The Romanovs were the second ruling dynasty in Russia. The coat of arms of these rulers was founded at the beginning of the accession of the family - at the dawn of the 17th century. Over the course of several centuries, it changed, until finally, in the middle of the 19th century, a decision was made to create the official symbol of the imperial house.
Ideas of autocratic power
The emergence of the coat of arms of the Romanovs should be considered in the context of the development of social and political thought in the medieval history of our country. The fact is that the majority of domestic rulers were characterized by the conviction that the autocratic monarchical form of government was the original, the only legal and correct one in the Russian land. The rulers each time erected their genealogy to the ancient rulers of Byzantium, from where they subsequently took the coat of arms.
The symbol of the eagle, which holds the scepter and orb, was the most expressive sign of the embodiment of this idea of autocratic power. Therefore, this coat of arms existed for quite a long time almost without any changes. Innovations concerned only some attributes, but the symbolism itself (and most importantly, its ideologicalmeaning) remained the same. Therefore, with the coming to power of a new dynasty, it received official registration.
Symbols at the beginning of the reign
Immediately after the end of the Time of Troubles, a new dynasty came to power in the country - the Romanovs. The coat of arms of these rulers at first repeated the traditional components of the previous princes and kings. As is known, they used the double-headed eagle borrowed from Byzantium as an official sign. This figure was the coat of arms during the reign of the first tsars of the new dynasty: Mikhail Fedorovich and Alexei Mikhailovich. They took the symbol for their home as well.
The composition has undergone some changes over time. However, they were not of a fundamental nature. For example, sometimes the eagle was depicted with two heads, and at other times with three. In the first case, the third crown was in the middle, between them. In the second, she crowned another figure of an eagle. In his paws he held in some cases a scepter and an orb, in others a sword. Thus, the Romanovs, whose coat of arms has not undergone fundamental changes for several centuries, retained the traditional symbolism for the entire period of their reign.
History of the new character
It is indicative that the reigning imperial house decided to create its own symbol when the process of forming the heraldic system of noble families was already completed in our country. In the middle of the 19th century, the Romanovs also made a decision to establish the original symbolism. The coat of arms was commissioned to be created by an invited German specialist in heraldry, Baron B. V. Kene. He was in charge of the relevant department in our country. He also owns the authorship of the famous Russian flag with black, yellow and white colors. As a basis, he took a drawing from the personal banner of the boyar Nikita Romanov, who belonged to the reigning dynasty.
Description of the banner
The canvas depicted the figure of a griffin - a symbol traditional in princely and royal life for quite a long time. So, on the royal ladles and other things, a corresponding image was found. Therefore, some experts conclude that, perhaps, the boyar borrowed this symbol for his banner. However, there is another version of the origin of the image. The fact is that the coat of arms of the Romanovs, the description of which is difficult because the banner itself has not been preserved, in addition to the griffin, also had the figure of a small black eagle. Some historians explain its appearance by borrowing that the boyar made, becoming for some time the ruler of the Livonian city, on the coins of which there was a corresponding drawing.
Origin of the symbol
There is also a point of view that the appearance of the figure of a black eagle is associated with legends about the Prussian origin of the descendants of this dynasty. Some researchers believe that the coat of arms of the Romanov dynasty is directly related to the latter circumstance. The fact is that ancient Russian sources have preserved information that one of the first representatives of thisan ancient family was the boyar Andrey Kobyla. He had Prussian roots. This boyar came to the service of the Moscow prince Ivan Kalita. And since then, the rise of this kind began. Therefore, many scientists believe that the appearance of a black eagle on a heraldic shield is a reference to the Prussian origin of the first representatives of this noble family.
Official design
Emperor Alexander II entrusted the creation of a new symbol to Baron Kene. He took as a basis, as mentioned above, a drawing from a canvas of a boyar. The griffin, which is depicted on the coat of arms of the Romanovs, was saved by him. However, the author changed its color from gold to orange-buff. This was done in order to comply with the rules of heraldry adopted in Western European countries at the time in question.
The fact is that there was a tradition: if the main figure on the heraldic shield was made in the color of metals, gold or silver, then the field should have been in other colors. And vice versa. If the field was gold or silver, then the figure should not have been of these colors. So it was in this case. On the banner of the boyar, the griffin was golden, drawn against the background of a silver field. Therefore, Baron Kene changed the color of the figure to ocher. Perhaps this was the only change he made to the composition. Otherwise, the author has retained the previous structure.
Description
The coat of arms of the Romanovs, the photo of which is presented in this article, consists of a silver heraldic shield. Inside is a figure of a griffinwith a shield in its paw, on top of which is a small black eagle. On the sides are lion heads of gold and silver colors against a dark background. The design, in principle, remained traditional.
Sometimes this shield is included in the coat of arms of the Russian Empire framed by black eagles topped with imperial crowns with a scepter and orb. And sometimes another large crown is placed on top. Officially, the new symbol was approved in 1856 by Alexander II. Thus, the question of who is depicted on the coat of arms of the Romanov family has deep historical roots and is associated with the medieval history of Russian princes and tsars.
Relationship with other genera
In the light of the foregoing, one more important circumstance should be noted, namely the fact that some noble families also descended from Prussian roots. And so the black eagle is also found on their coats of arms. In this regard, the image on the heraldic shield of this figure is quite traditional. Moreover, the double-headed eagle has always been considered the official emblem of this royal house.
