the banners of these troops so as not to be robbed by other feudal lords. It should be noted here that conflicts over the division of booty, skirmishes and disputes over the honor of taking a particular city arose constantly among the crusaders. You can also add that all the crusades were very poorly organized. There was complete confusion in the preparation of military operations, and during the battles there was a general chaos. The secular and ecclesiastical feudal lords brought all their discord, greed, deceit and cruelty, from which Europe groaned, with them to the East. Later, this (like the traditionally treacherous policy of Byzantium) will lead to the collapse of the crusading movement and the expulsion of Europeans from the occupied territories, but for now there is a need to somehow streamline the situation. An example was before our eyes: Arab warriors used shield emblems, usually consisting of inscriptions or drawings of flowers and fruits. This custom, like many others, was borrowed by the crusaders and became one of the foundation stones of the emerging heraldry.

The consequence of the Crusades was the extinction of many noble families of Europe, all of whose male representatives died during the campaigns. Noble families, whose roots went back to the era of the conquest of Rome by barbarian tribes, simply disappeared. As a result, European monarchs for the first time were forced to grant grants to the nobility, creating a new aristocracy. Coats of arms played a crucial role in this, since often the only basis for claiming nobility and documentary evidence of noble origin was the coat of arms brought from the Holy Land.

So, the accumulation in one place of many feudal lords from different countries(an unusual situation for Europe), the international character of the crusader army, the need to recognize each other and (in conditions of illiteracy and language barriers) to assert their own name, as well as the features of weapons, the method of warfare and the borrowing of many inventions of Eastern civilization - all this became the reason for the emergence and design of heraldry.

The coat of arms owes no less to knightly tournaments than to the crusades. Tournaments appeared before the Crusades. In any case, there is a mention of military games that took place in 842 in Strasbourg during negotiations between Charles the Bald and Louis the German. Probably, tournaments took shape in France in the middle of the 12th century and then spread to England and Germany. In some chronicles, the French Baron G. de Prelli is called the inventor of tournaments, but most likely he only developed the first rules for tournaments.

Tournaments have long become an integral part of Western European life. Only knights with an impeccable reputation were allowed to participate in them. Violation of the chivalric code threatened with terrible shame. Around 1292, new, safer rules for tournaments were introduced - "Statutum Armorum". You could only use blunt weapons. Each knight was allowed to have only three squires. In duels, special spears were now used that easily broke upon impact. It was forbidden to fight out of turn, to wound the enemy’s horse, to strike other than in the face or chest, to continue the fight after the enemy raised his visor, to act as a group against one. Violators were deprived of weapons, horses and imprisoned for up to three years. Special tournament armor appeared, so massive that the knight and his horse could hardly bear their weight. The horses themselves also wore armor from the 13th century. Just like the shields of knights, horse blankets had heraldic coloring. Two more important details should be mentioned. The knight should have been clearly visible from above, from the stands, especially during a general fight. That is why the already mentioned pommels appeared (or at least spread widely) - figures mounted on the top of the helmet, made of light wood, leather and even papier-mâché (later - from more expensive materials). The famous 14th-century German knight-errant Ulrich von Liechtenstein, who took part in several tournaments dressed as the legendary King Arthur, introduced the fashion for complex pommels: he wore a helmet decorated with a figure of Venus holding a torch in one hand and an arrow in the other. The tents or pavilions in which knights prepared for competitions, stored weapons and rested between battles (the same tents were used by the crusaders on campaigns) will later also be reflected in the art of heraldry - they will turn into a heraldic mantle and a “canopy” tent.

From wild, bloody carnage, tournaments evolved into colorful theatrical performances, where formalities became increasingly important, and the actual struggle became less important and more conventional. For example, in the “Tournament of Peace,” held in Windsor Park in England in 1278, swords made of whalebone covered with parchment and silver-plated, helmets made of boiled leather and shields of light wood were used. For certain achievements in the competition, the knight received points (for example, bonus points were awarded for knocking down a pommel). The winner was determined by crowned heads, senior knights or specially appointed judges (often heralds); sometimes the question of the winner was decided by the ladies in whose honor the knights fought. Tournaments were traditionally imbued with an emphatically reverent attitude towards women, which formed almost the basis of the knightly code. The winner of the tournament received the reward from the hands of the lady. The knights performed decorated with some badge received from their ladies. Sometimes ladies brought their knights tied with a chain - the chain was considered a symbol of special honor and was given only to a select few. In each competition, the last blow was struck in honor of the lady, and here the knights especially tried to distinguish themselves. After the tournament, the ladies led the winner to the palace, where he was disarmed and a feast was held in his honor, where the hero occupied the most honorable place. The names of the winners were included in special lists, and their exploits were passed down to descendants in minstrel songs. Victory in the tournament also brought material benefits: sometimes the victor took the enemy’s horse and weapons, took him prisoner and demanded a ransom. For many poor knights this was the only way to earn a living.

From Friday to Sunday, when tournaments were permitted by the church, there were fights every day, and in the evenings there were dances and celebrations. There were several types of competitions: horse riding, when a knight had to knock the enemy out of the saddle with a blow of a spear; sword fight; throwing spears and arrows; siege of wooden castles built specifically for tournaments. Another way to show courage, besides the tournament, was to "defend the passes." A group of knights announced that in honor of their ladies they would defend a place from everyone. So, in 1434, at Orbigo, in Spain, ten knights defended the bridge from sixty-eight rivals for a month, having fought more than seven hundred duels. In the 16th century, foot fights with short spears, maces and axes became popular. In Europe, only persons of noble birth were allowed to participate in tournaments. In Germany, the requirements were more liberal: sometimes, in order to obtain permission, it was enough to refer to an ancestor who took part in a knightly tournament. We can say that the main pass to the tournament was the coat of arms, proving the high origin of the owner and his position in the family hierarchy. For experts, such as heralds, the presented coat of arms contained all the necessary information. That is why the most important part of tournament etiquette were coats of arms, of which there were so many that it was time to restore order in this area.

Heralds systematized knowledge about coats of arms, developed general principles and the rules for their compilation and recognition and ultimately created the science of “heraldry” or “heraldry”
There are two options for the origin of the terms “heraldry” and “herald”: from the late Latin heraldica (from heraldus - herald), or from the German Herald - spoiled Heeralt - veteran, as people were called in Germany in the Middle Ages who had a reputation for valiant and brave warriors who were invited as guests of honor and judges at various celebrations, and, in particular, at tournaments. These veterans had to preserve the customs of chivalry, develop the rules of tournaments, and also monitor their compliance.
The predecessors of heralds were representatives of several related professions, whose duties were combined and clarified, which led to the emergence of heralds in the classical sense of the word - heralds, courtiers and traveling minstrels, as well as the veterans mentioned above.
Heralds or parliamentarians were used in ancient armies, as they are still used today - for negotiations with the enemy, for announcing decrees and various kinds of announcements.

Minstrels (French menestrel, from the medieval Latin ministerialis) are medieval singers and poets. In any case, this term acquired this meaning in France and England at the end of the Middle Ages. Initially, in all feudal states, ministerials were people who were in the service of the lord and performed some special duty (ministerium) under him. Among them were poets-singers, who, unlike their wandering brothers in the craft, were constantly at court or at a high-ranking official. In France in the 12th century, minstrels sometimes referred to the king's servants in general, and sometimes to his court poets and singers. The function of court minstrels was to sing and glorify the exploits of their feudal lords. And from here it’s not far to the function of managers of court ceremonies and, in particular, knightly tournaments. It is likely that the traveling minstrels, whose art was in demand at the courts of European feudal lords, gained experience in recognizing the coats of arms that constantly surrounded them. The oldest known poet-herald was Conrad of Würzburg, who lived in the 13th century. The functions of veterans, who by the nature of their activities were directly related to coats of arms, have already been discussed.

It is possible that representatives of all three professions were called at a certain historical moment by one common term - heralds. One way or another, the spread of knightly tournaments contributed to the emergence of special officials who were supposed to announce the opening of the tournament, develop and observe the ceremony of its holding, as well as announce all fights and the names of their participants. This required special knowledge - the herald had to be well aware of the genealogy of the noble families whose representatives took part in the battles, and be able to recognize the coats of arms of the knights who gathered for the tournament. Thus, the profession of heralds gradually acquires a purely heraldic character, and heraldry itself is born at tournaments.

The French name for heraldry - "blason" - comes from the German "blasen" - "to blow a horn" and is explained by the fact that when a knight approached the barrier enclosing the site of the tournament, he would blow a horn to announce his arrival. Then the herald came out and, at the request of the tournament judges, described aloud the knight’s coat of arms as proof of his right to take part in the tournament. From the word “blasen” comes the French “blasonner”, the German “blasoniren”, the English “blazon”, the Spanish “blasonar” and the Russian word “blazonirovat” - that is, to describe a coat of arms. Heralds created a special jargon to describe coats of arms (and is still used today by heraldry specialists), based on Old French and medieval Latin, since chivalry itself, as well as much associated with it - the chivalric code, weapon developments, tournaments and, finally, heraldry - originates from France, or rather from the empire of Charlemagne (747-814), inhabited by Franco-Germanic tribes. Much of the heraldic terminology is denoted by quasi-French, obsolete words. During the Middle Ages, French was used by the ruling classes in most of Western Europe, so the rules of heraldry had to be drawn up in this language. However, some heraldic terms are so ornate that they seem deliberately designed to puzzle the uninitiated. The special terms developed by the heralds will be discussed below.

It is assumed that the Russian word "coat of arms" is borrowed from the Polish "herb" and is found in many Slavic and Germanic dialects (herb, erb, irb) meaning heir or inheritance. The Slavic name of this identification mark directly indicates its hereditary nature. The English term "coat of arms", denoting a coat of arms, comes from the name of a special piece of clothing "surcoat" - a linen or silk cape that protects a knight's armor from the sun and rain (the word "knight" comes from the German "ritter" - horseman).

So, coats of arms are becoming increasingly important in Western European countries. In England, since the 12th century, heralds have been held in high esteem at the court of kings. Edward III (1312-1377) established a heraldic college that functions to this day (this institution - "The College of Arms" - is located in London on Queen Victoria Street). In France, Louis VII (1120-1180) established the duties of heralds and ordered all royal regalia to be decorated with fleurs-de-lis. Under the French king Philip II Augustus (1165-1223), heralds began to be dressed in knightly dress with the coat of arms of the owner and were assigned certain duties at tournaments. The duties of heralds were precisely formulated by the middle of the 14th century. The title of herald becomes honorary; it is elevated to it only after some battle, tournament or ceremony. To do this, the sovereign poured a cup of wine (sometimes water) on the head of the dedicatee and gave him the name of the city or fortress associated with the dedication ceremony, which the herald kept until he received the next highest degree - the title of king of arms (French "roi d" armes", German. "Wappenkoenig"). The duties of the herald were divided into three main groups: 1) they were entrusted with declaring war, concluding peace, offering to surrender the fortress, and the like, as well as counting the killed and wounded during a battle or tournament and assessing the valor of the knights; were required to attend all solemn ceremonies - the coronation or burial of the sovereign, when elevated to knighthood, ceremonial receptions, etc.; 3) they were assigned purely heraldic duties - drawing up coats of arms and genealogies.
The work of heralds was paid very well; there was a tradition not to let the sent herald go without a gift, so as not to show disrespect to the sovereign who sent him.

Each state was divided into several heraldic marks, which were under the supervision of one “king of arms” and several heralds. For example, France in 1396 was divided into eighteen such marks. In Germany in the 14th century, individual provinces also had their own heralds.
True, since the 18th century, heralds have lost their medieval meaning, but they do not disappear without a trace, and are still used at ceremonies - coronations, weddings, etc.

Centuries after the appearance of coats of arms, the first scientific works on heraldry and armorials themselves begin to appear, the earliest of which, apparently, is the "Zuricher Wappenrolle", compiled in Zurich in 1320.

In France, Jacob Bretex at the end of the 13th century describes tournaments and the coats of arms of their participants. But the earliest work outlining the rules of heraldry is considered to be a monograph by the Italian lawyer Bartolo, whose “Tractatus de insigniis et armis” was published in 1356.
Berry, the chief herald of France at the court of Charles VII (1403-1461), on the instructions of the king, traveled throughout the country, visiting castles, abbeys and cemeteries, studying images of coats of arms and compiling genealogies of ancient noble families. Based on his research, he compiled the work “Le registre de noblesse”. After him, French heralds began to keep regular genealogical records. A similar task was received from kings during the period from Henry VIII(1491-1547) before James II (1566-1625) were English heralds who carried out so-called “heraldic visits” - inspection trips around the country for the purpose of censusing noble families, registering coats of arms and checking their eligibility. It turned out that most of the ancient coats of arms that appeared before 1500 were appropriated by the owners without permission, and not granted by the king. It was not difficult to invent a simple coat of arms. The situation in which three noblemen who were not related to each other had the same coats of arms was not uncommon, but only proved that these coats of arms were adopted by them arbitrarily. When a dispute arose on this basis between the owners of identical coats of arms, everyone appealed to the king as the last resort. It is noteworthy that when the dispute was resolved, the nobleman, forced as a result to abandon his coat of arms, consoled himself by inventing a new one for himself.
Materials collected during the "heraldic visits" formed the basis of English genealogy and heraldry.

CITY EMBRACES

The basis of city and state emblems are the seals of feudal lords, which certified the authenticity of documents sent by them from their possessions. The family coat of arms of the feudal lord was thus transferred first to the seal of the castle, and then to the seal of the lands belonging to him. With the emergence of new cities and the formation of new states, the demands of time and legal norms led to the creation of coats of arms, either completely new, not borrowed from the family coats of arms of the nobility, but bearing symbolic images indicating local attractions, historical events, the economic profile of the city, or mixed. An example is the coat of arms of Paris, in which a ship and an azure field with golden lilies coexist. The ship symbolizes, on the one hand, the Isle de la Cité on the Seine River, located in the very center of the city, which has the shape of a ship, and on the other, trade and trading companies, the main component of the city economy. An azure field with golden lilies is an old emblem of the Capetian dynasty, under whose patronage Paris was.

From the end of the XIII and during the XIV centuries, heraldry penetrated into all areas public life, and heraldic terminology becomes commonly used in cultural strata of society. Heraldry is becoming fashionable in literature, art, and everyday life. Coats of arms appear everywhere, from knights' armor to the collars of their favorite dogs. The knights who returned from the Crusades began, imitating the luxurious clothes of the eastern rulers, to wear special coats of arms, matching the colors of their coats of arms and decorated with embroidered armorial figures and mottos. Servants and squires receive clothes with the coat of arms of their masters, ordinary nobles put on a dress with the coats of arms of their lords, noble ladies begin to wear dresses with images of two coats of arms: on the right is the husband’s coat of arms, on the left is their own. Under the French king Charles V the Wise (1338-1380), clothes painted half in one color and half in another came into fashion. From the nobles and their squires, this fashion passed on to representatives of the urban classes. Thus, heraldry becomes an important component of the culture of Western Europe.

Along with individual heraldry, other areas of heraldry also developed in the Middle Ages - urban and corporate, including church. Urban artisans and merchants created guilds, registered as “legal entities” and provided with coats of arms accordingly. It was customary for guild members to wear clothing in the heraldic colors of their association - special liveries. For example, members of the London Butcher Company wore blue and white liveries, bakers wore olive green and chestnut colors, and traders wax candles They wore blue and white liveries. The London Furriers' Company were allowed to use ermine in their coat of arms, although according to medieval norms this heraldic color could only be used by royal and noble families as a sign of their exclusivity and superiority. Mainly tools of labor were placed on corporate coats of arms.

Similar coats of arms, called vowels - "armes parlantes", in which the name of the craft was conveyed by heraldic symbols, are received by many guilds and guilds. Here, for example, is what the coats of arms of the workshops of Ghent, one of the largest craft centers of the Middle Ages, looked like: coopers depicted a working tool and a tub on the shield of their coat of arms, butchers - a bull, fruit merchants - a fruit tree, barbers - a razor and scissors, shoemakers - a boot, fishmongers - fish, shipbuilders - a ship under construction. The workshop of goldsmiths in Paris received from King Philip VI (1293-1350) a coat of arms depicting royal gold lilies, connected to a gold cross and the emblems of their craft - gold sacred vessels and crowns, with the motto "In sacra inque coronas". Pharmacists depict scales and a lancet on their coats of arms, nailers depict a hammer and nails, wheelwrights depict wheels, manufacturers playing cards- symbols of card suits. In addition, corporate coats of arms contained images of the patron saints of the respective crafts. The French king Louis XIII, wanting to raise the importance of the merchants, granted coats of arms to the six merchant guilds of Paris, in which the ship from the Parisian city coat of arms was adjacent to the symbols of the corresponding crafts and mottos.

Rich townspeople wishing to imitate the aristocracy used family insignia like coats of arms, although they were not official. But the French government, in need of money, decided to turn the spreading fashion to its advantage and allowed everyone to acquire coats of arms, but for a fee. Moreover, greedy officials even obliged townspeople to acquire coats of arms. As a result of the introduction of a tax on the right to have a personal coat of arms in 1696, the treasury began to receive significant income, since a huge number of coats of arms were registered. But as a result, the value of coats of arms in France fell greatly - the incredibly proliferating coats of arms became worthless.

Educational institutions have also used coats of arms for centuries. Universities often received the coats of arms of their founders, such as Christ's College, Cambridge, founded by Lady Margaret Beaufort. Eton College received a coat of arms in 1449 from its founder, King Henry VI (1421-1471), a pious hermit whose failure to rule was one of the causes of the Wars of the Roses. The three white lilies on this coat of arms symbolize the Virgin Mary, in whose honor the college was founded. Many private and commercial firms today strive to obtain a coat of arms, since the presence of such a coat of arms gives the company solidity and reliability. For example, the famous English trading company Herrods received a coat of arms relatively recently.

From the first days of its existence, the church laid claim to the highest and absolute power in this world, and therefore appropriated to itself all the attributes of secular power, including coats of arms. The coat of arms of the papacy in the 14th century became the crossed gold and silver keys of the Apostle Peter - “permissive” and “knitting”, tied with a gold cord, on a scarlet shield under the papal tiara. These symbols have received various interpretations, which we will not dwell on here. Let’s just say that the coat of arms indicates the rights received by Peter to “decide” and “knit” all the affairs of the church and that these rights were inherited from him by his successors - the popes. This coat of arms is today the official coat of arms of the Vatican, but each pope receives his own coat of arms, in which the keys and tiara frame the shield. For example, the current Pope John Paul II has a coat of arms that he received while still Archbishop of Krakow from the hands of a heraldry specialist, Archbishop Bruno Heim. The cross and the letter "M" on the coat of arms symbolize Christ and the Virgin Mary. It should be said that placing any inscriptions other than mottos in the coat of arms is considered bad form, but the author of the coat of arms justifies himself by referring to the traditions of Polish heraldry (which will be discussed later), where runic writing was originally used. Indeed, the letter “M” resembles a rune of a similar design.

The flag of the Vatican shows the small coat of arms of the city-state, which lacks the scarlet shield, but this color is transferred to the cord that binds the keys. Obviously, the colors of the keys chosen for the flag are gold and silver.

The Church, which was the largest feudal lord of the Middle Ages, early began to use coats of arms for practical purposes - to identify and demonstrate the territorial affiliation of church organizations. Coats of arms have been found on the seals of abbeys and bishops since the 12th century. The most common symbols of church heraldry are the keys of St. Peter's, St.'s eagle John and other signs symbolizing various saints, details of church life, and a wide variety of crosses. In Great Britain, there are certain rules for the coats of arms of church leaders, showing their status in the church hierarchy. For example, the coats of arms of archbishops and bishops are decorated with miters (the coat of arms of the Pope is crowned with a tiara), and on the coats of arms of lower-ranking priests, in accordance with their status, special hats of different colors are placed, equipped with multi-colored cords and tassels. A dean, for example, might have a black hat with two purple single cords with three red tassels on each. Priests of the Roman Catholic Church are not under the jurisdiction of official heraldic bodies, but the coats of arms they use have been regulated by special decree since 1967. For example, the coat of arms of a Catholic archbishop may contain a green hat with two green single cords, each equipped with ten green tassels.

At the heart of all state emblems European countries lay the family coats of arms of the ruling dynasties. Many modern European state emblems in one form or another feature lions and eagles - traditional symbols of power and statehood.

On the coat of arms of Denmark - three azure leopards on a golden field decorated with scarlet hearts - this is how the coat of arms of King Canute VI Valdemarsson looked like around 1190. Along with the English one, this coat of arms can be considered the oldest European state emblem. In the great royal coat of arms of Sweden, lions support the shield and are also present in the second and third quarters of the shield. Around 1200, the ruler of Norway got his own coat of arms, which depicts a golden crowned lion of St. on a scarlet field. Olaf, clutching a battle ax in his front paws. The lion of the Finnish coat of arms gradually took shape by the 16th century. The coats of arms of Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg also feature a lion - the old emblem of the Dukes of Burgundy. The coat of arms of the Netherlands features a golden lion with a silver sword and a bunch of arrows in its paws. This is the federal emblem of the Republic of the United Provinces of the Netherlands, which gained independence in 1609. The Republican coat of arms was generally preserved after the creation of the kingdom in 1815. The coat of arms took its modern form in 1917, when, on the initiative of Prince Consort Heinrich of Mecklenburg (1876-1934), the royal crown on the lion’s head was replaced with a regular one, a mantle with a canopy and shield-holder lions appeared. By decision of the Congress of Vienna, which established a new European order after the collapse of the Napoleonic empire, the Netherlands gained independence. The son of the last stadtholder of the Dutch Republic, William VI of Orange, became King of the Netherlands under the name of William I. But the southern provinces of the Netherlands decided to defend their own independence. In 1830, an uprising occurred in Brabant, and since then the Brabant golden lion in a black field began to be perceived as a symbol of the independence of the union of the southern provinces. In 1831, the Kingdom of Belgium was proclaimed, the coat of arms of which became the coat of arms of Brabant. The coat of arms of Luxembourg was approved by King William I of the Netherlands in 1815, as he was also the Grand Duke of Luxembourg. The lion can be seen on other state emblems. In international state heraldry, the lion is adjacent to another symbol supreme authority- eagle. It can be seen on the coats of arms of Austria, Albania, Bolivia, Germany, Indonesia, Iraq, Colombia, Libya, Mexico, Poland, Syria, USA, Chile and many other countries. Unfortunately, the space of this article does not allow us to pay attention to each of them, so here we will look at only a few examples.

The Austrian three-stripe (red-white-red) shield was the coat of arms of the Dukes of Babenberg, who ruled this country until 1246. His image appeared on the seals of the dukes in the 20s and 30s of the 13th century. Earlier, in the second half of the 12th century, the image of a black eagle, a very common heraldic emblem, first appeared on the seal of the first Austrian Duke Henry II of Babenberg. The Austrian knights, led by Duke Leopold V, set out on the third crusade under the black eagle flag. Soon, in 1282, Austria came under the rule of the new Habsburg dynasty, whose family coat of arms was a red lion in a golden field. From 1438 to 1806, the Habsburgs occupied the throne of the Holy Roman Empire almost continuously, whose emblem was traditionally the double-headed eagle. It became the coat of arms of Austria, and later the Austrian Empire (1804) and the Austro-Hungarian Empire (1868). The same eagle can be seen on the shield of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa.

Plants can be seen at the base of the UK coat of arms. These are the unspoken (silent) mottos or symbols of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. In different versions of the coat of arms, they can be depicted either individually or combined into one fantastic plant, a kind of hybrid consisting of a Tudor rose, Caledonian thistle of Scotland, Irish clover shamrock and Welsh onion.

The Tudor rose was formed from the scarlet rose of Lancaster and the white rose of York, who fought among themselves for the English throne. After the Wars of the Roses, which lasted from 1455 to 1485, the founder of the new dynasty, Henry VII (1457-1509), united the emblems of the warring houses into one. The shamrock joined the rose-thistle hybrid in 1801 to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

The rose, thistle, shamrock and bow illustrate another area of ​​heraldry. Various badges attached to clothing, which could symbolize a specific person, country or some concept, appeared even before coats of arms, in antiquity, and gained great popularity in the Middle Ages. With the development of heraldry, these badges began to acquire a heraldic character. The badge usually represented one main emblem of the family coat of arms, many of which were very complex and consisted of many details. These badges were intended to show that their owners belonged to a person’s circle or to a whole family. During the Wars of the Roses, many soldiers, especially foreign mercenaries, dressed in the heraldic colors of their lord. For example, at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485, soldiers in the Earl of Richmond's army wore white and green jackets, soldiers in Sir William Stanley's army wore red, and so on. In addition, they wore the personal badges of their commanders. It was a prototype military uniform. In all modern armies Along with elements of heraldry, there are special badges. The owner of the coat of arms could have several badges, and also change them arbitrarily at will.

Apart from Western Europe, only Japan had developed a similar heraldic system called "mon" by the 12th century. In some European languages ​​this is erroneously translated as "coat of arms", although it is not a coat of arms in the European sense of the word. As an example, we can consider the emblem of the imperial family - a 16-petal chrysanthemum. Similar signs were also placed on helmets, shields and armor breastplates, but unlike coats of arms, they were never depicted so large that they could be recognized from a distance. If such identification was required, "mon" was depicted on flags. Just like the European coat of arms, “mon” is used in art - for the design of clothing, furniture, and interior design. Just like in European royal families, the younger members of the Japanese imperial family had an image of a chrysanthemum modified according to certain rules. Just like in Europe, in Japan it was necessary to legally formalize "mon". Both hereditary heraldic systems arose independently of each other, but their similarity is not surprising, since feudal societies developed according to the same pattern. Like European, Japanese heraldry survived the era of chivalry and is widely used in our time.

SOME CONSIDERATIONS

In Europe, as well as in the USA and other former colonies, heraldry continues to live, despite the fact that feudalism is a thing of the past, and the coats of arms themselves play a purely decorative role. But in these countries, heraldry, which has a long history, has become a good tradition and has been democratized to a large extent. Many people who have long had no connection with the nobility, having discovered the owner of a coat of arms among their ancestors, rush to decorate their home with a coat of arms with a certificate in a beautiful frame. As a result, new coats of arms are constantly appearing. In many countries there are official heraldic societies involved in the development and approval of coats of arms and genealogical research. The large number and solid status of these organizations testifies to the real need of society for heraldry, which today is not a mossy fragment of history, but a part of modern culture. It is obvious that as long as there are people interested in the past of their kind, there will also remain an interest in coats of arms - witnesses of cruel wars, heroic crusades and luxurious knightly tournaments (to be convinced of this, just read the small and, of course, incomplete list of national and international heraldic organizations, which you don’t even have to read, but just skim).

Unfortunately, the present and future of heraldry is not so optimistic in Russia, where the very basis for its existence is practically absent. In addition, old Russian heraldry is not very rich in material: it includes several thousand noble and several hundred provincial and city coats of arms, most of which appeared at approximately the same time and in one place - in the corresponding administrative institution, that is, in the Senate Department of Heraldry. “The general armorial of the noble families of the All-Russian Empire,” which amounted to 20 volumes by 1917, contained only about 6 thousand coats of arms with a total number of noble families of about 50 thousand. Of course, this is a drop in the bucket compared to the resources of European heraldry. Although various types of emblems were used by the Slavs in ancient times, real coats of arms appeared in Russia five hundred years later than in Europe, and not out of practical necessity, but as a beautiful toy from the West. Therefore, without having time to take root, Russian heraldry was carried away by the whirlwinds of history.

In the process of creating website materials, the question sometimes arose - how detailed should they be? What to talk about general outline, and what to consider in detail? The degree of detail was determined by common sense, since the purpose of the site is to give the reader only a general idea of ​​​​heraldry, which is to some extent reflected in its name. "An Excursion into Heraldry", of course, cannot claim to be a complete coverage of this vast area, since only the basic principles are presented here, illustrated by some examples. Nevertheless, the authors believe that these materials may be of interest to those who have just begun to be interested in heraldry and feel the need for basic information on this topic.
The efforts of modern heraldry as an auxiliary scientific discipline are aimed at the study of coats of arms, namely at identifying their owners, clarifying the history of their origin and establishing the time of their creation. For serious historical research, of course, more detailed information and more reliable sources will be required than "An Excursion into Heraldry." But in order to understand what a coat of arms is, what it consists of, what its main elements mean and are called, and, finally, to try to create a coat of arms yourself, guided by the principles outlined and focusing on the examples given, you can successfully use our review. In any case, the authors hope that they have mentioned here all the basic points necessary for the first steps towards the practical study of heraldry.

List of some foreign heraldic organizations:

• AUSTRALIA: The Heraldry Council of Australia; The Heraldry Society (Australian ranch); The Heraldry Society of Australia Heraldry AustraliaInc.
• AUSTRIA: Heraldisch-Genealogische Gesellschaft.
• ENGLAND and WALES: The College of Arms; The Heraldry Society; Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies.
• BELGIUM: Heraldique et Genealogique de Belgique; Musees Royaux d'Art et d'Histoire; L'Office Genealogique et Heraldique de Belgigue.
• HUNGARY: Magyar Heraldikai es Geneologiai Tarsasag.
• GERMANY: Der Herold; Genealogisch-Heraldische Gesellschaft; Wappen Herold; Deutsche Heraldische Gesellschaft.
• DENMARK: Heraldisk Selskab, Koebenhavn; Dansk Genealogisk Institut;Nordisk Flaggskrift.
• IRELAND: The Chief Herald of Ireland's Office; The Heraldry Scoiety of Ireland.
• ITALY: Aradico Collegio; Istituto Italiano di Genealogia ed Araldica.
• CANADA: Canadian Heraldic Authority; Heraldry Society of Canada.
• LUXEMBOURG: Conseil Heraldique de Luxembourg.
• NETHERLANDS: Koninklijk Nederlands Genootschap voor Geslact en Wapenkunde; Central Bureau voor Genealogie.
• NORWAY: Heraldisk Forening Norsk; Norsk Vapenring; Norsk Slekthistorik Forening; Kunstindustrimuseet i Oslo; Middelalderforum; Universitetet i Oslo, Historisk Institutt; Universitetet i Oslo Ethnografisk Museum.
• NEW ZEALAND: The Heraldry Society of New Zealand; The Heraldry Society (New Zealand Branch).
• POLAND: Heraldic Records Archive.
• PORTUGAL: Institutio Portuges de Heraldica.
• SCANDINAVIAN SOCIETY: Societas Heraldica Scandanavica.
• USA: New England Historic Genealogical Society; North American Institute of Heraldic and Flag Studies; American College of Heraldry; The Augustan Society Inc; Genealogical and Heraldic Institute of America; National Genealogical Society.
• FINLAND: Heraldica Scandanavia; Suomen Heraldinen Seura; Finlands National committee for Genealogi och Heraldik; Genealogiska Samfundet i Finland; Heraliske Sallskapet i Finland.
• FRANCE: Federation des Societes de Genealogie, d"Heraldique et de Sigillographie; La Societe Franeise D"Heraldique et de Sigillographie; La Societe du Grand Armorial de France.
• SCOTLAND: Lord Lyon King of Arms, and the Court of Lord Lyon; The Heraldry Society of Scotland; The Scottish Genealogical Society.
• SWITZERLAND: Heraldische Schweizersche Gesellschaft.
• SWEDEN: Swedish state herald: Clara Neveous, Riksarkivet - Heraldiska sektionen; Svenska Heraldiska Foreningen (Heraldry Society of Sweden); Heraldiska Samfundet; Skandinavisk Vapenrulla (SVR); Svenska Nationalkommitten for Genealogi och Heraldik; Voestra Sveriges Heraldiska Saellskap; Riddarhuset; Genealogiska Foereningen Genealogical Society).
• South Africa: The State Herald; Bureau of Heraldry; The Heraldry Society of Southern Africa.
• JAPAN: The Heraldry Society of Japan.
• INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS: Academie Internationale d'Heraldique; Confederation Internationale de Genealogie et d'Heraldique; International Congress of Genealogical and Heraldic Studies; International Fellowship of Armorists (Heraldry International); International Genealogical Institute; Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints.