Last modified: 2006-04-01 by phil nelson
Keywords: sweden | oland | deer |
Links: FOTW homepage |
search |
disclaimer and copyright |
write us |
mirrors
See also:
This is the flag of the province �land, which is an island situated off the east coast just outside Sm�land. It is a banner of arms, just like all Swedish provinces have.
The arms of �land were granted in 1560, at the funeral of King Gustav I. The choice of the charge, a deer, was probably made because there were royal hunting grounds on �land. It was finally decided at the revised grant of the arms in 1944, that the necklace of the deer, which it has not always had in images of the arms, should be present. The necklace is supposed to have been put there to mark the animal as royal game.
The only difference between the arms of �land and the arms of �land in Finland, is the necklace and that the �land deer may be armed gules.
I have based the image on those of county flags made by Mello Luchtenberg.
Made some work myself to make them look nice in this size, though. I also used
the images in Ny svensk vapenbok [nev92]
as a reference for this work.
Elias Granqvist, 26 January 2001
I read about these coat of arms that Swedish �land and Finnish
Aland exchanged their coats of arms about 1600. The coat
of arms of �land became coat of arms of Aland and the coat of arms of Aland became
coat of arms of �land (until 1884). After 1884 �land readopted "old" coat of arms.
Victor Lomantsov, 24 December 2000
As the island provinces of �land and �land had arms that looked very much the same, had names that looked and sounded very much the same (the Swedish letter �, an A with a ring over it, will to a foreigner probably sound like an O) and both lied within the Swedish realm, they were probably mixed up by people � often foreigners � who were to paint the Swedish provincial coats of arms. The exchange around 1600 was therefore probably caused by a misunderstanding.
What was granted to �land in the revised grant of 1884, was the version with two deer (originally �land). The reversion to the original arms of �land was made at the revised armorial grant of 1944.
The Swedish heraldic authority wanted to revert to the original arms, and wanted the Finnish to do the same (Finland, including �land, was since 1809 not a part of Sweden anymore), but the Finnish wanted the arms of �land to stay the way they had been for the last centuries. Thus, the arms of �land and the arms of �land today look almost the same.
On �land however, the arms are � as far as I know � not used as a flag (banner of arms), though it could be used as such. Instead, they use their flag with a Scandinavian cross.
Sources:
� C. Nev�us/B.J. de W�rn: Ny svensk vapenbok, 1992 [nev92],
p. 32
� Meddelanden fr�n Riksheraldiker�mbetet IX, 1940 [mdd],
pp. 56ff
Elias Granqvist, 25 and 27 December 2000
Official blazon in Swedish: "I bl�tt f�lt en g�ende hjort av guld med r�tt halsband och r�d bev�ring, d�rest s�dan skall komma till anv�ndning."
Blazoned in English: "Azure a Deer Or attired, hoofed and gorged Gules."
English blazon by Željko Heimer, 31 September 2000