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Croatia, heraldry

Origin of the checquy Argent and Gules
Heraldry of Croatia
Heraldry of Dalmatia

See also: Croatia

Origin of the checquy Argent and Gules

The arms of Croatia, Checquy Argent and Gules, were originially used by the medieval Kings of Croatia. They are attributed to Demeter Zvonimir (d. 1089).
jim terzian

The symbol of checquy fields is more ancient than writen Croatian history, and that is to say older than 7th century. Much older that the arms itself (that are not older then 11th century, of course). The traces of checquy could be find on the way Croatian tribes came from what is today Poland (Vistula valley), and even further back to east. According to some fingings of checquy patterns in Iran, there are scientists who would like to proove Iranian (or Arian) descent of Croatians.

There is a legend of a Croatian king arrested in Venice, who got his freedom plaing three parties of chess with his arrester (I forgot the names of either the king or Venecian noble, but I think this story you can also find on FOTW pages). The story is much younger than Croatian checquy, and is, I guess, invented sometime in 1700's or so.

zeljko heimer 26-MAR-1996

Heraldry of Croatia

Checquy Argent and Gules. That seems to date to 1525. In the 9th c. the Croats form a political entity, and their leader takes the title of king in 929. In 1102, a succession crisis is solved with the choice of the king of Hungary as king of Croatia. The two kingdoms are ruled by the same ruler until the Turkish conquest in 1526, though Croatia retains its institutions, its governor or ban, and its coinage. On medieval coinage, the arms of Croatia appear to be a mullet of six over a crescent (the motif appears on coins as early as the late 12th century).
In 1525, under circumstances I have not yet cleared, the arms: Chequy argent and gules were adopted, and remained the arms of Croatia in the Habsburg achievements until 1918. They were used on the flag of the puppet regime in 1941-45, but (interestingly) they also appeared on the seal of the republic of Croatia after 1946.
The Croatians use, in addition, their provincial arms as a crown above the escutcheon. There are five shields, each bearing arms of a particular province.

Azure, three lions' heads crowned cabossed or (Dalmatia)
Azure, a goat stantant Or, armed, hooved and langued Gules (Istria)
Azure, in chief a mullet of six Or, in base crescent Argent (old Croatia)
Azure, two fesses Gules (Dubrovnik)
Azure, a river in fesse gules, bordered argent, thereon a weasel, or marten passant proper beneath a 6-pointed star or. (Esclavonia)

The arms of Esclavonia appear on coins of that region as early as 1235. The arms that I called "old Croatia" appear in 1196 on coinage.
francois velde 30-JUN-1995

Heraldry of Dalmatia

The following blasons come from Siebmacher's volume on Dalmatia.

Dalmatia (I): Gules, three leopards' heads affrontes argent, langued and crowned or. (From Konrad von Grueneberg's armory of the Constance Council, 1483).
Dalmatia (II): Azure, three leopards' heads affrontes, crowned or, langued gules. (Siebmachers Wappenbuche, old edition; this was the version used in the Austrian state arms).
Dalmatia under Venetian rule: : quarterly, 1: Gules, three leopards'heads affrontes crowned or, langued gules (Dalmatia); 2: chequy Argent and Gules (Croatia); 3: Or, three horseshoes inverted sable (kingdom of Rascia); 4: Argent (or Or), a lion gules armed and langued azure (kingdom of Albania).
Dalmatia under Napoleonic rule: Gules, three leopards' heads affrontes or. (shown as escutcheon of pretence on the arms of marechal Soult, duke of Dalmatia).
Republic of Ragusa: Argent, on three bends azure the word LIBERTAS gules. (Arms of the republic).; Ragusa (duchy in Austria)
Argent, three bends azure.
Illyria (old arms): Gules, a silver crescent beneath an 8-pointed star argent.
Illyria (kingdom, 1816): Azure, an antique galley or.
Cattaro (lordship, Austria): Argent, a lion gules armed and langued or.

francois velde 30-JUN-1995