The lion in
Nordic heraldry is
quite common in Western Europe, and several European countries incorporate it
into their national coats of arms. In Nordic heraldry, the lion is first-found
in the coat of arms of Denmark in the later part of the 12th century. Starting
in the 12th century, the territory of today's Finland was gradually
incorporated into the Swedish kingdom, and this coincided with the period when
coats of arms first came into use in northern Europe. The first known use of
the lion in Sweden was on the royal seals of Erik Knutsson (died 1216)
and Erik Eriksson (1216–50), who used two and three lions on their seal,
respectively. The first king of the Folkunga family, Valdemar Birgersson
(1239–1302), also used 3 lions on his seal (Figure 2).
Finland as a
duchy. Bengt
Birgersson, the first Duke of Finland (1254–91,
Duke from 1284 until 1291), and Valdemar Magnusson, the second Duke
(died 1318, Duke of Finland from 1302 until 1317), both used the later Folkunga
coat of arms, which was a crowned lion rampant with three bends sinister, the
main difference being that Valdemar's arms had the field strewn with hearts.
This version of the arms was quite similar to the modern coat of arms of
Finland, but the lion did not yet brandish any weapon. My Dear friend Pia gave me this FDC.
