Vivar del Riego, J. A.; 2007

José Antonio Vivar del Riego, Diplomado en Genealogía Heráldica y Nobiliaria, «El Blasón Escrito: La Historia de los Libros de Heráldica», lecture, 31^st of May of 2007.

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Bibliographical reference of century XXI.

The author is Vivar del Riego, José Antonio.

External resource:

• National Library of Spain.

Internal resources: VivarDelRiegoJA2007.HistoriaLibrosHeraldica.pdf.

Gules, three lions, passant, guardant, in pale Or, armed and langued Azure.

Escudo de gules, tres leopardos en palo de oro, armados y lampasados de azur.

Existing armorial bearings interpreted as follows: the shape of the shield is pointed and rounded; the field has been enamelled in flat Gules; the three leopards are outlined in Sable and illuminated in metal Or with details in Azure; and the whole composition has a watercolor finish..

In [Humphery-Smith, C.; 1983; paragraph 2] the coat of arms of Eleanor Plantagenet, Queen Consort of Castile, is described, as part of an analysis on the origin of the three leopards in the coat of arms of England. However, in this description, an error is made by replacing the V with an X in the numeral of her husband and king, thus naming Alfonso VIII of Castile as if he were King Alfonso XIII: «Eleanor who married Alfonso XIII, King of Castile and Leon, has depicted on her tomb in the Huelgas monastery of the Cistercian nuns at Burgos, a thirteenth-century shield depicting three crowned leopards (lions passant guardant) gold on red».

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Blazon keywords: Without divisions, Gules, Or, Azure, Three, Leopard, Armed, Langued and In pale.

Style keywords: Pointed and rounded, Illuminated, Outlined in sable and Watercolor.

Classification: Interpreted, Personal, Coat of arms, House of Plantagenet, Kingdom of England and Kingdom of Castile.

Bearer: Leonor Plantagenet.

Princess of England and Queen Consort of Castile from 1170 to 1214.

Gules, three lions, passant, guardant, in pale Or, armed and langued Azure. Crest: An open royal crown Or.

Escudo de gules, tres leopardos en palo de oro, armados y lampasados de azur. Timbrado de una corona real abierta.

Armorial bearings of the queen interpreted by me as follows: the shape of the shield is pointed and rounded; both the field, the three leopards, and the open royal crown have been enamelled with flat tints of gules and metal or, with details in azure, vert, and metal argent; the three leopards and the crown are outlined in sable; and the whole composition has a watercolor finish.

She was the daughter of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine, wife of Alfonso VIII of Castile, and mother of 10 children documented in historical records, with her eldest daughter being Queen Berenguela of Castile.

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Blazon keywords: Without divisions, Gules, Or, Azure, Three, Leopard, Armed, Langued, In pale, Crest, Open royal crown and Crown.

Style keywords: Pointed and rounded, Plain tincture, Outlined in sable and Watercolor.

Classification: Interpreted, Personal, Coat of arms, House of Plantagenet, Kingdom of England and Kingdom of Castile.

Bearer: Leonor Plantagenet.

[ Gules, a castle triple towered Or, port and windows Azure, masoned Sable ] accolé with [ Gules, three lions, passant, guardant, in pale Or, armed and langued Azure ].

[ Escudo de gules, un castillo de oro, aclarado de azur, mazonado de sable ] acolado de un [ escudo de gules, tres leopardos en palo de oro, armados y lampasados de azur ].

Arms of the King and Queen of Castile interpreted with: the escutcheons' shapes pointed and rounded; the field of each shield, the castle, and the three leopards enamelled in flat tints of Gules and metal Or, with windows, claws, and tongues in Azure; and the whole composition finished with a raised line technique.

[Medél, R.; 1846; page 38] provides a heraldic description of the leopard.

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Blazon keywords: Without divisions, Gules, Or, Azure, Three, Leopard, Armed, Langued, In pale, Sable, One, Castle, Port and windows and Masoned.

Style keywords: Pointed and rounded, Plain tincture, Outlined in sable, Tilted shield and Freehand.

Classification: Interpreted, Personal, Accolé arms, House of Plantagenet, Kingdom of England and Kingdom of Castile.

Bearer: Leonor Plantagenet.

Round seal, a lion sejant. Circular motto: «Signum Fernandi Regis Hispanorum».

Sello rodado, un león sentado. Divisa circular: «Signum Fernandi Regis Hispanorum».

Existing seal interpreted by me as follows: the shape of the seal is circular; the motto is written in sable on its outer ring; inside, a seated lion that begins to be rampant and will eventually become so; y the whole rendered in flat sable ink; y the result is an impression in azure ink.

For the outline of the lion I have followed the round seal of the king in his «Charter of Benavente» [Fernando II de León; 1167], in which I consider the lion to be seated; although it could also be interpreted as rampant, or as intending to be so, as it will ultimately appear in the arms of his son, King Alfonso IX of León.

For the delineation of the motto I have followed the round seal of the king in his «Charter of the Alfoz of Benavente» [Fernando II de León; 1181], in which the lion, unlike the previous one, is clearly in a passant posture.

In [Martín Fuertes, J. A.; 2002] four other round seals of King Fernando II of León can be consulted:

• from the year 1160 (A.C. de León, number 4168) with a lion passant,
• from the year 1165 (A.C. de León, number 1041) with another lion passant,
• from the year 1168 (A.C. de León, number 170) with a lion statant, also described as arrested or at rest, as mentioned in [Avilés, J.; 1725a; page 37] and [Avilés, J.; 1780a; page 42].
• from the year 1187 (A.C. de León, number 1067) with a lion passant and regardant, that is, with its head turned toward the sinister side of the round seal, a posture described, for example, in [Avilés, J.; 1725a; page 55] and [Avilés, J.; 1780a; page 61].

In attitudes of the lion of Ferdinand II the attitudes discussed in this article are illustrated.

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Blazon keywords: Without divisions, One, Lion, Sejant and Motto (identification).

Style keywords: Round, Plain tincture and Sealed.

Classification: Interpreted, Personal, Seal and Kingdom of León.

Bearer: Ferdinand II of Leon.

Born in 1137, King of León from 1157 to 1188, died in Benavente on January 22, 1188.

Round seal, a lion sejant. Circular motto: «Signum Fernandi Regis Hispanorum».

Sello rodado, un león sentado. Divisa circular: «Signum Fernandi Regis Hispanorum».

Existing seal interpreted by me as follows: the shape of the seal is circular; the legend is written within an outer black border; inside, a seated lion, not so much rampant and even less passant; the whole rendered in flat sable ink; and the result glazed with azure ink.

I use the term "legend" for its identifying purpose regarding King Fernando II of León; note that among the terms motto, legend, device, and war cry, all referring to texts in the blazon, different nuances and meanings can be found.

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Blazon keywords: Without divisions, One, Lion, Sejant and Motto (identification).

Style keywords: Round, Plain tincture and Sealed.

Classification: Interpreted, Personal, Seal and Kingdom of León.

Bearer: Ferdinand II of Leon.

Argent, a lion sejant erect Purpure.

Escudo de plata, un león sentado de púrpura.

Imaginary coat of arms of King Fernando II of León, which I have developed based on his seal and the arms of his successor, with: the shape of the coat of arms is semi-circular; the field enameled in flat argent; the lion enameled in purpure and illuminated; and the whole rendered with a watercolor finish.

For this imaginary coat of arms I have chosen a representation of the lion in a posture similar to that of the great seal appearing in [Fernando II de León; 1167], which is sejant ~ «sentado» in Castilian, although beginning to rise «sejant erect».

It should be noted that we are in a pre-heraldic period where the possible attitudes of the lion were not yet clearly defined, although several of them are already anticipated in the great seals of Fernando II, as can be seen, for example, passant in [Fernando II de León; 1181] and in other attitudes in the photographs of [Martín Fuertes, J. A.; 2002].

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Blazon keywords: Without divisions, Argent, Lion, Purpure and Sejant.

Style keywords: Semi-circular, Illuminated, Outlined in the field tincture and Watercolor.

Classification: Interpreted, Imaginary, Coat of arms and Kingdom of León.

Imaginary bearer: Ferdinand II of Leon.

Sigue por: Attitudes of the lion of Ferdinand II.