Regional Heraldry
Each of Sweden's 21 counties (län), 25 provinces (landskap) and 290 municipalities (kommun) has its own coat of arms. The Instrument of Government (1634) introduced the modern counties of Sweden, superseding the 25 medieval provinces.h Although many of these counties have been the subject of more recent reforms, many of them occupy broadly similar regions. (See comparative maps at Counties of Sweden.) Most of the counties that have remained largely intact (Dalarna, Gotland, Skåne, Södermanland, Uppsala, Värmland, etc.) retain the respective province's coat of arms, while the redistricting of other lands has been reflected heraldically (e.g. the newly created Gävleborgs län, occupying parts of Hälsingland and Gästrikland, bears their arms quarterly). By royal decree on 18 January 1884, King Oscar II granted all provinces the rights to the rank of duchy and to display their arms with a ducal coronet. While more exhaustive lists can be found elsewhere,i this article only discusses the arms of a few of these regions, selected for their heraldic notability. The arms of Gotland, Västerbotten, Uppland, Södermanland, Skåne and Lappland will be considered here in further detail.
|
Gotland, as a free republic loosely associated with the Swedish crown, had already borne a ram with a banner (Agnus Dei) as a well-known city seal by 1280. Although the island belonged to Denmark at the time, its arms were present at Gustav Vasa's funeral procession in 1560; the arms of Gotland disappeared from the Swedish rolls in 1570 but returned with the transfer of Gotland to Sweden in 1645. The coat of arms is represented with a ducal coronet. Blazon: Azure, a ram statantj argent armed Or, bearing on a cross-staff of the same a banner Gules bordered and with five tails of the third.k The county was granted the same coat of arms in 1936. The municipality, created in 1971, uses the same arms on a red field, influenced by the arms of Visby. Västerbotten received arms in preparation for Gustav Vasa's funeral in 1560. According to the Swedish Heraldry Society, the reindeer came to represent all lands west of the Gulf of Bothnia at that time, and Västerbotten's coat of arms received its stars in the 1590s. Blazon: Azure, on a semé of stars Or, a reindeer springing argent armed gules.l The modern Västerbotten County still bears these arms in the upper portion of a shield divided per fess, with the arms of Lappland and Ångermanland in the base, to illustrate the merging of lands from these two provinces into the modern county. Blazon: Party per fess, in chief the arms of Västerbotten, and in base party per pale the arms of Lappland (dexter) and Ångermanland (sinister).m Uppland was granted arms created for Gustav Vasa's funeral in 1560, and the royal orb symbolises spiritual and worldly power. Historically, Uppland ranked as a duchy and the coat of arms was represented with a ducal coronet. Despite the fact that Uppsala län has a different name and a smaller territory, it was granted the same coat of arms in 1940, but with a royal crown in place of the ducal crown of the landskap arms. Blazon: Gules, a royal orb Or.n |
Södermanland was granted its coat of arms in 1560. According to the Swedish Heraldry Society, the arms were created for Gustav Vasa's funeral, and the choice of the griffin as charge may have been influenced by the name of Gripsholm (once home of Bo Jonsson Grip). Since 1884, the coat of arms is represented with a ducal coronet. The same coat of arms was granted to Södermanland county in 1940. Blazon: Or, a griffin segreant sable, armed and langued gules, when it should be armed.o Skåne was a Danish province without heraldic arms before its transfer to Sweden in 1658, and its arms, granted in 1660, are based on the city of Malmö's Danish era arms. The Malmö arms were granted in 1437 during the Kalmar Union by Eric of Pomerania and contains a Pomeranian griffin. The Skåne coat of arms was created for the funeral of Charles X Gustav of Sweden in 1660, and it is typically represented with a ducal coronet. The coat of arms for the new Skåne County, formed in 1997, was based on the arms of Kristianstad County and Malmöhus County, which in turn were based on the province arms (both former counties were divided from the old Skåne province); the Skåne County arms are the province arms with different colors. When the county arms is shown crowned with a Swedish royal crown, it represents the County Administrative Board, which is the regional presence of royal government authority. Blazon: Or, a Griffin's head erased Gules, crowned and langued Azure, when it should be armed.p Lappland itself was never considered a duchy, but was granted the right to use a ducal coronet, together with all the provinces, in 1884. The wildman first appears on a few coins minted at the time of Karl IX's coronation in 1607, and then at his funeral in 1612. Blazon: Argent, a savage statant gules, crowned and clothed with birch wreaths vert, maintaining in the right hand – and depending over the shoulder – a club Or.q |
Read more about this topic: Swedish Heraldry