Coat of arms of the Hohenstaufen family
| Coat of arms of the Hohenstaufen family | |
|---|---|
Originally, the coat of arms of the Hohenstaufen family consisted of a shield or, charged with three lions passant (or lions leopardés) sable, placed one above the other. Without altering the figures or arrangement, at least two other blazons can be found for this coat of arms. Less well-known than the previous one, these differ only in their tinctures. The first blazon describes a shield argent, charged with three lions passant gules, placed one above the other, while the second presents a shield or, charged with three lions passant gules placed one above the other | |
| Shield | Or, three lions passant (or lions leopardés) sable, placed one above the other. |
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.