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Coat of arms of the Kingdom of Sierra

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 This article is an A-class article. It is written to a very high standard. This article is part of Altverse II.
Coat of arms of the Kingdom of Sierra
Coat of arms of Sierra.svg
Greater (Royal) version
Versions
Lesser coat of arms of Sierra.svg
Lesser (Civil) version
Details
Armiger HRM Elizabeth II of Sierra
Adopted 1858
Crest Upon the Royal helm the crown of Scotland Proper, thereon a lion sejant affronté Gules armed and langued Azure, Royally crowned Proper holding in his dexter paw a sword and in his sinister a sceptre, both Proper
Torse None
Escutcheon Tierced per fess Azure, Or, and Gules, a Mullet purpure fixed in a Roundel Argent
Supporters Dexter, a grizzly bear regardant proper, Sinister a deer proper collared or
Compartment Motto 'Libertas sine sacrificio' in the compartment below the shield, with the Tudor rose, shamrock, and thistle engrafted on the same stem and scroll proper Argent.
Motto IN DEFENS;
LIBERTAS SINE SACRIFICO
(In My Defense, God Me Defend;
Liberty without sacrifice)
Orders Order of the Garter
Other elements Behind the shield a mantle Gules fringed and tasselled Or and lined ermine
Use For all government purposes and uses; personal arms of the Sovereign

The Royal Coat of Arms of the Kingdom of Sierra is the personal coat of arms of the monarch of the Kingdom of Sierra. The government of Sierra uses a lesser version without the mantle and the heraldic achievements to represent itself. The coat of arms was adopted on November 27, 1858 and was designed by the Sierran Constitutional Committee incorporating the flag into the coat of arms' crest. The coat of arms is used to represent the civilian government of Sierra and the greater variant is used by the monarchy. Both are used to authenticate any official government documents at the national level. The arms is used extensively in daily life including passports and the dollar. The lesser coat of arms is not an achievement in the traditional heraldic sense as it lacks a crown and several other elements. The royal coat of arms however, features a mantle and a crown, a crest, and other features. Other members of the Sierran Royal Family and the Extended Court use the royal coat of arms but have cadency marks to distinguish each of their arms, unless they possess a special title which warrants a different coat of arms.

Description and symbolism

The Constitution officially describes the national arms in Article I, Section 3 after the flag (in Section 2). The blazon reads as:

Tierced per fess Azure, Or, and Gules, overall an inescutcheon charged with the Royal Standard, the whole surrounded by the ribbon of the Order of the Garter; for a Crest, upon the Royal helm the crown of Scotland Proper, thereon a lion sejant affronté Gules armed and langued Azure, Royally crowned Proper holding in his dexter paw a sword and in his sinister a scepter. For Supporters, Dexter, a grizzly bear regardant proper, Sinister a deer proper collared Or; and below the shield upon a compartment, with the Tudor rose, shamrock, and thistle engrafted on the same stem a scroll azure inscribed with the motto Libertas sine sacrificio.

The use of the Sierran flag on the escutcheon, and the floral badges of the United Kingdom (the Tudor rose for England, the thistle for Scotland, and the shamrock for Ireland) symbolizes the historical and ancestral connection between the Sierran monarchs of the House of Columbia with the British monarchs of the House of Stuart, and the claim by the Monarch of Sierra that they are also the rightful heir to the British throne (respectively the English, Scottish, and Irish ones, and to a lesser extent, the French throne). The bear represents the strength and courage of Sierra, demonstrating that the government would defend its people at all costs from threats domestic and foreign. It also represents the rugged spirit of the American frontier (known colloquially as the "Wild West"). Its placement on the viewer's left is deliberate, in homage to Sierra's position on the western side of North America. The deer serves as a counter to the bear by representing peace and harmony, which are the values and desires of the Sierran people and their culture. The red lion atop the Crown symbolizes the Monarch's ancestral homeland in Scotland, and ultimately, the British Isles, and also serves to represent the authority of the Monarch.

History

During the Spanish colonial period, the coat of arms of New Spain was used to represent royal authority in Sierra, then known as Alta California. No official arms were ever granted by the Spanish Crown to Alta California, apart from the 18th-century grant to the Channel Islands, which were administered as the French-Spanish Condominium. After Mexico gained independence and thus control over Alta California, the several iterations of the Mexican coats of arms during Mexican rule in Sierra were used to represent Alta California.

When the California Republic gained independence from Mexico, the Great Seal of California was adopted and was thus the first authoritative symbol used to represent the region independent of the arms or seals of another country's. The Great Seal featured a coat of arms that bears the Roman goddess Minerva (Athena in Greek mythology), the goddess of wisdom and war, seated before a bay alongside a grizzly bear and various other elements including grape vines, a sheaf of wheat, a miner, and ships.

The design of the Sierran coat of arms was created by the Constitutional Committee under the leadership of Smith C. Miller, the man who would later be crowned King of Sierra and the primary armiger of the arms. The decision to make the coat of arms explicitly as a national arms as opposed to a royal arms was made by Smith himself whom felt that the monarchy owed its legitimacy by the people. With that rationale, the coat of arms truly belonged to the Sierrans, not to the king. Since then, the arms have simultaneously represented the monarchy, the civilian government, and the people as the national coat of arms. However, later during Smith's reign, he decided to have a royal variant of the arms because he wished to distinguish works from the civil government from the family.

Uses

The civil coat of arms is used on government documents including passports, treaties, bill, flags, postage stamps, and money. With few exceptions, the coat of arms must be always displayed alongside the flag on all public buildings at the federal, provincial, and local level. Schools are the most notable exception to this requirement which are only legally required to display the flag, not the arms.

Legally, the royal arms may only be used by the Queen herself and modified versions of it by members of the Royal Family.

Businesses which receive a royal warrant by the Crown are legally privileged to display the royal coat of arms on their products, offices, and documents. Use of the official coat of arms by any other businesses or organizations as an attempt to give the impression that they were sanctioned by the Crown is treated as copyright infringement in spite the fact the arms itself is within the public domain. However, unless the arms was blatantly misrepresented, there have been very few incidents where businesses were punished for their unapproved use of the arms.

Coat of arms and seals of countries, PSAs, and territories

Seals and logos of government bodies, military, and public institutions

Coat of arms and seals of counties, cities, towns, and municipalities

See also

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