Coat of arms of Navarre

The coat of arms of Navarre is the heraldic emblem which for centuries has been used in Navarre. It was adopted as one of the official symbols of the Chartered Community of Navarre and is regulated by Foral Law 24/2003. It is commonly used by Navarrese municipalities in their own arms.

History

An early appearance of the symbol was in a seal of Theobald I of Navarre. This design may have been based on the heraldic carbuncle symbol of eight radially arranged rods.

By the 15th century, the mythology of the coat of arms would trace its origin back to the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212 involving Sancho VII of Navarre, where the cavalry broke the chains of the caliph's slave-warriors and captured an emerald, among other prizes. Following the Spanish conquest of Iberian Navarre in 1512, the coat of arms of Navarre was incorporated into the coat of arms of Spain, and it is currently positioned as the fourth quarter.

From 1589, when Henry III of Navarre also became King of France, to the French revolution in 1792, the royal arms of France also used the arms of Navarre. The arms are now part of those used by the French department of Pyrénées-Atlantiques.

The coat of arms of the Basque Country adopted in 1936 included the arms of Navarre in the fourth quarter, but these were soon suppressed by Franco. Following his death, they were revived, but following a legal suit by the Navarre government claiming that the usage of the arms of a region on the flag of another was illegal, in 1986 the Constitutional Court of Spain forced the Basque government to remove the chains of Navarre, leaving the red background. The arms remain in the unofficial Zazpiak Bat.

Gallery

File:Thibaut4f.jpg, Seal of Theobald I
(13th century)
File:Royal Banner of Navarre (Early Design).svg, Early standard of the Kings of Navarre
(c. 1212)
File:Coat of Arms of Navarre (c.1580-1700).svg, Arms of Navarre
(16th century)
File:Coat of Arms of Navarre (1700-1910).svg, Arms of Navarre
(17th–19th centuries)
Image:Escudo de España (mazonado).svg, The current coat of arms of Spain
Image:Grand Royal Coat of Arms of France & Navarre.svg, The royal coat of arms of France and Navarre (1589–1792)
Arms of the French Department of the Pyrénées Atlantiques.svg, The coat of arms of the French department of Pyrénées-Atlantiques
File:Arms of Navarre-Coat of Arms of Spain Template.svg, Coat of arms of Lower Navarre
Image:Coat of Arms of the Basque Country.svg, The plain red fourth quarter of the Basque arms once showed the linked chains of Navarre

Official model

In 1910, the ''Diputación Foral'' of Navarre approved the first official design of the coat of arms of Navarre. The event coincided with the celebration of the seven hundredth anniversary of the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa to a legend whose origin attributed the origin of the chains of the coat of arms.

The agreement stated:

The agreement included a picture with the coat of arms with a royal crown from which nothing said the text of the agreement, but that was the purpose of the first amendment in 1931, two months after the proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic. On July 8 of that year, the ''Diputación Foral'' agreed to replace the royal crown by a mural crown, in the same way as had been done with the coat of arms of Spain.

Six years later, after the start of the Spanish Civil War, the mural crown was again replaced by the royal crown (2 April 1931). A few months later, Francisco Franco signed a decree (BOE of 14 November) that handed to the province of Navarre the Laureate Cross of San Fernando in recognition of their help in the War.
The ''Diputación'' was quick to adapt the coat of arms model to the new element and, as in previous cases, the agreement included a picture. After the Francoist regime, the Laureate Cross of San Fernando was removed, causing great controversy between supporters and opponents of withdrawal.

In 1981, the Parlament Foral of Navarre drafted a text that largely recovers the agreement of 1910.

The agreement was reproduced in "Law of Reintegration and Improvement of the Foral Regime of Navarre" (LORAFNA), the equivalent of Navarre to autonomous status, that adapted their traditional laws to the new situation in which Spain is divided in autonomous communities. Would subsequently regulate the symbols of the community (laws Navarre symbols of 1986 and 2003).

In 1985, Domingo Aznar Magaña performed a design adaptation of the coat of arms, for use in formal events, ornamentals and the flag of Navarre. That same year, the Government of Navarre (before ''Diputación Foral of Navarre'') approved a simplified design for its corporate image.

See also

* Flag of Navarre

References

{{Spanish coat of arms

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