The Arms of Christopher Columbus

Spanish Heraldry
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Chris Green
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Location: Karlstad, Sweden

The Arms of Christopher Columbus

Postby Chris Green » 09 Jun 2015, 16:51

The arms of the explorer Christopher Columbus possibly contain more augmentations of honour than any other:

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His original arms (Or a bend Azure and a Chief Gules) creep in enté en point. Quarter 1 is Castile, quarter 2 Léon, quarter 3 golden isles in the sea, and quarter 4 five anchors 2/1/2 their shackles sinister. In Spanish: Escudo cuartelado: 1: las armas de Castilla (en campo de gules un castillo de oro aclarado de azur); 2; la armas de León (en campo de plata un león rampante de gules coronado de oro); 3: en una mar de azur unas islas de oro; 4: en campo de azur cinco áncoras de oro puestas en faja con la traba a siniestra, y colocadas en aspa; el escudo entado en punta con las armas primitivas de Colón (en campo de oro una banda de azur y jefe de gules).

Here is another emblazonment:

Image

Note that quarter 2 (Léon) depicts the lion rampant as gules (as in the Spanish blazon above), although the arms of Léon more commonly have the lion purpure.
Chris Green
IAAH President

Bertilak de Hautdesert

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Michael F. McCartney
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Joined: 24 Apr 2015, 23:34

Re: The Arms of Christopher Columbus

Postby Michael F. McCartney » 09 Jun 2015, 20:35

The Leon quarter in the second version is also missing the coronet cited in the Spanish blazon
Michael F. McCartney
Fremont, California

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Leonardo Almeida
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Joined: 08 Mar 2013, 03:24
Location: São Paulo, Brazil

Re: The Arms of Christopher Columbus

Postby Leonardo Almeida » 07 Sep 2015, 23:02

According to a very interesting article at Cuadernos de Ayala #26 (published by Spanish Genealogy and Heraldry Federation), by Félix Martínez Llorente, the original grant of arms made by Catholic Kings was rather different, having Columbus assumed slightly different and "nobler" arms.


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