Coat of arms of Portugal

Coat of arms of Portugal

Details
Heraldic shield	Armillary sphere

The coat of arms of Portugal can also be found in a modified form on the flag of Portugal .

history

Flag of Portugal

The individual elements of the coat of arms go back to the coat of arms of the first Portuguese king Alfonso I , whose successors added further elements and used different variations. In 1485, King Johann II finally had a coat of arms for the first time, the shape and number of elements of which corresponded to today's coat of arms.

See: History of the flag of Portugal

layout

The coat of arms has the following elements: The green ribbon stands for hope. The red ribbon stands for the courage and blood of the Portuguese who fell in battle.

Description of coat of arms

Description of coat of arms :

In the silver field , surrounded by the red border with seven golden forts, there are crosswise five blue quinas with the same number and (2: 1: 2) placed silver balls . The shield rests on a golden armillary sphere and is entwined on each side by a golden olive branch, which is decorated with a green ribbon on the right (heraldic) and a red ribbon on the left.

	The yellow (gold) braided circle, an armillary sphere (a navigation device in the form of a stylized globe , which had an important meaning for Portuguese shipping during the great sailings of the world in the 15th and 16th centuries), represents both the world that the Portuguese sailors used then discovered, as well as the peoples with whom they exchanged thoughts and goods.
	The heraldic shield rests on the sphere of the sphere: The seven forts in the red frame symbolize in the modern interpretation the seven battles that King Alfonso III. won during the conquest of the Algarve and thus the final expulsion of the Moors from what is now Portugal. The number of forts was not finally set at seven until 1640 and Alfons III. led for example 16 in his coat of arms. They were probably originally an indication of Alfons' family ties to Castile . The white shield symbolizes the armor of Dom Afonso Henriques de Guimarães. Legend has it that at the battle of Ourique the crucified Jesus Christ appeared to him and said to him: “ With this sign you will win. "
	The five blue shields ( quina ) (note: in the coat of arms above they are not turned towards the center) represent five Moorish kings who were defeated by Dom Afonso Henriques in the battle of Ourique. There are five silver coins in each quina . Their numbers have also changed constantly throughout history. Today the five coins are said to represent the five wounds of Christ . If you count the coins in the shields crosswise and count the coins in the middle shield twice, you get 30 coins. These represent the 30 silver coins that Judas received for betraying Jesus Christ.

literature

Karl-Heinz Hesmer: Flags and coats of arms of the world. History and symbolism of the flags and coats of arms of all states . Gütersloh: Bertelsmann Lexikon Verlag, 1992. ISBN 3-570-01082-1

Web links

Commons : Coat of Arms of Portugal - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Flag lexicon (description of flag and coat of arms)

Individual evidence

↑ Flags of the World - Portugal (1248–1835)

↑ Lendas de Portugal - Lenda do Milagre de Ourique ( Memento of the original from February 10, 2007) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2

[1] Flags of the World - Portugal (1248–1835)