page_title: Coat of arms of Denmark
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Coat of arms of Denmark / History
caption_attribution_description: Page out of the Armorial Gelre. Folio 55v de l'Armorial de Gelre. Page 55 verso in the Dutch book Wapenboek Gelre, written between 1395-1402 (W. van Anrooij (1990) Spiegel van Ridderschap, Heraut Gelre en zijn ereredes), by Geldre Claes Heinen. Displaying the earliest known undisputed colourized image of the Dannebrog.
context_page_description: The coat of arms of the Denmark has a lesser and a greater version.
  The state coat of arms consists of three pale blue lions passant wearing crowns, accompanied by nine red lilypads, all in a golden shield with the royal crown on top.
  The national coat of arms of Denmark is similar to the state coat of arms, but without the royal crown above the shield.
  It is historically the coat of arms of the House of Estridsen, the dynasty which provided the kings of Denmark between 1047 and 1412. The current design was introduced in 1819, under Frederick VI. Previously, there had been no distinction between the "national" and the "royal" coat of arms. Since 1819, there has been a more complex royal coat of arms of Denmark separate from the national coat of arms.
context_section_description: The oldest known depiction of the insignia dates from a seal used by King Canute VI c. 1194. The oldest documentation for the colours dates from c. 1270.
  Historically, the lions faced the viewer and the number of hearts was not regulated and could be much higher. The "heart" shapes originally represented waterlily pads; a royal decree of 1972 still specifies these figures as søblade ("lake leaves").
  The current design was adopted in 1819 during the reign of King Frederick VI who fixed the number of hearts to nine and decreed that the heraldic beasts were lions, consequently facing forward. 
  A rare version exists from the reign of king Eric of Pomerania in which the three lions jointly hold the Danish banner, in a similar fashion as in the coat of arms of the former South Jutland County.
  Until c. 1960, Denmark used both a "small" and a "large" coat of arms, similar to the system still used in Sweden. The latter symbol held wide use within the government administration, e.g., by the Foreign Ministry. Since this time, the latter symbol has been classified as the coat of arms of the royal family, leaving Denmark with only one national coat of arms, used for all official purposes.
  The crown on the shield is a heraldic construction based on the crown of King Christian V, not to be confused with the crown of King Christian IV. The main difference from the real crown is that the latter is covered with table cut (taffelsten) diamonds rather than pearls. Both crowns, and other royal insignia, are located in Rosenborg Castle in Copenhagen.
  The blazon in heraldic terms is: Or, three lions passant in pale azure crowned and armed Or langued gules, nine hearts Gules.
  This insignia is almost identical to the coat of arms of Estonia and the greater coat of arms of Tallinn which can both be traced directly back to King Valdemar II and the Danish rule in northern Estonia in 1219–1346. The main differences are as follows: In the Danish coat of arms the lions are crowned, face forward, and accompanied by nine hearts. In the Estonian coat of arms, the "leopards" still face the viewer, they are not crowned, and no hearts are present. The coat of arms of Tallinn resembles the Estonian arms, but the leopards in the former arms are crowned with golden crowns similar to the ones in the Danish arms. It shows great similarities with the contemporary insignia of England's Richard the Lionheart and the current arms of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. The Danish coat of arms has also been the inspiration for the coat of arms of the former Duchy of Schleswig, a former Danish province (two blue lions in a golden shield). The hearts of the coat of arms also appear in the coat of arms of the German district of Lüneburg.
caption: The Danish coat of arms in the Gelre Armorial, 14th century. This is the oldest coloured image of the Dannebrog. The crest was used by Danish monarchs from the 13th century until c. 1420.[1] The flag is not part of the crest.
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