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Excerpt from the book HERALDRY OF THE WORLD Written and illustrated by Carl Alexander von Volborth ,
K.St.J., A.I.H. Copenhagen 1973 Internet version edited by Andrew Andersen, Ph.D. |
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Finland (pp.
146-147, 227-229) Finland was until 1809 a part of the
Kingdom of Sweden, and heraldry developed on broadly the same lines as in
Sweden (see p. 223), as shown by the examples given in the pages of coloured
plates for Finland. The canting or allusive arms for the
genuinely Finnish Horn family, which is of ancient lineage (Fig. 786), go
right back to the Middle Ages, and the same is true of the city arms of Borga
(Fig. 785). The charge in the latter represents: either a steel for striking
fire or the letter C, for Castellum
(Latin for 'castle', Finnish: borg).
The arms for the Egentliga Finland (Fig. 781) were created in 1557 for
Gustavus Vasa's son John as Duke of Finland, and the Savolax arms (Fig. 783)
form one of the arms of the provinces instituted at Gustavus Vasa's funeral
in 1560 to illustrate the extent of the Vasa realm. In modern times it is
also the arms for the Kuopio laen.
The coat of arms of Finland (Fig. 782) goes
back to e. 1580 and was no doubt meant as a political demonstration in heraldic
terms. Duke John had in 1568 become King John III of Sweden. There was
personal enmity between him and Czar Ivan the Terrible in Moscow. In 1581
John III took the title of Grand Duke of Finland, and it was about the same
time that the coat of arms was designed whose contents were easily understood
by all and sundry: the lion (as in Sweden's original Folkunga arms) defending
himself with his straight sword while trampling the Muscovite curved sabre
underfoot. The white roses on the shield were presumably only meant as
ornamentation, without symbolic importance, but later they were construed as
representing Finland's nine provinces.
The two city arms (Figs 784 and 790) go
back to the first half of the seventeenth century. Vasa received its arms in
1611; the charge, a DAM, is taken from the armorial bearings of the Swedish
royal family, from which its name also comes. The Cross of Liberty was
bestowed on the city in 1918 to commemorate the fact that during the War of
Liberation of 1917—18 it was the first seat of government of the new state.
The arms of Helsingfors (Helsinki) (Fig. 784) date from 1639.
In 1809 Russia conquered Finland. The Czar
became Grand Duke of Finland and Finland's lion was included among the arms
which decorated the Czar's double-headed eagle (see Fig. 808).
During the Swedish period there was no
fundamental difference between the Finnish nobility and the Swedish, and the
Finnish aristocracy had its seat in the Riddarhus
in Stockholm. After separating from Sweden the aristocracy domiciled in
Finland established c. 1818 its own riddarhus,
the membership of which was gradually increased by nobles who had become
naturalised or raised to the aristocracy by the Czar. Ennoblement continued
right up to 1912. The Russian influence on heraldry was
slight. It was most noticeable in civic heraldry where it was later to be
more or less eradicated (on purely heraldic and aesthetic grounds). This reflects the great interest in
heraldry, and especially the feeling for good modern heraldry, which has
characterised Finland ever since the country won its independence in 1917,
and to an even greater extent since the Second World War. The last generation
or so has seen a growing interest in heraldry, especially civic, in all the
European countries, but in no other country has this been so intense or
produced such good results as in Finland. As mentioned above some city arms
in Finland go back to the seventeenth century and some parish seals date
right back to the sixteenth. A number of civic arms - especially of larger
towns and market towns - appeared in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries,
but most civic arms, including those of rural districts, were created in the
last twenty years. Two examples of these can be seen in Figs 789 and 791.
Nowadays all councils - borough, county and rural district — in Finland have
armorial bearings, now totalling 365, probably a situation unique in the
whole world.
Other fields of heraldry are being studied
and developed, such as military heraldry (standards etc.) and family arms
(Figs 787 and 788).
There are two heraldic societies: one is purely
Finnish, the Suomen Heraldinen Seura, c/o OlofEriksson, Gravlingsvagen 6 D
57, Hertonas; the other is a branch of the general Scandinavian Heraidiske
Selskab (see p. 220), c/o Bo Tennberg, Loveret 1, Jakobstad. ________________________ PS.: For those who can read in Russian, the
below book may be interesting as well because it covers the mottoes in both
Finnish and Russian heraldry: ГЕРБОВЫЕ
ДЕВИЗЫ
РУССКАГО,
ПОЛЬСКАГО,
ФИНЛЯНДСКАГО
И ПРИБАЛТIИЙСКАГО
ДВОРЯНСТВА C.H. Тройницкiй Изд. Сiриусъ,
С-Петербургъ
1910 |
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