Facts about the historical coat of arms of Serbia

Day 696, 12:13 • Published in Serbia Serbia • by Ministarstvo informisanja


Facts about the historical coat of arms of Serbia
This article is the answer to the warning sent by the game admins to our Ministry of Defense. In the said warning, the admins said that the official coat of arms, as used in RL by the Serbian Army, was a "flaming avatar image", meaning that it may offend other players. Since one of my interest is heraldry, and I did substantial research in the past, I will quickly present the historical background of the national coat of arms of my country based on the renowned published literature and other sources.

Double-headed eagle was adopted in the medieval Serbia under the Byzantine influence. It can be seen on the frescoes as an embroidery on the clothes of the Serbian royal family members. (Alexander Solovyev, "The History of the Serbian coat of arms" (195😎, page 130 and J. Kovacevic, "Medieval Clothes of the Slavs in the Balkans" (1953), pages 19-97 and 183-210). Evidence:


Golden double-headed eagles on the clothes of King Stefan I (1196-1217): Monastery Ljeviska fresco painting

During the reign of the Emperor Dusan Stefan Nemanjic (1331-1345), the double-headed eagle can be seen on everyday objects and state related documents, such as vax stamps and proclamations. In 1339, the Catalan map maker, A. Dulcert, in his map of the known world, marks the capital of Serbia in Skopje with the (red) double-headed eagle flag (Alexander Solovyev, "The History of the Serbian coat of arms" (195😎, pages 134-135). Evidence:


Capital of Serbia marked with the double-headed eagle

The donations list in the Church of St. Nicholas in Bari (Italy), mentions the gifts from the medieval Serbian kings "that have royal emblem: the double-headed eagle" (A.C. Fox-Davies, "A Complete Guide to Herladry" (1985), London, page 303). Evidence:


The ring of Queen Teodora

The double-headed eagle was adopted as the Serbian coat of arms by the succeeding royal family, the Lazarevics. The stamp on the proclamation to the Monastery of Milesava by Despot Stefan has this symbol between bull horns which was the family crest (A. Ivic, "Old Serbian Stamps and coat of arms" (1910), page 30). Evidence:



The north wall of the medieval Monastery Chilandar, built by Prince Lazar in 1380, has the family crest (helmet with the bull horns) and the state coat of arms (the double-headed eagle). Evidence:



After the Ottoman invasion and subsequent occupation that lasted for 500 years, the double-headed eagle was forbidden to be used by the Ottoman invaders as it was a symbol of the free and independent Serbian state. By that time, the cross with four fire-steels ("oscila") came into use as another symbol of the Serbian identity as it was used on the coat of arms of the Mrnjavcevics family, one of the nobility families during the medieval times.

Early Principality of Serbia starts using this another symbol as of 1819 which was combined with the double-headed eagle as the single coat of arms in 1882, when the Constitution of the Kingdom of Serbia was proclaimed. Newly accepted medals, also featured this state coat of arms in 1882. Evidence:


The white eagle medal from 1882

From that year, the white double-headed eagle holds a red shield with a white cross and four opposite fire-steels was the official state insignia and coat of arms. It was featured on numerous objects and buildings:


Serbian flag from the World War I


Cigarettes box given to the Romanian king by the King Alexander (Kingdom of Serbs, Slovenes and Croats).

In 2004, the Serbian parliament adopted the new constitution that reinstated the historical flag, coat of arms and anthem of Serbia. This is the section about that on the official website of the Serbian government: http://www.srbija.gov.rs/pages/article.php?id=5412

Quote from the website: "On August 17, 2004, the Parliament of Serbia voted unanimously to adopt a recommendation for the use of the coat-of-arms, flag, and national anthem of Serbia. According to the recommendation, the coat-of-arms is a double-headed white eagle with a shield, a cross, four firesteels, and the crown of the Nemanjic dynasty.

The national flag is a tricolour (red, blue, and white) with horizontal stripes, while the state flag of Serbia is the same tricolour but with a small coat-of-arms located left of centre by one-seventh of the length of the flag."


Republic of Serbia's official coat of arms

To conclude, I think I can say this on behalf of every single Serbian player in the eRepublik, as well as any other player who understands and respects national symbols of a country: everyone is entitled to use his or her national, historical and state symbols. They represent a country, historical legacy, tradition we are all proud of.

I firmly believe that all of us, including game admins, do not want to offend or deny any individual or nation to express their own national identity. That is why I consider this "warning" as an unthoughtful omission that will be clarified promptly with the adequate apology to all of us that may felt offended.

Thank you,


dr.doom
Information minister of the Serbian eGovernment