Coat of arms of Transylvania

Historical coat of arms of Transylvania
Details
Adopted	1659
Escutcheon	Per fess Azure and Or, a fess Gules between in chief an eagle issuant from the division Sable flanked by a sun-in-splendour Or and an increscent Argent, and in base seven towers Gules.

The first heraldic representations of Transylvania date from the 16th century. One of the predominant early symbols of Transylvania was the coat of arms of Hermannstadt (Nagyszeben, present-day Sibiu) city. In 1596 Levinus Hulsius created a coat of arms for the imperial province of Transylvania, consisting of a shield party per fess, with a rising eagle in the upper field and seven hills with towers on top in the lower field. He published it in his work "Chronologia", issued in Nuremberg the same year. The seal from 1597 of Sigismund Báthory, prince of Transylvania, reproduced the new coat of arms with some slight changes: in the upper field the eagle was flanked by a sun and a moon and in the lower field the hills were replaced by simple towers.

Principality of Transylvania's coat of arms adopted by the Diet on 24 May 1659 represents the privileged nations who were subjects of officially accepted religions in the region (Roman Catholics, Calvinists, Lutherans, and Unitarians), while Orthodox Christians (overwhelmingly Romanians; some Ruthenes present in Carpathian Ruthenia), however, were only tolerated. It depicts:

The red dividing band was used for the first time by Prince Michael I Apafi, and its first variant was featured on gold coins he issued in 1666.

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