The coat of arms of Iceland displays a silver-edged, red cross on blue shield, alluding to the design of the

flag of Iceland The flag of Iceland () was officially described in Law No. 34, set out on 17 June 1944, the day Iceland became a republic. The law is entitled "The Law of the National Flag of Icelanders and the State Arms" and describes the Icelandic flag as ...

. It is the only national arms to feature four

supporter In heraldry, supporters, sometimes referred to as ''attendants'', are figures or objects usually placed on either side of the shield and depicted holding it up. Historically, supporters were left to an individual's free choice and were assu ...

s: the four protectors of Iceland (''

landvættir Landvættir ("land spirits" or "land wights") are spirits of the land in Old Nordic religion, later Scandinavian folklore, folk belief and modern Heathenry. They are closely associated with specific locations and their wellbeing is presented as be ...

'') as described in

Heimskringla () is the best known of the Old Norse kings' sagas. It was written in Old Norse in Iceland. While authorship of ''Heimskringla'' is nowhere attributed, some scholars assume it is written by the Icelandic poet and historian Snorri Sturluson (117 ...

, standing on a block of

columnar basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the surface of a rocky planet or moon. More than 90% of a ...

. The

bull A bull is an intact (i.e., not Castration, castrated) adult male of the species ''Bos taurus'' (cattle). More muscular and aggressive than the females of the same species (i.e. cows proper), bulls have long been an important symbol cattle in r ...

(''Griðungur'') is the protector of northwestern Iceland, the

eagle Eagle is the common name for the golden eagle, bald eagle, and other birds of prey in the family of the Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of Genus, genera, some of which are closely related. True eagles comprise the genus ''Aquila ( ...

griffin The griffin, griffon, or gryphon (; Classical Latin: ''gryps'' or ''grypus''; Late and Medieval Latin: ''gryphes'', ''grypho'' etc.; Old French: ''griffon'') is a -4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk ...

(''Gammur'') protects northeastern Iceland, the

dragon A dragon is a Magic (supernatural), magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but European dragon, dragons in Western cultures since the Hi ...

(''Dreki'') protects the southeastern part, and the rock-

giant In folklore, giants (from Ancient Greek: ''wiktionary:gigas, gigas'', cognate wiktionary:giga-, giga-) are beings of humanoid appearance, but are at times prodigious in size and strength or bear an otherwise notable appearance. The word ''gia ...

('' Bergrisi'') is the protector of southwestern Iceland. Great respect was given to these creatures of Iceland, so much that there was a law during the time of the

Vikings Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

that no

ship A ship is a large watercraft, vessel that travels the world's oceans and other Waterway, navigable waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research and fishing. Ships are generally disti ...

should bear grimacing symbols (most often dragonheads on the bow of the ship) when approaching Iceland. This was so the protectors would not be provoked unnecessarily. The ''landvættir'' also decorate the obverse (front) of the

Icelandic króna The króna () or krona (sometimes called Icelandic crown; currency sign, sign: kr; ISO 4217, code: ISK) is the currency of Iceland. One króna was formerly divided into 100 eyrir (plural "aurar"). Name Like the other Nordic countries, Nordic ...

coins, but animals of the ocean (

fish A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic animal, aquatic, Anamniotes, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fish fin, fins and craniate, a hard skull, but lacking limb (anatomy), limbs with digit (anatomy), digits. Fish can ...

crabs Crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura (meaning "short tailed" in Greek), which typically have a very short projecting tail-like abdomen, usually hidden entirely under the thorax. Their exoskeleton is often thickened and ha ...

, and

dolphins A dolphin is an aquatic mammal in the cetacean clade Odontoceti (toothed whale). Dolphins belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontopori ...

) appear on the reverse (back). The Icelandic presidency uses a swallowtailed Icelandic state flag with a square panel bearing coat of arms. The National Commissioner of the Icelandic Police uses a white flag with the coat of arms, when the use of the

state flag In vexillology, a state flag is either the flag of the government of a sovereign state, or the flag of an individual federated state (subnational administrative division). Government flag A state flag is a variant of a national flag (or occas ...

is not warranted, and some other state services do as well.

Official description

The government of Iceland describes the coat of arms as follows: ''Iceland's coat of arms is a silver cross in a sky-blue field, with a bright red cross inside the silver cross. The arms of the cross shall extend to the rim of the shield on all four sides. The width of the cross shall be 2/9 of the width of the shield, but the red cross half as wide, at 1/9 of the width of the shield. The upper sections shall be squares and the lower sections the same width as the upper sections, but 1/3 longer.'' ''The shield bearers are the four guardian spirits of Iceland as described in Heimskringla y Snorri Sturluson, 13th century A bull on the right side of the shield; a giant, on the left; a vulture on the right above the bull; and a dragon on the left, above the giant.'' ''The shield rests on a plate of columnar basalt.''

History

Iceland has historically had various distinct coats of arms: *The first one is believed to have been a shield with six blue stripes and six silver stripes, possibly signifying the 12

þing A thing, also known as a folkmoot, assembly, tribal council, and by other names, was a governing assembly in early Germanic society, made up of the free people of the community presided over by a lawspeaker. Things took place regularly, usu ...

s of the

Icelandic Commonwealth The Icelandic Commonwealth, also known as the Icelandic Free State, was the political unit existing in Iceland between the establishment of the Althing () in 930 and the pledge of fealty to the Norwegian king with the Old Covenant in 1262. W ...

. *The second one is believed to be the one that was given to Earl

Gissur Þorvaldsson Gissur Þorvaldsson (; Old Norse: ; 1208 – 12 January 1268) was a medieval Icelandic chieftain or '' goði'' of the Haukdælir family clan, and great-grandson of Jón Loftsson. Gissur played a major role in the period of civil war which is ...

by the King of Norway, Hákon Hákonarson, in 1258. It was patterned on the King's own coat of arms, exchanging the colours of the shield with the colour of the lion and adding the blue and silver stripes of the previous coat of arms. *Circa 1500, the Icelandic coat of arms became a crowned

stockfish Stockfish is unsalted fish, especially cod, dried by cold air and wind on wooden racks (which are called "hjell" in Norway) on the foreshore. The drying of food is the world's oldest known preservation method, and dried fish has a storage li ...

(a beheaded and eviscerated codfish that is spread open to be dried) on a red shield. It is known as the ''Þorskmerkið'' (“the

cod Cod (: cod) is the common name for the demersal fish genus ''Gadus'', belonging to the family (biology), family Gadidae. Cod is also used as part of the common name for a number of other fish species, and one species that belongs to genus ''Gad ...

markings”) and the fish was depicted occasionally in a variant form. *On October 3, 1903, the coat of arms of Iceland was changed to a white

falcon Falcons () are birds of prey in the genus ''Falco'', which includes about 40 species. Some small species of falcons with long, narrow wings are called hobbies, and some that hover while hunting are called kestrels. Falcons are widely distrib ...

on a blue shield. It remained in use until the first version of the coat of arms with the ''landvættir'' became official on February 12, 1919, representing the Kingdom of Iceland under the Danish Crown. This lasted until Iceland became a republic. *When the republic was declared on June 17, 1944, the coat of arms was redesigned; removing the Danish crown and reforming the earlier design of the ''landvættir''. File:Coat of arms of the Icelandic Commonwealth.svg, The theorised coat of arms of the Icelandic Commonwealth. File:Coat of arms of King of Iceland (13th century).svg, The coat of arms of the Earldom of Iceland from 1262. File:Iceland stockfish coa.svg, The coat of arms under Dano-Norwegian rule, ca. 16th century 1814, and under Danish rule 1814–1903. File:Royal arms of Denmark (1819–1903).svg, The coat of arms of Denmark from 1819 to 1903. Iceland is presented by the silver stockfish in the lower left corner. Prior to this Iceland, as was the case with

Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...

and the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ) (alt. the Faroes) are an archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean and an autonomous territory of the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. Located between Iceland, Norway, and the United Kingdom, the islands have a populat ...

, was represented by the

coat of arms of Norway The coat of arms of Norway is the arms of dominion of King Harald V of Norway, and as such represents both the monarch and the Norway, kingdom (nation and the state). It depicts a standing Or (heraldry), golden lion (heraldry), lion on a Gules, r ...

, as they all were part of the Norwegian realm of the

Denmark–Norway Denmark–Norway (Danish language, Danish and Norwegian language, Norwegian: ) is a term for the 16th-to-19th-century multi-national and multi-lingual real unionFeldbæk 1998:11 consisting of the Kingdom of Denmark, the Kingdom of Norway (includ ...

. File:Coat of Arms of Iceland (1904).svg, The coat of arms from 1903 to 1919. File:Royal arms of Denmark (1903–1948).svg, The coat of arms of King

Christian X Christian X (; 26 September 1870 – 20 April 1947) was King of Denmark from 1912 until his death in 1947, and the only King of Iceland as Kristján X, holding the title as a result of the personal union between Denmark and independent Ice ...

of Iceland from 1918 to 1944 and of Denmark from 1903 to 1947. Iceland is represented by the silver falcon in the lower left corner. The falcon was removed from the Danish arms in 1948. File:Kingdom of Iceland Coat of Arms.svg, The coat of arms of the

Kingdom of Iceland The Kingdom of Iceland (; ) was a sovereign and independent country under a constitutional and hereditary monarchy that was established by the Act of Union with Denmark signed on 1 December 1918. It lasted until 17 June 1944 when a national ...

from 1919 to 1944. File:Coat of arms of the United Kingdom (1901-1952).svg, The British Coat of Arms during The

Allied occupation of Iceland The Occupation of Iceland during World War II began with a British invasion in order to occupy the island and deny it to Germany. The military operation, codenamed Operation Fork, was conducted by the Royal Navy and Royal Marines. The British ...

from 1940 to 1944. File:Greater coat of arms of the United States.svg, The Coat of Arms of The U.S. during The Allied occupation of Iceland from 1940 to 1944.

References

Notes

External links

Description and History of the Icelandic Coat of Arms
– Website of the Government of Iceland {{Coats of arms of Europe

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

National symbols of Iceland

Official description

History

See also

References

Notes

External links