Rampant Lion?

[spyk136]

Does anyone have any information on the Rampant Lion? Whats does it symbolize, its meaning, or whats it significance to scottish heritage? Any information would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

[ANDY-J2]

The Lion Rampant flag is in fact the ancient heraldic emblem of the King of Scots and therefore it should technically only be used by royalty.It was supposedly first used in the 12th century by King William the Lyon.

[spyk136]

okay but does anyone know what it means? strength? bravery? courage? i mean probably since it's a lion at least some of those things, any info would be great. thanks.

[HollyElise]

Spyk, i think the meaning attached is variable. Families designed their own coat of arms orginally (if i'm not mistaken,) and standardizing meanings happened after the fact. It's hard for me to imagine heralds of different countries communicating with each other and standardizing the meanings between countries! There are some meanings i'm aware of, though, like a fleur-de-lea commonly referring to the third son in a family.

One of these links explains that the Lion Rampant was often used because the position of the lion fits the shape of a sheild rather well. The pictoral meaning of a raging lion is fairly self-explanitory to what was a largely illiterate world... Lion Rampant = tough guys. I don't think this is unlike the way gangs find names and symbols today.

Here are two general links on heraldry, each followed by their links on lions...

http://www.rarebooks.nd.edu/digital/heraldry/

http://www.rarebooks.nd.edu/digital/...ges/lions.html

http://www.demon.co.uk/apl385/gilling/herldref.htm

http://www.demon.co.uk/apl385/gilling/hlion.htm

[Sakhu]

Hello,
Andy J-2 is correct. The Rampant Lion symbolises ancient royal house of Scotland which started with the House of Canmore. In 1070 about, Queen Saint Margaret married King Melcolm 111 Canmore. They had four sons together. David was the youngest. David became King David 1, the Saint. It was through his invention of the Lion Rampant in the 1st and 4th quarters of his sheild that became the Royal Scottish Standard.

In the 2nd and 3rd quarters of his shield there was identical castle triple tower on a rock proper. The lion Rampant was only adopted by King William the Lion from his grandfather's coat of arms. King David 1 of Scotland who gave Edinburgh the status of Burgh in 1130, six years after he created his coat of arms in 1124. He gave Edinburge it's arms which were taken originally from the 2nd and 3rd quarters of his coat.

The castle triple tower over a rock proper, represents Edinburgh Castle, and the town of Edinburgh below the castle where the town grew up around from David's time. This is also the town mark still used today on Silver. Infact it's the only town mark on Scottish silver still in use today.

I have the actual coat of arms of David the saint in Solid silver from 1124. The entire set includes 30 pieces so far which have been discovered. All these silver pieces were part of the silver service used to celebrate King David's 1 of Scotland corination to the throne. The set includes 3.5 in goblets with coat of arms, 5" goblets with coat of arms, champagn with coat of arms, dessert with coat of arms, and big silver bowls. They were taken out of the Edinburgh Castle after the fire which destroyed Queen Mary's Chambers in 1830.

They were brought to America in l951 by Aurthur Corbell via route of Japan, where cases were made for some of the smallest goblets. Corbell passed the hallmark on these ancient silver relics as his own to start Corbell and Company in America. He became an international sucess in the silver antique reproduction business there after. However, in the beginning he boxed some relics with his castle triple tower trade mark, similar to the town mark of Edinburgh, and actually sold the relics from Edinburgh Castle as reproductions of silversmiths from the early 1800's all over major cities in the U.S.A.

This year is the 400th "Union of the Crowns" James V1, of Scotland, later became King James 1 of England. In 1603 he united England Scotland and Ireland in what later became the United Kingdom of Great Britain. Technically, making Scotland rule over England. But to keep the peace, King James changed his coat of arms to put England first in the 1st and 4th quarters of the Shield. However technically the arms of modern Royality are not in line with heredity of the ancient house. Technically the Royal standard should include the Lion Rampant in 2 quarters, the 1st and the 4th instead of just the second as James created it.

The reason for King James to do this may lie in the mystery of the mysterious fire that distroyed Queen Mary's chambers in the first place. Visit sites like the "Edinburgh Military tatoo, and read up on the fire, maybe from this you will get a gist of what really happened back in Queen mary's time.

Anyone interested can write to me for a private view of these ancient arms
Sakhuluv@yahoo.com