Coat of arms of Navarre
| Coat of arms of Navarre | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Details | |
| Adopted | 1981 (1234) |
| Crest | Spanish Royal crown |
| Escutcheon | Gules, a cross, saltire and orle of chains linked together Or, in the fess point an emerald vert. |
The coat of arms of Navarre is the heraldic emblem which for centuries has been used in Navarre. It was adopted as one of the official symbols of the foral community of Navarre and is regulated by Foral Law 24/2003. It is commonly used by Navarrese municipalities in their own arms.
An early appearance of the symbol was in a seal of Theobald I of Navarre, who had inherited the throne of the Kingdom of Navarre from his maternal uncle. This design may have been based on the heraldic carbuncle symbol of eight radially arranged rods.
By the 15th century, the mythology of the arms would trace it back to the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212 involving Sancho VII of Navarre, where the cavalry broke the chains of the caliph's slave-warriors and captured an emerald among other prizes.
Following the Spanish conquest of Iberian Navarre in 1512, the coat of arms of Navarre was incorporated into the coat of arms of Spain and is currently positioned as the fourth quarter.
From 1589, when Henry king of lower Navarre also became king of France, to the French revolution in 1792, the royal arms of France also used the arms of Navarre. The arms are now part of those used by the French department of Pyrénées-Atlantiques.
The coat of arms of Basque Country adopted in 1936 included the arms of Navarre in the fourth quarter, but these were soon suppressed by Franco. Following his death, they were revived, but following a legal suit by the Navarre government claiming that the usage of the arms of a region on the flag of another was illegal, in 1986 the Constitutional Court of Spain forced the Basque government to remove the chains of Navarre, leaving the red background. The arms remain in the unofficial Zazpiak Bat.
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