Medieval and Manuscripts

Coat of arms of the Hohenstaufen family

The coat of arms of the Hohenstaufen family, or the arms traditionally associated with the Hohenstaufen dynasty and, therefore, with Swabia, consists of three lions passant sable, placed on a field or. Following the imperial investiture, the insignia underwent a radical transformation, which involved the introduction of the eagle sable as the main element of the coat of arms. Placed in a field or, the eagle became, in its multiple variants and incarnations, the emblem of the Empire, not only for the Hohenstaufen but also for the subsequent dynasties. Placed, instead, in a field argent, it came to represent the Kingdom of Sicily: defined, indeed, as the arms of Swabia-Sicily, this insignia outlived the House of Hohenstaufen and, quartered with the Bars of Aragon, became the arms of Aragon-Sicily, or, from the heraldic and historical point of view, the coat of arms most representative of the island.

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See also

• ▸Geoffrey Webb (artist)
• ▸James Greenway
• ▸Giulio Clovio

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