Coat of arms of Ireland

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Coat of arms of Ireland
Versions
The banner of arms, which serves as presidential standard
royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom and is incorporated as a badge into devices used by official bodies in Northern Ireland
.

The coat of arms of Ireland is

Chief Herald of Ireland on 9 November 1945.[1]

The depiction of the harp has changed over time. When the arms were restored as the arms of the independent Irish state in 1922, a late-medieval

Trinity College Harp
, was used as a model.

Several variants of the arms of Ireland exist, including a

ancient royal province of Meath
were also apparently used at one time as the arms of Ireland.

History

1702 map of Great Britain and Ireland with the arms of Ireland, England, Scotland and France. The harp has a woman's head and breasts.

As

Chief Herald of Ireland was created as successor to the Ulster King of Arms and the arms of Ireland were registered by the Chief Herald of Ireland on 9 November 1945.[citation needed
]

However, reference to the harp as the arms of the king of Ireland can be found in one of the oldest medieval

King of Thomond.[7]

Whatever its origins, the harp was adopted as the symbol of the new

Royal Coats of Arms of England, Ireland and Scotland upon the Union of the Crowns of the three kingdoms in 1603. Upon the secession of the Irish Free State from the United Kingdom
in 1922, the harp was taken as the emblem of the independent Irish state.

Today, the image of the harp is used on the

Canada. In 1984, exemplars of the modern design, approved by the Chief Herald, were registered by the Government of Ireland with the World Intellectual Property Organization under Article 6ter of the Paris Convention, which relates to state emblems.[8][9][10] The government only registered "left-facing" images, with the harp's sound board on the right. While the Attorney General's office felt that right-facing images should also be registered, patent agents advised this might be interfere with Guinness Brewery's use of such harps in its logo since the 1870s.[11]

Presidential standard

As well as being the arms of Ireland, since 1945 the harp is the arms of each

half mast. However, the Presidential Standard never takes precedence over the flag of Ireland, whereas, for example, the Royal Standard of the United Kingdom takes precedence over the flag of the United Kingdom
.

Previous arms

Arms of the Lordship of Ireland
Coat of arms of the Kingdom of Ireland

The

the banner of St. George. However, these arms were also well known in other medieval contexts and are often attributed to King Arthur.[7]

It is believed that the three crowns were abandoned as the arms of Ireland after Henry VIII's split with

tiara has three crowns — "whose vassal the king of England was, as lord of Ireland."[3][13]

Despite this, the memory of the three crowns arms may have remained for a time with one

Earl of Clanrickarde is shown carrying the banner of Ireland just as in the Wijnbergen Roll.[7]

A variant of arms of the

province of Leinster was once the province of the High Kings of Ireland. Its arms are of a king sitting on a throne on a blue field. The variant apparently used as the arms of Ireland were of a majesty on a sable (black) background instead of an azure (blue) field.[8]

Achievement

The armorial achievement of the Kingdom of Ireland, including the infrequently used crest
An unofficial or 'artistic' Coat of arms of the Kingdom of Ireland after 1707
Royal arms of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, still visible at King's Inns, Dublin. This version has the harp with a woman's head and breasts, as well as the arms of the House of Hanover at the centre, dating it to 1816–1837.

The design of the harp used by the modern Irish state is based on the Brian Boru harp, a late-medieval Gaelic harp now in Trinity College Dublin.[note 1] The design is by an English sculptor, Percy Metcalfe. Metcalfe's design was in response to a competition held by the state to design Irish coinage, which was to start circulation in December 1928. Metcalfe's design became the model for future official interpretations of the harp as an emblem of the state.[citation needed]

The modern design is markedly different from earlier depictions. During the 17th century, it became common to depict the harp with a woman's head and breasts, like a ship's figurehead, as the pillar.

It is not necessary to show a full complement of thirty strings, provided that the numbers do not fall below nine (notwithstanding the illustration to the left).[8] The strings are always silver and the harp is always gold.

The harp is shown on a blue background. The colour of the field is sometimes called

Éireann) was represented by a woman often dressed in a blue robe.[8]

A crest, which was little used, is thought to have been created for the ascension of

James I.[14] This crest was blazoned: A tower triple towered or, from the portal a hart springing argent, attired and unguled also or.[15] The torse was Or and azure.[15] The torse and crest were apparently little used even during the period of the Kingdom of Ireland. Unlike Scotland, Ireland did not reserve the right to bear a distinct coat of arms within the United Kingdom
. The crest and torse are not employed by the Irish state today.

Historically, the harp was frequently seen surmounted by a crown. In this case, the depiction is as

Tudor period and continued to be used on the coins of the Kingdom of Ireland. Following the creation of the United Kingdom, the device was used on the cap badges of the Royal Irish Constabulary and later the Royal Ulster Constabulary. The badge can be seen today on the cap badge of the Royal Irish Regiment of the British Army. The harp, unsurmounted by a crown, is used as a badge in Ireland today, but the harp surmounted by a crown is also found (e.g. in 'colours' ties of Trinity College sports teams).[citation needed
]

Supporters and motto

The heraldic badge of Ireland, created during the Tudor era, is distinguished from the arms of Ireland by being ensigned with a royal crown.

The arms of Ireland are without

artistic licence.[citation needed
]

Several mottos associated with Ireland and have also been used alongside representations of the harp, including the patriotic slogan,

the Most Illustrious Order of Saint Patrick, and It is new strung and shall be heard, the motto of the Society of United Irishmen. However, no heraldic motto has ever been granted to Ireland and none ever accompanies the coat of arms.[citation needed
]

Green flag

green ensign
of Ireland from Bowles's Universal Display of the Naval Flags of all Nations maritime flag chart, 1783

As well as the coat of arms, which shows the harp on an Azure (blue) field, Ireland has long been associated with a flag also bearing the harp. This flag is identical to the coat of arms but with a green field, rather than blue, and is blazoned Vert, a Harp Or, stringed Argent (a gold harp with silver strings on a green field).

The earliest-known record of the green flag is attributed to

Irish Brigade of the Union Army during the American Civil War (1861–1865) and Saint Patrick's Battalion in the Mexican Army during the Mexican–American War
(1846–1848).

Although the Kingdom of Ireland never had an official flag, this flag is recorded as the flag of Ireland by 18th- and 19th-century sources. It was used as a

arms of the province of Leinster
. It is believed that the Leinster arms are derived from it, rather than the other way around.

Arms and Flag of the Four Provinces

Main article:
Four Provinces Flag of Ireland
four provinces of Ireland
quartered to form the popular arms of Ireland
four provinces of Ireland
, quartered to form a popular flag of all of Ireland
Mide, while the third quarter features the arms of Hugh de Lacy (Earl of Ulster
from 1205 – 1243) to represent Ulster.

The arms of the four traditional

Tudor Portcullis Or between two Scrolls Argent (a red band with a gold Tudor portcullis between two silver scrolls).[7]

The

Robert de Vere in 1386. The crowns now usually depicted as "antique" or "eastern": a gold rim with eight sharp, triangular rays, of which five are seen.[17]

The

red hand seal of the O'Neills. These two dynasties and symbols are inseparably linked to Ulster. The combination of them is blazoned Or, on a Cross Gules, an inescutcheon Argent, charged with a dexter hand erect aupaumee and couped at the wrist Gules.[7]

Finally,

King of Connacht and the last High King of Ireland before the Norman invasion, by the abbey as a gift to return his patronage. The arms were given as the "old tyme arms" of Ireland by the Athlone Pursuivant, Edward Fletcher, c. 1575 and, with slight change of tinctures, became the arms of Connacht in the seventeenth century.[7]

See also

Notes

  1. library of Trinity College Dublin

References

  1. ^ a b Genealogical Office (9 November 1945). "Grant of Arms (Registration): Arms of Ireland". Catalogue. National Library of Ireland. G.O. MS 111G; folio 20. Archived from the original on 18 May 2013.
  2. ^ "Heraldry in Ireland, 1943-2018". The National Library of Ireland. Archived from the original on 15 July 2020. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  3. ^ a b Michael C. O'Laughlin, 2001, The Irish Book of Arms, Irish Genealogical Association, p 15
  4. ^ Hartemink, Ralf (1996). "Civic Heraldry of Ireland, National arms of Ireland". Heraldry of the World. ngw.nl. Archived from the original on 9 June 2011. Retrieved 13 July 2011.
  5. ^ Velde, François. "Heraldry in Ireland". Heraldica.
  6. ^ William Henry Grattan Flood, 1905, The Story of the Harp; James Simon, 1810, Simon's Essay on Irish coins, and of the currency of foreign monies in Ireland
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h Kennedy, John (Autumn 1991), "The Arms of Ireland: Medieval and Modern", Coat of Arms (155)
  8. ^ a b c d e Carragin, Eoin (18 April 2007). "Heraldry in Ireland". National Library of Ireland. p. 3. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 September 2011. Retrieved 17 March 2008.
  9. ^ "Glossary". Irish Patents Office. pp. Article 6ter. Retrieved 31 May 2013.
  10. ^ "C.4304-551" (PDF). WIPO Circular (4304). 15 February 1985. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 31 May 2013.
    Images: IE1 Archived 19 February 2013 at the Wayback Machine IE2 Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine IE3 Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine IE4 Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine IE5 Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine IE6 Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine IE7 Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine IE8 Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine IE9 Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine IE10 Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine
  11. ^ Humphreys, Joe (28 December 2013). "State feared Guinness objections over plan to make harp logo a trademark". The Irish Times. p. 1. Retrieved 29 December 2013.
  12. ^ W. G. Perrin and Herbert S. Vaughan, 1922, "British Flags. Their Early History and their Development at Sea; with an Account of the Origin of the Flag as a National Device", Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, pp. 51–52
  13. ^ a b Chambers's Encyclopædia: A Dictionary of Universal Knowledge, 1868, p. 627
  14. ^ Questions and Answers, Notes and Queries, 1855, p. 350
  15. ^ a b Fox-Davies, A.C., 1915, The Book of Public Arms, London
  16. ^ "17th Century Pictorial Map of Galway City". Archived from the original on 1 November 2018. Retrieved 13 November 2018.
  17. ISBN 978-1-4068-2770-5

External links

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