Brief History of – The Royal Arms of Scotland

The Royal Arms of the Kingdom of Scotland

Centuries ago, during the great age of chivalry, one of the must have items for any self-respecting knight was to have his own coat of arms. By the 1100’s feudal lords and their chivalric vassals were all using arms on the battlefield, principally as a means of being identifiable by your own soldiers and also so that you were able to identify the enemy. As time moved on however, these arms became more than just and identifier in battle and they became more widely used as a sign of family ownership or allegiance and the right to bear arms became hereditary.

In Scotland, as in England, the right to bear arms was granted to a single individual and those arms became his legal property which could be passed on to his son. The Royal Arms of Scotland have their origins in the reign of King William the Lion (r. 1165-1214). A register kept in the College of Arms in London describes the arms of the, “Kyng of Scottz,” as, “lion rampant within a double tressure flory counter-flory Gules.” This Lion Rampant design came to be used on the Great Seal of Scotland which the monarch used to authorise documents and enact laws.

The position of the motto in on armorial bearings in Scotland is unusual when compared to the practice in other heraldic systems. Instead of the motto scroll being shown below the shield as in most countries in Scotland it is shown above the crest and forms an integral part of the arms. The motto, “In my defens God me defend,” is now most commonly abbreviated to appear as just, “In defens”.

During the reign of King Charles II (r. 1649-1685) he had the motto of Scotland’s highest order of chivalry, the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle, included in the Royal Arms. That motto is, “Nemo me Impune Lacessit,” which means, nobody shall cross me with impunity.

The supporters of the Royal Arms are unicorns, facing towards the lance in order to show respect to the banners which they carry. One of the unicorns supports the lance with a saltire attached to it and the other supports the lance with the Royal Standard of Scotland (commonly referred to as the Lion Rampant), representing the monarchy.

The other interesting feature about the unicorns is that they have open crowns placed around their necks. The crowns are attached to chains which are wrapped around the animals bodies and are then anchored to the ground.

In the modern era these chains around the unicorns have been occasionally deliberately misrepresented by British nationalists as meaning that Scotland was forevermore chained to England and thereby would never regain independence. That would fail to explain why the unicorns were bound in chains on the royal arms prior to the Union of the Crowns in 1603, it is impossible that kings of Scotland would allow symbolism suggesting the superiority of a foreign power to be included on his own coat of arms.

The truth of the chains around the unicorns is far less politically reasons than that. Quite simply in mythology a free unicorn was considered to be an extremely dangerous beast, the chains represent these powerful animals have been tamed and the crowns around their necks represent that they belong to the king.

The version of the UK Royal Coat of Arms used in Scotland since Queen Victoria’s reign.

After the Union of the Crowns in 1603 the Royal Arms of Scotland and England were merged to form a coat of arms for Great Britain, even though that did not become a legal entity until the Act of Union in 1707. For over 400 years now there have been two versions of the British then UK arms in use, one for general use and one to be used specifically in Scotland. In the latter the Scottish Royal Standard is present in the 1^st and 4^th quadrants with the English Royal Standard in the 2nd and the Irish harp in the 3rd; whereas in the other version the English Royal Standard is represented in the 1^st and 4^th quadrants with the Scottish Royal Standard in the 2^nd.

The currently used version of the Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom for use in Scotland had not been altered since the accession of Queen Victoria to the throne in 1837. The banner (flag) from the coat of arms is used by the Queen when in Scotland, on her transport and flying above Holyrood Palace and Balmoral Castle when she is in residence.