page_title: Coat of arms of Moscow
section_title: Pre-Muscovite Russia
hierarchical_section_title: Coat of arms of Moscow / Pre-Muscovite Russia
caption_attribution_description: Русский: Печать Александра Ярославича Невского, князя Новгородского, Великого князя Владимирского. Лицевая (князь на коне с мечем) и оборотная (св. Феодор Стратилат, поражающий дракона) стороны. После 1236 г. Прорись по В. Л. ЯнинуEnglish: Seal of Alexander Nevsky 1236
context_page_description: The coat of arms of Moscow depicts a horseman with a spear in his hand slaying a zilant and is identified with Saint George and the Dragon. The heraldic emblem of Moscow has been an integral part of the coat of arms of Russia since the 16th century.
context_section_description: Yaroslav the Wise (died 1054) was the first Russian ruler with an image of Saint George on his seal. Saint George was his personal patron saint; he was baptised George. Saint George was also the patron saint of Yaroslav's great-grandson, Yury Dolgoruky, who  - according to tradition - founded the city of Moscow shortly before his death in 1157. (The name "Yury" is a Russian-language equivalent of "George".) Yury Dolgoruky is thought to have honored his patron saint on his coins, which represent a standing warrior holding a sword in his right hand.
  Yury's elder brother, Mstislav the Great (Grand Prince of Kiev from  1125 to 1132), also used a seal featuring a horseman slaying a basilisk.
  A century later, Alexander Nevsky (lived 1221-1263) resumed this usage. Several of his coins depict a horseman slaying a basilisk or a dragon, though the beast is not always visible. 
  Alexander's motivation for reverting to Mstislav's emblem is disputed. It is possible that the image referred to his own victories over the Swedish and German crusaders in the Battle of the Neva (1240) and the Battle of the Ice (1242).
caption: Drawing of the two sides of a seal of Alexander Nevsky[3], showing left a crowned prince on a horse (maybe Alexander) and right standing Saint Theodore as dragon slayer. It says: Фєдър (an Old-Russian version of Фёдор, Theodore)
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