Last modified: 2009-08-08 by dov gutterman
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Present official Coat of Arms, done by Blanco-Rújula
image by Blas Delgado Ortiz, 3 Febuary 2004
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Modified variant by Beascoechea
image by Blas Delgado Ortiz, 3 Febuary 2004
See also:
From <www.geocities.com/TheTropics/Shores/8070/shield.htm>:
Our Coat of Arms uses symbols of our history, culture and
religion. It was first recognized by the Spanish Crown in 1511,
but it wasn't until March 9,1905 that al law, establishing the
official Coat of Arms was signed. After numerous investigations
and amendments to that statute, the final version was approved
and signed into law in 1976.The green background stands for our
vegetation, our hopes and courtesy. Within the background there's
a lamb on top of the Book of Revelations, holding the seven seals
of The Apocalypse. The lamb symbolizes peace, purity, humble,
integrity, and holds a white flag with a red cross. The flag
means "truce", or knowledge to stop fighting. Both, the
lamb and the flag, are symbols of "John The
Baptist" or San Juan Bautista, the original name given by
the Spanish settlers.
The rim is covered by 16 symbols: castles signifying the
"Kingdom of Castilla" and lions, representing the
"Kingdom of Leon" and a flag, with both, lions and
castles, representing the unity of both kingdoms, also shows the
"Cross of Jerusalem" used by the Monarchs to expel the
"non christians" from the Spanish peninsula. The crown
on top symbolizes the "Royalty" who authorized this
shield. To the right, an "F" for Fernando, to the left,
a "Y" for Ysabel, the King and Queen of the Spanish
Empire. The motto reads: "Joannes Est Nomem Ejus",
it means "John is it name", the original name of
the island.
Our Coat of Arms is the oldest in use in America, other countries
created a new Coat when they became independent, ours is the only
one that remembers the Spanish presence in the "New
World" or America.
Dov Gutterman, 28 December 1998
There exists a slightly different version of the Coat of Arms
of Puerto Rico. The two differences are found on the
shield's border:
1) The Cross of Jerusalem has a small cross at each corner.
2) Instead of the flag of Castile and Leon there is a flag of
Aragon and Sicily.
An example can be seen at <www.angelfire.com/az2/puertorico/prescudo.html>.
Also it is interesting to note that when this Coat of Arms was
granted to P.R. it included a flag based upon the same.
While the original drawing no longer exists, luckily the original
description does. Part of the description can be read (in
Spanish) at <www.geocities.com/TheTropics/Shores/8070/bandera.htm>.
Marcos Obregon, 19 Febuary 2002
It is true that this version existed previous to the
declaration of the present Coat of Arms as the official
one. But it was not an accurate representation of the
original one given to the Island by the King of Spain. The
present and official one is thought to be the most accurate
version so far.
It's a pity that the source of this information is not mention,
if there exists one. To this point, we can only say that
this is a putative first flag. What I can interpret from
the description, the flag was divided in two horizontal bands,
red the lower one with a white symmetrical cross in the middle
(not sure what "dos a dos" or "two by two"
means), and green the upper band with a golden castle to the
hoist and a golden lion to the fly.
Blas Delgado Ortiz, 20 Febuary 2002
The motto on the Coat of Arms is "JOANNES EST NOMEN
EJUS". It's Latin. It means "John is his
name" and is a quotation from the book of Luke in the
Bible. The elderly Zachary (also spelled Zechariah) was
told by an angel that his wife Elizabeth would give birth to a
son, and that they would name him John. Zachary was struck
speechless until the child was born. When the time came to
name the baby, Elizabeth said his name was John, but the rest of
the family objected, wanting to name the child after his father
and arguing that no one in the family had ever been named
John. They approached Zachary for instructions, and he
wrote on a tablet "His name is John." The baby
was the cousin of Jesus and grew up to be known as John the
Baptist, one of the most important saints in the Christian
religion. The quotation is pertinent to Puerto Rico as a
reference to the island's capital, San Juan, which is Spanish for
St. John. The coat of arms, which shows a lamb with a
banner resting upon a book, is also a reference to John, as he
was the one who referred to Jesus with the words "Behold the
Lamb of God."
Joe McMillan, 22 August 2002
"Dos o dos" refers to a equally divided cross.
I believe it describes a white greek cross over a red
background. This is a design used by the order of St. John
the Baptist also known as the Knights of Malta. This makes sense
because the island was then known as San Juan Bautista.
Marcos Obregon, 21 October 2002
One of the explanations of the Coat of Arms of Puerto Rico
refers to the "Jerusalem Cross" on the border. In fact,
as is correctly pointed out elsewhere, the Jerusalem Cross
contains four smaller crosses in each corner.
The cross on the Coat of Arms of Puerto Rico is, in fact, the
Templar Cross that decorated the ships of Christopher Columbus.
Columbus and members of his family belonged to a knightly order
that was a reconstituted Templar Order that took root in the
Iberian Peninsula following the suppression of the Templars and
was known as the "Order of Christ."
In every which way it resembled the Templars and bore the same
insignia and "pattee" style of the Templar Cross.
Alexander Roman, 17 April 2003
First, the Order of Christ was Portuguese, not Spanish.
Second, the crosses on the Puerto Rico Coat of Arms are not
crosses of the Order of Christ. The cross of the O of C is
voided white.
Third, I don't believe Columbus was a member of this order. I
never saw it mentioned in his biographies., and I believe that at
the time the knights of the order were required to be
celibate. Columbus was not. I'd want more
documentation on this.
Fourth, Columbus's voyages were undertaken in overt competition
with the explorations being conducted at the same time by
Portuguese mariners under the sponsorship of the Order of
Christ. It's highly unlikely he would have used the O of C
emblem on his ships.
Fifth, neither the cross of the Order of Christ nor the crosses
on the Puerto Rico CoA are "patee." The crosses
on the Puerto Rico Coat of Arms and seal are crosses potent.
Joe McMillan, 18 April 2003
You may well be correct on your second and third points, but
on the first you are mistaken. The Portuguese and Spanish kings
(not sure whether this was Aragon or Castile, perhaps both) both
chose to nationalise the Templars, and in both (all three?)
instances the name used translates into English as Order of
Christ.
On your second point, the white voiding was applicable to the
Portuguese order, but not necessarily the Spanish.
Mike Oettle, 19 April 2003
Let me explain the significance of the flags and crosses in
the bordure of the shield of Puerto Rico. Ferdinand V of Castile
was also Ferdinand II of Aragon and Ferdinand III of Sicily, and
heir to the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem. Therefore, the bordure
portrays the kingdoms of the monarchs who granted the arms:
Castile and Leon (Joanna I), and Aragon, Sicily and Jerusalem
(Ferdinand).
Hijodel Cid, 24 October 2003
Only one version has the Aragon/Sicily flag; some have the
Castille/Leon flag with the separate symbols. Either way is odd-
why separate Castille and Leon but keep Aragon and Sicily
together as a flag (and Jerusalem separate)? Or why not have two
flags? Alternatively, why have both separate Castille and Leon
and combine them as well?
Nathan Lamm, 24 October 2003
It has reached my hands in the form of photocopies some very
interesting and important information about the understanding of
the Puerto Rican Arms. Pitifully, the source is nowhere
identified but appears to be sections of a chapter of a somewhat
recent publication:
The Coat of Arms of Puerto Rico, created by Royal Cedula or
Decree, in 8 November 1511, is the second National Arms given by
Spain in the New World. The first to be given was that of The
Hispaniola -which today includes the Dominican Republic and
Haiti- given in 1508. The primitive shield of Cuba was given in
1517. Being the Puerto Rican Arms so old and the longest in
having official validity notwithstanding, it has only been used
in the XVI century and since 1905 to date. This lack of use was
due to three causes: the colonial government was using the Arms
of Spain, which it represented; until the XIX century, there were
no political organizations representing the whole island of
Puerto Rico that might have used the shield; and, when those
organism were finally created (Provincial Deputation, Autonomic
Parliament), Puerto Rico was wrongfully using as his the Shield
of the City of San Juan.
The original of the Royal Decree, in which appeared the
description and the drawing in colors of the shield, is not
preserved. There is at least a certified copy or memorandum of
the Decree's text in continued existence at the Archives of the
Indies, in Seville, Spain.
It is mentioned in the description of the shield done by the
Royal Decree that among the pieces and figures that make up the
orle -today known as the bordure- some "flags", the
identity of which are not determined, were present. It is also
stated that the shield "carries a label roundabout.",
without specifying the text but suggesting the reader to see the
given label painted below the shield.
A facsimile or image of the shield is known only from a XVI
century seal, dated 12 August 1568, which authorizes a document
from the San Juan Municipal Assembly, preserved in the Archives
of Seville. This seal follows faithfully the heraldic
organization described in the Royal Decree except in two details,
which are omitted: neither the "flags" nor the
"crosses of Jerusalem" appeared anywhere in or outside
the shield. In the circle where the seal label should be, it
rather appears a phrase written in Latin and identified by
Monsignor Vicente Marga as the shield label and saying:
"Gobernatores Inter Nos Rex Et Regina", which means
"The King and Queen govern us on a par" ("El Rey y
la Reina Nos Gobiernan a la Par"), where its meaning has to
do with the presence of both the letters F and Y, crowned, beside
the shield. Today, the label reads "Joannes est nomen
eius", which means "John is his name" ("Juan
es su nombre".)
San Juan City
Coat of Arms - The city of San Juan started using a
shield by the end of the XVI or the beginning of the XVII century
in which the Pascal Lamb (named sometimes the San Juan Lamb)
appeared as the main image. The shield differed in many ways to
the Puerto Rican Arms: its background was blue instead of green;
it has no orle or bordure; the lamb was standing in it over the
book and this placed over a green isle rising from the sea; and,
neither the F and initials, uncrowned, the ox-yoke nor the arrows
appeared in or outside the shield. The differences may have been
the result of either giving the capital city its own shield,
dissimilar to the Island's, or an unfruitful effort in
reproducing by way of memory the original shield of Puerto Rico.
We have to remember that the city of San Juan was once called
Puerto Rico of San Juan Bautista.
As time went by, the differences between both shields were being
accentuated. In the XVIII century: the book was concealed from
the San Juan shield; the isle presents a bay or a spring flowing
out, a symbol of baptism; the motto "Joannes est nomen
eius" is added; and, the F and I (Latin I) initials are
placed in or outside the blazon field, sometimes joined by the
ox-yoke and the sheaf of arrows.
The city of San Juan will keep using the shield during the XVIII
and XIX centuries, and the same shield will be used officially
since the beginning of the XIX century as the Arms of Puerto
Rico. It was not until 1899, following the war between Spain and
the United States and the occupation of the Island by the latter,
that several versions for a Puerto Rican Arms were presented to
the Military Governor, Brigadier General Geo W. Davis, as means
to appeal to the resurging idea to restore the primitive shield
of the Island. [Unfortunately, the page ends with an unfinished
sentence stating that one of the designs, from an unknown author,
merged the original San Juan City shield with. probably the XVIII
century one?]
The Current Coat of Arms - It was been in
used, from 1905 to 1976, a circular shield as a representative of
the Puerto Rican Arms. This round shield, our actual Puerto Rican
Seal, is a design of one of our most
important historian in the XIX century, Salvador Brau Asencio
(1842-1905), who held the post of Official Historian of Puerto
Rico from 1903 to his death.
The Constitution of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico of 1952 gives
the adjective "round" immediately after the phrase
"a green shield" to our official coat of arms,
appellative that does not appeared in the Royal Decree of 1815.
This addition made legally obligatory the representation of our
shield exclusively in the circular form, like Brau's design. This
disposition was contrary to any universal heraldic tradition and
limitative to the artistic freedom, making it impossible to give
the shield the type of opening outline that it originally had.
Twenty four years after, and giving attention to these concerns,
the word "round" from the Law of 1952 was suppressed by
way of Law No. 142, of 3 June 1976, which additionally amended it
resolving that Queen Isabella the Catholic's initial, which
appeared as a Latin I in the Law of 1952, be changed to the Greek
Y, as it was in the Royal Decree.
The approval of the Law of 1976 implied the recognition of the
existence of another version of the Puerto Rican Arms different
from Brau's. Two variants were presented from this new version.
(The article, named "Better Understanding Our Coat of
Arms", is written in present tense, so I may infer that it
was created very recent to the adoption of the Law of 1976.)
The first variant takes the concept of the shield done by the
Puerto Rican historian and heraldic Enrique T. Blanco and by the
Spanish heraldic José de Rújula, Marquee of Ciadoncha. Spanish
artist and resident of Puerto Rico Ismel D'Alzina made the
original drawing in 1952. (By the way, this is our current
official Coat of Arms.)
The second variant, very similar to the previous one, except in
some minor details, takes the concept of heraldic Roberto
Beascoechea Lota. Artist Lorenzo Homar made its original
illustrational drawing in 1958.
Both variants have been in continuing use (up until the late
1980's), even by official organizations like the Government, The
State Department, and the Puerto Rican Institute of Culture, the
first one since 1973 and the second one since 1958.
Let us see the points in which these variants (from a version
that is fundamentally the same) rectify and improve the pattern
of the shield (or seal) by Salvador Brau:
1.. The opening outline of the shield is not circular, like
Brau's, but "semi-round" (rectangular above and
semicircular below), as it pertained to the times in which the
shield was originated (especially the longer type, like
Blanco-Rújula's.) (This type of arrangement is also known here
as the Spanish Shield contour or outline; the shorter version of
Beascoechea to be more precise.)
2.. The flag carried by the lamb is not totally white but has a
red cross, unlike Brau's.
3.. The elements in the bordure follows the order pattern
originally established by the Decree, e.g., a. castle, b. lion,
c. flag, d. cross (or crosses) of Jerusalem, and not as Brau
places them: a. castle, b. cross, c. lion, d. flag.
4.. The bordure elements (of different colors) do not appear over
a uniformly colored surface, like Brau's, instead each one has a
distinct background color. Therefore, the castle, golden, goes
over a red field; the lion, red (or purple), over an argent
field; the flag, presumably over a red field; the crosses of
Jerusalem, red or golden, over an argent field.
5.. The F and Y initials, with their crowns, the ox-yoke and the
sheaf of arrows go outside the shield, by its sides, not inside
it, unlike Brau's.
6.. The motto (below the shield) goes also outside it.
7.. Over the shield lays a royal crown, uncovered.
There exist the following discrepancies among the supporters of
each one of the variants:
1.. Blanco, following Brau, places as the bordure flag one that
consists of 19 quarters, with the Arms of Castile, Leon, Aragon,
Sicily, and Granada. Rújula proposes the (swallowtail) quartered
flag of Castile-Leon. Beascoechea proposes the
"bisected" one of Aragon-Sicily. (I asked Santiago
Dotor a long time ago if he knew something about the historical
validity of any 19 quarters Spanish flag, to which he answered in
the negative. I still wonder where Salvador Brau got this flag
version).
2.. Brau, Blanco and Rújula place as the bordure cross a sole
red potent cross (a reduction of the Order of the Holy Sepulcher
ensign, that consists of a red potent cross joined at its angles
by another four smaller, simple crosses.
3.. Beascoechea proposes the quintuple cross of the Latin kingdom
of Jerusalem as the bordure flag, of identical design to the Holy
Sepulcher ensign, with golden, not red crosses.
4.. Brau, Blanco and Rújula accept as motto the phrase
"Joannes est nomen eius", which is no other than the
motto of the San Juan Cathedral, as stated by Torres Vargas, in
opposition to Monsignor Vicente Murga's motto, described
previously.
5.. The Pascal Lamb appears looking backward in Beascoechea's
version over the book that has all the seven seals in its frontal
side (my addition.) It was not until the late 1980's that a new
Law made the Blanco-Rújula version the official Coat of Arms of
Puerto Rico, during the Governorship of Rafael Hernández Colón.
Blas Delgado Ortiz, 3 Febuary 2004
It was Joanna I who granted the arms along with her father,
Ferdinand the Catholic; the PR arms were granted in 1511, so
obviously they could not have been granted by Isabel I, since she
had died in 1504.
The Cross of Jerusalem has nothing to do with the Reconquest, but
is instead the symbol of the Kingdom of Jerusalem established by
the crusaders of the First Crusade. The rights of succession
passed to the Crown of Sicily, which eventually came to belong to
the Crown of Aragon. Its presence in the Coat of Arms is
therefore due to the fact that Ferdinand II of Aragon and V of
Castile was also Ferdinand III of Sicily.
Juan Jose Morales, 8 March 2009 and 9 April 2009
1899.jpg)
image by Blas Delgado Ortiz, 2 January 2005
From the chapter “To Better Understand Our Shield”,
from the softbound book “Los Símbolos Oficiales de Puerto
Rico” (“The Official Symbols of Puerto Rico”), by
Editorial Cordillera: “Two designs have reached us. The
first one, whose author is unknown, combined the San Juan City
original shield (the one with the standing-over-the-book Lamb,
and this over an island) with the bordure of Puerto Rico’s
Arms, heraldically very badly conceived, in which, aside the
castles and lions, a yellow flag charged with the Castile-Leon
shield also appeared (See the image above).
The second version is owed to investigations made by historian
Salvador Brau many years before in Seville. He saw the minute
draft or copy of the Royal Cedula of 1508 (without the drawing)
at the Archives of the Indies. He also discovered an
“ecclesiastical document” from 1580 with the Puerto
Rico blazon, which he copied and brought back with him to the
island. Both elements helped him to formulate his interpretation
regarding the content and organization of our coat of arms. His
circular version and a brief were submitted to the Governor in 18
November, 1899. ”This version became later our Seal. Incredibly, this seal was made finally
official by Law No.7 of 8 August 1952.
Blas Delgado Ortiz, 2 January 2005
1902.gif)
image by Blas Delgado Ortiz, 3 Febuary 2004
In 1901, under the government of William H. Hunt, a commission
was created to choose a new Coat of Arms for Puerto Rico. The new
shield was approved in March 1902 and designed by Tiffany
Jewelers of New York. This shield should represent the historical
and political condition of Puerto Rico in those times.
The public opinion reacted against that shield because, happening
to be a very religious people and having the same Spanish roots,
they do not accept that the Puerto Rican shield, given by the
Catholic Sovereigns in 1511, should be changed, because it
represents that same fervent character. There were also those who
think that the shield was praising our political condition with
the United States.
Regis H. Post, President of the House of the Executive Counsel,
presented, in 1905, a project to reestablish the old Coat of Arms
given by Spain in 1511, but it was rejected. José de Diego
presented a similar project in the House of Delegates that was
approved and made law in the Executive Counsel and signed by the
current Governor. The shield used between 1902 and 1905 was known
as the Intruder Shield.
Probable meaning of this shield First, it has to be made clear
that this shield was obtained in black and white in the web page
<www.boricuazo.com>
and that its colors were given according to some facts found in
poems and in heraldic data describing how these colors should be.
Therefore, it could be possible someday to find this shield with
some differing details.
Crowning the shield is a Spanish schooner that symbolizes the
Spanish conquest as well as the fact that Puerto Rico was once a
Spanish territory.
The chief has a blue rectangle with red and argent stripes
running downward that represents the United States of America.
The shield outline, a Federal Shield, also reminds the USA. The
base represents Puerto Rico, an island from which the sun arises
and the sea. This conveys our tropical location, and the sun
tells of a new dawn for Puerto Rico.
Below the shield appears a scroll with the Latin motto:
"Prospera Lux Oritur", which means
"Prosperity, Light and Dawn."
Defacing the chief is a caduceus, considered a Banner of Peace,
Harmony, Commerce and Health, which means keeping peace by
exercising power with prudence and fruitful activity. It stands
for the power and force to continue on.
The olive wreaths and the three wheat boughs beside the caduceus
stand for peace, and abundance, prosperity and progress,
respectively.
The Hermes wings above the caduceus stands for peace, harmony and
friendship.
The Liberty Cap between the wings means liberty flying over all
beings.
Blas Delgado Ortiz, 3 Febuary 2004
image by Blas Delgado Ortiz , 4 March 2000
I have this book, which I have mentioned before, with the
information that I think is mistaken. The book is titled:
"FLAGS OF ALL NATIONS" by Cleveland H. Smith and
Gertrude R. Taylor, pub. by Thomas Y. Crowell Compnay, NYC, NY,
1946, 1947.
The book shows the rounded
shield of Puerto Rico on a white field, in the center, as the
Governor-General's flag.
Steve Stringfellow, 12 August 1997
This is regarding the seal appearing in the Puerto Rico home
page and wrongly designated the Governor General’s Seal.
There is no such thing as a Governor General in Puerto Rico, as
in the British Commonwealth of Nations. Just simply Governor.
The round seal is in fact the Seal of the Commonwealth of Puerto
Rico, or Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, instituted
in 1953, and not to be confused with the Coat of Arms. The
Governor of Puerto Rico put it in display in front of him every
time he gives an official speech. In those instances, the seal
circunscribed with the inscription "GOBERNADOR DE PUERTO
RICO" is used. In official documents, the seal circunscribed
with "GOBIERNO DE PUERTO RICO" in a white circular band
is used today. The inscription originally read "ESTADO LIBRE
ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO."
Blas Delgado Ortiz, 4 March 2000
This is the official seal of Puerto Rico given by Spain in the
early XVI century. In Latin it says "John is its name"
since Puerto Rico was initially the name of the city 'rich port',
and the island was called Saint John the Baptist, thus San Juan.
The city and island names were flipped later since travelers
would always say they were traveling to Puerto Rico when going to
the island.
Wesley Rosario, 31 October 2007
The seal of the Senate of
Puerto Rico is the same one that the one of the government of
Puerto Rico. Just that in the upper part, the word Senado
(Senate) is written and in the lower part is written Estado Libre
Asociado de Puerto Rico (Commonwealth of Puerto Rico).
The seal of the House of
Representatives is just as the same of the Senate, but its color
is yellow and above of the seal it says Camara de Representante
(House of Representatives) and below is written Estado Libre
Asociado de Puerto Rico (Commonwealth of Puerto Rico).
The seal of the
Judicial Branch - above of the seal is written Estado Libre
Asociado de Puerto Rico (Commonwealth of Puerto Rico) and in the
lower part: Tribunal General de Justicia (General Court of
Justice).
Nelson L. Roman, 6 November 2003
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