The coat of arms of

Hordaland Hordaland () was a county in Norway, bordering Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Telemark, and Rogaland counties. Hordaland was the third largest county, after Akershus and Oslo, by population. The county government was the Hordaland County Munici ...

shows two golden axes and a crown in red. The initiative for a coat of arms for Hordaland was launched as early as 1918, but the county council waited until 1949 to officially start the process of adopting a coat of arms. The following process took 12 years and the arms were officially granted on December 1, 1961. One or two axes had been used as a royal symbol on Norwegian coins for centuries and the Norwegian Heraldic Authority was considering reserving the crossed axe symbol for the Norwegian state but eventually released it to the county of Hordaland. The arms are derived from the old seal of the guild of

Saint Olav Olaf II Haraldsson ( – 29 July 1030), later known as Saint Olaf (and traditionally as St. Olave), was King of Norway from 1015 to 1028. Son of Harald Grenske, a petty king in Vestfold, Norway, he was posthumously given the title '' Rex Per ...

, King of Norway, from Onarheim in

Tysnes Tysnes () is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Sunnhordland. The administrative centre is the village of Uggdal. Other population centres in Tysnes include the villages of Våge and Onarhei ...

municipality. This seal was used by the delegates of

Sunnhordland Sunnhordland is a traditional district in the western region of Norway. The district consists of the southern coastal regions of the old Hordaland county (now part of Vestland county). It includes the areas that surround the mouth of the Hardan ...

in 1344 on the document issued on July 17 of that year to install king

Haakon V of Norway Haakon V Magnusson (10 April 1270 – 8 May 1319) ( non, Hákon Magnússon; no, Håkon Magnusson, label= Modern Norwegian) was king of Norway from 1299 until 1319. Biography Haakon was the younger surviving son of Magnus the Lawmender, Ki ...

. It was thus the oldest symbol used for the region and adapted as the arms in 1961. The age of the guild is unknown but it is believed to have been in existence in the 10th century. The seal was that of the Olavbrothers but was used by delegates to represent all the farmers and populace of

. The main motive of the seal is a coat of arms with a crown over two crossed axes, almost identical to the current coat of arms. The axe was the holy symbol of saint Olav as he was martyred with an axe. There are two of them to represent Olsok, 29 July and the lesser feast day of Saint Olav, 3 August. The crown is the Crown of Saint Olav, King of Norway. In the seal the coat of arms was surrounded by the inscription "S'CONVIVARVM: BETI: OLAVI: DE: HONAREI"; The seal of the Guild of Saint Olav on Onarheim.

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Coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...