Coat of arms of Hungary

Coat of arms of Hungary Magyarország címere
Details
Armiger	Hungary
Adopted	3 July 1990 (20th century)
Crest	Holy Crown of Hungary
Escutcheon	Barry of eight Gules and Argent, impaling Gules, on a trimount Vert a ducal coronet Or issuing therefrom a Patriarchal cross Argent

The current coat of arms of Hungary was reinstated on July 3, 1990, after the end of communist rule. The arms have been used before, both with and without the Holy Crown of Hungary, sometimes as part of a larger, more complex coat of arms, and its elements date back to the Middle Ages.

The shield is split into two parts:

The most common motifs of the ninth and the early tenth centuries -the griffin, wolf and hind- seldom figure in later Hungarian iconography and heraldic symbolism, however the Hawk or Turul which in shamanistic lore rested upon the tree of life connecting the earth with the netherworld and the skies preserved for longer as a device belonging to the ruling house.

The double cross was thought to have been given to Stephen I by the pope as the symbol of the apostolic Kingdom of Hungary. Today, the most accepted theory is that it derives from Byzantine influence, as the cross appeared around 1190 during the reign of Béla III, who was raised in the Byzantine court. The cross appears floating in the coat of arms and on the coins from this era.

The red and white stripes were the symbol of the Árpáds, the dynasty of the first Hungarian kings (1000-1301), and they were first used in the coat of arms in 1202 on one of Emeric's seal. This seal did not include the double cross, only the stripes, and there were nine lions on the white stripes. In the Golden Bull of Andrew II there were only seven lions facing each other. In the middle of the stripes linden leaves were depicted. This coat of arms was used for a short time only; Béla IV used the one with the double cross again.

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Wikipedia